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Dean had given me Scott’s excellent Trip Report for Mount Perkins and it looked like it wasn’t too far out of my way as I headed home to Oregon. I drove all the way across Arizona and headed north from Kingman towards Las Vegas before car camping for the night near Chloride, Arizona on Hwy 93. I got a good night’s sleep and got up at dawn to drive the final few miles to the turn off on Hwy 93.
It was easy to find the gate in the fence underneath the big power lines. I opened the gate and proceeded towards the trailhead. I followed the main road under the power towers for 1.8 miles until the road turned directly south away from the power lines. I stayed on the main road and ignored all forks off the main road. There is a warning sign about the dangers of exploring the mining operations in the area. I really didn’t see any open shafts or hazards next to the road and saw very little evidence of any mining at all.
I followed the road for several miles looking for the highpoint. It is kind of hidden behind all the hills and you can’t really see the highpoint until you get to the end of the road. The road passes over a little saddle and into a final valley and short canyon before climbing up to a ridgeline where the road ends next to a communications building. 4WD wasn’t necessary to get to the end of the road, but the high clearance provided by my Tacoma was appreciated.
At the end of the road, I parked and put on my hiking boots. I could see the highpoint off to the east along a rocky ridge. I could see another small communications building near the summit. The summit didn’t look too far away, but my GPS measured the distance to be 1.25 miles with an elevation gain of about 600 ft. If it is a hot summer day when you hike this ridge, make sure you bring some water. It took me 1.5 hours for the round trip. The ridgeline to the summit has a faint climbers trail in spots that you can follow, but it is easy to find your own way along the ridge anyway. The rocky outcroppings are easily bypassed along the ridge. I think I went to the right of the first big rock and then mostly stayed to the left to bypass the others. The summit is a couple hundred feet beyond the small communications building on the ridge. There is a summit register in a mailbox on the summit.
The views from the summit are fantastic. You can see into Nevada, California, and Arizona. Great views of the Colorado River are just to the west.