Galen and I met on the far west side of Sierra Vista at 9am to avoid the parade on Fry Boulevard. He noticed my front right tire was low on air, so when we got to Steve's place, spent another half hour getting the tire inflated. Steve, Trace, Zeke and I rode the Escape and Galen drove himself in his Subaru, which turned out to be in his advantage later on.
Forest Road 345 to the trailhead off Middlemarch Road was in good condition until that last half mile. I had last been here in February after the brush fire and the road was doable. It's still doable, but with caution and best with a high-clearance vehicle. We got to the trailhead and got started at 11am. There were a few cars in camping sites, but no cars at the trailhead. Trees along the wash were in fall color.
Neither man had been here before. It's a beautiful hike 1.75 miles to a pass covered in pinon pines and flanked by hoodoos, before the trail descends to the east side campground with a varied terrain. Hoodoos, pinon pines, junipers, oaks and plenty of prickly pear line the trail. The trail descends to Cochise Spring and deciduous trees. I walked on ahead while Galen stayed with Steve chatting. We kept a steady pace. The first two miles are impressive for a first-time hiker here, as the landscape opens up.
The intermittent waterfall was barely trickling, so I knew we'd have minimal water along the trail until the springs on the east side. Both dogs jumped into Halfmoon tank, a man-made dam that creates a stockpond for cattle, which were absent today. This pond is a quarter-mile of the pass. The ash here were turning yellow. We let the dogs cool off before moving on.
Weather was warm with few clouds or a breeze. It was pleasant weather for hiking. The dogs never overheated. Past the stockpond, the dogs were able to run down to the trickling creek for more water.
The trail meanders and ascends and descends the entire time. The shaded parts add some coolness for both human and beast, but it was also a place for fall photography. One walks over rock slabs, around rock walls, and one always is reminded that this was the paradise of the Chiricahua Apaches, who defended their home to the death.
We didn't see many people hiking out. Two equestrians came toward us, but they turned around at the pass due to lack of sunlight, something that concerned me, too. We didn't get to the east side campground until 2:50pm, found a low brick wall to sit on since all the picnic tables were taken by weekend campers, and had our lunch. We stayed there until 3:15pm and then began our return hike. My camera's battery had already died and my phone was quickly losing power.
There were many more people on the east side exploring the trail. The equestrians had returned. More dogs and kids were climbing the nearby crags, campers were spending the late afternoon walking parts of the trail. The yellow blooms of turpentine brush glistened in the low sun. We now had to focus on getting as far west on the trail before sunset. We had three hours to make the five miles
Mountain bikers were now camped on a high rocky plateau. They made it up that steep trail with all that gear? We made it to the pass with the last of the waning sun shone on the crags, casting a golden red hue on the rocks before the mountain shadows took over and wrapped us in cold air as the remaining light slowly faded to darkness and walking down the 1.75 miles to our cars took us two hours. It was 6:20pm when we got back to the cars, and it was chilly.
We drove into Tombstone, but then separated from Galen to stop at the Tombstone Brewing Company. It was closed! What brewery closes at 7pm on a Saturday? It was 7:20pm when we drove off. Weekenders were strolling down the dirt road. It was just as well, as I felt fatigue set in.
We saw the quarter moon set behind Tombstone as we left to continue back to Whetstone. What a view!
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