back to home page
November 16, 2025
With most of California being drenched by an early season storm, I headed east towards drier weather to some obscure peaks in the Castle Dome Mountains in Arizona. None of these peaks were named, with no information about them anywhere online. It made for a fun exploratory day. Peaks Climbed
| Peak | Elevation | Topographic Prominence | Summit Coordinates (lat/lon) |
|---|---|---|---|
| "Castle Dome Mine Peak" | 2,309 ft | 593 ft | 33.04322, -114.15443 |
| "Baby Chungus'' | 2,470 ft | 300 ft | 33.06236, -114.10920 |
| "Brother Chungus'' | 2,880 ft | 277 ft | 33.06758, -114.12234 |
| "Sister Chungus" | 2,801 ft | 425 ft | 33.06948, -114.13577 |
| "Little Chungus" | 2,190 ft | 322 ft | 33.05585, -114.13639 |
| "Big Chungus" | 3,359 ft | 963 ft | 33.05563, -114.12535 |
Total Stats
17 miles
5,400 ft gain/loss
I drove in the previous night and camped at my starting point, which was easily reachable with any type of vehicle, with well graded dirt roads for the last 7-or-so miles. I got up just before sunrise and followed a series of dilapidated dirt roads and washes eastward before turning north for a short but fun ascent up Castle Dome Mine Peak's south ridge. There were short bits of class 3 on the usual loose desert rock.
summit of Castle Dome Mine Peak
From Castle Dome Mine Peak, I continued east on junkier rock, eventually finding myself in a broad wash which headed east and then gradually curving north to Thumb Peak Pass over several miles. This pass marked the lowpoint between Big Chungus to the west and Thumb Peak to the east.
looking north from Thumb Peak Pass
From Thumb Peak Pass, I continued down north for a short ways, then scrambled up the west side of Baby Chungus. I started by scrambling up a gully between Baby Chungus and a sub-peak to the south, arriving at a saddle between the two bumps. Climbing Baby Chungus directly from this saddle looked to be technical, so I located a ramp around the west side of the highpoint, requiring only class 3.
I reversed my route down Baby Chungus, then headed west into a prominent wash. This wash kept ascending northwest, eventually becoming a steep gully which dead ended below the summit of Brother Chungus. A short easy scramble brought me up to its summit.
summit of Brother Chungus
The section between Brother and Sister Chungus was probably the most involved routefinding of the day, which involved weaving around a series of decomposing towers and downclimbing class 3 and probably optional short class 4 bits on chossy limestone cliffs. It was all great fun through, and the views were splendid. I ascended and descended directly on the east ridge of Sister Chungus, which was class 3.
view south from Sister Chungus
Back at the prominent saddle east of Sister Chungus, I descended south down a canyon and into a wash, following some pretty well defined sheep trails when they appeared. From the wash, it was a quick ascent up the northeast slope and north ridge of Little Chungus. The northeast slope was annoyingly loose and ball bearing, but it was over quick. The last 100 ft of north ridge involved a few short fun class 3 moves.
view from the summit of Little Chungus
Reversing my way to the wash, I stared up at the steep northwest face of Big Chungus. I had looked at photos of this peak before, and could not see an easy way up that was obvious. Every side looked technical except for possibly a gully on the northwest side. I started up this gully, which was noticeably brushier than anywhere else I had been that day, with plenty of thorny ironwood bushes grabbing at my skin and clothes. Eventually the gully hit a vertical wall, but I was able to scramble south in an arc shape on easy class 3 terrain before hitting the west ridge and making my way back east to the top of the gully. From there, a short easy scramble took me to the summit of Big Chungus. This peak had turned out way easier than it looked.
views while ascending Big Chungus
I relaxed on the summit for just over an hour, waiting for the sun to set. I had played around with sun angles on a map the day before and determined there would be a nice sunset from this peak, and sure enough there was.
After sunset, I reversed my route back to the wash below Little Chungus, and proceeded west along it. 5.5 miles of jogging along sandy washes wrapping around the north and west sides of Castle Dome Mine Peak brought me back to the starting point.
No comments:
Post a Comment