Hike Kofa Queen Canyon Peaks Kofa National Wildlife Refuge, AZ

Mar 8, 2026 — Most hikers venturing up Kofa Queen Canyon Road do so to reach the trailhead for Signal Peak, while others continue a bit farther to Old Smokey Mountain. I’d made the drive multiple times, passing three ranked, but unnamed, peaks at the mouth of the canyon and always looking up at them in awe, never attempting their summits. Today, Whiley and I set out to do just that, despite the absurd heat.

Normally, the peaks in the Kofa National Wildlife Refuge are loose and dangerous to the point of not being all that fun, while still offering some of the best remote and iconic Sonoran Desert views imaginable. Today’s outing certainly delivered the latter, but unexpectedly also the former. What an excellent cluster of peaks that somehow manage to stay no harder than Class 4!

We first set out for Peak 3577, the only one we had any information about. We took the major gully on its east side, picking our way up boulders through Class 2/2+ terrain until reaching the ridgeline to its north. The summit looked ridiculously daunting from there. Previous reports said it went at Class 4, while others claimed it was Class 5. We misremembered the details and therefore didn’t bring any webbing or even helmets, only realizing we may have made a mistake when we reached its base.

We found a rope dangling off a slightly overhung 30-foot cliff, and I acted as if I was going to climb it before realizing how silly that would be. Whiley darted around to the right and found a much friendlier angled face with a narrow chute that looked promising. I headed up first, finding sustained Class 3 climbing with a Class 4 move, but I felt fairly secure since I was wedged in. This led to the top of where the rope had been anchored, and I could see it hanging below.

Next to the anchor was a narrow ledge covered in kitty-litter-style rubble. A description we had read led me to believe this was a possible route, while another party had taken a direct face. I had no interest in the direct face given the rock quality and exposure, so I daintily made my way across the ledge instead. It was probably only Class 2, but very exposed, and I didn’t love the small step I had to negotiate while inching across.

Beyond the ledge, I followed a gully-like slope formation that climbed steeply toward the summit for a couple hundred feet. It was great fun, and I couldn’t believe it just kept going. From most angles, Peak 3577 looks like an incredible sheer face hundreds of feet tall that would require serious gear to climb, but this hidden weakness provided passage. A short stretch of unexposed Class 3 scrambling led to the high point.

Feeling a little adventurous, we decided to continue along the ridgeline to Peak 3239 rather than descend all the way back down, knowing we could always retreat if things became too crazy. It always helps to see plentiful bighorn sheep droppings, basically nature’s way of telling us this was a highway for them and would likely work for us too.

We stayed on the crest just below Peak 3577 and gaped in awe at its western face. Photos don’t do it justice. The ridge became progressively spicier, but we managed to keep the difficulty to Class 3. I recommend sticking to the crest whenever possible. Each time we deviated, we found ourselves in slightly more stressful terrain and ended up climbing back up anyway. A couple of short ledges and obstacles brought us down to a rather phallic-looking formation. We wrapped around the right side and were soon at the base of Peak 3239.

Peak 3239 has a sheer face on its south side, but a much more reasonable scramble seemed to exist on its north side via a steep slanted ramp. However, the base of that ramp drops off in cliffs, so the summit can likely only be accessed from the ridge crest. This little peak only recently became ranked thanks to LiDAR technology, and it ended up being a whole lot of unexpected fun.

An initial bit of Class 3 scrambling got us from the crest onto the steep ramp. The rock here was some of the most solid I’ve ever encountered in the Kofa, and the route became a maze of sorts as we worked our way up small gullies and around bulges. There are likely multiple ways up, and I recommend leaving a cairn or two to avoid losing your route on the descent like we nearly did. A final Class 3 move along the ridgeline brought us to the summit after a couple hundred feet of enjoyable obstacles with minimal exposure.

We descended Peak 3239 and chose a steep, loose nonsense route to return to Kofa Queen Canyon Road. What we ended up doing worked well enough, as there were plenty of exposed slickrock sections within a drainage that allowed us to avoid the worst of the kitty-litter slopes. I’m not sure there would have been a significantly easier option anyway.

Back at the cars, we refilled our water and decided to give Peak 3580 a try, even though information on it was sparse. From below, it looked wildly complex, but we figured there was no harm in trying. We started up its west side, climbing a steep slope and following animal trails whenever possible to gain the ridge crest. Some enjoyable Class 2 and Class 3 scrambling led along the ridgeline, with excellent views toward Signal Peak and the surrounding desert. Eventually, we reached a dead end along the crest, a face neither of us was willing to climb.

We dropped left (north) of the crest and found a convenient Class 3 slope just below it that somehow kept going. It was a bit loose and felt on the dangerous side of Class 3. This led us to the base of the summit block, which proved easiest to tackle from the east face via a chute containing a couple of short Class 3 moves and one very exposed shuffle.

Although we knew we could simply return the way we came, we decided to follow what appeared to be a major animal trail down the eastern ridgeline. This turned out to be a much more straightforward route, though less fun, and would probably be the better option for most parties. A sloping ledge below the crest was the catalyst for the route, complete with a trail clearly formed by bighorn sheep. The crest itself likely would not have gone, but this broad ledge below it worked perfectly. While we were never truly exposed, the slope was steep enough to feel a little intimidating, especially with a sheer cliff just below us.

After a bit of slow traverse-descending, the route eventually turned left and began descending steeply beneath the cliff we had been traversing above. This section was somewhat loose and not particularly pleasant, but it funneled us into a drainage that carried us back down to the desert floor.