Miller Peak is one of the tallest peaks in southern Arizona, and it’s only about 1.5 hours southeast of Tucson, so I have been eyeing this hike for a while. We noticed that the weather was going to be perfect for a hike and so we woke up at 3 AM and headed out to try to summit Miller Peak via the Crest Trail.
Miller Peak via Crest Trail Overview
Miller Peak is located in the Huachuca Mountains which are found in Coronado National Forest, Miller Peak Wilderness, and partially inside Coronado National Memorial. There’s a lot of history in these mountains and they are where Francisco Vázquez de Coronado first entered what is now Arizona in 1540.
Located just a couple of miles north of the US Mexico border by Sierra Vista, AZ, Miller Peak is the most southern peak rising above 9,000 feet and one of only five Arizona peaks with a prominence over 5,000 feet. It’s just slightly higher than Mount Wrightson with an elevation of 9,470 feet (Wrightson is 9453 feet).
The Miller Peak via Crest Trail is a hard hike with a little over 3,000 feet in elevation gain. It offers magnificent views and encounters with lots of different vegetation. The grade is reasonable and there are not a lot of steep rocky portions so it’s closer to a moderate to difficult hike. However, there are many thick patches of overgrowth that make the trail harder than it should be.
- Distance: 10.3 miles
- Elevation Gain: 3,044 feet
- Route Type: Out and back
- Pets: Yes
- Difficulty: Hard
- Time needed: 5 to 7 hours
My map below shows a shorter distance but it lost connection at times and so I believe the hike is closer to 10.3 miles.
Getting to the trailhead
The trailhead is located inside Coronado National Memorial and begins at an elevation of 6,560 feet.
You will first enter the park and head down E. Montezuma Canyon Rd. Follow the road past the visitor center all the way to the end where it becomes a dirt road.
This dirt road will be quite windy towards the end so be prepared for a road that some people get a little nervous on (I personally did not think it was that bad).
You will eventually arrive at a parking lot where the Montezuma Pass Overlook is. There are also a couple of trails that venture south from here although the trailhead for this hike will be to the north.
The beginning of the trailhead is easy to miss in low light conditions. It’s located directly across the street from the parking lot but the beginning of the trail is a narrow path so make sure to look for it carefully.
Trail conditions
The trail is well defined throughout the vast majority of the hike. The route is not very rocky so you don’t have to worry about a lot of big steps or anything of that nature.
The biggest problem with the trail is that there is significant overgrowth throughout the hike. A lot of this overgrowth consist of shrub oak or sharp yucca plants which can scratch you up pretty good. In fact, I wore shorts and both of my shins had several cuts on them after the hike so pants are your best bet.
As far as navigating goes, for the most part it will be pretty easy to follow along the trail. There are a couple of spots where the overgrowth is so thick that you might not have a clear view of the path to take so be mindful of those.
I used the AllTrails app to navigate and it was pretty good although it gave me false alerts about being off trail a couple of times.
Route description
The route begins as you make a mild incline along the ridgeline.
From the very beginning, the views are pretty amazing looking down into the valley. We began the hike just before dawn so as we made our way up we were able to witness an amazing sunrise with fog moving out down below.
The trail is a little narrow and the hillside is somewhat exposed. This is how much of the route is so you rarely venture to interior areas away from drop-offs. If you are afraid of heights the drop offs could make you a little nervous at times but it is still pretty manageable.
After the 1st mile, the elevation will begin to pick up a bit and you will enter into one of the steepest portions of the hike. You’re gaining about 850 feet the second mile but you never really have to deal with very steep switchbacks so I did not feel like this was super challenging.
And the views seem to just get better and better.
After the first couple of miles, the elevation gain will flatten out for the next couple of miles.
This made it much easier to enjoy the views and at this point we got a notification on our phone that we were connecting to a Mexican cell phone tower which was pretty funny.
Right around the 2 mile marker, you’ll catch your first glimpse of Miller Peak. From that point on, you’ll pretty much be hiking along the crest and you’ll soon have amazing views on either side of the mountain ridge.
As you move along the ridge, at around 3.3 miles in you’ll cross to the west side of the ridge and encounter more pine trees.
At around four miles into the hike you’ll pass the junction that connects to another trail. Just keep heading along the ridge.
You’ll notice that the trail is more rocky around this point. While you don’t have to deal with many large rocky steps, there will be a decent amount of loose rocks to contend with as you make your way up. Fresh rains had made this portion of the trail a bit slippery, too.
At around 4.5 miles you’ll come to the Miller Peak Trail spur that will take you to the summit of Miller Peak. At that point, you are about half a mile to summit.
Luckily, the final push to the summit does not involve steep scrambling or anything particularly strenuous other than a few switchbacks.
Once you push through a few switch backs, you’ll arrive to the top of the summit.
There’s a lot of space on the summit to relax and we had it all to ourselves which was great. There are remnants of some structures that used to be there including what looks like an open sewer line.
Once you are up on the summit you’ll have some pretty great views all around. In our case, there were clouds moving in from the east so we did not have much of a view looking east. However, we had some great views looking west and to Mexico.
The clouds brought the temperature on the summit down into the 50s. I hadn’t dealt with temperatures that low in several months so we were pretty chilly on top with only shirts and shorts.
There were many ladybugs at the summit. Unlike when we did Wrightson in May, we did not get swarmed by them. Instead, they were just huddling together on different logs and rocks.
After eating lunch on the summit, we started to make our way down.
The views on the way down are pretty amazing so be sure to take your time to enjoy the great views.
Unfortunately, I triggered some severe nerve pain in my groin area as we were coming up and it never let down.
This meant that I had to hike down five miles with some pretty excruciating nerve pain radiating throughout my groin and abdomen.
It was honestly one of the most difficult hikes I’ve ever done because of that.
I’m pretty sure I triggered the nerve pain because this was my first time doing a major hike in my new hiking boots and my gait was impacted. Basically, the new boots have much better grip on the bottom and are thicker so I kept clipping rocks through the hike.
Next time, I’m going to be sure to give my new boots plenty of wear and tear before I break them out on such a long hike.
But overall, I was still very happy we did this hike. It’s got to be one of my favorite to do in Arizona because of the amazing views and the solitude offered.