Kings Canyon Ranch was once a 120,000 acre cattle ranch in the southeastern Huachuca foothills. Black Angus cattle grazed here. The rancher sold much of the land now to a home developer. The land was cleared of nuisance trees, roads were graded and utility lines put in. Then the 2008 recession hit and the housing industry flopped. It's slowly coming back as there are now isolated homes popping up in the far southern edge of the development closest to SR92.
I had been here before with the dogs, late in the winter. Sammy was with me so we went slowly, and didn't go very far due to his arthritis. Today he stayed home to recover from his limp and I took the three hiking dogs, Zeke, Sadie and Minnie. I wanted to see where the main dirt road ended up. Clouds were overhead but the radar showed no rain clouds. We left at 4:20 for the ride.
My dogs are used to riding in the car only for so long. Hunter canyon is only a five-minute drive away, but Kings Canyon is closer to ten minutes. Sadie could barely hold her bladder in and whined for most of the drive.
The Lovegrass is growing well in our recent rains and there is much green around. Heavy rains from the last two afternoons left several mud puddles for the dogs to romp in. I started at the same spot I started last time, at the locked gate at the north end of Kinjockity Drive, where pavement ends and dirt begins. A locked gate tells people that this road will someday be expanded, but there are no other NO TRESPASSING signs.
The dogs enjoyed this walk. The undeveloped road weaves and curves along the alluvial plain. It's pretty country, and the Huachuca peaks look so regal from this vantage point. It's a shame this land is getting developed, as the pristine view will be smothered by adobe homes marked up to three times their real value. The dogs chased each other, sniffed the grass and frolicked in the weeds. I could get a whiff of cow, and the further northwest we walked on the road, the more cow paddies we came across. Some weren't that old.
Several dry drainages run west-east from the mountains, and one has a deep rutted wash in it, whose banks hug steep, eroded sill sides. This looks like land that could easily collapse in hurricane rains, or at best flood over its banks. Is this land even suitable for development? Wildlife would be attracted to the water; I'm sure at night the coyotes howl and come in hunting javelina, grouse and quail. The vast openness of the grasses would make this very vulnerable to grass fires, just like it was scorched during the 2011 Monument Fire.
It's quiet here, but for how much longer? On the west are the Huachuca mountains, to the east is the San Pedro Valley, and to the south is the contentious border with Mexico. New homes are now slowly sprouting up, erasing the pristine view of the mountains. I don't blame people for wanting to live here as the views in any direction are serene. But more houses will kill off that serenity and instead of views, homeowners will have to put up with annoying neighbors.
We walked along the main road, which at the mile mark splits into a Y near what will soon be a roundabout. We went northwest but I turned around when after cresting a hill, saw several Black Angus cattle. I didn't want my dogs chasing cows, so I did an aboutface and turned on a smaller trail leading southwest. Again, after clearing a small hill, I saw more cows! I was now in the northern area of what one day will be the complete Kings Canyon Ranch development. Here cattle can still graze in peace.
I didn't want to cut my walk short, so I opted to take another trail leading east. The San Pedro Valley was before me and I could see homes in the distance. A drainage was near the trail down a slope. I went on this one but it didn't take long for the dogs (most likely Zeke) to spot a herd of cattle near the drainage. He took off running and then so did the other two dogs. Lovely. Yelling at them didn't do a thing. Minnie stopped and came back, Sadie quietly herded some cows (how did she learn that?) but it was Zeke who chased the cattle up another road before coming back. That's when I decided I had better turn around before facing the wrath of a pissed-off cattle rancher. Nor did I want any of my dogs to be shot for harassing livestock.
I turned around and went back the way we came to the starting point, making this a 3.4 mile exploratory hike. I could see several rain clouds in the distance, but we were spared any rain. I don't know when I'll be back in this area as I don't want to intrude on others' peace. Many homes have sprung up since I was here last, and many more will surely come up by the time I come back here again, if coming back in the future will be worth it, with all the development planned.
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