Elevation gain: 2900'+
https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/arizona/lutz-canyon-trail
I should have started this hike two hours earlier. I could have bagged Miller Peak. Weather was near ideal, with highs in the low 60s with a mostly sunny sky. It didn't get cloudy until 3pm.
This trail took a devastating hit during the 2011 Monument Fire, eroding the trail, washing away mining equipment, cutting a few route for water, and dumping heavy rocks along the way. While it was always steep, the second mile was shaded by mature pines and oaks, which now stand as baren dead trees along the way. I've hiked this trail several times since the 2011 fire, noting how the flora here is recovering, thanks to rain. What once was burned bare is now growing back with scrub oak and manzanitas, but it will take a few more decades to get shade again. Side trails leading off to former mine shafts have been hidden by fire and flood debris and are hard to follow now.
I took Sadie, Zeke and Sweetie on this hike, leaving Minnie at home. The exposed, dry trail would have done her in. We got to the trailhead at 11:37am. I took the dogs down to the creek for a quick water sip, then started on our way up the narrow canyon. We were the only ones around. The gradual slope uphill gets steeper after the creek crossing at 0.6 miles. The old mining road is still very visible at this point, but the grade gets more pronounced two miles uphill, when the road becomes a single track and switchbacks the rest of the way to the Crest Trail across an exposed ridgeline and low-growing scrub oak. Views open up here far south into Mexico.
The trail all the way up to the Crest Trail was soggy from yesterday's rain. This helped keep the dogs cool. The shade on the return hike also helped keep the dogs cool.
The Huachuca Hiking Club worked on trail maintenance late last year and it showed. There were very few obstacles going up this trail, making this trail easier on the ankles and knees, both for human and beast. There was no new snow from yesterday's storm.
We stopped at the Upper Bear Mine to rest. The dogs drank from the water in the mine. Trash was floating on the surface: mostly plastic Electrolyte bottles, a few soaked clothes, candy wrappers. I didn't venture into the mine. Even the dogs just stayed at the entrance. We rested here for over 20 minutes before I decided to make it another 0.5 mile to the Crest Trail. That is where we found some snow. The dogs ate from the small snow bank before we resumed our hike back down. It was 3:15pm.
The only people I met were two men with two boys. They looked like Boy Scouts. A little schnauzer was with them, which one of the men quickly picked up to avoid any confrontation with the dogs. It was 4pm and they said there were going to the top. We wished each other a safe hike.
I got back to the Honda at 4:30pm, drove home to pick up Minnie, then did another 1.2 miles along the river with Susan and Allie. My total mileage was 7.5 miles. We had agreed yesterday to meet at 5pm and that date is what kept me from trying Miller Peak.
The dogs slept very well all night. Not one bark from any of them, even Sadie was quiet.
I will do this trail again next Saturday, but will start at sunrise and make Miller Peak my destination.
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