Patagonia and the Arizona Trail

Weather today showed no sign of yesterday's rain. After an early-morning wake-up at 5:30am to have coffee and watch a President Grant video, I was off by 10:30am with a van loaded with recycables and an excited Sadie in the van. I don't think she's been with me in the van since the summer's roadtrip. The back was loaded with glass bottles, plastics, tin cans and cardboard; Sadie had to sit up front in the passenger seat.

The closest full-service recycling plant is in Patagonia, a pleasant but tiny town 20 miles north of Nogales and the Mexican border. It's 54 miles from our house along a designated "Scenic Route" on Highway 83, snaking around alluvial plains and historical markers.

I dropped off the recycables and then headed four miles south of town into the foothills and the trailhead for the Arizona Trail. We headed south, toward the Red Rock Canyon.

Although we never made it to the Red Rock Canyon five miles down the trail, it was nice being back here. I hadn't been on the AZ trail here since 2005 with Kevin. Very little looked familiar, though, and when I hit a wide wash couldn't find the trail. It was 90 minutes into the hike, Sadie looked tired, so I made this shady spot under a large cottonwood my turn-around spot.

The Canelo Hills here are scenic, although it's exposed and hot. Despite the cool-down of the low 80s, it was still very hot in the afternoon. The small mesquites along the trail looked dead without their leaves. Several manzanitas were already brown from death. Sotals, prickly pears and small herbs that looked like maple trees dotted the dry trail but the dominant colors were shades of brown and sand. I stopped three times each way to make sure Sadie had enough water. On the return trip she stayed behind me the entire time.

We saw no one and nothing. No cows, no raptors, no trash. Not even footprints in the sand. That is very odd, but perhaps that cold rain from yesterday kept illegals from crossing over.

Sadie rested in the van, legs stretched out, just like on the roadtrip, on the trip back home. She is such a blessing to have now for company. I'm grateful she's a part of my life.