The Swisshelms are a small grassy mountain range just east of the cattle town of Elfrida, AZ. There are no official hiking trails through these dry hills studded with agaves, sotols, chollas, thorny brush and mesquite, but at closer inspection, are worthy of exploring more. Saturday was my first time in these hills and I'm glad I had the opportunity to check them out. I must go back!
David and Karin Stryker from the hiking club hosted this exploratory hike. Karen wanted to make it to the peak but snow stopped the vanguard. Meetup was at 7:45 in town but I opted to go straight to the trail head in Elfrida. I woke up with a painful back and wondered if I could even hike today, but I ended up going and missing the main body. I took all three dogs (Minnie insisted on coming) and decided that if anything, I want to see the Apache metates in the canyon and explore the foothills.
I left the house at 9:15am with three excited dogs. I stopped in Bisbee to drop off the recyclables, then continued east on SR80, then Double Adobe Road to Central Highway, then another 16 miles north into Elfrida. I followed the directions to this trail head. Jefferson Road in Elfrida, on which the area's schools are on, is almost six miles of paved road. Ranches are on both sides of the road. Vision Quest, a rehab center for wayward boys, is also here. The pavement ends at some cattle ranches and smaller homes. Parking is just outside the unlocked gate across from a ranch house and cattle corral. The gate on the sign says "Private Property" but as David told me, "But there is no Do Not Enter sign on the gate." The Strykers had spoken to the landowner before hosting the hike, so all was well.
There was no sign of the hiking group when I arrived after 10am. Beyond the gate is a dirt road that quickly turns into a Y, and a sign claiming that 120 acres are for sale here. Which way from here? I opted to stay left on the road that paralleled a barbed wire fence, which ended at a private home a good mile from the gate. From here the views back into Sulphur Valley are expansive. The snow-capped peaks of the Huachucas are also visible. I could even see a faint semblance of a mining trail beyond the house in the hills, but I was not going to go on that property. I turned around and bushwhacked to the canyon in which the metates are, and found them with little effort. There was even some water in these holes, surely from last Monday's storm. I had water for the dogs, but water from a ground source is better for them to drink out of.
The western slopes of the Swisshelms were once a habitat for the Apache. Shaded canyon slots were potentially old sleeping areas. Today the lower-lying oak groves provide shade for the cattle. The rock slabs meandered uphill and I was tempted to continue on as long as water was available, but I soon saw a group of five people in the distance and yelled "Rob!" Could they have heard me? The group had stopped and looked my way, to which I quickly decided to beat feet back to the dirt road and join them. One couple eventually came toward me from the group, but they were a couple I did not recognize. David and his heeler dog Mata, however, were easily identified. After a equestrian group from Vision Quest trotted past the dogs and me, shepherded by a GSD named Beast, I finally caught up to David near our parked cars. David was walking the two remaining women back to their cars and to retrieve a radio. He was going to walk back up the canyon a bit for better reception and I joined them. He even showed me a few more hidden areas along the rock slabs were once the Apaches rested.
The rocks are so much like the Dragoons. In the summer these hills would be ungodly hot due to the lack of shade trees and the exposed rock radiating heat. But here along the edge of the hills are small oak groves and underground water. Cattle come here to rest and drink. Locals come here to party, as evidence by the beer cans and bottles I picked up. (Seriously people, respect the land!) From the gate to the metates can't be more than a mile. Resting on these rocks and looking westward must be a common activity for the people in Elfrida.
We sat here for a while. The dogs explored a bit, but Minnie was showing fatigue. I had hiked five miles by this point and Minnie's limit is around six miles.
David had made telephonic contact with the hiking group by then. They were on the ridgeline high above but were turning around. There was to be no summit due to the rocky terrain. They were still two hours away. That gave us time to relax. An hour later David took me on the trail that meandered around the hill and along a wide drainage that has seen some serious flash flooding and erosion. This was the path the group had taken going uphill. The trail had become single track, but from here I could see the remnants of what was a mining trail. Near the saddle is an old mine (not visble from my vantage point). David and I turned around here, returning the way we came. The remaining hikers of Rod, Karin, Steve, Paul and Ed were now converging on the other trail and we all met up again at the parked cars. Steve and Rod looked sunbeaten.
I hiked a total of 6.91 miles today. The group had hiked 6.3. Of course my mileage was all in the foothills and I wasn't as tired as the rest of the group. We stopped at a small taqueria in Elfrida, Yoli's, for a post-hike meal. We sat inside the building next door while the local crafts fair was closing for the day. Karin's photos showed me that the ridgeline up these hills is worth exploring again. I hope next time an aching back and other errands don't prevent me from joining another hike up these hills. I'll only bring one dog, though. There are too many cattle in the area.
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