Bear Down Mountain and Mount Elliot – Prescott National Forest - Difficult

Parking at starting point is at: 34.4913, -112.3654. It is about a 1h 20 minute drive from the meeting spot.

Bear Down Mountain and Mount Elliot are two lesser-known summits south of Prescot. Both sit just below 7,000’. A trail goes to within a quarter mile of Bear Down Mountain and a social trail leads to Mount Elliot after a well defined trail reaches the ridge top.

Overall, the hiking is going to be mostly on thin forest roads. We will drive about ¾ miles off of a paved road on a good dirt road to dispersed camping. Even though the dirt road is short, it would be good to get some high clearance vehicles to drive.
It is about 4 miles and over 1,250’ to Bear Down Mountain. Once back at the saddle, we go another 3 miles and 800’ to Mount Elliot.
Once down, we can take a short-cut road back to the cars. All in all, expect about 12 miles round trip and over 2,100’ of elevation gain.

What makes this difficult is the hiking distance and route-finding. We need to stay on course, and given proximity to Prescott, there should be sufficient cell service to track waypoints for key turn offs along the way.

READ THE FOLLOWING: The Organizer of this trip is a VOLUNTEER, not a "leader". The organizer IS NOT trained in first aid and is not a bonded expert mountain guide. You will need to bring your own experience and judgment. If you want to enjoy the benefits of traveling in a group, then we suggest that you stay with the group on the trip.

The waitlist is created to give preference to hikers who have demonstrated the ability for tougher hikes and consistency of showing up when they RSVP. Those who have RSVPed multiple times and have always cancelled or been a no-show will be kept on the waitlist until others who are more likely to come are given an opportunity to RSVP. The waitlist also ensures we do not overwhelm parking, as this area doesn’t have infinite parking.

Assess the route and conditions as if you were going to do this trip solo.

About your organizer: My name is Dan. I moved to the Phoenix area in early 2017. I have organized over 200 hikes for various groups – including in Arizona, the Sierras, and Northern Nevada. I tend to choose mountain summits I have never done before. I do as much preparation and mapping as I can to ensure we take the correct trails. However, when driving to and hiking in a new area, there are always surprises and unknowns.

This hike is subject to cancellation or rescheduling due to fires or inclement weather.