Humphrey's Peak -- the top of Arizona

The top of Arizona is Humphrey's Peak at 12,633 feet, is probably one of the most visible mountains in North America. Humphrey's is the highest of the San Francisco Peaks, located just north of Flagstaff and highly visible from a lot of northern Arizona, especially along Interstate 40. The San Francisco Peaks are really a vast volcanic caldera with the "peaks" along the edge of what once was a huge mountain. An satellite view of the mountain area shows that the caldera probably exploded towards the northeast. The mountains were named in honor of St. Francis of Assisi by the Spanish settlers in the 1600s. The ring of mountains include, Humprhrey's, Agassiz, Fremont, Aubineau, Reese and Doyle peaks.

In just the few miles from the bottom of the Grand Canyon to the top of the San Francisco Peaks, you can travel through six climatic life zones:

• Lower Sonoran Zone - Sonoran Desert plants
• Upper Sonoran Zone - Pinyon and Juniper woodlands
• Transition Zone - Ponderosa Pine forests
• Canadian Zone - Mixed Conifer Forest
• Hudsonian Zone - Spruce-Fir or Subalpine Conifer Forest
• Arctic-Alpine Zone - alpine tundra

The picture above was taken from the top (or summit if you must) of Humphrey's. The trail up the mountain is supposed to be 4.5 miles one way, but what they don't count is the mile or so hike to the trailhead. The hike is an easy climb until you reach the 11,400 foot treeline where the altitude starts to make a difference to flatlanders. It is discouraging to hike on a nice day because there is always some person in shorts running up the mountain who passes you on the way up and on the way down twice. The view from the top really depends on the weather and air conditions. You can mostly see where all the smoke from the northern Arizona power plants goes.

The forest on the trail up the mountain is superb, old trees with a lot of character. It is a lovely place and deserves the significance given to it by thirteen different Indian tribes.

According to Wikipedia, "Humphreys Peak was named in about 1870 for General Andrew A. Humphreys, a U.S. Army officer who was a Union general during the American Civil War, and who later became Chief of Engineers of the United States Army Corps of Engineers."