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.