The Palominas trail

I decided to walk the trail the BLM Ranger told me about two days ago.  I drove down to Palominas, parked the van at the old Trading Post diner off SR92 (it closed in 2009) and immediately saw the gate the ranger told me about behind the diner.  "Day Use Only,  Sunrise to Sunset" said the sign on the gate.  It was 4pm.  I had just under two hours to hike out-and-back safely.  I had no idea how far south I could safely go. We entered and started our walk going due south.  In a quarter mile I walked past the sign for the LDS campground pointing east toward the river.  There were no fresh tire tracks, but we did come across several piles of fresh scat.

The waning sun was in my eyes at the start.  I wore my hoodie but it was still warm at 80F.  The road I was on was a maintenance road traveling southwest to the Border Station.  Exposed, flat and at 4100', it wasn't much of a fun hike while the heat was on.  The dogs enjoyed the run as it got cooler.   We detoured briefly at the river but the river bed was dry here.  The dogs found a stagnant pool to romp in.  It was very quiet here along the river, although I was on the lookout for border crossers.

The farther south we went, the bushier the trail got.  Tall acacia shrubs lined the path, making it shadier for the dogs. I turned around at the 2.7 mile mark near a ranch house.  The international border is just 1.5 miles from where I turned around.  I would have walked longer but daylight was waning; sunset was at 5:18pm.  It was 5pm and the hawks were coming out for their nightly hunt.

I took the trail along the west bank of the river on the return.  This road is closer to the river than the official San Pedro River trail on the east side.  I should hike this all the way down to the border some day.  I could stop at the border station and let the agents know that I'm turning around at the border.  This way they won't chase after me when I engage a motion sensor.

The LDS campsite turned out to be the abandoned playground/picnic area just south of the bridge and the road was the same overgrown trail I first hiked with Sara over ten years ago.  There is far less migrant trash now along this road.  I only came across one sun-bleached horse blanket.  The dedication plaque from 2000 is still there.  When we first came to this campground in 2005, it already looked abandoned.  Now it's even more so, with tall weeds growing everywhere.

We made it back to the van at 6pm.  That gave me just 14 minutes of nautical twilight before darkness and a halfmoon took over.  Lights of homes hugging the Huachuca foothills were now coming on.  The dogs were happy to be back in the van and on the way home.  All four panted heavily and then attacked the water bucket for a good while.