Hike Mount Bangs Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument, AZ

Mount Bangs is the high point of Arizona's Paiute Wilderness in the Virgin Mountains. It's got some great views and a pleasant trail, but access to this part of the Arizona Strip is a huge pain, making the peak almost not worth the effort… almost. The NPS provides directions to reach the trailhead from two directions. The first details the southern drive over Lime Kiln Pass, and previous reports note that approaching from this direction may be shorter, but the road is more rocky and the time required to drive is comparable to coming from the north. The second option is to come from St. George from the north, which is what I ended up doing. My initial plan was to drive over Lime Kiln Pass from Mesquite and exit toward St. George since I was going that way anyway, but I'm glad I didn't since the road was worse than I thought it would be and I'm not sure I could have made it all the way through. Alternatively, you could ascend via Elbow Canyon from the west just out of Mesquite, which cuts down the drive time significantly, but this is a particularly rough ATV road and I don't think my Crossover vehicle could have made it very far, resulting in a predictably very long road walk. In hindsight, I wish I had gone this way to save on the driving, even if it meant adding 10+ miles of hiking to the day.

The drive from St. George was actually pleasant. I'd never been to this part of Arizona and the landscape is nice enough that I wasn't frustrated with being in a car for so long. I recommend not trusting a GPS to navigate you. Instead, head here (37.00009, -113.56024) and go south on BLM 1069. Turn right here (36.74772, -113.54654) onto BLM 1004. The road is excellent until about here (36.77952, -113.82445), where it probably gets too rocky for sedans. I decided to park my car a bit before the trailhead when the road deteriorated significantly since being this remote and alone didn't inspire confidence to drive any farther. You can cut 2 miles and 400 vertical gain from my stats if you can make it to the trailhead.

I started along the road, passed by the Cougar Spring Trailhead sign, and continued north on the trail that was once an old roadbed. I could see the scrubby slopes of Mount Bangs and its bouldery summit area ahead. The trail was in great condition and easy to follow as it slowly gained elevation to a saddle at around 6900', a trail junction. I headed west up Mount Bangs' east ridge, following the trail as it switchbacked a few times, where the landscape became more interesting and the summit came fully into view.

About a half mile from the summit, the well-graded trail started to slip away from the ridge crest and keep more south and then it mostly disappeared. I noticed a few well-placed cairns on the right that led up some light Class 2, marking the start of the social trail that would take me to the summit. Although it's a well-worn trail and the brush is minimal, it can be tricky to stay on course. My recommendation is to stick to the crest whenever possible, especially if you notice you're dipping too far to the south and away from the ridgeline. The last few hundred feet introduce a small section of Class 2+/3 boulder-hopping before reaching the summit, where the views are actually really spectacular, Virgin Peak to the south and Signal Peak to the north, as well as Mesquite and other desert scenery all around. I hung out to enjoy them for a while in order to help myself feel like I justified the long drive for such a short hike.