Lower Ash Canyon

Today was the last hike with the dogs this year. Tomorrow morning I am taking off with Eric for the long drive to Chicagoland over the holiday. Kevin doesn't walk the dogs and the dogs needed exercise. I took Sammy, Sadie, Minnie and Zeke out for a four-mile hike at 9:15am.

We had a storm blow over yesterday. It's now hampering the Central Plains and will haunt the East Coast after C'mas. This morning the residual was still there in the mountains. A fresh layer of light snow covered the peaks. This snow didn't hamper our hike at all. Where we started there was no snow, but the wind was blustery and there was cold drizzle. Staying in the canyon kept us from the blustery winds, so we stayed low.

I had wanted to go higher at the start but the higher we drove, the stronger and colder the winds were. This didn't seem to bother the dogs, but I was cold! We ended up walking uphill from the lower canyon trailhead, followed the dry creek bed to the official trailhead two miles up, and walked up one more switchback before turning around. Fast-moving dark grey clouds overhead made this an arctic blast challenge. Dead trees from the 2011 fire continue to drop their weakened branches. Even live trees weakened by the summer floods are also uprooting after heavy winds.

Prospectors are back in the lower canyon digging for placer gold again. There were now holes that weren't there the last time I walked through here.

There was no one around, but by 10am I could hear target shooters in the lower canyon. More were coming uphill as we were going downhill via the forest road. The dogs stayed nearby and enjoyed the romp. The three younger ones were aheadm but Sammy was close-by up front.

When we got back to the van, the external temperature gauge read 39F. My hands were cold! It was warmer outside the house at 44F. Most of the clouds stayed over the mountains.

Hip dysplasia

I took Minnie and Sadie with me to the shelter with the intent of going on a hike afterwards. Then Valli came by the house unexpectedly and she asked if she could come along. I agreed, although I felt awkward at first because who wants to watch me take photos of shelter animals?

Both dogs jumped happily in the van and waited patiently for me for three plus hours while I photographed dogs and cats and watched Valli, who drove with me to the shelter in her separate car, assessed the dogs. Carol was already there and was chatting with Niki. Danielle had just finished walking big dog Yeka, a huge white Great Pyrenees. There was no Joe and no Charlie. There were no adopters, either. The most annoying person there was the teenaged girl, but even she was on her best behavior today. It was a very pleasant experience at the shelter. It felt like the early days from this past winter. I had to walk my dogs halfway through my photo session with Valli since it did get warm in the van even with the windows open and the dogs were getting restless.

I am very pleased with the photos I took.

It occurred to me to ask Carol if she thought Sadie had hip dysplasia. She is a retired vet tech and knows her way around dogs. She felt her hips, watched her walk and run and said that yes, she does have it and pointed out the bone structure of her hips. Her hips are not even. Is this why she's been sauntering all her life? Her run has slowed down, she tires more easily but she's still fast and doesn't fall down (yet). I now have to mentally get myself prepared for the next medical horror with Sadie. She's going to be six years old in March and I love her dearly. Lately she's been jumping up on the bed at night and I wake up spooning her.

The sun was already setting when I left the shelter. I drove down to Lower Huachuca City and let the dogs out near the wash. I had never been down there and it gave me a weird look at the town. There is not one nice house in that town; it's all small slump brick or dilapidated shacks with chain link fences. Both dogs chased each other in the setting sun, dust was blowing up from their stampede and as I stood there watching my dogs, a little tear swelled in my heart knowing that in a few years Sadie may not be able to run like that anymore. I need to make sure the rest of her life is a good life.

East Hunter Canyon trail

I didn't work today and wanted to take the dogs on a decent hike in warm weather, something that Sammy could do. I chose the Hunter Canyon trail, starting at the parking lot inside Hunter Canyon and walking along a creek trail for a mile to get to the official trail head. There was only one target shooter out today and he was far enough away to not be a nuisance. The dogs didn't care.

I had taken them on this trail a few days ago, but this time I took them almost two miles on the trail before resting and turning around. Only Sammy seemed tired and I knew that taking him on hikes longer than three miles are now the past. His hind legs tend to point inward when he's tired, perhaps from an old injury from 2005 when he was hit by a pick-up truck.

We started the hike at 11:11am. The pace was normal as we meandered in the shade of oaks along the creek. No one was around. While the dogs were running back and forth and chasing each other, Sammy stayed by my side. I'm starting to worry about that dog. Although he seems to have recovered some from Sara's passing, I know he misses having someone his own age around. Zeke's nothing but a nuisance and Sammy only growls at that dog.

Once at the official trai lhead, the exposure comes out. The trail s now an old mining trail along the creek. We stayed on this trail until we hit the old water tank, continued straight ahead, and rested by a spring where the dogs drank water and Sammy rested. A hunter was camped out nearby. We were at a slight elevation, and I could see San Jose Peak.

At this point we turned around and went back the way we came. I discovered a small grave dedicated to someone's pet Teehla. How come I had never seen that before? It's right off the trail!

Sammy was exhausted when we got home at 1pm

Miller Peak after our first snow of the season

We had a nice late fall storm blow through Thursday and Friday. When it finally cleared it revealed snow-covered peaks! Ellen asked if I was interested in hiking with her and Jessa up the Miller Canyon trail today and I agreed, not knowing how deep the snow was or how long we would be on the trail. I opted to take Zeke on this hike as he's great in the snow. We met at 7:15am at the Miller Canyon trail head parking lot and took off. It was still very cold in the shade. Zeke was excited to be on the trail and ran back and forth between the front (Jessa) and the rear (me).

"We should put a GPS on that dog to see how far he actually goes!" said Jessa. Zeke kept that up for four miles. When we reached the bath tub he slowed down a lot and stayed behind me.

I had a hard time getting into the hike. I haven't been hiking as much as I had been, and I know I need to maintain my conditioning. Today I kept thinking about the upcoming scandal at the shelter again, and the town council meeting that I'm sure will be another media scandal. My mind couldn't stop thinking about it all. I was the slowest of the three, but Ellen and Jessa always took breaks to wait for me.

There wasn't as much snow on the ground as I expected. The first mile was snow-free. Then I noticed powdered frost a mile on the trail, which turned to a light coating of snow. The heaviest sections were those in the shade, but the snow never covered my Kayland boots. I'm estimating three to five inches of snow at most, and many sections seemed to have some melting by the time we came down.

My feet and hands were warm in my triple layer of tops. I wore my wide-brim hat which kept my head warm but not my ears. I had on brown ski pants which perhaps were frivolous as Jessa wore jeans and was quite fine. My Kayland boots are stiff but kept me warm and provided traction.

The sun finally got over the mountains to bring light in at 8:41am as we were three miles up. That helped get us energized, but the many shaded sections were more than the sun, which didn't help the photographs until we were on the Crest Trail.

We got to the bath tub at 10:33am where I took my first snack break with Zeke. The bath tub water was cold and clear, with the usual pine needles on the bottom of the tub. Zeke didn't show much interest in drinking. I had carried two gallons of water with me for the two of us and he probably didn't more than a pint today.

It was a bit chilly here higher up. We were still 2.5 miles from the peak and even though the grade now was not so extreme, I still had to take short breaks. Jessa and Ellen took off at the peak trail and when I got to the peak at 12:21pm I couldn't find them. They had found a wind-free boulder to hide behind and eat lunch that was off the trail and out of sight.

I was there for ten minutes on that blustery peak wondering where they were. I had to hold on to my hat as that wind blew! Four soldiers came up and wanted me to take their picture of them holding the US flag. I happily obliged. It's the 72nd anniversary of Pearl Harbor today, and I found it befitting that these four soldiers from B Co, 305th MI BN would want to showcase the flag.

We all were anxious to get off that blustery peak, though. The soldiers ran down, we were much slower, but we did meet them near the peak trail intersection where they ate lunch before running past us again. The guys had flattened whatever snow there was for us.

Ellen had stopped several times on the hike to either take layers off or add new ones. I never took anything off. I unzipped my outer wind breaker and my wool zipper sweater. The wind chill did me in, and as long as there was snow below us, we were cold. Once we left the snow level, things warmed up and I even took off my gloves.

Zeke did very well today. He did surprisingly well on the distance since he doesn't normally go on hikes, but away from Sadie and Minnie he does quite well UNTIL he sees other people approaching and especially with another dog. A father-son duo past us as we rested near the creek on our way down, with their young hound which they adopted from the Benson shelter a few months ago. I quickly put Zeke on a leash. Zeke barked at the dog, the dogs sniffed, and all was fine.

We got back to the cars at 3:45pm. My right knee and left ankle are going to be hurting tomorrow. When I got home at 4pm Kevin was doing the finishing touches on a full chicken dinner, and even Eric joined in when he got home from work.

Bushwhack up a hill

I had been meaning to bushwhack up a hill that Kevin and I had hiked up with Sara and Sammy years ago. It's a small hill at the mouth of Hunter Canyon overlooking SR92 that illegal border crossers would use as an overlook. I took four dogs with me on this: Sammy, Sadie, Zeke and Minnie. I was hoping I could find the original trail from years ago, but apparently the 2011 fire and flood washed most of the trail away. I couldn't find a trace of the old trail. Everything was overgrown with waist-high Lovegrass.

The hike up the hill started at the first pull-out on the right side of the forest road. We crossed the dry drainage and just went up the ridgeline, heading to the peak. The grass was so tall that I only could see the top of all the dogs' ears as they frolicked around. They certainly enjoyed the romp and I enjoyed being able to take them somewhere where they wouldn't bother anyone, but walking up this hill was not easy: the tall grass hid all the many loose rocks.

There was no sign of any old trail, either. It used to meander up the side of the hill along the forest boundary. The peak was popular for the border crossers to use as a look-out about ten years ago, as the highway below does get patrolled by the USBP. But today I saw little trash and what I did find had been there a while.

There was, however, a lot of underwear at the peak, and I will now call that peak Underwear Hill. I picked up a few rusty cans to throw out back home.

We rested a bit, took in the scenery. The sky around us was various shades of grey all around. One gets a nice view of Hunter Canyon from this small hill. And then we walked down, taking a slightly different route down until we got to the drainage and took the drainage route back to the car. This was only a two-hour hike but all the dogs got some exercise and everyone seemed happy to get out.

After the rain: San Pedro Riparian trail going north from Hereford Bridge

We had a stormy weekend. I did no hiking until the clouds cleared up and the wind died down. Shortly after noon I packed up four dogs and drove back to the San Pedro River, but this time I stayed on the official trail and headed north. The official Hereford Bridge trail head parking was still closed off. There were no cars parked nearby, which is always good. I wanted to make sure the dogs stayed away from the prickly burrs this time.

The dogs enjoyed this hike. It's pretty much a straight trail on an old jeep trail heading north, staying on the west bank of the river which is 1/4 mile away. The trees along the river still had some yellow and green leaves on the upper canopies. This is a great place to find birds, especially wintering raptors, but I didn't see any until I was on my drive back home a few hours later.

I planned on no more than four hours: two hours out, two hours back, with breaks along the river. I had my backpack with water yet never used it. The dogs seemed to enjoy wading in the stream anyway at every break we took. The primary colors were khaki from the dried grass and all shades of brown from the trees. It may not have been a feast for the eyes, but the cool overcast made this short hike enjoyable for the dogs.

The storm clouds were breaking up, yet the sky never got a true blue today. (It was warmer than it was this morning, with me wearing a fleece jacket in the house and keeping my socks on. We finally turned the heat on yesterday.) More dark clouds lingered to the east over the Mule mountains and Bisbee. The peaks of the Huachucas were shrouded in fog, too. We walked north, and I watched Sammy to see if he could still make this distance, four miles, without too much pain.

I hadn't been on this trail for a long time. There isn't much landscape to see on this section, and it's a trail I prefer to mountain bike. It stays west of the river and is flat for the first two miles until you hit a dry wash which flows into the river. Then it meanders around several smaller hills. What this hike lacks in scenery, however, can often be replaced with wildlife.

I made this wash my turn-around point, but not before stopping here to let the dogs play in the water. The trail does get more scenic further north, but that will be for another time. Sammy lay in the cool shade of a cottonwood while the other three chased each other around the muddy banks of the river. Minnie and Sadie even enjoyed going after sticks I threw for them.

There was a lot of flood debris here, as if it were a choke point during floods. Snags were piled up along the treeline. The river today was low, which surprised me after the storms. We didn't get as much rain as points north and west did, and the Nordic Blast will reach Chicago midweek. That town is having its earliest single-digit days in 20 years. I don't feel so bad with our lows tonight being in the low 30s.

The sun cast pretty hues over the mountains to the east. The peaks were brown; there had been no snow fall here, whereas the storm brought snow to the peaks north of Tucson and across northern New Mexico. Darker clouds were moving in. We saw more birds on our return trip and even came across an alligator lizard in the middle of the trail. At first I thought it was a juvenile rattle snake, but then I saw its feet. It seemed odd to be out this late in the season, especially with the cold weather we had this weekend.

Target shooters were audible from nearby Copper Glance Road. Once we got back to the truck by 3:45pm, the dogs were happy to head back home. Sammy looked tired, but the other dogs were grateful for their time outside.

Maybe next time I'll hike south from the San Pedro house. That part is more scenic, but with scenic come more people I'd have to be cautious of with the dogs around. Today there were no signs of human life around me. Not even evidence of trash lay around save for one dirty blue shirt off the trail. This area used to be heavily trashed by border crossers coming over from the Mexican border four miles to the south. Now the trail feels abandoned from human memory.

Along the San Pedro river

The school district was on half-days and I took a day off from going to the shelter since we are down to four dogs and three cats and adoptions are on hold for the next 13 days. Volunteer Heather likes to sit up front and she could easily handle that case load by herself. Yesterday, when I was at the shelter for 2.5 hours, I felt like there wasn't much to do besides clean the kennels, and that gets very old after a while. Washing clothes, walking dogs, those are things other volunteers (like Heather!) could be doing.

I wanted this afternoon to be spent with my own dogs but ended up looking at the shelter page on Facebook and reading about one of our dogs, that's currently in foster care, give birth to three pups this morning. One died of hydroencephalitis so she only has two living pups. Finding them new homes will be our next concern in two months, after their parvo/distemper shots. People donated to the vet bill and then some, all via social media.

The puppy ruckus finally died down by 3pm so I packed four dogs: Sammy, Sadie, Minnie and Zeke in Kevin's car and drove down to the river for a short hike as far as we could go north. The parking lot to the Hereford Bridge trail head was locked which meant I had to go north on the illegal trail. The dogs went nuts in the water but also brought back with them burrs all over their fur! This is the trail I'd taken Sara and Sammy on many times in their younger days, just a mile up and down the river, and usually encountered interesting birdlife along the way. Now that part of the river is heavily grown over with weeds. The border crossers that use the river as a directional cut deep swaths in the now dead weeds that poke and pierce naked skin. It's not really a fun hike off trail.

The burrs got so bad, though, that I opted to turn around. All the dogs had burrs on their fur, and many were stuck to my red Indiana sweatshirt. Taking the dogs to the river on this river trail was not a good idea. Next time I'll stick to the official path further away from the water. AT least the dogs had fun.

Bushwhack to view to moon rise over the valley

I needed to get out and get some exercise before the entire weekend was wasted on shelter work and photographs. Sadie hadn't been on the trail in three weeks due to her raw skin spot, but today I decided to let her come along so that she isn't too kennel-stressed. After wearing a cone around her head for the last two weeks, I took it off of her before letting her into the truck with Sammy, Minnie and Zeke. I could tell she was happy for the diversion; she only once picked on her raw spot. We left the house at 3:35pm and got to the trail at 3:45pm. Moon rise was at 5:42pm. That gave us plenty of time to explore at a leisurely place.

I drove up Carr Canyon Road to park at the Clark Springs trail head. No one else was around so I felt safe taking the dogs out here. Other pull-offs with vistas were already taken so this was my one option without driving much farther up the road. It turned out to be a nice option in the end, as most of the trail was a bushwhack along an illegal trail to an overlook before resuming on the actual trail. We had plenty of daylight to walk without watching every footstep. I wanted to give the dogs some exercise before finding a spot where we could watch the moon rise. There were plenty of hidden rocks under all that tall, dead grass. At times all I could see of the dogs were the tips of their ears.

The Clark Springs is now pretty much washed away from the landslides of two years ago in this area. I couldn't even find where the lush area once was that provided water for the dogs. Burned trees now have new growth around the root base. It's no longer so dead-looking here as it was the first year after the fire. Now parts of the trail are eroding off the steep ridgeline it follows.

All four dogs enjoyed the romp. I always enjoy watching Zeke and Sammy be outdoors. I don't take them out as much as I take out the others. The 2.5 miles I'm estimating we hiked and bushwhacked is about as much as Sammy can now handle. He tends to wobble with his hips and turn his rear legs inward when he gets tired. While the other three frolicked nearby, Sammy stayed by my side.

The Clark Springs trail follows a low ridgeline for two miles before descending into Miller canyon. I didn't have time to hike that far, nor did I bring any water (which was probably a mistake). So I purposely kept the hike short and turned around 3/4 down the trail where the Clark Springs trail meets up with the John Cooper trail, a trail built specifically for mountain bikers. From this point one can see Miller Canyon road and the Perimeter trail head parking lot. It was 5:03pm and time to turn around. (That's another area I haven't been to in a while) The views to the east are pretty, and it's a great choice to watch the moon rise. I brought a jacket along as it got noticeably cooler once the sun disappeared behind the mountains; today's high was only 68F in Sierra Vista. We got back to where the truck was parked at 5:27pm, which gave us just enough time to get to a rocky overlook off the Carr Canyon Road, find a steady spot for the camera, and take pictures.

This is the part the dogs didn't like: they had to wait around until I was done taking pictures. Sadie and Minnie did all the whining, like two toddlers! The two boys didn't mind and rested.

There were clouds overhead so the actual sun set wasn't that spectacular. City lights came on at dusk and car lights snaked down State Road 92 in streams of white and red below me. When the moon rose at 5:42pm as forecasted, it quickly disappeared behind some clouds for the rest of the evening. By then the dogs were ready to get back home and drink water out of the toilet bowl.

It was a beautiful day for a hike. Friday was stormy and gusty, yesterday was cool but today felt almost too warm for mid-November. Meanwhile Chicagoland was under tornado warnings. Erin and Ethan stayed at a friend's house in the basement during the worst part. What's up with all these late-season tornadoes lately?

Huachuca Peak via McClure Canyon

Today was the big hike up Huachuca Peak via McClure Canyon. We met at 7am at the AAFES gas station off the Main Gate on Fort Huachuca: Ellen, SteveA, JohnS, Rod and new member ChristianK, who had driven down from Vail. We left promptly ten minutes later. We didn't need to sign in at the MP station like I thought we did (That's only valid for Huachuca Canyon, not Garden Canon). We drove in three high-clearance vehicles to the trailhead and got there at 8am. We were able to drive 1.2 miles into the canyon and parked at an abandoned camp site. There were dried piles of bear scat everywhere! Would our vehicles be safe from the bears? I left my vehicle unlocked so that the bears wouldn't find it necessary to break open any of my windows.

It was 8:07am when we started the ascent up the canyon.

Ellen, John and Christian had never been here before and were immediately awestruck. "I just discovered my new favorite route up to Huachuca Peak" said John several times. And indeed it was very beautiful today. Weather was just slightly warm with 79F in Sierra Vista with clear skies and no wind. It was unusually mild today. It would have been more beautiful had there been any water in the canyon. Everything looked dry as we walked past the oaks, pinon pines, manzanitas, agaves, sotels and Ponderosas in the higher elevation.

The early start kept the sun behind us and low. This was ideal for Minnie who easily gets overheated. The sycamores and maples in the lower canyon were in full color, the ash and elms in the thick canyon less so. The oaks and juniper retain their dark green leaves. There also was no water in the falls, which had heavy debris piles from past floods. Most of the wildflowers had died and gone to seed.

McClure Canyon I'm sure is quite beautiful after a monsoon. The last time I was up the steep mile to the peak trail, Sara was with me and there was some water. This time it was dry and all water came from whatever I was carrying. Bear scat was all along the trail, yet Minnie showed no signs of coming across a bear scent. Some very pretty vistas opened up once we got outside the canyon and were on the ridgeline to the next trail intersection.

Christian, who only recently started hiking, did amazingly well. We stopped for short breaks but no breaks were very long. We made it to the helopad by 9:51am, which was 1.8 miles from where we had parked (!). We sat here until 10:25am before taking off for the final mile up the peak an hour later. We came across two older hikers who had started from Sunnysites near Parker Canyon Lake earlier today. There went another opportunity to chat. We broke no speed records today.

Rod showed us an area where fossils (crinoids?) are embedded in the limestone outcroppings near the Rock Springs Canyon trail 1/4 mile from the top. I never kenw about these fossils before! "They are all picked over by now" said Rod, and from looking at the broken rocks, had to agree with him.

Once at the top overlooking the southern canyons and Mexico, we opened our lunches and sat there for 50 minutes taking in the views of the western front of the mountain range. Ellen was getting tired. Christian felt a big sense of accomplishment (and I did for him as well). As it turns out, the entire hike one way was only 2.6 miles, yet it felt like we had hiked much longer than that! Had we not driven in that 1.2 miles we would have added 2.4 miles to this hike.

Minnie was a real sweetheart again. Every time we stopped she had to fetch something, from big sticks to pine cones. Those big sticks could get dangerous when she'd carry one of those lengthwise, poking me in the leg as she'd try to run pass me. She never tired out until the end. We also had some water left, thanks to the shade we had for most of the hike. It kept Minnie cool.

We got back to our trucks at 2:34pm. The campsite appeared untouched of new bear activity. We waited for everyone to get back down before driving off.

Exploring McClure Canyon

McClure Canyon is a hidden side canyon on Fort Huachuca that is known for its protective species of birds. It is a quiet canyon away from mainstream hikers. A creek runs through this canyon, which makes it a popular place for wildlife to hang out.

I took Zeke and Minnie to this canyon Sunday afternoon to see how the road to the trailhead for this was in preparation for tomorrow's hike with Ellen and a few others. I hadn't been in this canyon for several years. Sarah was with me then and she hiked up to the peak and down. That was perhaps her last long hike.

Fall colors were just past their prime. There was also a lot of bear scat, which is why the US Army is now making it mandatory to check in with the post MP station before hiking into this area. Zeke and Minnie didn't seem to care as they ran up and down the old jeep trail. Zeke doesn't hike as much as Minnie or Sadie because he's a bit more "wild" around strangers and tends to chase after all wildlife, something I really don't appreciate. But today Zeke was more happy frolicking around with Minnie. He'd come out of the forest covered in seed heads, wagging his tail with delight.

I only made it to the trailhead a mile uphill. Everything was as I remember it from a few years ago, with the new trail signs in place and the rocky, gravelly trail meandering uphill. This trail ascends right away, which is why it's perhaps the steepest but shortest way up to Huachuca Peak.

Ash Canyon in the Galiuros

The original plan was to hike up Bassett Peak today. That didn't happen and I am not sure why. Rod, Paul, John, Bill Sr and I with Minnie met up at 7:40am in Benson and drove to the trail head north of Willcox. We got there at 9am and it was already crowded. Parking was at a premium.

Weather was beautiful, too. Two years ago when I last did this hike it was overcast and chilly. I was dressed for chill and wind and it was neither chilly nor windy! Instead it was a warm, clear blue sky overhead.

Rod, the official hike leader, quickly fell back with Bill Sr. That slowed the rest of us down and we waited several times for Rod and Bill to catch up. That ruined our momentum. By the time we all got to the upper creek where the trail leaves the canyon and switchbacks up an exposed, rocky and brittle ridgeline, I was out of energy. I even dozed off during a rest break. While Rod and John made it to the ridgeline, Paul and I did not. I was glad to turn around and get Minnie back into the cool shade of the canyon.

More later.

Upper Ash Canyon

Something awakened me at 3am. I smelled rain outside but couldn't tell if it had rained or not until later. I couldn't sleep so I got online for an hour before going back to bed and fighting with Minnie to make room for me. She refused to budge and I wasn't about to let her win this battle.

It was a perfect day: in the 70s, overcast and little breeze. I needed to get some hiking in so I opted to take Minnie, Zeke and Sammy up Nipple Peak in Ash Canyon. I kept Sadie at home again because she has another raw patch on her rear left thigh that looks like it could use some medical attention. It's the size of a saucer plate. I put a cone around Sadie's head to keep her from pulling her fur out.

Rain clouds hovered over the Huachucas. Carr Peak was shrouded in fog but the peaks south of there looked fine. Would I get sprinkled on? I didn't bring a jacket and only wore a t-shirt and jeans, the same clothes I wore all weekend.

There were a lot of target shooters in Ash Canyon again. This was the weekend to take the Halloween pumpkins into the National Forest and shoot them dead. There were shooters in every side trail along the way except for at the trailhead for Ash Canyon. The dogs couldn't wait to get out.

I hadn't been up this trail since earlier this winter with Sara, so I had her on my mind the entire time.

We started the hike up FR4784 at 1:33pm. A jeep and a pick-up came downhill near the start and then we were alone the rest of the walk. I worried about Sammy, but he did fine, not showing any fatigue but staying close-by. Minnie and Zeke fought a lot, usually started by Minnie, but otherwise they stayed on the trail. The scruboaks are growing back slowly. What used to be a brown-grey area is now slowly coming back to life with greens, although the taller dead trees will remain a landmark for many decades to come.

It got windier as we got closer to the saddle overlooking Mexico. At one point I felt the rain, but it didn't last. The cool air was refreshing for us all. At one point we even had a half rainbow in the valley.

It took me 50 minutes to get to the saddle. This was our break and turn-around time. It was 2:25pm The sky toward Mexico was mostly overcast but white-clouds. North of me was dark and windier. I was in a wind gap now and couldn't stay long. The dogs had some treats and water and we went downhill and back to the car. For a short two-hour hike this is a nice choice because you get a grade, a view and a challenge.

More later.

Lower Ash Canyon

I finally had a day off to take all the dogs down to the canyon and let them romp away from mainstream. I wanted Zeke and Sammy to get some exercise and see how Sadie was doing. She's back to running again and looks fine, and even Minnie, who had been hacking yesterday evening, seems better. We think she had a wood splinter or cactus thorn caught in her throat.

We walked downhill rather than upstream. There was a target shooter uphill who had startled the dogs and the dogs started barking, so I did an aboutface and walked the other way, far enough to get down to where homes were along the creek. This also means being closer to other people and their pets, and farther away from a water source. The oaktrees here were badly burned and haven't had new growth come up. Broken asphalt from old roads now line the creekbed. The damage after the fire here was massive, and there are still signs of that destruction.

When I heard a dog bark, I turned around again and took the dogs back to the car. They all were panting hard, especially Minnie, and she was no longer hacking. Maybe she needed to run hard to expel whatever foreign object in her throat?

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It was nice to take time away from the animal shelter and focus on my own dogs. I can't save all the dogs, but perhaps promoting the Facebook page will help get the word out that there are great animals in need of new homes.


https://www.facebook.com/pages/Friends-of-the-Huachuca-City-Animal-Shelter/134920913341965

Mount Lemmon loop

Mount Lemmon is a peak north of Tucson in the Catalina Mountains. It's home to the most southern ski resort in the country. The 9157' (2791m) peak is rather nondescript but since the 2005 Aspen fire has had a vista where there used to be a strand of Ponderosa. The Mount Lemmon area draws in a lot of people for recreational purposes, and if it weren't a two-hour drive to get to the peak, I'd go there more often. The views of the surrounding valleys are spectacular to the southwest through northwest.

I led the hike today. Expected weather for Mount Lemmon was 70F with a low of 36F. SteveS, SteveA, JohnS, Mac were my hiking partners. I brought Minnie but kept Sadie at home to give her more time to recover. Although she runs and fetches balls in our back yard, the last two hikes with her, she has been sluggish and slow. I had done this hike back in May 2010 with Sadie and wanted to see if the aspens that were regrowing since the 2005 fire had gotten any bigger since my last hike.

We got to the trailhead at 9:05am. There were a lot of people at this trailhead, including several dogs, two of which were also GSDs wanting a barking match with Minnie. This is the kind of environment where dogs must be leashed to avoid any conflicts whatsoever. Most people apparently just came to the Lemmon summit to look at the yellow aspens, as we saw no one on the trail going down. Minnie was on her leash for the first mile. then let her off so that she wouldn't pull me downhill. The trails are very rocky here.

The Mount Lemmon loop is a combination of several trails: The Mount Lemmon trail, the Lemmon Lookout Trail, the Wilderness of Rocks Trail, back up to the Mount Lemmon trail and Meadow trail. The last three miles are uphill and can be exhausting. There are many loose rocks and tree roots along the way; one must watch one's footing. There were three GPSs on this hike and all three had three different distances of within a .5 mile.

The trailhead to this hike starts to the left of a fenced-in power substation. The sign is partially hidden by a sign talking about the Mount Lemmon area. The trail isn't wide here, and the heavy traffic at 9am made for a very busy throughway. We stayed together as a group, hiking downhill. "Remember guys, it's uphill in the end!" That didn't stop our high spirits as we first stopped at the Lemmon look-out tower to see the peaks and the southern valley before continuing on downhill. New tree growth wasn't very obvious as this section was heavily burned in the Aspen fire of 2005. There was still a heavy ash layer on the trail when I did this hike in May 2010. Most of that has blown away or mixed in with the trail. What was once a lush hike is now mostly exposed and hot. The dead trees provide perching opportunities for raptors, and we saw a red-tailed hawk fly overhead and land on a high tree branch. We came across water near the base of this trail as a creek flows into Lemmon creek nearby. This was Minnie's first water break.

This was the first time SteveS, John and Mac had done this hike. They were very cooperative. They also talked me into going to the Lemmon pools, a hidden water hole popular with the locals who know how to get there. This side hike added almost two more miles to the grand total. I didn't mind, as long as we all got back in daylight. It was on my way to the pools that I torqued my right knee, and that knee pained me the rest of the hike whenever I landed on an uneven surface. Wearing Kayland boots more suitable for alpine trails also didn't help much, as the boots are stiff and over-the-ankle.

We got to the pools at 10:40am. SteveA and I sat on a sunny rock while Minnie went into the cold water right away. She also wanted to fetch sticks and I did so reluctantly, but then two more women came and joined us and I didn't want their clothes nearby to get wet with Minnie's post-swim shake downs. We had our first snack at the pools. We stayed here for almost an hour.

From the pools we continued on the Wilderness of Rocks trail as it meandered up and around hills. This two-mile stretch is the most level section of the hike as it passes hoodoos and other interesting rock formations. Rappel Rock, a popular rock climbing wall, is visible along most of this section as its walls glisten in the sun.

John and SteveS were up front. I took the middle, making sure Mac and SteveA, who slowed down for Mac, was always within eye sight. Mac was steady but slow as we began our big ascent back up the Mount Lemmon trail at 1:45pm. Would we make it back to the cars by 4pm?

We were now on the western ridgeline with views into the valley. Cathedral rock was prominent, and the distant Mt Wrightson range as well. We could also see Picacho Peak and Oro Valley. The winds were picking up, so despite the exposed sections, this was a cool hike in many ways.

My right knee was slowing me down. I could feel every uneven step I took. My backpack also felt very heavy, as I had brought two gallons of water for Minnie and me, even though there were several creek stops along the Wilderness of Rocks trail (more than last time) so that the only dry part for her were the last three-four miles. The grade along this section started out moderate, but in the second mile we climbed up a long, steep section just before reaching the intersection with the Sutherland trail. The 2005 Aspen fire reached this area, but there were still small sections of mature Ponderosa pines that provided shade.

SteveS and John were long ahead of us and I stopped every few minutes to make sure I had Mac and SteveA in sight. I waited at the Sutherland intersection until they crested the trail, but continued on here as it was getting too cold to sit and wait. Mac was tired by now, but the last 1.5 miles were in sight, and the radio towers of Mt Lemmon were within reach.

The busiest part of the section was this last mile. The sun was getting low and urbanites were coming to the peak to see the sun set. Most groups we passed weren't dressed or equipped for anything more than a jaunt to the vistas. Minnie was back on leash for the final ascent. I got back to the parking lot at 4:50pm; SteveS and John had gotten there by 4:05pm. They made impressive time.

Mac and SteveA arrived by 5:20pm. Again the parking lot was filling up with people wanting to see the sun set. We just wanted to get off the mountain and out of the cold! There were some pretty colors around vistas as we drove the 26 miles back into Tucson, finishing off the day with dinner at Buddy's Bar and Grill on Houghton Avenue. Minnie slept in the truck and was quite content getting a break. What a trooper she is.

Everyone in the hiking group agreed this was a challenging and beautiful hike. I'm glad I had such good company.