Tinker Pond/Sheelite Loop

This entire hike is on Fort Huachuca.  Non-military personnel would need an access pass to hike this.  Follow signs to Garden Canyon, then turn left at the first Y to the aerostat, then a second right toward the Tinker Pond Navigation site.  Park in the large gravel parking lot.  One can hike here as long as no military exercises are going on.  The trail starts across from the parking lot and is flat the first half mile, before climbing in elevation the rest of the way.

I had done this hike twice before in early 2017.  While all of it is on wide fire breaks and steep with loose rock, it does provide scenery and remoteness.  I've never come across anyone in this corner of the post.  I began it today after noon, knowing that both I and the dogs needed the exercise.  All four dogs were with me.

The grass has grown back nicely since the controlled burn from 18 months ago.  There is no sign a fire was here unless one looks closely at the base of yuccas and some of the oaks.  Everything blends back in. 

The dogs frolicked on ahead, while Minnie panted the entire way behind me.  We rested several times under the shade of mature oaks, and when we reached Tinker Pond at the two-mile mark, I let the dogs rest in the murky waters to cool off.  It had been a while since the pond was replenished with rain water, but there was enough there to cool off in.  When the dogs were ready to hike some more, I continued uphill.  Here is where the trail gets steep and the terrain loose.

I took the left trail going up hill from the pond.  This trail meets at the boundary line with the National Forest and Brown Canyon.  The grade was too steep for comfort, and all I saw looking ahead of me was more steep grade.  This part wasn't very pleasant at all.  I opted to turn around and walk southeast along the Sheelite ridge, with views toward the Brown Canyon ranch house and the San Pedro Valley, separating the military post with the national forest.  There are two steep hills going in this direction, but at least I was going back toward the car.  The oak-studded hillsides revealed lone-standing ash trees when one looked carefully.

I turned off the boundary/jeep road to head northeast and downhill toward the  water tank with "Site Boston" on it, where a Gobbler Guzzler is.  I let the dogs drink from this water before resuming the walk back to the Honda, a flat half-mile.  It was a pleasant 5.5-mile hike for the solitude and views, but due to the steepness, not a hike that many would enjoy.