Thompson Peak saddle (Ash Canyon)

This morning I was supposed to help photograph dogs at the annual Tombstone Small Animal Shelter Pet Parade at 10am, which marks the end of the town's annual Rose Festival. This is one of many fund raisers for the shelter. I got up at 6am to a cold, overcast morning. Rain quickly followed and it rained most of the day. The parade was cancelled but I went to Tombstone anyway.

Valli, a friend and also former volunteer of the Huachuca City Animal Shelter was there as well as a few other diehard supporters of the shelter. The town was quiet. This was the most abandoned-looking Rose Festival event that I attended. No shelter volunteers were there, no set-up. No spectators along the streets cheering on the pets. No one told me the event was cancelled. Valli and I had our own one-woman parade. I took a few photos of disappointed parade fans, had lunch with Valli at the Longhorn restaurant, and drove home around 12:30pm. Storm clouds were all around me.

I stopped at the Charlston Bridge to photograph the river and noticed two brown chickens pecking around the parking lot. This area is a popular place to dump unwanted animals, but chickens?!? Today was proving to be a strange day. I posted the photo on Facebook on a local animal site. Within an hour another local woman drove to the parking lot and was able to retrieve the two chickens. She now has them in her yard.

I thought today as going to be an entire wash-out, but the rain subsided by 4pm. By 4:30pm I had the pack en route to Ash Canyon to hike up the mining road to the saddle, just like I did two weeks ago. I didn't bring a back-pack or anything for the dogs. It was 51F and the dogs were fine.

It took me 45 minutes to make it to the saddle. My shins felt the work-out, but I felt better than last time. This 3.7-mile grade may become my regular training route! The path is little-used and void of vehicular traffic. This was once a very popular smuggling route, but the banditos are now going across the border further west. I didn't see any trash along this route, just new flowers popping up. The clouds were a deep grey overcast, but they provided a cool shade not common this time of year. I didn't have to worry about snakes, either.

A young couple was out digging for crystals as I got back down the path. It's odd to see people out here, but rumor has it that there has been placer gold found in the area, since the 2011 fire. Even the federal government has mining claims posted, with "PRIVATE PROPERTY" signs in some areas that were not there before the fire.

I got back to the van at 6:54pm, just as the setting sun was pinching out the last of its rays for the day.