Trip report
Nov 13, 2019 — Newman Peak sits on the north side of I-10 and is passed by everyone en route between Tucson and Phoenix, AZ. It's less iconic than the very popular Picacho Peak just to the south, but probably about as much fun. Plus, it's free and there likely won't be anyone out there.
We decided to come in from the west, following E Milligan Road to Citrus Heights Drive. If you go too far on E Milligan, you'll hit a No Trespassing sign. We followed Citrus Heights Drive south until encountering a couple of gates to bypass the irrigation canal, without any of the unwelcoming signs. We continued southeast on a decent dirt road and parked a few hundred feet from the canal. We followed a poor dirt road by foot and crossed over a bridge on the canal where we located the remains of an very old road on the opposite side. We made a cairn since it wasn't obvious where this road started. The road winds a little before heading into the major drainage that comes west from Newman Peak.
At a certain point, the old road deteriorates enough that we lost it completely, and ample cairns mark at least two routes through the bouldery drainage. We stumbled onto a very old trail that was apparently used a long time ago to ascend Newman Peak (maybe for workers for the summit radio towers?) but has long been abandoned. We didn't find it on the way up, so I only included my descend route on the attached map. We did a lot more boulder-hopping on the ascent, but definitely don't expect the old trail to be obvious, nor well-maintained. It's more of a guide than anything else.
The trail leads deeper into the main drainage and then more clearly continues up one of the lesser drainages before switchbacks lead through a Class 2 gully. The gully ends at some nice views to the south before the final push on switchbacks up the west slope to the Newman Peak summit. The views aren't particularly interesting, but the route up was definitely some steep boulder-hopping exercise fun.