This was a combined hike with both the Huachuca Hiking Club and the SV Hikers and advertised as a clean-up of the old Eureka Mine. Everyone was encouraged to bring a trash bag to haul out some trash. This mine, situated high up Sunnyside Canyon with views to the south, makes for a challenging but pleasant hike in the southern Huachuca Mountains. The section along Sunnyside Canyon is also part of the Arizona Trail.
This was my first time to this mine. There was water in Sunnyside Creek for Sadie to drink from. The return down the mine, however, was hot and exposed. We had expansive views south into Mexico
Eleven people showed up. Steve Sch, BillK, Laurie, Joe, Rod, JohnS, Whiteney, Paul, Britton, Brian, Sadie and I. We had met on post, cut across Fort Huachuca, and the drive took us a long 1:15 hours. This made for a long day.
We ended up collecting 48 pounds of trash. Kevin let me drive his old Chevy S-10 pick-up to haul the bags of trash away. So much more was left behind, as the mine and the look-out is used by illegal border crossers.
Hike Narrative by RodC:
A mixed group of 11 hikers from the Huachuca Hiking Club and the Sierra Vista Hikers meetup group assembled at the Ft. Huachuca Main Gate AAFES gas station around 0730, and consolidated into four vehicles for the drive to trailhead. Proceeded about 30 miles (1 hr, 15 min) to the trailhead via the West Gate, Cimarron Road, SR83, Montezuma Road, and Sunnyside Canyon Road to the parking area in Scotia Canyon arriving around 8:45 AM. On the drive in the hike leader missed the turn to Sunnyside Canyon, but discovered the mistake before we got to the deep Scotia Canyon stream crossing. All four vehicles then backed upped to the Arizona Trail parking area on the plateau between Scotia and Sunnyside Canyons.
Started hike heading SE on AZ Trail towards Sunnyside Canyon. Noted two vehicles parked near the Miller Peak Wilderness Boundary in Sunnyside Canyon as well as four campsites along the road while driving to the trailhead indicating this area as a very popular destination for the Memorial Day weekend. Looked for, but did not find, petroglyphs near the wilderness boundary previously pointed out by Zac Ribbing (Coronado Forest Trails Coordinator) on the March 29, 2014 work weekend. Water still flowed intermittently in Sunnyside Creek, but the stream flow had decreased significantly since the 28 Mar 2015 work weekend event. The water trough, located in a corral about 1.3 miles from the trailhead, was full of water supporting a community of aquatic critters and plants. K9 Sadie had plenty to drink on this part of the hike.
Arrived at the bottom of Piano Hill after 2.4 miles of relatively level walking. The town of Sunnyside was religious commune in the late 1800’s operating the Lone Star Mine in Sunnyside Canyon. “Residents often went to church in Lone Star camp 3 miles away, plus daily prayers at meals and in school. A music teacher had a piano hauled by a horse team to her house on “Music Hill,” and gave lessons and played for communal singing.” ( http://www.apcrp.org/SUNNYSIDE/4_Sunnyside_Cem_Mast_Text_022513.htm ). The story of Piano Hill was that the draft animals had balked at hauling up this piano on this steep section of the wagon road, and it had to be man-hauled up instead. Piano Hill climbed about 200 vertical feet in a third of mile (10% grade), versus the 400 vertical feet in the previous 2.4 miles from the trailhead (3% grade). Suffice to say this hill greatly slowed the pace of some hikers, but at least we didn’t have to carry up a piano.
Did not hear any trogons squawking in the canyon this time, but Bill King said he saw a bird flying by with a red breast which could have been an Elegant Trogon. Did not see much wildlife on this hike, but then 11 noisy hikers and one dog probably chased most of the wildlife away. The group consolidated at the mine site, and continued up the AZ Trail and Copper Glance Road topping out at the ridgeline overlooking Copper Glance Mine at the collapsed shed. Picked up smuggler trash around the shed, took photos and selfies at the Copper Glance Canyon overlook before eating lunch.
Most of the group were now burdened with trash bags as we bushwhacked back down via the overgrown Eureka Mine Trail. It was pointed out that it would have been better to go up the Eureka Mine Trail and carry the trash back via the Sunnyside Canyon trail/AZ Trail. Future hikers on this trail should take loppers and saws to remove some of impeding vegetation. Stopped at the upper Eureka Mine (5.4 miles from trailhead and 1.5 miles from lunch spot) to look for malachite and azurite (copper ore minerals) in the mine tailings. At the 5.8 mile mark, we came to the Eureka Mine Road and were out the woods. This road is a steep descent with little shade to Sunnyside Canyon (1.3 miles with a 700 ft elevation drop). The road dead ends at the Eureka Mine about 0.4 miles from this junction, and is mostly level and shaded. The group elected not to go to the lower Eureka mine, and we headed down the road back to the shadier and cooler canyon below.
Arrived back at the trailhead by 1:20 PM after 7.6 miles of hiking where the 48 pounds of trash picked up at the shed were dumped into Connie’s pickup. At the AAFES gas station meeting parking lot, Paul discovered his vehicle had acquired a flat tire during our absence. Brian and Rod assisted Paul in changing the tire. If you are going to get a flat tire, a parking lot at a gas station is the probably the best case scenario for this mishap. Thanks to all those who carried out trash, and apologies for the bushwhack route down.
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