Hiked: 3/17/2025
Distance: 3.8 miles round trip on trail
Summit Elevation: 4877'
Prominence: 3477'
Elevation Gain: 2159'
Elevation Gain (in Empire State Buildings): 1.7
Round trip time: 3 hours 45 minutes
Recommended water: 64 oz.
Parking/Fees: Free at Signal Peak trailhead
Difficulty: Easy
I met up with my buddy Ben Baumann, a rare time our schedules and locations synced, to tackle Signal Peak, AZ (DPS #70), P3K. It's in the Kofa National Wildlife Refuge, set up for bighorn sheep. The refuge's name (KOFA) was derived from an acronym for one of the area's notable mines, the King of Arizona gold mine. The road to the trailhead was rocky and bumpy, high clearance suggested. The trail was marked with wooden posts but not signed. It was mostly easy to follow, but splintered into different trails in some places, then usually converged. Vegetation and saguaro cactus made it feel like a different world from the California desert only 50 miles away. Agave brandished half inch thorns along each leaf, compared to the smooth California variety. The trail followed Indian Canyon for awhile, then up a ramp on the left side avoiding dry falls. It was steep and steady most of the way, with sporadic class 2. Sharp towers of rock rose up all around. Gain accumulated quickly, along with stunning views that emerged as we got higher. The best views were from the summit. This was my first summit of Signal and Ben's second. The trail went all the way to the summit. The summit area was large and flat. The ammo box that held the register was under some rocks. The benchmark was stamped KOFA2. We hung out on top for a while, then took our time heading down. It was fun catching up with Ben and an awesome start to another Blythe-adjacent tour of desert peaks.
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