I led this hike to see the trail condition of Sheelite Canyon. A fire in the upper canyon two summers ago wrecked havoc on the trail and I was warned that following the trail would be a problem. The suggestion to start this loop hike from Sawmill Trail, then up the Crest Trail down to Sheelite was suggested instead. I am glad I followed that advice. This was a tough hike regardless of which way I would have gone. The steep grade of Sheelite alone wears on the knees. This canyon is perhaps the steepest canyon in the Huachucas, and it's located on Fort Huachuca. A special access pass is required for all personnel not in possession of a military identification card. Non-military get their pass from the Visitor's Center and it is valid for 30 days.
I had a nice showing for this tough hike. Many diehard and conditioned hikers showed up: JimA and his wife MaryAnn, SteveA, PatS, RodC,HollyO, Karen and DavidS, ColeM, GinaN. Jim and MaryAnn only hiked up to the Crest trail and returned to their cars and David turned around at the Sawmill Springs trail head. I brought Sadie along as she's great with large groups and sticks to me,(and she got kudos from the dog lovers in the group for being so mellow today). Sadie also wore a bright orange vest, partly to keep the sun off her back and partly to make her more visible in the dark canyon shade.
We started the hike just before 8am. The gate to Garden Canyon was wide open, so we drove straight to the Sheelite Canyon trail head, not knowing that the gate was accidentally left open by Border Patrol earlier in the day and we were locked in and had to call the MP desk to free us. David had called Karen to let her know of this when she called him on the phone while we were eating lunch to see how he was doing back at the car later on. After a few minutes deciding whether we should drive up to the Sawmill Trail or not, we opted to start the hike lower in the canyon and to hike uphill, just like HollyO, Ellen and I did a few weeks ago. It was cool, with a starting temperature of 63F. That coolness gave us a nice start, as highs in Tucson were predicted to reach 89F, which means at least five degrees cooler for us. It never got that hot for us, thankfully.
Disaster struck early for me today. My water flask quickly started leaking, which got my new capri jeans wet at the start of this hike. What a sight to see, as if I had incontinence issues! Rod and SteveA helped me fix the leak (Rod had duct tape in his first aid pouch) and that helped stop the leak. My 73% cotton pants were dry two hours later, but another leak occurred while having lunch at the Crest. I must remember to place my flasks in plastic bags to prevent such embarrassing leaks! More importantly, I need reliable drinking systems. Nothing truly works well for me.
It had been years since I hiked up Sawmill trail. BrendaH had led this hike when I last hiked this loop in 2009, but we went down Sawmill. Rod suggested hiking up a secondary road to Sawmill Springs and then cut across a short and steep downhill to the trail. This was a nice suggestion as I had never seen the spring before. The old trail to the spring was badly eroded and overgrown, but lush and with some water for Sadie. A game camera was posted nearby but the cable to the battery was cut.
The rest of Sawmill Trail up to the Crest was the prettiest part of this hike. We walked underneath old growth pines. The trail was thick with old pine needles, which of course also make great kindling should lightning strike one of the trees. The views along the Crest trail showed the southeast and the northeast, with silhouettes of Mount Wrightson and the northern Sonoran range. But I also noticed the pine needles at the edges of the trees were dying, a sign of the lingering drought this past year. We desperately need rain soon! The monsoon season can't get here soon enough.
Gina was having problems with her ankles today. SteveA stayed with her and we as a group took several longer stops to let her catch up with us. This slowed down our time, but it was important that we all stayed together as there is so much potential for a hiker to slip and twist an ankle on this hike, and it's a long and strenuous way back down to safety, and extremely difficult for help to reach a stranded hiker. The one good thing today was the cool breeze in the higher elevation. I had to hold on to my boonie hat a few times, and even got chilled while having lunch at 8400'.
The Brown fire that torched the upper Sheelite canyon started April 13, 2014 and burned 240 acres, mostly on post. It was determined to be human caused. Since this is a well-known route for diehard illegal border crossers, and the trash one sees off the trail comes from Mexico, I have no doubt that some illegals made a fire to keep warm and then didn't extinguish the fire properly. We picked up sunburned water bottles, Electrolite bottles, rusty tin cans with Spanish on them, and took what we could in our packs. SteveA even found a Gerber baby food lid with Spanish writing on it. Carrying a small child up and over Sheelite is no easy task!
The burn area swept across the mountain side and charred old growth trees here. The ash scattered across the switchback trail, making our descent into the canyon a task that required paying attention to the old trail. Sadie had no problem as she probably was able to detect the scent of humans walking down the ravine. Walking was slow and calculated. This is one very steep and narrow canyon and the creek is the focus. If you lose the trail, simply stay along the creekbed as it eventually gets one down to the trail head.
The many burned snags, the rock slides and the widened creek bed lowe in the canyon have altered the beauty of this place. Sheelite canyon still attracts birds and other wildlife (bears!) to this place, but the trail is hard to follow and in some places, totally wiped away. It's now even harder to hike the 3.6 miles. By mile 7 I was tired, by mile 9 exhausted, and everyone else looked exhausted, too. Yet no one complained. They told me I had described this hike as a "butt kicker, even for those without butts." I truly had a group of well-conditioned hikers on this one who understood the challenge.
There was some water for Sadie along the central and lower creek. She, too, was tired. But what a great sport she was! I gave her almost all the chicken treats that were in the bag of dog snacks I had packed for her.
The hike was 9.76 miles long and took us 7:54 hours to complete, two hours longer than predicted. We called the MP desk to open the gate and a young solder came by to unlock the gate and set us free. We got no repercussions from driving beyond the opened gate as leaving it open was the MP's error. Hope the poor lad didn't face severe punishment for leaving the gate open. Thoughts of spending the night "in the brig" or having Holly's husband Doug post bail were circulated among us, but I knew since we were not active duty, that we would at best be cited for trespassing.
We got back to our cars in town by 5pm. Everyone was tired and only Pat and I decided to grab a bite to eat in town. We chose Chili's since the layout in our local restaurant allows one to carry on a conversation even with a packed house. I parked on the east side of the building so that Sadie could rest in the shade. I hadn't chatted much with Pat lately, either, and it was nice to hear her life's updates. She's trying to find a job that allows her to use her lawyer skills, but so far nothing promising. Her insight into life parallel mine. "It's not where one lives, it's the people one meets" that make a certain location where one choses to live, memorable.
The official full moon rose on my drive home at 7:15pm. The moon was shrouded by low-lying clouds and wasn't obvious again until 7:22pm before hiding behind more clouds, so missing a full moon hike tonight didn't make me feel too bad for not hosting one. That's why I have one scheduled for Sunday evening, hiking up N Juniper Flats at 6pm to see both the sun set over the Huachucas, and the moon rise over the Mule Mountains of Bisbee.
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