- Arizona County HP: #8???
- Difficulty: ⭐️⭐️⭐️ (on a scale of 4)
- Summit Elevation: 7,655 feet
- Mountain Range: Mazatzal Mountains
- Ancestral Lands: Hohokam, Pueblo, Western Apache
PLANNING DETAILS
Location: Browns Peak is located inside the Four Peaks Wilderness, approximately 45 miles northeast of Phoenix, AZ. This peak is the northernmost summit of the renowned Four Peaks massif — a prominent landmark visible from Phoenix. The other three summits are unofficially named “Brother Peak,” “Sister Peak,” and “Amethyst Peak.”
When to Visit: Spring through Fall. The final 400 vertical feet below the summit require a class 3-4 scramble up a scree and boulder chute, which is generally not safe to climb when there is ice or snow on the route.
Fees/Permits Required: No.
Getting There: Because of its proximity to Phoenix, many visitors approach the trailhead from the west (via AZ-87 and Cline Cabin Road). However, this requires a slow 19-mile drive on unpaved forest roads, which often takes visitors 80+ minutes. A shorter backcountry route to the trailhead that begins on the mountain’s east side near Theodore Roosevelt Lake (via AZ-188 and El Oso Road). The directions below use this eastern access route.
Directions from Phoenix: Follow AZ-202 east toward Tempe/Mesa. Take Exit 13 (AZ-87) toward Payson and follow AZ-87 north for 57 miles. Turn right onto AZ-188 toward Roosevelt Lake/Tonto National Monument and follow AZ-188 south for 20.5 miles. Approximately three miles north of Roosevelt Lake, turn right onto El Oso Road. Follow this dirt road for 10.7 miles to the Lone Pine Trailhead.
Directions from Flagstaff: Follow Lake Mary Road south for 55 miles until it intersects with AZ-87. Turn right onto AZ-87 (toward Payson) and continue on AZ-87 south for 75 miles. Turn left onto AZ-188 toward Roosevelt Lake/Tonto National Monument and continue on AZ-188 south for 20.5 miles. Approximately three miles north of Roosevelt Lake, turn right onto El Oso Road. Follow this dirt road for 10.7 miles to the Lone Pine Trailhead.
Parking: There is room for roughly 10 vehicles at the Lone Pine Trailhead. There are no amenities (potable water, vault toilets, or trash cans) at the trailhead.
Pets Allowed: Yes. However, the scree and boulder chute will be unsuitable for many dogs.
Kid Friendly: This high point is best suited for ages 15 or older.
The Summit: The top of Browns Peak has a plastic ammo box containing a summit register. There is also a boulder with the initials of three members from the 4th Cavalry Regiment scratched into it, with their presumed summit date in 1867.
TRIP SUMMARY
Date Visited: April 28, 2026
Route Used: Brown’s Peak Trail (#133) from the Lone Pine Trailhead – 5.5 miles round-trip
Although I didn’t realize it at the time, I spent several days staring at Browns Peak during my 2022 Arizona Trail (AZT) thru-hike. I first caught my first views of the renowned Four Peaks when I traversed the Superstition Wilderness (roughly 230 miles into my 800-mile hike from Mexico to Utah). As I climbed to higher ground near Two Bear Ridge, I could see the mountain’s distinctive four-peak silhouette in the distance.
Several days later, I’d entered the Mazatzal Mountains (pronounced like mad as hell), hiking on the AZT as it approached the Four Peaks near mile 267. Passing beneath the summit, I never in a million years expected to climb this prominent feature. It was so intimidating, and only became even more so as the trail wound its way around the mountain in the Four Peaks Wilderness.
Only years later would I realize that each of these Four Peaks had a name. Browns Peak is the highest of the four peaks and the only one officially named. The other three are Brother Peak, Sister Peak, and Amethyst Peak. Some ambitious climbers put themselves through the wringer with a 16-hour endurance test known as the “Motherlode,” attempting to climb all four peaks in a single day.
But that wasn’t my aim. I just wanted to summit the highest one — Browns Peak. This one was the highest natural point in Maricopa County and was the 15th (and final) peak I needed to complete my list of the Arizona CoHPs.
When I began my Arizona county highpointing adventures. It still didn’t mentally click that I would be climbing this iconic landmark in the Four Peaks Wilderness. I saw the list of mountains on the Arizona CoHP list. But the name Browns Peak meant nothing to me. It wasn’t until I began to read the trip reports in peakbagger.com and watched a few videos on YouTube that I put two and two together and realized I might have bitten off more than I could chew.
As is often the case with most popular peaks, there were varying reports on this climb’s difficulty. Some people claimed it was the most difficult thing they’d ever done (and in fairness, this may be true). Other climbers were more relaxed in their assessment. They claimed it was difficult in a few places where you had to puzzle out how to get yourself up on a ledge or two, but the most dangerous thing was dodging any loose rocks that might come flying downward from climbers above you in the infamous scree chute.
I didn’t want to leave this particular peak until the very end because I worried it would just feel as if the challenge was looming over me, getting bigger and bigger. So I planned to climb it as my first CoHP of this springtime peakbagging trip.
Unfortunately, there were 35+ mph winds the day I arrived in Phoenix. Having less-than-ideal conditions forced me to shuffle the deck and come up with a new plan. The geographic distances across Arizona for my remaining 8 CoHPs left me with only one realistic option if I hoped to get them all done during this limited time. Browns Peak would be the last CoHP.
Some people approach the Lone Pine trailhead via the long network of forest roads from the west (off Highway 87). But I was better positioned to drive in from the east, making the 11-mile drive up El Oso Road/Pigeon Spring Road.
I camped the prior evening down at the Cholla Campground on the shores of Roosevelt Lake, which is one of my favorite places to car camp in central Arizona. And even though the weather was beautiful and sunny, the massive campground was quiet and only maybe 10% full. And as an added bonus, I got a sunset silhouette of the Four Peaks from down below.
I was awake early thanks to the songbird serenading me in the campground and set off north Highway 188 to the junction with El Oso Road – a dirt forest road that would climb from my relatively low 2,200 feet elevation up to the Lone Pine Trailhead at 5,700 feet.
The drive up this dirt road was steeper than most of the forest roads I’d driven in Arizona, but it was still definitely drivable in my rental car (a Kia Niro) or any Subaru.
As I made my way up to the junction with El Oso Road and Pigeon Spring Road, a weird tower caught my attention. The Tonto Basin Tower looks like something you might see in a Star Wars movie. It had a real sci-fi vibe and looked like someone had welded two airplane engines onto a flat viewing platform. The silhouette also reminded me of the Pixar movie character Wall-E’s head.
Near the junction, I saw three Arizona Trail hikers and asked them all if they had enough water. I knew the answer was probably “yes” given the proximity to Pigeon Spring, but I had to ask. There were many times when I skimped on carrying enough water on this desert and mountain trail to save on weight, and clean water from a jug was always a welcome offering.
When I reached the Pigeon Spring Trailhead for the AZT, I realized I’d come super close to the my destination on my thru-hike four years ago. The Lone Pine Trailhead for Browns Peak was only 0.5 miles away. Mad Max and I had walked right by this spot four years ago. What a trip!
I made it to the Lone Pine Trailhead just before 8 am, and was somewhat surprised to discover that there wasn’t a soul around. This is such a popular hike, according to everything I read beforehand. I was sure someone else would be here too. But it was early on a Tuesday morning in April, so I had the mountain 100% to myself.
It was already 52 degrees according to the rental car’s dashboard, and there was no wind at all today. So the debate over whether to wear pants or shorts was real. I knew I’d be in the shade of the rock chute for a good portion of this hike. And should I bring trekking poles or leave them behind so my hands are free for the bouldering and climbing?
After dialing in my gear, I began to follow the signs for the Browns Peak Trail #133 as it gently climbed uphill for the next two miles into the Four Peaks Wilderness.
The trail was lined with wildflowers and blooming bushes as it wove up toward weirdly shaped boulders. Lizards with turquoise heads and striped backs darted away as I approached the rocks they were sunning themselves on. And I had the constant buzz of bees as my soundtrack as I passed all the manzanita trees on the way up to the saddle.
Once at the saddle near mile 2.1, I had excellent views of Browns Peak and the crack down its bare rock-covered slopes. This was the infamous scree chute that I’d have to tackle, climbing 350 vertical feet in about 0.2 miles.
There still wasn’t a soul on the mountain, so I’d have to figure out the way up to the summit all on my own. There weren’t any signs or blazes here to help me out. So I thanked my lucky stars that I’d watched a few videos that showed me the general route. I’d need to climb uphill from the saddle, then make a right turn across an airy traverse to enter the chute.
When I reached mile 2.4, I collapsed my trekking poles and tucked them into my daypack. The remainder of this hike would need my hands and four (sometimes five) points of contact.
The initial bouldering was easy, and I kept looking for where the trail cut right for the initial traverse. I was worried I might miss it, as a few game trails darted back and forth along my uphill route. Yet each time I caught the glimpse of a partial shoe print above me, I decided to continue upward.
Eventually, I found the traverse. It had looked much scarier on those YouTube videos than it was in real life. It wasn’t any worse than something one might find in New Hampshire’s White Mountains or the trails in Maine. Just a slight uphill climb, followed by an airier descent back down toward the chute where I spotted my first (and only) cairn of the route before I turned left into the scree chute.
I made a mental note to remember to look for this rock cairn on my future descent, so I knew exactly where to depart the scree chute. The Browns Trail route entered the chute midway up, and I could see how it could be super easy to keep descending if I were only paying attention to my feet and the next safe step.
The scree chute above me was the only part of this CoHP that I’d worried about. I’d climbed many slow, tedious scree slopes in my day (shout out to Boundary Peak, NV). Yet this was quite a bit different. It was a mix of scree, boulders, and little ledges that ascended the vertical crack up the side of Browns Peak.
There were some real benefits, though, to having this mountain to myself today. I didn’t have to worry about anybody kicking rocks loose above me. And I could go as slow as I wanted to make sure I had the best handholds and route as possible.
I won’t lie. The ascent was a bit of a challenge. But between the bouldering on Katahdin and some slot canyons in Utah, it wasn’t much technically different. I just needed to focus my attention on what was above me and not look down at the chute’s drop below, and continue moving slowly.
There were two class 4 spots that were trickier than the rest of the climb, though. I briefly struggled to figure out how to maneuver up the rocks safely, and I ultimately had to take my daypack off and put it on the ledge above me to squeeze up the gaps without losing my grip. But both of those spots came in rapid succession, and then it was back to class 3 bouldering for the remainder of the chute.
When I reached the top of the chute, I could peak over to the other side of the mountain toward Phoenix for the first time. But the climb wasn’t quite over yet. I still needed to make my way up the boulders on my left to reach the summit.
This final stretch brought a new challenge. The rock scrambling was fine, but you had to carefully evaluate where you might put your hands and feet because clusters of cucumber cactus grew in the best crevices.
I eventually made it up to the point where there were no more rocks to climb and the three other peaks of the infamous Four Peaks were visible.
The summit was flatter than I’d expected, and it had a relatively new plastic ammo canister at the highest point. Someone named Anthony Tangalos Jr put the box on March 7th, 2026. And the inside cover of the new summit register had a little note about how he’d first visited the summit more than 40 years earlier in 1985.
He’d found the logbook at the top and enjoyed looking at the past entries during this initial visit. The next time he climbed the peak in 1987, the logbook was missing, and so he’d taken the effort to make a new one and weighed the ammo can down with rocks to keep it securely in place on the summit during winds and snow.
There wasn’t any wind on the summit today, though. It was so still on the top of Browns Peak that it was like I was inside a vacuum. I signed the summit register and marked Browns Peak as my 15th Arizona CoHP beneath the sunshine and quiet of this serene April morning.
The climb wasn’t over just because I made it to the summit, though. I still had to make it through the descent of Browns Peak. Dropping back down into that scree chute was not something I was particularly looking forward to. It could be a bit vertigo-inducing just looking down, and all those loose rocks worried me.
In the end, the only strategy was to take it slow and easy. The two class 4 spots were just as tricky to maneuver on the descent as they were on the way up. But I knew it was possible to do it. I’d gotten up. I would get down.
Once I made it to the rock cairn marking the right turn for the traverse, I knew I was nearly home free. I just needed to get across that short bit, and I’d be back on real trail again for the remainder of the hike.
All told, it took me 3 hours and 15 minutes for the round-trip trek up Browns Peak. I’d been prepared for it to take up to 5 hours from other reports I’d read and watched. It wasn’t nearly that slow, though. So now I had to figure out how to celebrate!
If you know me and my love of craft breweries, then you probably know where this train of thought is going. Once I returned to Phoenix, my first stop had to be Four Peaks Brewing. What better way to mark my completion of all 15 of Arizona’s county high points, and Browns Peak itself???
As I enjoyed my flight of IPAs at this iconic brewery, my mind wandered to my other lists. I knon I’m not quite done with Arizona yet. So far, I’ve successfully:
- Thru-hiked the 800-mile Arizona Trail from Mexico to Utah
- Fastpacked the Grand Canyon rim-to-rim-to-rim
- Backpacked the 58-mile Highline Trail beneath the Mogollon Rim
- Summited the highest point in each of Arizona’s 15 diverse counties
Which challenge is next? There are so many I’d like to do. I’ve already begun the Arizona 20-20 Challenge, hiking 20 of Arizona’s highest mountains and 20 of the state’s deepest canyons.
But there’s still the Grand Enchantment Trail (a 760-mile route from Phoenix, AZ to Albuquerque, NM), the Mogollon Rim Trail (a 500-mile route from Cottonwood, AZ to Alma, NM), Paria Canyon to Lees Ferry (a 40-mile canyon trek), and so many shorter trails.
Only time will tell, I suppose! But I know this much: I’m not even close to putting Arizona on a shelf yet. I’ve come to love this state so much over the past eight years. My time exploring every corner and county of the state during my highpointing adventures only deepened my appreciation and desire to see more!
BONUS MATERIAL
Public camping nearby:
- Cholla Campground is located on the western bank of Theodore Roosevelt Lake, 5 miles north of Roosevelt Dam. This large USFS campground is open year-round and offers 206 campsites, flush toilets, potable water, trash, picnic tables, and lakefront views. Online reservations are available for odd-numbered campsites, while even-numbered campsites are available on a first-come, first-served basis. Cost: $25/night.
- Indian Point (dispersed camping) is available on the north end of Theodore Roosevelt Lake. This former USFS campground was converted into dispersed camping and offers 42 campsites, a boat ramp, vault toilets, picnic tables, and trash cans. All sites are available on a first-come, first-served basis. Cost: Free
Resources:
- Overview of Browns Peak (Summit Post)
- Browns Peak Trail (All Trails)
- Browns Peak Ascent (video) (Wild Paths AZ)