As I get into this writing, I want to mention a Bible Verse that grasps me deeply.  “Job 12:7-10 NLT
[7] “Just ask the animals, and they will teach you. Ask the birds of the sky, and they will tell you. [8] Speak to the earth, and it will instruct you. Let the fish in the sea speak to you. [9] For they all know that my disaster has come from the hand of the Lord. [10] For the life of every living thing is in his hand, and the breath of every human being.”. As I have walked multiple times in the isolation of God’s Mazatzal Wilderness.  I was grasped by lessons, memories, experiences, and a beautiful wild area I cannot begin to explain in writing.  I learned from the land that I asked from, a place that is not of human nature but of God’s Divine creation!  It all began years before I first stepped foot into this beautiful Wilderness Area.  As I scoured a National Geographic Map of this Wilderness Area.  I recall little to no information on this area involving Mountaineering.  Fast forward some years, and I found myself back in Arizona in a beautiful season of adventure!  One that would bring me to meet my now Wife, Jessica, and to the Mazatzal Range on multiple occasions.  Exploring the range brings a brave person to what I consider the best views of Arizona and maybe even the West!  A labyrinth of trails leading from the Verde River on one side and from below Payson on the other.  Many of these adventurous paths are not maintained or are not consistently maintained.  The Barnhart Trail and Mazatzal Divide Trail are probably the most maintained but also most walked of these trails.  For those who want a more rugged challenge and experience of a less-traveled Wilderness Itinerary, one can expect minimal water sources and even less in the hot months.  Many of the Forest Service roads leading to Trailheads have Free Dispersed Camping available as well, allowing for adventurers to camp the night before or after adventures.

After rainstorms, these roads can become pretty muddy.  Similarly, waterways like Deer Creek do become more powerful with rainfall and snow melt.  A variable that this area would remind me of this Winter.  My time so far in the Mazatzal Range has brought me to overnights on the summit of Mazatzal Peak which is the highpoint of the entire range, and to an overnight on the summit of Mount Peeley via a 12 mile approach through Deer Creek Trail.  I also spent a weekend with the Arizona Trail Association working on the Mazatzal Divide Trail near The Park and North Peak within the Wilderness Area. 

From the moment I entered this area, I fell in love!  The land spoke to me in a way that many landscapes had failed to in the past.  My first adventure in the Mazatzal Range was up Mazatzal Peak via the Barnhart Trail after camping outside the Wilderness Boundary the night before.  The views I discovered would cement a Mountain Range that would go down in my memory forever.

Mazatzal Peak

My experience of climbing Mazatzal Peak was a special one!  This was my first major Backcountry trip after coming back to Arizona from Montana.  The trail was well-worn, probably the most well-worn trail within the Wilderness Area.  I broke off the trail right below where the Barnhart intersects with the Mazatzal Divide Trail or the Arizona Trail.  It was now time for some cross-country travel!  I walked up the side of the ridge until I was on top!  A helicopter flew far above me, and I felt so small but so capable.  I walked over rocks and dirt until I found the summit of Mazatzal Peak.  My camp would be a semi-flat spot just below the summit, a boulder behind my tent…. A perfect place for a tripod!  The blue of the mountains soon acted as water, the warm light of the desert becoming cold and soft as it often does on the winter nights. 

It was not long until I woke up the next morning… The world is silent and still around me while many could possibly be surrounded by chaos.  I packed my camp and headed back to the Barnhart Trail.  Renewed and ready to go back home…. The Canyon!

Mount Peeley

My climb of Mount Peeley came some months later.  After winter set in so did snow fall and the emotional dance of the mountain creeks.  After some patience and waiting, the water of Deer Creek had gone down, and my window to Backpack the Deer Creek Trail to the Summit of Mount Peeley was now possible.  I slept in my hammock the night before off of Barnhart Road.  The Desert kindly welcomed me back.  Once awake and on trail I found myself farther up the Deer Creek Trail than ever before. Wading through parts of the Creek and navigating a calmer Creek and Canyon.  Along my way, I noticed a Deer in a shaded area, and nearing three-quarters of the day, I found myself climbing upward.

I continued to walk upward in the Canyon until I met a parking lot for the Peeley Trailhead.  I was almost to my home for the night!  I began on the Peeley Trail for a short time.  By now I was hungry and ate some Rits to give me fuel, some lingering snow on the trail still.  Now the Summit was to my left.  I turned and headed off-trail to the Summit.  Before I broke off the trail, I came across a man and his dog. They were setting up camp off the Peeley Trail.  Soon after this stepped off the trial and headed up to the Summit.  When I arrived I was met with the most incredible view of Arizona!  A place for me where experiences and mountains of the past met hand in hand with the present, as if saying welcome to a new chapter.  The Superstition Wilderness rises above Phoenix, a prominent monolith on the horizon.  A range of Inspiration and history that one could fill an entire earthly life with.  The other direction stands the Mazatzal Peak, a friend from the past, and far behind stands the Coconino Rim, present and unwavering.  A symbol of my home. 

I take in this special place, and before I know it the sun is traveling to the other side of the earth.  The mountains on the horizon show humanity what equality truly looks like.  Standing without insecurity, as the warm desert light once more turns cold with the Desert Night.  A place and an Earth that could only be created by a God that cannot be comprehended without a heart that is not seeking more.  As the evening continued, my anxiety grew stronger.  Something I had dealt with most of my life.  God was using this range in my battle with fear as I faced it head on.  I texted my mother on my Inreach, while battling the nervous energy I felt.  Though before I knew it I went to sleep on top of Mount Peeley.  God showed me the fear I felt, in nothing to give any attention too.

-Sky