Elevation: 3900'-3770'
Significance: Colonial Spanish history, remoteness, river access
Trailhead: 1.75 north of In Balance Ranch Road, a dirt road W of the San Pedro River on SR 82.
The Presidio is an old Spanish fort built in 1775 and abandoned five years later because of incessant Apache attacks on its occupants. It is one of five presidios built by the Spanish in Arizona. Only one, the Presidio de San Ignacio de Tubac, remains preserved. Another presidio, just east of the border town of Douglas, the Presidio de San Bernardino, was also built at the same time and also abandoned and left to slowly erode away.
I had never been on this short trail but Steve got me curious to exploring it. While I had been to the ruins ten years ago with the Huachuca Hiking Club (it was on the return hike from seeing the ruins of Contention city, another abandoned mill town north on the San Pedro River), I had never been on the official trail. I figured we could visit the ruins and then hike to Contention from there. That would require crossing the river, making it a 6-mile hike over sandy, alkaline terrain.
The trailhead parking area is quite spacious, allowing for horse trailers to park here. Horses are allowed, but must be tied up at the posts provided by the BLM near the ruins. They can't walk around the ruins, though.
I took Zeke and Sweetie on this hike. This is Sweetie's first group hike outside her pack. I wanted to see how she would do with other dogs and people, and how she would handle a leash on a road. She ended up doing well with the harness and leash.
Hikers have to step over a metal gate to start on the trail. The first quarter mile is badly eroded from equestrian traffic and flash floods, but once on the old rail bed, it's easy and level for the rest of the way. St. David is visible to the northeast, and a large white canopy is visible from the In Balance Ranch, located on the north end of the road by the same name. We counted six (sunbleached) benches along the 1.2 mile trail to the ruins. There's even a pit toilet at the last intersection, before turning left (east) on the final stretch to the ruins.
For history and archeological buffs, the area is a delight. I like this area for that alone, but also because the ruins overlook the San Pedro river. Not too many people come here at once, but walking around the alkaline bluffs and seeing the expanse of the river and mountains in the distance, one gets a good overview of what life must have been like in the time of the old Spanish. The trail is well-marked and one can't get lost as long as one stays on the trail.
This land is prone to flooding and we saw evidence of recent flash floods: water marks in wavy patterns in the sand, overturned weeds facing downhill, snags piled up in the washes. With each flash flood, the washes erode more of their banks, creating little "grand canyons" that snake toward the river.
We started the hike near the iron cross commemorating the deaths of the Spanish at this site. The presidio was attacked three times by Apaches in the five years it was in operation. We then followed the informational plaques around the presidio grounds. It's gotten much overgrown since I was last here!
There isn't much left of the presidio. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has now placed informational markers describing the remaining ruins. The Comandante's quarters and the chapel have a few adobe walls still standing, but everything else is overgrown with creosote and white acacia (those thorny shrubs that take over the Chihuahuan desert)
We were the only ones at the site when we walked through. The area of the old fort isn't very big, and it doesn't take long to walk through. Trace and Sweetie romped around the shrubs while Zeke stayed right behind me. After walking through the ruins, we continued down a short path to a railbed and hiked north, following the river and then bushwhacking down to the river to let the dogs splash. We were now no longer on the official trail and I discovered that my GPS stopped tracking at .78 miles. We were in a no phone reception area.
I like exploratory hikes, but I'm not fond of walking on old railroad beds. The heat radiates off the tailings and there is little traction (like walking in deep sand). The nice thing about exploratory hikes is discovering what's off the beaten path. We did come across some mining artifacts. Steve saw an old well topper. After a short bushwhack to what looked like an old trail, we were at the river. All three dogs jumped in and had fun. I looked at it and realized it was deep enough to get uncomfortably wet. We continued our hike a little farther, coming across an old rail road bridge.
The bridge was still in good condition and I saw that there was a gentle slope down to the wash below. More flash food markings were here as we hiked across dried mud and then over wet mud before reaching the banks of the river. I could see deer hoof marks in the mud. This mud stuck to our shoes like dog shit. I remarked to Steve that this wasn't a good area to get lost in; two old people stuck in the mud.
The river here wasn't very deep, and crossing it was quite doable, but now I didn't want to get my feet wet, only to then get the shoes incassed in that sticky mud.
We stood here for a bit as the dogs played in the water. Zeke and Sweetie got a little rough playing with Trace (Zeke is normally submissive in battle). Trace graciously ran to the other bank to relieve himself. Deer and big bird marks, perhaps that of a blue heron or egret, were visible in the sand.
The site of Contention was still two miles downstream and we could have completed this hike, but we opted to return to the official trail and explore some more. The official trail is more solid and more exposed, terrain that is easier to extract oneself in an emergency. We took the first railroad bed going north and then turned left (west) to return to In Balance Ranch Road where now a grader was smoothing out the dirt road. Sweetie went back on her leash and did well for that final 1/4 mile back to the Honda. Steve said she did very well on her hike with Trace and lived up to her name. There were now two more cars besides mine in the parking lot.
I estimated our hike to be around three miles. I do want to do this hike again and this time reach Contention, taking that first rail road bed as shown on the map posted at the trail head. This entire trail is completely exposed, so cool weather and cloudy skies are best for this hike.
Hikers new to the area should be aware that the surrounding dirt roads are used by smugglers, border crossers and the US Border Patrol. Caution should be exercised when hiking here at dawn and dusk.
***
PS: Facebook reminded me that on this date seven years ago, I brought Zeke home from the Bisbee Animal Shelter. He looked like a shepherd/collie mix here so I took him home to bathe and groom him. He was supposed to be a foster, but I fell in love with that fuzzy bear and ended up adopting him.
No comments:
Post a Comment