Copper Canyon and the border

It was cool and breezy today, signs of the rain that's due tomorrow.  Today was much like yesterday with fast-moving increases in the coronavirus, but today I did not let it get to me as much.  What can I do about it besides practice safe socializing?

I did two short hikes with the pack in the early afternoon.I took the pack down to Copper Canyon at 1pm to walk down to the border via FR 4781 and check on any border wall construction.  There is none, although the Border Road has been graded.  All I saw there were at least three graders belonging to SPW Contracting.  A pickup of their employees waved at me and said "What a fine day for a hike!"

I had been here before with the pack, two years ago in March.  It's a nice walk. It's also a lonely walk.  One sees how Montezuma's Peak extends past the border.  That time I had a late start.  This time we were under mostly sunny skies and a cool breeze.  There was no water in the drainage.   Instead of walking the entire road, though, I cut the walk short, stopping at just a little over a mile from the border and walking the rest of the way.  This way I cut out 1.5 miles of exposed, dull road.  I'm sure Minnie appreciated that.  The 3.5 miles round trip to the border was as much as she could handle under the sun.

I met one other person, riding a mountain bike on the road.  We waved at each other from afar.  Aside from a convoy of Forest Service vehicles barreling down the main road, I saw no one else again.  This phrase "social distancing" that is now all over the internet isn't hard for me at all.

Minnie held up well.  She panted on the return walk, but she didn't protest. As a reward, I took the dogs to the creek when we got back to the car.  Not ready to go home yet, I then took them up the old mining road to the lower mine, in a part of the forest that was left untouched by the 2011 fire.  The road in parts reminds me of an ancient Roman stone road.  The cool shade for the entire hike  was refreshing.

This second walk was just under two miles.  We finished off the adventure with a dip in the water just south of the main road, FR61 that hugs the southern Huachucas. One of these days I'll go back here and explore the side trails.  I noticed a few trails long abandoned.  Where do they go?  By then the dogs had had enough and it was time to head home.  The cool breeze was now getting quite cold!

***

Former VP Joseph Biden won today's Democratic primaries in Florida, Illinois and later in Arizona.  Only Ohio decided to postpone their primary until June 2nd.  I guess that state had never heard of early voting before?  NPR was saying that more Arizonans voted via early mail-in ballot today than voted at all in 2016.  Get with the program, Ohio!!!

As for other news, confirmed cases of the coronavirus are increasing rapidly.  New York State is now ranked #1 in the country, surpassing Washington state.  More cities are enacting closure of restaurant and pubs, including Tucson.  Indiana is also closing its eateries, which will hit Northwest Indiana hard.  Lake County, Indiana now has two cases of the virus.  One patient is at the Methodist Hospital in Merrillville, just a few miles north of where Carol lives.  Susan later told me there are two
cases of the virus on Fort Huachuca, two soldiers in quarantine that have returned from South Korea.  The number of confirmed cases will rise even more when students are back from spring break.

Heavy rains are forecasted all day for tomorrow.  I may never get on the road at this rate!

New York

 1,653

Washington

 1,012

California 

579

New Jersey 

267

Massachusetts 

218

Florida

 210

Louisiana

 196

Colorado                                              183

Illinois

 160

Georgia 

146

Pennsylvania

 96

Tennessee 

73

Wisconsin 

72

Connecticut

 68

Ohio 

67

Virginia 

67

Michigan 

65