Elevation: 5925' - 8286'
Elevation gain: 2224'
Significance: Bagging the 4th highest summit in the Huachuca mountains with unique views toward the southwest.
Hiking time: 6-9 hours (today it took us 8:52 hours, with breaks)
There are several ways to bag Huachuca Peak. The shortest but steepest way is via McClure Canyon, a narrow canyon filled with deciduous trees (sycamores and ash) in fall foliage this time of year. SteveT and I agreed to hike it today after a breakfast at Denny's with Kevin. (We both took advantage of the free Grand Slam breakfast offered to all veterans.)
Access to McClure Canyon is just past the gate on Garden Canyon Road. It's a rocky fire break, but there's a rock barrier at the .4 mile mark that only high clearance vehicles can manage. This barrier took me some time to maneuver, but the rest of the 1.2 miles to the abandoned campsite was fine.
I hadn't been in the canyon since Veterans Day 2013 and had no idea what to expect. The Huachuca Hiking Club had some members who cut back the brush on the trail several weeks ago, but I was concerned about my Ford Escape making it to the old dispersed campground. How badly rutted is the road to the campground now? My worries were unfounded. I parked an overheated car in an old camp site and we took off at 8:15am. I was dressed in three layers top and bottom, as today's high in Sierra Vista was predicted to be 59F.
The morning sun wasn't high enough in the sky to illuminate the fall foliage. The Arizona ash were in full prime fall color, but many more trees were past their prime. I missed my chance by at least a week to take colorful photos.
The entire hike is a steep uphill, there is no level ground here. It starts out as an old jeep road, McClure Canyon Road, for the first .6 miles. The rocky road ends and turns into a single track trail that parallels the narrow canyon and an intermittent waterfall. A sign is posted here, pointing to the trail that continues under a canopy of oaks. The Crest Trail is 1.3 miles away. I was wearing New Balance trail runners, not the most reliable shoes to wear on such a steep and unsteady trail.
The steepness never relented. Once out of the steep canyon, we were now hiking on a faint trail that I knew would intersect with Pine Park and an old helipad, and continue on the Huachuca Peak trail for another mile. Here is where the Upper Huachuca Peak trail meets coming from the north, past an old water tank and a clearing. This is from where most hikers approach the peak.
It took us 2:50 hours to hike 1.6 miles. We rested here on an old snag, giving the dogs food and water and resting. This was a tough trail for Steve, but he did not give up. I went at his pace, always ahead of him but keeping him within view.
The last mile to the peak from Pine Park is more traveled and the trail more firm, but the grade is still there. This area was burned by fire, perhaps in 1977 when Carr Peak was burned, and one walks past pines in various stages of growth, from young seedlings to trees 20' high and taller. The rocky southwest-facing summit of Huachuca Peak is visible now, an encouragement knowing it's less than a half-mile away. Views of Mount Wrightson and western mountain ranges now come to view.
There was no trash along the entire trail. Perhaps the Huachuca Hiking club volunteers took it all away. There were no sun-burned backpacks, sunbaked plastic bottles of Electrolyte, rusty tuna cans or candy wrappers left behind by illegal border crossers. The crew also placed pink hunter's tape to mark the last 50 years to the overlook. (The peak is overgrown with chaparral)
We arrived at the peak at 1:20pm. What a relief! It had taken us five hours. The dogs were tired. Zeke plopped under a chaparral shrub, Trace rested his head on Steve's backpack. The dogs got another food snack and more water. For 30 minutes we sat there, secluded from the rest of the world, and just enjoyed the view. I entered our names in a peak register. The previous hikers signed in on the 9th and the 3rd of November.
One has a view of the lush green forest below us. Carr Peak is visible, but the angle is so far from the northeast that the peak is barely recognizable. Upper Garden Canyon's dry basin and the many fire breaks that end at the boundary of Fort Huachuca and the National Forest are also visible. One can't see the trail from which we hiked though. The dogs stood on the ledge looking out to the horizon as well. What goes on in dogs' minds when they stand on a summit looking down on the world? Do they congratulate themselves for a job well done, or do they calculate where the potential hordes of animals are that they can chase? When two ravens flew over us and then glided down into the canyon, Trace perked up.
We ate the chicken burritos I bought from Chipotle the day before. The spicy protein was a nice treat. The peaks was calm, with no wind. Warmth radiated from the rocks. We could have rested longer, but now I was concerned about remaining daylight. It had taken us five hours to hike 2.6 miles; the return hike would take us at least three hours if we didn't stop. We started the descent at 2pm. We would need to get back to the truck by 5:30pm, but I wanted to get back earlier in case that return drive out of the canyon would be problematic in the Escape. Fort Huachuca wants people out of Garden canyon before sunset. But do guards close off the gate and trap people in the side canyons in for the night? Black bears roam this area, as is evident in the over 60 piles of bear scat we counted on the return hike, in various stages of decomposition but always being clearly ursine in nature.
We kept a steady pace going down. I worried both about remaining sunlight and Steve, who has trouble maneuvering down unsteady, rocky terrain. By 4pm we were in deep mountain shade and the temperature dropped noticeably. My cheeks were now cold and I had to keep moving to stay warm.
Steve was very tired now. Each step he took had to be secured by his trekking pole, one step at a time. I was always up front, looking back to make sure he was still upright. He muttered an occasional expletive that I ignored. He had to make it down safely, but I also wanted enough daylight to get out of the canyon safely. There was no time to sit and rest. He could do that once back inside the truck.
I made it back to the truck shortly after 5pm. A full-sized Chevy truck was parked next to me, its bed filled with camping gear but the owner nowhere to be found. Steve hobbled in ten minutes later and we drove off, the engine now well rested for the return drive out of the canyon. Getting down that rock barrier was a lot easier than getting up it.
We carpooled back to where Steve's van was parked at the Visitor's Center and then drove in our separate vehicles into Sierra Vista for a meal. That is when I heard on the Tucson NPR station that Democrat Kyrsten Sinema won the Arizona Senate seat, beating Republican Representative Martha McSally. It had been a very close race, with McSally initially winning with the casted votes, but then Sinema eventually winning with the mailed-in ballots. Both women are quite capable of representing Arizona. Both are moderates. I would love having both as my state Senator.
We tried to eat at Golden Corral, which offers its free dinner to veterans today, but the line snaked outside and it was too chilly for me to stand in the cold evening air. We ended up eating our meal at Culver's, paid for by Steve. The restaurant was quiet compared to Golden Corral.
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