Brown Canyon Loop with a few side trips

Brown Canyon is perhaps one of the more visited canyons in the eastern Huachucas.  The old Brown Ranch, built in the early 1900s, is now a historic site and part of the Coronado National Forest (CNF).   The old corral and windmill still stand, and the pond has become a breeding ground for a native and endangered frog. It's a popular place for birders, photographers and astronomers. The CNF began charging a $8 day use fee earlier this year, but visitors can still park fee-free at the Ramsey Canyon Road trailhead parking, popular with mountain bikers, equestrians, hikers and trail runners.

I walked the dogs again at sunrise for a quick walk and dip in the stock pond.  The waning full moon was setting over the mountains again, and the sun rose behind a diffused layer of clouds.  It was cool, with a temperature of 45F-47F during this walk. The high today was predicted to be in the mid 60s again, another great day for hiking.

I fed the dogs when we got back home, then met the other four hikers from the Sierra Vista Hikers at 8am in the trailhead parking lot.  SteveD, Jeong, HollyW and BonnieM made up the group, with dogs Morgan and Zeke. We all arrived on time and took off as soon as everyone showed up.  This group doesn't linger and I like that.

We began our loop on the forest road leading to the ranch. This is the most boring part of the loop, walking on a wide maintenance road with complete exposure. The area was busy!  Perhaps because Carr Canyon is closed now, people are looking for alternate places to recreate and Brown Canyon is close to Sierra Vista.

This is a pleasant canyon to walk in.  The standard 5.2-mile loop has an elevation gain of just 708 feet, making a fast two-hour loop possible even for beginner hikers.  Grassy meadows, oaks, sycamores, junipers dot the trail, with more deciduous trees along the creek in the wilderness that provide a lovely autumn color display.

Water was currently still running in the drainages, allowing the dogs to drink as they pleased.  This also meant that there was water in the hidden falls off the main trail, which I took the group to.  This alternative trail goes past an old grazing ground before passing the falls and returning to the main trail by an old homestead.  Ruins and a few relics remain of that homestead.  Then I took the group to what I call the "carcass," a rusty relic of an convertible now resting under an oak tree.  It looks like it was also part of a homestead off a main carriage road, which the CNF now has closed off.  One of these days I'm going to explore that old road and see where it ends up.  One end of the road ends at a rocky ascent that begins the elevation gain of this trail.

The horse trough at the wilderness boundary marks the two-mile mark of this loop. I asked if the group were interested in checking out the Brown Falls.  All but Jeong had been there and she wanted to see it, so the group went another half-mile to the falls.  Jeoung and I then climbed up to the pool for pictures.  The falls weren't running, but she was so in awe of the rocks that we went another half-mile to the upper falls as a group, and then the entire group walked into the rocky slot until we could no longer go farther due to high rocks that the dogs wouldn't have been able to climb up.  I was surprised everyone wanted to explore this, as the rocks make this a treacherous climb. Other hikers watched us from above, including one man who turned out to be a retired PE teacher  I once worked with, with his Weimaraner.  He told us there was a cave down there and neither Steve nor I knew about that cave.  Neither of us wanted to go back down and explore it, though.

We had hiked and explored 3.8 miles at this point, the farthest we would go.  We now began our return hike to complete the loop via the old Brown Canyon Road.  Holly told me that the badly-rutted area at the end of the residential area had been filled in, which is true.  The badly rutted area is also by a developed area that needed a secure road for one lot that is now for sale. We finished off with 6.8 by the time we got to our cars.  The parking lot had 17 cars in it and people were still coming and going.


We had hiked for three hours and now I was hungry.  I had promised Kevin I'd get a pizza from Chuckwagon today.  The diner has had to limit its hours, only open Thursdays-Sunday now for carry-out or delivery only.  I was sitting outside on the shaded porch of the diner, waiting for my pizza, when Susan texted me asking me if I were walking the dogs later again.  She knew I was doing Brown canyon today, but I agreed to take the dogs out one more time.  Minnie likes her water dips and two more miles weren't going to harm me.  But this meant that Zeke and I would get over ten miles of walking in by day's end.

Susan was in town taking care of some gardening needs.  I got to the river early and told her I'd just sit by what we call "Dog Beach" and let the dogs romp in the water.  Sweetie doesn't like that too much and is easily bored, staring out into the horizon looking for things to chase.  This was Minnie's time, though, and this afternoon's visit to the river tagged on another 2.2 miles.  Kevin was home by the time we got back.  Zeke then finally collapsed on the patio by Kevin and didn't move much the rest of the night.