French Joe Canyon (Whetstone mountains)

I had no specific plans for today. I quickly scratched the idea of driving to Marana to hike the Tortolita mountains' Ridgeline trail to explore. When I got up I didn't feel like driving far for a hike. Then I remembered that I hadn't been to French Joe Canyon for a few years and wanted to explore the access road. Was it still passable? That two-mile dirt road from SR90 can take 40 minutes to traverse. Mud pits, deep ruts, big boulders and obstinate cows and horses all slow down the driver.

French Joe Canyon isn't very big. It's only two miles before it ends in a box canyon and an intermittent waterfall. It's the beauty of this hard-to-reach place that makes it so enticing. Lots of varied birds, reptiles and mammals live here. It's so hard to reach that only determined drug smugglers get through here, on their way north and bypassing the nearby USBP checkpoint.

JeffP contacted me earlier in the morning asking if I had any hikes planned. I told him about my plans for French Joe and invited him along. It's always safer with another person. He seemed interested in this canyon, so we met at 12:30pm in town and together we drove to the mountain range. He followed me in his own car and his dog Migo, that spunky little pug from the last power hike.

Drivers coming from Sierra Vista and points south of French Joe Canyon have to drive through a USBP checkpoint before turning into French Joe Canyon from SR90. I turned left at the first left-turn turn-off after driving through the checkpoint. That was the wrong canyon, as we were now in Dry Canyon and not French Joe Canyon, the canyon just north of Dry Canyon. Instead of turning around and going the correct way, we continued on Dry Canyon Road until it Ts with FR369, then continued right (north) on this Forest road until we hit a cattle guard with an 18-inch drop-off I knew my Ford Escape couldn't make without some undercarriage damage. We decided to park here and walk in, adding FOUR MILES to the total hike.

Those four miles wouldn't be so bad, but these are exposed miles and the sun was out. I wore a thin sweater with hoodie but kept my hiking cap in the truck. That was dumb of me, as that heat quickly got to me.

Migo and Zeke had fun playing. Migo chased after some cows (bad dog!) but I kept Zeke on his leash until we got out of the cows' zone before I let him off-leash. There was no one in this canyon except for three ATVers who were returning to their base. There was no sign of recent smuggling. And, much to my delight, there was plenty of water in this canyon! The dogs had a blast jumping into the pools and I never had to stop and give Zeke water.

The canyon was cool along the shaded rock walls along the creekbed, but when we got away from the shade and climbed up the rock slabs toward an unnamed and exposed saddle, I quickly was overcome by the heat and slowed down. We turned around and continued hiking up the creekbed instead, stopping at the dry intermittent waterfall. Most people turn around here, but a few adventurous people climb up the rocks and get into Kartchner Caverns State Park this way.

Jeff's knees were hurting so he stayed at the base of the waterfall. It was 4pm so I climbed back down myself, knowing that we didn't have much daylight to safely saunter back.

We got back to the trucks at 5:30pm. I was cold and hungry. We stopped at Chili's in SV for a late meal. Both Zeke and Migo napped in the trucks. I got home by 7pm and Kevin was already asleep. Zeke looked tired and I was exhausted, too, but this was a nice way to end a three-day holiday. Now I must drive back there and make sure I find the correct Forest Road into this canyon. I really want to lead this hike soon. It's best after some rain, when the creek is running and all the flora comes back to life.