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.