That cold front that followed me from California seems to have lingered over Arizona. Yesterday's cold rain turned to snow overnight in the mountains. The dead grass in the back yard was damp until later in the afternoon. The peaks weren't visible until late in the morning when the low clouds burned off and the snow showed itself. We finally have some precipitation! Maybe that means we can hike up Miller Peak next Saturday.
I wanted to hike again today, and since I didn't walk the dogs yesterday due to the cold rain, opted instead to double up the mileage today. The hiking club had a 11-mile loop hike planned around Parker Lake, but that area still looked shrouded in fog and I didn't want to drive far to hike far. I stayed local instead.
By 12:45pm I was at the Hereford bridge with Sadie, Minnie, Zeke and Sweety and walked north on the trail. No one was around, the air was cool, the sky overcast and the dogs enjoyed the ramble. I told Kevin I'd do anywhere from 6-8 miles, just up and back along the trail.
The cottonwoods and sycamores along the river still have a lot of their yellow leaves! We hadn't had high winds this week to help get rid of the foliage. Even the two trees in our front yard are still fully leafed. The dogs stayed close by, but Sweety still enjoyed being on her own, always ahead of everyone else and not looking back much. I could see the snow on the Huachuca peaks to my west. The sky was overcast and the air cool, ideal for this time of year. I didn't carry any water with me since I had a stop along the river for the dog planned and I don't drink much water myself.
At 3.25 miles the trail crossed a wide dry creek bed. I got on the west-east flowing creek bed and took that to the river, where the dogs enjoyed a few minutes of cooling off before I resumed the walk. That was a .4-mile detour. I missed the turnoff back to the trail and walked too far on the creek bed before I realized my mistake, but then I saw a well-groomed trail going southwest. Was this an illegal trail? Curious, I took it and yes, it was a well-used illegal trail that border crossers must be using to get to the far east side of Sierra Vista and the homes there. I could see a long line of houses along the horizon, but I didn't want to veer too far off my route. This illegal trail followed a boundary barbed wire fence in a southwesterly direction, and pink tape was hung on a few shrubs to mark the way at night.
I cut across the shrubbery and walked cross-country through prickly thorny brush for a mile before getting back on the trail. By now the sun was low enough to cast golden hues over the Mule mountains to the east. With the many shades of brown and tans along the trail, the glistening sun was a nice nuance to a late fall hike.
At 3pm with a mile left to go on my hike, my phone rang. I was on a single track with tall dead grass flanking the trail. The number was a Texas number. Who would be calling me from Texas? It turned out to be my dear friend Steve T, who had left in early June (right around the same time I left for my Washington state road trip) for his five-month trip to Illinois and back via Colorado. He came back to town earlier this week and wanted to know where he could get a dog crate. I just happen to have a few left over from my fostering years and was glad to get him one. Our conversation was dropped but I had told him early in our talk that I'd give him a call once I was back home; I could drop by later today with the new crate, the same crate that had been by the front door. I finally had good a use for it! I had never unboxed it.
Dressed in the same frumpy clothes I wore for my hike, including a vest heavily accessorized with dog fur, Steve and I met at the Carl's Jr in town where I treated him to dinner and got to meet his new hiking partner, a small two-year-old Golden Retriever named Trace. He bought the dog on impulse while in Illinois in November. Steve had been talking about getting another dog ever since I've met him a few years ago, and he's always liked Goldens. He likes to hunt and hike, and what better breed than a Golden for that?
The town hosted a Christmas Parade at 5:30pm, which I had forgotten about. The restaurant and parking lot were crowded and we stayed a bit to watch the parade, but by 6pm there still wasn't much going on and I was getting too cold in that thin fleece vest. I'm not a big fan of parades anyway, but I do watch a few of them for the social gathering. We parted ways after another hug.
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