Monday, February 16, 2015

The Presidential long weekend

We had a very pleasant three-day weekend, although I didn't do any major hikes. While we had temperatures in the mid 60s, people east in Chicagoland and Boston were getting snowed in again.

On Saturday the 14th I took the pack down to the Charleston Bridge in the afternoon, where, I discovered, all of Cochise County was relaxing with their dogs. I had to take my dogs to a more secluded area near debris piles so that they could romp undisturbed. Minnie dived after her sticks while the other two stayed on the muddy shore and barked or egged her on. Water was much more normal this time.

The cottonwoods are starting to bloom, giving the canopies a light green hue. Raptors are still very prolific this winter. Now, if only the tall, dead grass could be replaced with green grass!

Sunday I did a short two-mile hike off Juniper Flats and the dirt road, the same one I explored the week before, only this time taking a different abandoned mining road down into the nameless canyon. That path ended at the creek where I sat for a while before hiking back uphill. The faint mule trail still was quite obvious in sections, as it cut a ridge line around the hills. Where was the mine, though?

MORE LATER

Saturday, February 7, 2015

The other side of Zacatecas Canyon from Old Bisbee

I wanted to do some exploring today off the Bisbee Loop trail.

I had always wanted to know where that cattle trail led that ends at the saddle and intersects with the Bisbee Loop Trail. With last week's rain still present in washes, I opted to explore that late this morning with my three-dog hiking pack. I stopped at the Bisbee recycling station off SR92 on the way. It promised to be warm and sunny and in the 70s today. I'm glad I got there when I did around 11am, as I got the last parking spot in Brewery Gulch. The touristy part looked busy today.
The only downfall to parking here is having the dogs on leash, as Bisbee is known for its friendly strays that come out of nowhere. Minnie and Zeke can be quite a handful to pull. Trail head parking for this hike is the Brewery Gulch free public lot between the Old Bisbee Brewery and St Elmo's. I had to contain the dogs while getting their leashes on. That makes Minnie even bark louder. Other people were also walking their dogs down the street, which got her excited.
There was water still trickling down the pavement, which got stronger the higher we got up Zacatecas canyon. Although I had water for the dogs, I encouraged them to drink creek water.

It got warm fast this morning, and soon the dogs were panting. The hardest part of the trail was hiking that mile to the saddle in the exposed sun. I stopped in shaded areas, but they didn't come in force until well over the saddle and now hiking in a northeasterly direction. I figured I would eventually land in Sandy Bob Canyon, but I was wrong. The trail turned into a cattle trail that followed the drainage for the most part, and when the canyon widened with less water in it, I opted to turn around. I had gone two hours.
This was an interesting hike nonetheless, as I had never been in this unknown canyon. The hills on either side of me were barren of trees, trees that once were chopped down and used for the town's mines. Part of the trail today looked like a long-ago mining trail that suffered from severe erosion over the years, as parts of it widened out to a two-track path. I came across two troughs and a rusted bathtub once used for a cattle trough.
My view was enveloped by both sides by hills. My only vista was toward the northeast, far into the Dragoons. Where would this creek bed lead me if I followed it all the way? Once I got to the creek bed and saw how the trail stayed near the water, I followed this until I ran out of path. This is where the trail WAS the creek, and the water here was no more.
I was well aware that had something happened to me here, that I could be lost for a few days. There was NO sign of human life around me: no trash, no recently-used structures, no established trails. Sound wouldn't carry far with hilltops around me. The hillsides were covered in catclaw that tore into my jeans around the thighs. The only shade was along the creek bed, with isolated oaks along the slops. The hills were mostly grass, agave, ocotillo and oaks. The hills didn't look any greener from recent rains. They looked more like something from central coastal California: dry light brown with few trees.
This this was an exploratory hike, I had no reason to rush anything. I stopped a lot to let the dogs rest in the shade. I found a small but pretty box canyon off the creek bed with a 15-foot waterfall. We stayed here in the shade for a while so that the dogs could rest. This place would be a great swimming hole in the monsoon season! Minnie, of course, wanted to throw sticks instead. We had to go back down the creek bed and back up the cliffs to get back on the trail, which was the creek bed. We were now on our return hike.

I knew the dogs would help me backtrack, as Sadie likes to keep her nose to the ground when hiking. There are many smaller drainages here and I didn't want to get caught on the wrong one. I remembered while hiking down to "Stay to the right" but on the return hike, that "Stay to the right" would be "Stay to the left" and at a three-drainage intersection I erred and did stay to the left, but that drainage was smaller and dryer than I remembered. The dogs were pointing their bodies toward the center drainage, the correct way, but I didn't listen.
I soon realized we were definitely not going the right way, and decided to climb over the hill to the next drainage. The hills were covered in tall, dead grass and I slipped and fell on my left hand, bruising the palm and screaming an expletive. Who, besides the dogs, would hear me here? Luckily the hand wasn't broken, but for the rest of the hike I had my left hand held close to my chest as I couldn't put pressure on it.
Luckily once we were in the correct creek bed, the path was easy to follow. The faint cattle trail that brought us down to the creek bed was now going back uphill and back to the troughs. Here's where the trail began its steep ascent, and I felt a bit overcome by the heat and stopped often to let the dogs rest as well. I had brought enough water for me, and needed to drink more of it. By now the dogs were happy to rest and sat around me, making a tight circle with the pack leader in the middle.

Despite the recent rains, I was surprised I saw no recent cattle activity in this canyon. No dung, no hoove marks in the mud, nothing. Even the water in the trough was green from algae. There was nothing to excite the dogs (which is fine with me!) until we got back on the saddle. Here I noticed fresh horse shoe marks. We were now on our final descent, and yet the sun was still high enough to warm my face.
We finally came across human life again as we approached the water in Zacatecas canyon. A family with a young girl was ahead of us, and I let them get ahead so that the dogs would be no hassle. Zeke and Minnie were especially interested in sniffing her; had they ever been around little people before? Another couple came down off a side canyon behind me, and we all existed the canyon around the same time. We were a party of eight.

I was tired and hungry by the time we got back to the van. The van was now in the shade, as were other cars on the west side of the Gulch. I normally stop at the Old Bisbee Brewery for a post-hike beer, leaving the dogs in a shaded van with the windows open, but I knew that Kevin would have dinner ready when I got home. I stopped at the Bisbee Safeway for milk, beer and pork feet (for the dogs as a post-hike treat) and got home after 4:30pm to a Swiss cheeseburger meal.









Tuesday, February 3, 2015

Carr Canyon Road under a full moon

I hosted a full-moon hike up Carr Canyon road at 5:15pm via Meetup.com to watch the moon rise over the Mule mountains of Bisbee. I posted the hike on the Meetup and had two people signed up for this. When I arrived at the designated time, two additional hikers were there, making us a group of five enthusiastic hikers. Sadie came along. The waterfall was still going from the rain over the weekend.

Everyone showed up on time as well. We all departed at 5:17pm and chatted noisefully all the way up the road. What characters we had today! Robert is a long-distance hiker who's done night hikes all over the Huachucas, to include sleeping at Carr Peak overnight. He was willing to talk about anything he's done to anyone who would listen. He's certainly done some neat things to brag about, and next week he's hiking a good section of the Arizona trail with his brother. Brett was an impromptu show from Carr Canyon Road who just wanted company. He was quiet the entire time, but brought along his Canon camera.

The other two women were an older woman, Cyndy, and Claire, who I first met on a Fort Huachuca Volksmarch last fall. I hope they show up for future moon hikes. Robert and Claire said they appreciated me hosting this, and would like to see more full moon hikes.
I only brought Sadie tonight, because I know that as a single dog, she's quiet and minds her manners. Bringing any more than one dog would be suicide with strangers.

We walked up the road at a decent pace. It was still light enough at 5:40pm when we got to the Comfort Springs Trail. Moon rise was slated for 6:05pm.

We were a little behind by now as Claire needed to stop a few times to catch her breath. That's when I decided to take the group on a side spur trail that jutted east from the trail and offered clear views off a high peak. The moon was already cresting and I had to jog to the peak to get the moon while it was still orange.
Sadie was at her best behavior, staying away from the crowd and giving up our space. She didn't whine or bark or get between our legs. I was very proud of her. She never left my side.

Once the moon rose, though, it quickly got dark and windy. Robert probably wanted to camp at this site but I wanted to be back on the main trail by 6:30pm (end of nautical twilight) so that we wouldn't be tripping over the boulders on this spur trail. No one in the group had ever been on this site, and as hike leader I take my job very seriously.

There is something about being under a full moon in the early evening. We were still on the road when the moon got high enough to shine on us as we made the last half-mile to our cars at the locked gate. I only wore a fleece sweater and felt the cold wind trying to pierce through.

We were back at our cars by 7pm, making this a two-hour walk by the time I got back home. We only did around three miles, but that's great for an after-work hike.

Sunday, February 1, 2015

Hiking Ash Canyon to an old mine site

Ten years ago today we brought Sara home. I thought about her all day. It's missing her that dampened my spirits a bit. I wanted to take the dogs out for a medium-distance hike (4-6 miles) but wasn't sure where. Hiking club members were hiking Granite Peak in Whetstone today, but I didn't want to drive that far. Eric had my Ford Escape anyway.

So I opted for a hike closer to home. The ridge line up Thompson peak in Ash canyon seemed like the ideal hike. That's four miles round trip with pretty views into Mexico. But once we got to Ash canyon, I opted for the more remote, more abandoned trail in a side canyon, an area I'm not even sure what it's called. Water was flowing and this would give the dogs a chance to refresh themselves at their leisure.

Actually, it has been a while since I was up this abandoned trail. I was last here with Kevin years ago, when he still hiked, and we noted that this trail was popular with illegal border crossers, just judging by the trash we'd see along the way. One time we came across a heavy roll of plastic, something a drug runner surely schlepped down the trail but then abandoned.  It was a well-trodden trail.

Today, however, it was just me and three dogs. Sammy wanted to come but I knew the five miles would be too much for him. It's sad that he gets excluded now from hikes due to his age and physical ability. I, too, will one day face that same dilemma.

I dredged uphill slowly, stopping often. The trail, an old mining trail, was badly eroded. Decomposed granite and small boulders littered the way. A new water pipe to lead to the Tombstone aqueduct was visible here. Recent rain had eroded more of the center of the trail, so I had to watch my footing. Thompson peak slowly disappeared as the trail moved northwest and around the corner. This was wilderness. Fog still shrouded the peaks.
This part of the canyon took a heavy hit from the 2011 fire. What once was a canopied hike of oaks was now mostly bared or covered by dead trees. Part of the trail was even washed away in a landslide. I could see a green saddle ahead, though, with healthy pines growing between two hilltops. That area was my goal.

The last time I was up here with Kevin, we turned around at a dry, narrow wash that we could tell was used as a landmark for border crossers because they like to leave their trash in the washes. Today there was water running, which the dogs enjoyed, and I stopped here to let them enjoy themselves.
This time I was able to hike on, further up a faint trail that the dogs quickly followed. Were they tracking the scent of people? Weeds were covering this trail and I had to pay attention to my footing. The sound of rushing water became stronger.

This was now unexplored territory for me. If something had happened to me here, I would never have been found unless by USBP personnel or scent dogs. I came across an old mining site, with several rusted pieces laying under trees. The dogs romped around, I explored. This was actually a nice flat camping area with shade, and I soon spotted trash left by border crossers: sun-bleached plastic Electrolyte bottles, rusted tuna cans, plastic wrap and sun-bleached backpacks burned by the sun. I had nowhere to place any trash and left it all there (sadly). I didn't spot any mine tailings. What was this site once used for? I saw two creeks diverging from two directions. This was a nice area to rest and turn around. How far had I hiked? Maybe three miles one way?

I made this area my turn-around spot, but not before walking around and exploring the saddle. I spotted a rockwall further upstream, with more rusted metal and trash here. Tall grass swayed here in the sun. I was high up, perhaps around 7000', and closer to Lutz canyon than Ash. I think I even saw the tailings of the upper Bear mine. It was very peaceful here, and I regretted not bringing a GPS.