We were eight people this time: GalenG, HollyW, Lyn and Frank, Theresa and Mary, SteveD. We convoyed in three cars to the trailhead. Holly rode with me and she kept me awake with her upbeat chatter.
Weather was in the mid 50s. The sky was clear at the start but clouds slowly moved in by noon and winds picked up. This trail is mostly exposed and best done under clouds. The cool weather made up for the lack of clouds. Oaks are in the arroyos and provide some shade.
This was a nice group of strong hikers. We slowed down for the last person but never had to wait long before resuming our hike. Lyn and Frank are the only ones who did this hike with me last year and they knew what to expect, but for the others this was a new experience.
We rested at Kentucky Camp where I gave everyone enough time to have a snack and read the historical signs inside the main building which is now a living museum. SteveD loves to explore and scurried all over the camp. He gave me the idea to host another hike next weekend going south, to show them where the old ditch was that was used to pipe in water six miles away from the creek to the camp.
Frank seemed bored with the same route, so I opted to take the group west toward Snyder mine off FR4085. No one minded, even knowing this would add two miles to the total mileage. FR4085 is also a popular ATV trail, and shortly after we got on the trail, 20 loud ATVs rolled by, leaving us in the dust.
There wasn't as much water in the creeks, despite the rain from last week. Zeke didn't seem to want water, though. He just wanted to wet his paws.
I made two wrong turns looking for Snyder mine. At least people didn't seem too upset, and the detours weren't long. There are several short roads that dead end at campsites near the creek. What I was looking for was the main road going south, and I found it when we came across a brown directional sign with Melendez Pass, Aliso Springs and Gardner Canyon. It was this brown sign that assured me I was on the right path.
Snyder Mine is a closed mine now, with iron bars across the entrance. Copper, gold, lead and silver were once mined here from 1909-1955 when most of the mines in the Santa Rita closed. Bats now live in this mine. Remnants of the old mine remain, with rusty metal off the road, stone walls crumbling in the hillside, and tailings around us. Steve again scurried around, checking out the water tank, looking down air vents. Frank was more interested in looking at minerals on the ground. We were high enough against the hillside to see views to our northeast. A social trail went over the hill toward FR4085, and I realized after summiting the hill that we should have stayed on the main road because it loops around the area before going uphill toward Gardner Canyon. This would have saved us the short bushwhack.
I missed a second trail connecting the road with the AZT a quarter-mile to our east. Luckily again we didn't go far, but both detours probably were a half-mile error. We were all relieved when we got back to our cars 4.5 hours later. My GPS app said we had hiked 8.57 miles. Lyn's GPS said 9.1 miles, and Frank's said 9.8 miles. That's a big discrepancy! The last time I hiked this, in February 2017, I hiked this in nine mines. The hiking club's tracking was 9.4 miles.
We finished off with another great meal at the Tia Nita's restaurant. This time we were the only customers and the wait wasn't as long as the week prior. I ordered a gyro sandwich. It was tasty, but for $10, the 14" pizza is still a better deal, offering meals for three people.
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