Elephants Head from the northwest
It is of special interest because it is a dramatic summit, with a route to the top that offers a bit of climbing while still being possible for the average hiker. It is class 3, but just barely. Like many class 3 summits, the route looks impossible from below, but falls into place nicely. In truth, getting to where the climbing starts is more of a challenge than the climbing itself.
From Tucson, drive south on I-19 as if you are going to Nogales. Pass the three Green Valley exits (Duval Mine, Esperanza, Continental roads). Exit on Canoa Road. (If you get to Arivaca Road, you missed it, but you can return to Elephant Head Road via the access road on the east side of the freeway.) Drive under the freeway to the east side, then turn south onto the frontage road. Drive south about three miles, continuing past the rest area (inaccessible from the frontage road). Watch for Elephant Head Road.
Turn east (left) onto Elephant Head Road. Go over the bridge (Santa Cruz river) with all the flags, bump over the obnoxious RR track crossing and then continue to the first paved road on the right. This is Mount Hopkins Road and leads to the Whipple Observatory telescopes on Mount Hopkins. Turn right onto this and drive 5.5 miles to the turn (left) onto Forest Service road 183 (FS 183), the dirt road up Agua Caliente Canyon. Drive this 2.5 miles to a parking area and the trailhead. This road should be fine for most vehicles.
Hike (on the trail) north, up and over the ridge and drop down to the mine site (curiously not marked on the USGS topo) and join the mine road there. According to John, this is the Horseshoe Mine. It is worth noting that on the top of the ridge (~4700) is a trail that runs west along the ridge and up to the summit of little Elephants Head (5139).
Hike north on the road, continuing perhaps 0.6 miles uphill, and around the hill to a point on the nose of a ridge (at about 5000 feet elevation) where a trail takes off left and steeply downhill. Continuing on the road will take you to the Quantrell Mine, which is not the game here. Finding this junction is far and away the crucial aspect of this route. If you find a nice cairn at this junction, be sure to knock it down and scatter the rocks.
The trail is good and easy to follow. Sadly though, it takes you downhill to nearly 4500 foot elevation where it crosses Chino Creek (some chance of water here). Then it begins climbing to the north. Do not be tempted on your return to shortcut down Chino Creek. You will be faced with some canyoneering and drops that require rope and rappelling skills (drops are 80 feet I am told, but confirm this elsewhere if intend to you pursue this adventure). The trail climbs and gains the ridge southeast of Elephants Head, then follows the ridge northwest to the saddle below the rocky "massif" of Elephants Head.
From here follow a well trodden path to the summit of Elephants Head. Take each bit as it comes, keep your eye open for easy options and watch for evidence of traffic. There are a few short rock scrambles but none that involve dangerous exposure.
There used to be a ridiculous and ugly collection of elephant trash on the summit. Thank God that on my visit in October of 2020 it was mostly gone. A bit is starting to build up again, and on some reflection, I have decided on a "show no mercy" approach. Throw it all off! Pitch it over the north face. Yes, there will be a mess below, but virtually nobody will ever see it, which is more than can be said of having it on the summit. Feel no guilt over pitching it -- the blame lies on the people that hauled that trash to the summit and left that litter in the wilderness. I'll be honest and admit that I have been tempted to pitch the stupid summit register off as well (on this peak and others), but have always held back for some reason.
I will also note that on my recent visit, the absurd build up of cairns along
the route to the summit had been cleaned up. My thanks to whoever did this.
"Make the wilderness wild again" -- that is my motto.
There is a sign here about "Elephant Head Mountain Bike Trail" and a gate. Go through the gate and drive a good dirt road 0.9 miles southeast. Take the road heading due south and drive another 0.7 miles to what most people call the trailhead. There is a circle here to aid you in turning your vehicle around, along with a park bench and a variety of ridiculous stuff. If you have an ordinary vehicle you should stop here. Actually if you have an ordinary vehicle, you will have a fair bit of extra hiking and would be happier if you were at the Agua Caliente trailhead, but to each his own.
The hike is 6.5 miles one way, measuring from the so called "trailhead". If you are able to drive further, so much the better, eh? Most people with a 4x4 will be able to push on another 2 miles without much trouble, reducing the one way hiking distance to 4.5 miles.
If you have a 4x4, go through the gate and continue. The road wanders east about 0.6 miles, then turns to the south and crosses Madera Wash. This is Forest Service Road 4073 (FS4073). Another 1.1 miles will bring you to the Forest boundary and the mouth of Chino Canyon. How far you continue will depend on your mood, vehicle, current road conditions, and other unpredictable factors.
Once you have had enough, start hiking. The road will take you to a mine site (curiously not on the USGS topo) with no opportunity whatsoever for getting lost along the way. Distance from the FS boundary to the mine site is about 2.2 miles. Here the trail from Agua Caliente trailhead joins the road. Continue on the road as per the description above.
The hiking distance is about 1.5 miles. The problem is that it isn't really hiking, and the effort involved should be multiplied by some factor, perhaps 4.
Pick a parking spot with a nice view of the north face of Elephants Head and the saddle to the east you hope to end up in. Simply hike southeast through overgrazed mesquite and prickly pear cactus covered desert. This naive approach is not recommended, but with determination anything is possible.
If you really want to do something of this sort, you are well advised to hike due east, avoiding any gain in elevation until you get to a ridge that will lead you to the saddle. If you simply strike out heading directly for the saddle, you will end up in a maze of rock, cliffs, brush and hidden deep ravines you never expected.
The starting elevation from any spot on the north will be about 3500 feet, which makes for extra bragging rights when you compare notes with the lightweights who hike the trail from Agua Caliente at 4500 feet.
This is not recommended except for somewhat crazy people.
In the morning, rather than enjoy another day of extreme bushwacking, we opted to follow the well trodden trail and returned to the truck via the Chino Canyon route described above. The trail is very good and never any real trick to follow. I was glad to know better than to try a "shortcut" down Chino canyon. We were back at the truck by 1:30 PM.
What I call "the trailhead" in my description of Chino Canyon above just gives access to it part way along. You could ride from here east to an end point accessed via the Madera Canyon road, or you could ride south into Chino Canyon. If you did ride south into Chino canyon, you would get to the mine site (the one that is not on the USGS map), then continue south over the ridge (amazingly enough) to the Agua Caliente trailhead that I mention. The route continues further from there, first heading west on FS183, then on a dirt road along the east side of "Devils Cash Box" to reach the Mount Hopkins road.
Tom's hiking pages / tom@mmto.org
