A new Facebook Community calling itself "Huachuca's Hikers Anonymous hosted a six-mile hike here at 9:30am. The local Facebook community was formed just last month. I invited Galen, SteveT and SusanM to join me. Steve and Susan brought their dogs as well. I brought Zeke and together we had a dog walk.
This was my first walk with the Hiker's Anonymous. Twenty-five people showed up. Outside of my four friends, I didn't recognize anyone else. Small groups of people stood around in the vast parking lot, but the group never officially united. I chatted with a few people, some who also brought their dogs, and at 9:35am the big group just took off. Galen, Steve, Susan and I simply followed. Now I know why this hiking group is called the Hiker's Anonymous: no one made formal introductions and I have no idea who the hike leader was!
I stay in the back (or front) of a group when I'm with my dogs in a group of people. This prevents people tripping over them. Today I stayed in the rear. The rest of the hikers quickly took off. We all headed toward the river and then took a turn north. The big group disappeared in the treeline and tall grass while I stayed with Steve and Susan and dogs Trace and Allie. It was the last we saw of them. Allie is Susan's newest dog, a gentle dog of German shepherd/Golden Retriever mix. Trace showed quite an interest in Allie, but Zeke stayed by my side.
We were soon on our own, just us three humans and three dogs. We then made this a private dog walk, taking our time as we meandered north along the river. We came across a red cross commemorating the death of a migrant (the crosses are erected by a non-profit group called Pilgrimage of Remembrance), then saw two Cooper's Hawks fly overhead, one carrying a snake in its talons. We did come up to two people in the initial group but it was obvious they had broken off from the main group.
The two-mile northern loop connects with the main trail via a wash for 1/4 mile before heading back south toward the parking lot. Susan stopped here and went home, not wanting to overtax Allie, but Steve and I ventured on, continuing on the southern loop around Kingfisher pond, a popular gathering spot for birders. We saw a group of birders and quietly went around the pond to avoid them. Trace flushed out a flock of small birds (much to the chagrin of the birders, I'm sure) as we looped around the opposite side of the pond.
We came across a few other dog walkers, but once away from the pond, we were back on open (re: boring) terrain. In the summer this part is hot and exposed. The BLM seems to use this southern section as a dumping ground, as we came across a mound of rolled concertina wire and other security items off trail. Today our dogs enjoyed the exercise. The trail had dried up nicely since the rain and snow from earlier this year.
We were done at 11:56. We had walked 4.6 miles in around 2:30 hours. It was a calming walk with like-minded people and friends. Weather was ideal, with little wind and just enough chill to stay warm while walking. We came across a few hikers who had done the entire hike, 6.6 miles, at the San Pedro House. Galen and his wife Sunny were some of the hikers.
Steve and I finished off the hike with a visit to our local taphouse. I got back home at 2:30pm.
Resources:
https://conservationlands.org/friends/friends-of-the-san-pedro-river
https://www.blm.gov/visit/san-pedro-house
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