Telegraph Pass (Signal Hill) Yuma AZ

24 February 2015 A bit late for a Rite of Passage but WE DID IT!

Bottom of the service road

We’d been working up to this one. Tom Nunn’s Yuma Hikes I book describes this hike as “moderate but a serious workout”. Everyone we talk to about hiking around here asks if we have “done” Signal Hill. Even if they haven’t. It’s that famous.

Jeep road approach

It’s really quite simple. Start walking up a narrow concrete service road after a short desert trail or jeep road (there are 2 approaches) until you get to the top. The only hard part is that this is a STEEP continuous hill with NO FLAT SPOTS. The grade appears to be about 20% and feels like 40%. Even the young whippersnappers who clipped by us on one stretch had to stop to catch their breath 30 yards up. Some don’t make it all the way. Some do it 3 times a week (freaks).

Tom says this is a 2 mile hike with an elevation gain of 800 feet. Took us 3 hours round trip with some short stops on the way up to rebuild O2 levels, plus camera time at the top and a signing of the hiker’s book. Going down was almost as much fun since whole new muscle teams were working to keep us off our faces.

Took pictures to impress you. Maybe even to convey how steep this is. Hope it gets you itching to do this hike so we can share pain stories.

Feeling our age (96) at this point

 

 

 

So been there done that. Now that we’ve “done” Signal Hill we can start heading east. 

Totally relaxed hikers trying not to look like they're leaning on their sticks.

Come back in a few days and I’ll have a few pictures of Salvation Mountain in California adorning this blog.

Next stop Tucson.