Armatron Approach

Visiting red rocks this April and hoping to hit Armatron. Just trying to figure out why the approach is 2 hours? Is it very far from the parking lot or is the ascent up jackrabbit buttress just really strenuous and time consuming? We were thinking about skipping the hike up and instead climbing Myster Z up to the brownstone wall, but I have no idea how long the approach to Myster Z is. Could anyone help with some more information?

The parking lot, oak creek canyon and the brownstone wall are all plainly visible on google earth, so you can scope this out that way. The oak creek canyon lot is the one that extends off of the scenic drive on a lengthy gravel road. Armatron is on the climbers-rightmost edge of the brownstone wall.

The jackrabbit buttress is immediately below the brownstone wall. You can climb the jackrabbit buttress, or hike up the canyon to gain the top of it via easy slabs. The hike is less direct, but hiking is still probably faster than climbing unless you use simul tactics. I've done it both ways and I don't think that one way is much more preferable than the other. All things being equal I'd probably go with the fastest option if racing other parties was a consideration.

Hiking is faster.  

Hiking, we beat a competent party to the base. We saw their ropes on Mr Z on our way up.  But only after a little chest thumping by my partner - me plus her are greater than 120 years, we let them go first and were glad for it.

Trick for hiking is to know when to head off to the  right into the talus-ish. Twice I’ve missed that and ended up with too much bushwhacking and / or backtracking