Elevation gain: 5000'-6150'; 1571'
Significance: Popular birding site, lush canyon with mature Big Tooth Maples and Sycamores
https://www.nature.org/ourinitiatives/regions/northamerica/unitedstates/arizona/placesweprotect/ramsey-canyon-preserve.xml
We live eight miles from the entrance to the Ramsey Canyon Preserve, maintained by the Nature Conservancy. I don't go there very often because dogs are not allowed, and getting in is $3 for Cochise County residents, $6 for all others. The entrance ticket is valid for a week. It is, however, worth a visit for first-timers to see historic mining cabins, hummingbirds, tanagers and Elegant Trogons that call this canyon home. It is also one way to enter the National Forest behind the preserve, and hike seven miles uphill on the Hamburg trail. It's a lovely canyon hike when it's cool and the creek is running.
Bill, who's become de facto my hiking partner, has been wanting to visit Shady Glen again. We've done it twice via the nearby Brown Canyon trail, but going via the Ramsey Canyon entrance is only two miles, so half as long, as Brown Canyon. He'd never been to Ramsey canyon so I decided to show him the way. Another hiking partner of his opted out of another hike and he asked me if I felt like hiking. I said I did. We went.
The preserve does not open until 8am during the warmer months, and today it was already getting warm by that time. We parked our trucks at the Brown canyon trailhead parking lot and walked 1.5 miles west on Ramsey Canyon Road to the preserve. Traffic was already steady. The parking lot for the preserve only has room for 27 cars and the lot can fill up quickly on weekends with avid birders. When we got to the lot at 7:50am, there were still some free spots available. Oh well, at least we added some mileage to our hike.
The hike begins on an old mining trail to several old cabins on either side of the trail. The trail is wide here, wide enough for a mule train. Most visitors stay here, sit on a bench, and watch hummingbirds, or they walk uphill a bit to watch and photgraph birds in the Big Tooth Maples, sycamores or Arizona ash trees. White-tail deer graze in the shade and seem tame to the many humans walking by.
One enters the preserve via the Visitor's Center and information office. Knowledgeable volunteers staff the building and there is information on the history of the area. I showed Bill our route (hiking in a southwesterly direction) and off we went. The Hamburg trail, the long canyon trail that ends at the Crest trail, is at the far southwest end of the preserve and immediately takes a steep grade uphill.
I was not ready for this steepness. My lack of energy surprised me and I was very apologetic. I don't normally keep Bill waiting. Older women were passing us by as I stopped at every bench along the way. I know heat quickly tires me out and I hope that was my excuse. Once we made it to the Ramsey Overlook (which is on National Forest Land), it was all downhill from there to Shady Glen. Shady Glen is just below the overlook, but the glen isn't obvious due to heavy canopies. We stopped here for photos and my first big water break. I drank half a liter in one sitting. Yes, the heat had gotten to me.
There were many hikers on the Hamburg trail, many with big cameras. There was plenty to photograph as the water trickled downstream but then disappeared just below the intersection with the Brown Canyon trail. We had to backtrack some to find the hidden trail to the glen. Once there, I just wanted to relax and take in the noise of the birds and the water. This little parcel of land truly is a hidden oasis. It's not marked and off the official trail, but the faint trail is visible to those with a keen eye. It intersects with the Hamburg where the trail crosses the creek.
After a rest, we resumed exploring the creek. A faint trail followed the creek and we got as far as the first sloped waterfall. It wasn't a high waterfall, but it was tall enough to make a return hike difficult to surmount without anything to hold on to. I slipped and hit my head (ouch!) and felt a bruise forming, but otherwise was OK. Bill seemed to relish the lush spot he found. A collared lizard rested on a snag in the creek below, well-camouflaged to the grey background. There were several collared lizards we'd come up to on this exploratory hike.
We returned the way we came, upstream along the creek to the main trail, through a strand of horsetail and other riparian plants. We discovered an orange flower, a tree with a rock in it, more lizards, but no birds. The hummingbird feeders the volunteers had set out at 8am were unused when we returned by noon.
I know the heat played a big factor in the lack of birds today. What concerns me is the lack of water in the creek. The volunteer we spoke with said this is the lowest water level she's seen since she started keeping track of it in 1984.
The return hike was easy. Once we arrived back at the Overlook, it was all downhill from there. A raven perched high in a dead tree kept guard.
We looped around the half-mile Bledshoe trail where the mining village once stood. The creek runs through here, but there was no running water. We viewed some of the cabins, spotted one young deer munching on grass, and walked past an old chimney that once belonged to a stone house that no longer stands. I saw things I had never bothered looking at before because I'd only come here to hike up to the overlook. The mature trees here give this part of the canyon a cool, breezy feel. When there is water in the creek, wildlife gathers here.
The Ramsey Canyon Preserve is worth a visit and a unique perspective to the Huachucas. But it's always crowded with visitors. There's nothing wrong with that, as coming here for me is a treat. We met a local photographer and birder, Kordeen Kor, whose photos adorn the walls of the preserve's visitor center. He told us he comes to the preserve every day to photograph and record the birds he sees. He was watching a woodpecker mom feed her young high above in the maple tree before him. He had a 600mm lens attached to his DSLR, the envy of all bird photographers.
I was exhausted by the time we got back to the visitor's center. I chatted briefly with the volunteers. Tom, one of the volunteers, told us that Huachuca Canyon is actually a better place to spot the Elegant Trogon, which we had seen when we hiked the canyon two weeks ago!
I almost bought an annual pass to the place but opted not to since dogs are not allowed in the preserve and I seldom hike without one. The annual pass is now $36. That averages to $3 a month.
The last 1.5 miles back to the car seemed to take forever. I was hot, exhausted and losing my senses. Bill commented that this was our slowest hike yet. I reminded him that this was an exploratory hike; not every hike I do has to be a power hike! Sometimes I just want to take it slow and enjoy nature. OK, so I was slower than usual today.
A mother-son couple was in the parking lot when we returned, visiting from New Mexico. She is originally from Tucson but retired to Albuquerque. He lives in Colorado. They were parked in the shade relaxing. By now it was 93F. This was the son's first visit here. They asked for directions to Montezuma's Cave in the Coronado National Monument. (I've never been in the cave). They asked for good places to eat and we suggested Native Wings and Taco Giro. They'd already eaten at the Bamboo Garden, "a real dive, but with the most authentic Thai cuisine" said the woman.
I was so glad to be back home and in some shade. I didn't do much else for the rest of the day. I didn't even walk the dogs. I did, however, drive to Dollar General for a quart of Drumstick ice cream. I'd been craving that all day. On my drive there I noticed that we now have new neighbors in the corner house, an older couple. Finally! The house had been vacant since last November when Richard and his meth head friends were next door burning wood most nights and annoying the neighborhood. (I don't intend on being negative, but Richard did serve 12 years in prison for selling meth. He's now a born-again Christian who likes to burn wood.)
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