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.

West Hunter Canyon trail

The West Hunter Canyon is a short mile-long trail that was built by Girl Scouts years ago. It led to an old foundation high in the canyon that once had apple trees. The foundation and the fruit trees are long gone, the last of the foundation having been destroyed in the post-fire floods two years ago. The trail is now badly rutted in the upper section, and what once was a lush, shaded area that I sought after in the summer months is now an overgrown patch of partially-burned trees, although there are plenty of untouched trees higher up that still provide shade. This trail has been abandoned by the Forest Service and is not maintained. Illegal border crossers still use this route from the Crest Trail to get into the valley, and USBP agents continuously patrol this area. I am always well aware of the dangers here.

Still, this is a nice, short section away from the mainstream hikers that is fun for the dogs. So I took Sadie, Sammy, Zeke and Minnie. Zeke and Sammy hadn't gotten a good work out all week and these two dogs deserved a quick romp.

Sadie was still not running like she used to, although she was better today than on Monday. She's still on the slow side. I do hope there is nothing wrong with her. She should have fully recovered from the hikes earlier this week.

Since this hike was meant for all the dogs, I knew it had to remain short so that Sammy could follow. I hadn't taken him up on this trail since I was last here with Sara earlier in the year. Coming here today brought back those memories of us hopping along on the rutted trail, with Sara giving me a pained expression because the hops up the rocks were too much for her. That was her last real "hike." Sammy is now showing the same pained expression Sara once did. When we came across several partially-burned snags in the road, Sammy stopped as if to tell me he couldn't make it, although I encouraged him and he did make it over the snags. His years of leaping over logs, stumps, shrubs and snags are long gone, but the memories are as if from yesterday.

We started our hike at 3:20pm, with most of the trail in the shade. I had this planned. This made it ideal for the dogs who didn't have to suffer in the sun. We made it to the old homestead 20 minutes later, walked around, and turned back when the trail got too overgrown above the creek. The total time out was an hour.

This is a short, steep work-out. The creek by the old homestead is a perfect turn-around for the dogs. I let the dogs drink water, sniff around, and usually turn around here. (The trail officially ends here, with a more reclusive "illegal" trail going up a steep hillside to the ridgeline.) This steep side of the mountains has drastically changed since the 2011 fire. One can't tell anymore that a homestead was once here. The trail is heavily overgrown with weeds, weeds that grew from the seeds the Forest Service dropped over these mountains to prevent hillside erosion. The landscape has been reclaimed by nature.

We stopped briefly at the former campground turned shooting range where more garbage was left behind. Sammy appeared to be tired and stayed in the truck, watching us the entire time. Looks like another tree is ready to fall over from getting shot up. What a shame. When we first moved here this was a popular campsite for snowbirds. Now it's turned into a dying dump.

Carr Peak with Sadie and Minnie

I am on fall break this week and will stay local. I will try to do a hike a day nearby just to stay active. Today I chose Carr Peak because I have been overdue with a hike up there.

There were heavy clouds over the peak in the morning so I waited until early afternoon to get going. It looked like it could rain, but the clouds stayed over the mountains and avoided the valley. There were still dark clouds above when I drove to the trail head, but I had to get out and up that mountain. I knew I had missed the fall foliage but the elms were still turning yellow.

I got to the trail head at 1:17pm. There were several cars in the parking lot. There was already a sign on the parking lot dumpster that there would be no trash pick-up during the "government shut-down." The camp ground across the road, Reef Townsite, was also closed. Trespassers would be fined $5000 if caught anywhere within the closed-off area.

Fall was clearly in the air today. I smelled moist leaves. Sadie was looking tired and I hope it's just from yesterday's exhaustion and not that she picked up giardia from the canyon creek. I didn't see any diarrhea from either dog, though. She moved slowly and never ran, always staying near me and walking at a consistent pace. Minnie was her usual spunky self and running ahead.

The colors today were a mixture of yellows, lush green, and grey. The recent mountain moisture must be rejuvenating many of the fall flowers, or at least keeping the foliage alive.

I stopped at the Old Sawmill Spring to let the dogs drink. They did, and they also cooled off their paws in the mud. I noticed a wildlife camera on a nearby tree aimed at the spring. How long has that been there? What kind of animals is it looking for?

The aspens were already past their prime as we walked through, but the elms were still changing. There were still plenty of wildflowers that were slowly changing to seed. In two weeks even they will be dead and the colors return to blah browns and greys.

Several people were coming down the peak. Once I was at the peak at 3pm, there was no one else. A cold front had moved in and I had to put my wind breaker on to stay warm. I gave the dogs some water and shared my day-old Swiss cheese bagel with them, and then quickly wanted to get off the peak. Even my hands were cold. When was the last time I had cold hands? Minnie, however, insisted on playing fetch with the biggest sticks she could find.

The dogs had fun. The clouds were spectacular today despite the wind. I didn't see any migrating hawks, though, or much wildlife in general. I was aware of bears but perhaps the dog's movements scared off the big animals ahead of time. Nature is slowly setting in for the upcoming winter.

I passed a USBP van going up the mountain road as I was going down. There was just enough light for that agent to get to the top in daylight and ready for the night shift.

I got back home by 5:30pm and learned that Kevin was laid off again because of the government shut-down. His recall only lasted three days! We will have to pinch our pennies for a while.

Mansfield Canyon loop in the eastern Santa Rita foothills

Distance: 8.1 miles, loop hike using FR72A and FR4091
Elevation: 4708'- 6301'

Mansfield Canyon was a heavily-mined canyon many decades ago in the southeastern Santa Ritas north of the town of Patagonia off AZ82. The mines are abandoned now (but not closed!) and ruins remain in the heavily-polluted creek. The mining trail is now a Forest road that is used as an ATV/hiking trail. This is an exposed, steep trail and provides views of the Patagonia area.

The Santa Rita mountains is area that is popular with equestrians, hunters, ATVers, mountain bikers and hikers. The foothills have long, steep grades. Oak trees and desert cactus provide what little shade there is in the upper elevations.

I hadn't been in this area for years. This was the first time Sadie or Minnie were here.

It was a clear day and temperatures were expected to reach the 80s. I had packed two gallons for two dogs and me. I was assured there would be water in the canyon.

Rod led this hike. JohnS, SteveA, Mac, SteveS and I were in this group of six. For most of us this was our first time in Mansfied Canyon.

We carpooled from Sierra Vista and drove toward Patagonia 53 miles away, turning north on 1st Avenue just west of the Patagonia high school. The road then turns into a dirt road and becomes FR72 and part of the Arizona Trail as it meanders in a northerly direction toward Walker Basin, but we didn't go all the way up the road. We had to turn west on FR72A (Mansfield Canyon Road) for the trailhead another .8 miles up a rocky section. We decided to start the hike on the exposed ridge and to return via the more shadier canyon.

It was almost 10am before we actually got started, because Mac was late and we waited an hour for him, reconnoitering the road and chatting. It was already getting warm when we finally got going and it didn't take the dogs long to feel heated. I stopped a few times to give them water, worried I'd run out since my jug was leaking. The first three miles of this hike were the hardest because of the lack of shade and the steep grade, but at least we had splendid views of the area. On a cooler day with some overcast skies this would be a lovely hike.

The road just kept going uphill as it switchbacked in long sections. The Hopkins Observatory and Mt Wrightson were to our north. I watched the dogs closely as Minnie was panting badly, considering dropping out and going low to keep them in the shadier canyon, but I stayed with the guys and walked the ridge up to be able to walk the cooler canyon during the heat of the day. The Dixie mine was our first mine and several building foundations were still visible.

This turned out to be to our benefit, because once we reached the crest the walking became easier. There were more mature oak trees for the dogs. FR4091 is the road we took off FR72A to our left and descended into Mansfield canyon. (Had we stayed on FR72A we would have reached the Juniper Cabin area of the Mt Wrightson Wilderness, 7.6 miles away.)

FR4091 is where there were many mines that have scarred the canyon here, leaving creek bed rocks with a white or yellow residue. The largest mine here is the Hosey mine, an active area from the 1880s through 1936. Pyrite is very visible in the tailings. We rested briefly here on large rocks. The dogs got their first snacks.

While there was cooling shade, there was also a lack of beauty as most of the canyon floor was ripped open from Hosey mine and everything downstream from that mine. Flood waters had added more erosion as we cautiously watched our footing. We had a late lunch along rocks in a dry section of the creek bed. Sadie was especially tired and lay near Mac as she napped.

The food energized us all. The dogs had two bags of jerky and snacks as we finished off the last two miles in an especially rocky downhill section. There were plenty of mines here, left open but with warning signs to stay out. The water here is used by grazing cows and all the cowscat I saw looked runny.

The one big excitement for the dogs was chasing a herd of cows that was seeking shade under a large oak tree, a mile from the finish. I didn't see the cows fast enough to get them on their leashes, nor did they chase them for long. Another herd of cows ran up a side trail going uphill as I held back the dogs. This part was no fun as Minnie is a powerful dog when she gets the scent of cow, and I had to carefully watch my footing.

The hike took us six (!) hours. We did a lot of stopping to rest in the shade. My dogs slowed us down but this wasn't a race anyway.

I was glad to see our vehicles at the end of the trail. Both vehicles were parked in the shade and no one else was around. No one else seemed to have been on this road all day as we saw no one.

While I am glad I did this hike and saw a new part of the Santa Ritas, the weather was too hot and dry for this hike. The wildflowers were already past their prime. There was little wildlife and even the vista was hazy. Had there been running water in the canyon, this would have been more enjoyable.

We finished the hike in Patagonia at the town's historic hotel-restaurant, the Wild Horses. I had a cheese burger and a Diet Coke with lemon. The dogs napped contentedly in the truck with the windows open.

I definitely will be back in this area.