Quinn Peak

Quinn Peak is a P4K and range highpoint of the Jackson Mountains. There are two wilderness areas, North Jackson Mountains Wilderness and South Jackson Mountains Wilderness, which encompass most of the range, but mining interests in the area around Quinn Peak have kept the range highpoint outside of either wilderness. One benefit of having a mine in the area is that there are mining roads running high up the west side of Quinn Peak. After visiting a collection of peaks in the Santa Rosa Mountains over the previous two days, I drove in the night before on the well graded road running along Trout Creek and found a place to camp on a small bluff overlooking the headwaters of Jackson Creek.

In the morning I got my first view of the surrounding wilderness. I watched as the sun rose on King Lear Peak to the south, which looked like it would make for a nice trip in the future. I continued up the road until it eventually ended near a mine entrance leading into the hillside. I followed the road briefly before continuing directly uphill towards the summit. A steep climb of roughly 1000ft brought me to the summit. I had a six hour drive to get back home later in the afternoon, but wanted to include several other unnamed peaks in the area in a loop before returning the car.

Continuing to the west, I dropped down the slope towards Peak 8806. I crossed a shallow spring-filled basin at the headwaters of the Bottle Creek, then continued up the ridge to the summit of Peak 8806. From the summit I could see Peak 8388 which lay near the headwaters of Boulder Creek. An ATV track followed the Boulder Creek up from the valley below, and looked to have been traveled on recently. I found a summit cairn on top of Peak 8338, which I guessed had probably been left by residents of the small collection of houses lying at the base of the peak to east.

To complete the loop I planned to visit one more peak in the area, Peak 8995, which rose several miles to the south. I retraced my route to the spring-filled basin I had crossed earlier in the day then continued south toward Peak 8995. As I came over the final rise I spotted a herd of bighorn sheep and a herd of deer grazing near each other in the meadow below. The deer didn’t seem to mind my presence but the bighorn sheep quickly took off over the ridge. A short rocky scramble led to the summit. On the way back I climbed the south ridge of Quinn Peak until I was able to traverse back toward the car. The rock in this section was especially loose and turned out to be the most difficult part of the day. I dropped down the slope in the vicinity of Redbird Mine and made it back to the car by mid-afternoon.