Time: 5 hours
Level ground around 4400'
Today's hike down to the border was a much-needed walk for me, after the emotional week I had with pets, work and classwork. The cold snap cleared out for a lovely day in the upper 50s today, with only a slight breeze.
Twelve people showed up for this. Twelve people! Suddenly the hikers are joining me on the local hikes, and I'm enjoying the fresh, spunky blood. Cheryl, Frank, Big Steve, Paul, Rod and Cassie, Eric, Marlene, Andrea, Michael, Carol and I (with Sadie, of course) joined me for breakfast at the Morning Star Cafe in Palominas at 8am. Our meals were promptly served and we still were able to leave at the scheduled time of 8:30am for the trailhead.
I discovered that the BLM has moved the trailhead parking since the last time I had done this trail with Kevin over a year ago. The old road to the trail off Highway 92 (one mile east of the San Pedro River) is now gated shut and we went under the gate to get to the trailhead .6 miles away. I learned after the hike that we could have parked just .2 miles further south on the dirt road, walked another .4 miles and made it to the trailhead. A new restroom is now at the expanded parking area. There's also a shaded picnic table. The actual trail hasn't been diverted and
still crosses a wide wash before gaining some high ground on more compact soil. Lots of dead tumble weed and thorny brush line the old jeep trail here, though.
We were a spunky bunch today. Many had never gone to the border and the excitement of seeing the steel eyesore got some of the new members silly. A border patrol agent saw us walk down to the border, I let him know what our intentions were (he wanted to make sure we didn't trigger off any sensors) Some were fun to watch as they "pretended" to climb the border and run across the field into the shallow ditches, as many illegals are photographed doing. I had to remind some that even pretending to climb the fence was considered tresspassing.
The walk to the border on the trail is rather boring but the company today was lively. On a hot day this exposed section is dry and redundant, with the actual river at times over a mile away. The exposed section makes this rather safe for the day hikers (this trail is only open during the day as per USBP and BLM rules) as any drug or human smugglers would prefer the cover of the sycamore-canopied river instead.
I kept going from fast to slow groups to mingle with everyone. There were several new hikers today I wanted to get to know, and we generally walked at the same pace.
We made it to the border at 11:30am. The majority wanted to walk another .5 mile down to the river to see the border fence there. I gave in but reminded everyone that that only added more miles to the grand total hike. An eight mile trail turned into a 10.3-mile trail and the new trailhead parking adds .4 mile either way anyway, making this a new 8.8 mile stretch.
There isn't much to see along the border. An old customs house remains as several abandoned homes line a hilltop on the Mexican side, but there is not much life here. Heavy rows of dead tumbleweed jam up against the Mexican side of the fence ("That's one thing that can't get across!" said Eric) A lone Mexican rancher worked on some pipes onthe southern side of the border with his two barking dogs. He was a bit too far for me to start a conversation with, but I was tempted. He didn't seem too interested in us Gringos anyway and worked his task as if we weren't there. Sadie, however, barked at the two Mexican dogs who barked right back. This was all the excitement we saw, as birdlife was little and we only spotted a few ravens and flitting titmice. No raptors this time, although Cheryl spotted a herd of around 12 mule deer grazing near the border.
Several USBP vans were watching the border along the river. This would have been an ideal place to have lunch, but most wanted to just go back. The group broke off into the fast and the slow group and I stayed with the slow group. My lack of hiking in two weeks was evident, as I was getting tired and enjoyed the lunch break near the fence with the "slow" group.
Michael stayed with the slow group. I have to laud him for helping to pick up any trash along the trail. There wasn't much there, half a small plastic bag, but it's nice to see others doing what I enjoy doing: keeping our trails clean.
Rod and Cassie fell behind but Michael and I stayed until they arrived safely back at their car. It was almost 2pm before I left to get back home. I was tired, hungry, and relieved that our water was turned on. We had had no water during the two-day cold snap and my body was crying for some hygiene.
I really liked today's group again. Sadie was also on her best behavior, staying by my side the entire time and staying out of other people's path.
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