Joe's Canyon and the Yaqui Trail to the border

Distance: 7.2 miles
Elevation:
Significance: Southern most section of the Arizona Trail, vistas

This was the very first hike that Kevin and I did in Arizona, back in December 2003.  It's the only trail within the Coronado National Monument. We hiked it with my sister Alex and traipsed up the canyon after freshly-fallen snow.    I last did this trail  with a small group of women from the Sierra Vista Hikers about a year ago.  We took the park shuttle to Montezuma's Pass and hiked one-way back to the visitor's center.   Today's hike was an out-and-back hike.                                       

Today's weather was cool and breezy, with a temperature range of 41F-66F.   I hiked this with members of the Huachuca Hiking Club: SteveS, Barry, JohnS, Rod.  No dogs are allowed in the park.  We got started at 7:40am.    The trail begins across the street from the Visitor's Center, off the road to the picnic area.  It quickly climbs up into the narrow canyon.

It's an uphill trek from the visitor's center to Yaqui Ridge.  The park has cancelled any shuttle rides because of the coronavirus so we had no other option but walking it this way.  It's steep but very scenic to the pass, switchbacking among Arizona Wh.te Oak and manzanitas before reaching the grassy ridge and the rocky hillsides of the southern slopes.  This view is only visible along the ridge.  One can hike a short trail to Coronado Peak, but this view is not visible from there.  One can see houses on the Mexican side

One can see the Coronado Cave as one ascends the trail. There was still water trickling in the drainage, and I'm sure after heavy rain this water flow down the hillside is spectacular.  It's 1.5 miles to the ridge and despite the open exposure, the winds weren't too bad as we now had views of the south and the border.  The rest of the flora on the hike was dry and drab.

My only disappointment is that there were few flowers out.  I didn't see any flora of significance until we got on the mile-long Yaqui trail that descends to the border.  Here I saw penstemon and fairy dusters and chollas starting to bloom.  No ocotillo here were in bloom.

We rested here on the border.  No sign of border construction is here.  The old concertina wire fence is still the main border.  Also missing was any sign of illegal migration.  We saw no discarded clothing or backpacks, items that were very common along the border when we first moved here in 2004.  This part of the border is kept under tight surveillance via motion sensors and from the aerostat flying over Fort Huachuca.

Rod and I sat on the bench facing Mexico while Barry sat on the border marker and Steve and John walked around.  I ate a few tangerines from my stache.  We didn't see anyone on this hike until a family of eight arrived as we were starting on our return hike, and shortly after that a trail-running couple.  At the intersection of the Yaqui trail with the Joe's Canyon trail, we met four more hikers, along with their terrier.  The lone man in this group was Canadian now working in Tucson for a telescope in Chile.  Talk about a remote work site!

From this intersection we had two more miles to go, and these were all downhill.  John and Barry went on ahead while Rod, Steve and I chatted with the four hikers.  We met three more hikers in that final mile from the Bisbee Muleteam.  We stopped and chatted with them as well. We all got back to our cars in 4:10 hours.  We chatted some more and then departed.  No one even suggested going out to eat because of the coronavirus and the focus on social distancing of six feet.

I got home at 1pm.  The confirmed coronavirus cases were all the news again today, with the day ending with the United States now claiming 124,386 confirmed cases with 2191 deaths,  (Arizona now has 773 cases with 15 deaths and globally we are at 661,209 cases and 30,815 deaths).  Talks are now of placing New York, New Jersey and Connecticut in lock-down, but now we are seeing numbers rise quickly in New Orleans, Detroit and Chicago.  Will Arizonans be told to lock down as well?  We are still a month away from our apex.

I had a late lunch when I got home, and again at 2:45pm took the pack down to the river.  This time we walked 2.5 miles, and 0.8 miles of that was waiting for Susan and Allie to arrive.

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