Walking the San Pedro River south from Escapule Road

DavidB, SusanM, and I with our five dogs walked a pretty stretch of the San Pedro River off Escapule Road this morning.  We parked off the road by the big wash shortly after 9am and walked the 0.7 miles to the official river.

Just as Jerry told us two days ago, there's a spring in that wash that feeds into the river and it was running very well as it meandered under the shade of mature cottonwoods.  The only downfall to that wash walk was encountering a few pissy bees that attacked Minnie, Sweetie and Zeke.  Those same bees then attacked Susan on our walk back to the cars.  We were both sure these bees were Africanized bees.

This 2.4-mile stretch of river was new to us all.  Every turn in the river was a new sight.  Jerry and Edina were not around this time, as we slowly walked south.  Jerry said it was all on public land until we reached the Castro Electric complex a few miles upriver, so we made that our destination.

David was a good sport, too.  This was his first river walk.  We had warned him that we'd be mostly in the water, some of it knee high.  He took it all in stride.  The dogs welcomed him to the pack.

Water was free of the green algae, but there were a few deeper spots with murky water. The river ran narrow and shallow for most of this stretch, but there was a wide and deeper section at the 1.8-mile mark where a wide flood plain opened up.  Someone had place red kayak against a tree, an indicator that this part does get navigable at times.

We now started noticing new things: a game camera high up a cottonwood powered by solar, another lawn chair squeezed in the notch of a cottonwood.  When we approached a chain-link fence on the west side of the river, followed by horses and a spacious home with three Adirondack chairs facing the river, we knew we were on private property.  The only thing that made us walk farther was a footbridge over the river.  We wanted to know what that bridge connected to.  That bridge was our agreed-upon turn-around.

We heard people working.  A man on a tractor was moving debris.  Susan is very inquisitive and walked up a gravel road to see what was around the corner. David and I followed her. We only walked up the bank and stopped at the curve in the road:  It was another spacious house with a vegetable garden, protected on all sides by barren hills.  Aerial photography from Google Earth, however, later revealed far more back there.  The house and garden are just a front.  The bigger building complex is behind that house.

And all this is owned by an electric company, a company that wires homes, installs circuit breakers?

The man on the tractor slowly came toward us.  I moved away with the dogs to avoid any confrontation.  David went with me, but Susan stayed to chat with the man, who happened to be Valentin Castro and the owner of all this land.  David and I sat in the Adirondack chairs and waited for Susan, who came back reporting that Mr. Castro was very cordial with her and wasn't angry for our trespassing, adding that we are welcome to walk in the river.

We sat on the chairs for a while, drinking and letting the dogs rest.  Minnie now was showing fatigue, but the two horses and one donkey were too much for her to ignore.  We finally decided it was best we leave for our return walk so that the dogs don't harass the horses.

We walked the same way we did going out, stopping only at the crumbly railroad bridge, noting it lacked any swallows' nests.  The walk back wasn't quite so slow.  Perhaps the heat prompted us to get moving. The sun burned my neck whenever I was unprotected by shade. My phone overheated twice and shut down, making me lose almost a mile of tracking.  We got back to our cars in 4.5 hours.  We were all feeling the heat now and were tired.  So were the dogs.  I promised Kevin that I would stop by Vinny's Pizza and get him an order of spaghetti with four meatballs.  By the time I got home, it was past 2pm and Kevin was already asleep.

The dogs slept the rest of the day. The 4.8 mile walk would not have been possible without the water and shade along the river.

***

Global cases: 6,265,531

Global deaths: 374, 931

US cases: 1,837,481

US deaths: 106, 195

Arizona cases: 19,936 (72 in Cochise County)

Arizona deaths 906 (2 in Cochise County)

The pups' first vet visit

It was a busy day for me.  It began at 1:30am when I awoke to the audio of "bodies secreting blood from eyes, ears and mouths."  What the heck?  Was this the latest result of Covid-19?  No, it was my audio book "The Great Influenza" by John M. Barry.  I had fallen asleep listening to it and had awoken to the most graphic  part in the book, "PART VII: The Tolling of the Bell." I have been listening to this book over several days, taking in the rise and fall of our worst pandemic in the US.  What happened in 1918-1920 can be applied to today's Covid-19 pandemic.  The narrator, Scott Brick, reads the narrative like a suspense/horror story.  It's one of the best audio books I've listened to.

Awake prematurely. I now had the chance with an early sunrise walk.  I hadn't walked the dogs all week at dawn and I knew they'd appreciate getting out early.  The sunrise wasn't spectacular, but it was a means to get the dogs exercised before the heat came back.  We have been under a heat advisory all week with temperatures in the 90s. It gets hot by late morning. It was 53F-60F between 5am-6am.

We only walked two miles, then rested by the shrinking stock pond that has dried up so much, the water isn't deep enough for Minnie to swim in anymore.  The water now gets to her belly and she can still cool down and drink, but it's no longer the life of the party.  Water-logged sticks now line the bottom. As I predicted, the pond will be gone by the end of the month.  I sure hope we get those "heavy, intense rains this weekend as forecasted, but even that forecast keeps minimizing precipitation as this weekend nears.

The big event for today was a 2:15pm appointment for both pups at Sierra Animal Hospital.  I won't be taking either dog outside the yard until both are fully vaccinated and have undergone snake avoidance training this fall.  I gave both pups a shower for no other reason but to make them both smell like lemongrass for their exam. The water rinsed out brown for quite a while.

So, because of this mid-afternoon appointment, I wanted to walk the dogs by the river early since I knew I couldn't make it in the afternoon. I asked Susan if she would want to join me at 10am by the Hereford bridge.  She's always such a busy woman and doesn't always join me for the early walks, but today she did.

We walked south in the water.  We made it to the old beaver dam and continued as far south as we could before the water got too deep.  This is the last remaining swimming area for Minnie, but we managed 1.3 miles before turning around.  The river here is very silty and our feet were sinking in the soft ground.  We were both afraid of getting our shoes sucked off.

We went overland on our return hike to bypass the silty bottom, took a wide wash back to the river, and resumed our walk back to our cars.  The 2.6 miles took us just over two hours.  A young man was in the water near the bridge drinking vodka and erecting stone statues.  It was now 84F

I was back home by 12:30.  I had to leave at 1:30 to make it to the vet office in time.  And what do the pups do?  They prance around in the kiddie pool and then wrestle in the dried grass! All that bathing earlier was for naught.  I'm glad both dogs are comfortable in water, but this behavior was counter-productive.  Even Dr George, who came into the exam room immediately smitten by the pups ("I want a GSD puppy!"), mentioned their grassy look, despite having brushed off as much of the grass as possible before leaving the house.  And then putting leashes on them was a disaster.  Both pups whined loudly and creating a ruckus.  I will need to do more leash training with them before the next vet visit on June 17th.

I was seen on time and taken immediately to a private exam room.  I never came in close contact with another patient. I wore my N95 mask as did the employees.  Kevin made a surprise appearance but wasn't allowed into the room with me. I love his concern for the pups.  Both pups calmed down once they realized that they were not in danger.  They welcomed Dr. George with kisses.  Dr. George is one of two DVMs that I prefer treating my dogs.  (The other one is DR Moffett) Dr. G put Sammy down three years ago with great gentleness and empathy, which muffled my own grief at his loss.

Dr. G took Gretel and then Hansi into a separate exam room.  By now both dogs were calm.

Both pups got a good bill of health from Dr. G.  Hansi weighs 21.6 pounds and Gretel weighs 18 pounds.  Both are fit and lean "and try to keep them that way!" said Dr. George.  Once they go hiking with me, they will maintain a lean physique, much like Sadie has all her life.  But getting to Sadie's level of maturity will take years.  I am ready for the challenge.

I left the clinic shortly after 3pm. I drove straight home.  A mobile home was ablaze south of town, creating a plume of dark smoke and the smell of burning wood as I drove south on SR92.  This sight and smell are such a scary sensation this time of year, when everything is hot and dry.  Firefighters had already gotten the fire under control, but rumors on a local Facebook page said a dog was lost in the fire.

***

Global cases: 5,803,920

Global deaths: 358,639

US cases: 1,730,047

US deaths: 100,765

Arizona cases: 16,783

Arizona deaths: 807

Papago Springs Ramble

Distance: 5 miles
Elevation: 5193' - 5355'
Significance: scenic loop walk over hi

lly ATV and horse trails in riparian foothills
https://www.mapmyhike.com/workout/4326775594

Today's "flatland" walk was SteveT's idea and I was his accomplice.  He wanted a mostly flat walk of 4-5 miles and then stop at the Copper Hop Ranch Farm brewery afterward. It turned out to be a very enjoyable walk with dogs Trace and Zeke with good beer in the end.  I've done a different route every time I've walked in these hills.  The many unmarked horse and ATV trails, however, make it mandatory to track the route.  My allergies today were in remission.

We met at his place and then drove in separate cars to the trailhead parking off Papago Springs Road (from which FR636 spurs) south of the business district in Sonoita.  There were horse trailers, ATVs and RVs already parked nearby. We took the dirt path leading southwest.  This was the same route we took on our first visit here in March 2019, but we turned around shortly after crossing a rocky wash.  This time we continued on this path for a mile.

Our first break was near a water tank and cement game water catcher located on a hillside.  Water here was algaic but both dogs were dunked in the water to cool off. We rested a bit, then resumed our walk going southeast.  This route was along a dry, rocky creek bed which would have been very refreshing after a heavy rain.   We came across a second water tank at the second mile, again with green algae floating on top and rested here again.  We were still walking southeast, paralleling FR636 on my GPS.

Parts of this path were canopied by oaks and flanked by hard rock. Walking these trails are always full of surprises as one never knows if one will come across a scenic overlook, shaded grove of trees, or interesting rock formations.  Once out of this cool grove of trees, though, the path started ascending up a hillside and turning southwest, in the opposite direction of where we wanted to go.  We were heading toward the Patagonia hills.

Here is where we got off the trail and went underneath two sets of barbed wire.  We had to get to FR636. My GPS said we were in national forest land, so why the barbed wire?  My track showed us approaching FR636, but now that meant bushwhacking up a hillside.  Steve said he wanted a flat hike (impossible in Arizona), so we took it slowly here.  I was now following a game trail shaded by emory oaks.  When we crested the ridge we were at 3.2 miles and on the southern end of FR636.  We had made it back on the exposed ATV trail with views of mountain ranges in all directions.  Now all we had to do was walk the known path back to our cars.  I had successfully navigated us in a loop that was the length Steve wanted to do.  We were now back on the ridgeline, with blooming cactus and lavender.

This walk worked out very well, but now both dogs were getting warmed by the sun, as they darted ahead toward any shade they could find. We had walked exactly 5 miles.

I, too, was getting thirsty and warm and was looking forward to stopping at the farm brewery. I was also very hungry. It had been over a year since my last visit there.  Our timing was impeccable.  Once back at the cars, Steve navigated to the brewery in Elgin.  It was just past noon and there were already cars and people on the premise.  Yay!  And this place is dog-friendly, too.  The owners use the front of their farm house as their business.  Fourteen varieties of hops grow in their front yard.  In the rear they  raise turkeys, pigs and goats.

I saw some big improvements since my last visit. Gone is the white fest tent from last year.  The tent has been replaced by a wooden patio shaded by sunbrellas.  More open seating is outside the patio toward the Cornhole area, which a group of bikers was already using. There is now a dedicated bathroom for guests.  The parking area is still packed dirt, but there is now a paved spot for vehicles with handicapped visitors. A professional banner advertising the farm brewery is now visible from the main road.  This is the kind of place I'd stop by on a road trip just because it looks so inviting.

People were coming in fast.  I grabbed one small table on the patio for Steve and me.  Another young man and his dog were seated at a nearby table and the third table was quickly taken by another couple. Later on i met the owner of 18-month old GSD "Riff," who qualified as a canine sheriff's deputy in a California county when he was a mere nine months old. 

I had three very tasty beers in the two hours we were here.  My first one was a Copper Coffee Brown Ale (5.5%) pint on tap.  My second and third beers were 12-ounce bottles:  CHR Brown Pecan Ale (5.8%) and Nut Brown Ale (5.3%).  There was no Hefeweizen or Chili beer this time.  Owners Tom and Mel walked around the property which was quickly filling up.  It was nice to see people out mingling in this open space.  This is what I had been missing for two months:  gathering with others in an open area without being crowded out.

I staved off my hunger with a grilled cheese sandwich with tomato.  Steve had a pulled pork sandwich.  We sat at our little table, chatted with others.  It was very relaxing.  The mood was hampered in the end with a phone call from my sister Iris, who told me she and nephew Uli and his wife Jasmine are in Crown Point, IN with Carol because Carol had another six-day stay at the hospital.  Would I be coming to Indiana this summer, she asked?  I called Carol once I got back home and I realized that I must make another road trip to Northwest Indiana soon.  Carol is not doing very well spiritually. She had over-medicated on her medication and had passed out. At least I'll be able to see the grandsons again, but Lake County, IN  is still experiencing a high occurrence of Covid-19.  That's the downfall of being next door to Chicago, IL.

***

Global cases: 5,502,892

Global deaths: 347,590

US cases: 1686,387 (3299 in Lake County, IN)

US deaths: 99,300 (167 in Lake County, IN)

Arizona cases: 16,339 (58 in Cochise County)

Arizona deaths: 800

Carr Peak with Ellen and Zeke

I was up at 3:20 wondering why I was up so early.  Oh yeah, I remembered, I'm hiking up Carr Peak with Ellen today.

It felt so good to hike up Carr Peak this morning.  The Coronado National Forest (CNF) opened the road and upper campsites yesterday at 5pm to allow Memorial Day weekend campers the use of their sites.  That meant I could finally bag the peak this year!  Today's hike completes a summit for May.  We were on the trail by 5:50am and had a cacophony of birds singing and chirping for us as the morning sun rose slowly over the horizon.  This early start gave Zeke shade for most of the ascent.

We were the first ones at the Sawmill trailhead.  It was 48F at the start and I wore my favorite Royal Robbins Expedition shirt with a camisole underneath.  I never had to take out my windbreaker, even when we hit the breezy peak two (!!!) hours later.   We didn't see anyone until we were on our return hike.  We stayed at the peak just long enough to give Zeke water and treats, take a few pics, and drink water ourselves.  It was very peaceful on the peak.

We were slow, though.  Not because we were out of shape.  It felt surreal at times being on the trail, and I had to remind myself I was on a familiar trail.  Everything looked so different. Ellen told me this was her day off from intense mountain bike workouts.  I stopped a lot to make sure we weren't surprising any bears that may have gotten used to no humans around for the past two months.  We did smell skunk twice and what I thought could have been bear.  We only saw two scat piles and only one was fresh and covered in flies. We both also stopped a lot to photograph the view.  There are a few new snags near the trail, dead trees from the 2011 fire that were finally taken by high winds.

We were just before the spur trail to Carr Peak when we heard a loud shriek.  It sounded like a hawk nearby, but it was instead a deer screaming.  It was perhaps startled by seeing humans again, or perhaps it thought Zeke was a bear.  The deer darted up the steep incline with its mate and Zeke didn't chase it.

The trail seemed more overgrown, especially through the aspen groves and where grass hugs the trail.  Young aspen are plagued this year with tent caterpillars, too.  Not a good sign, as they can de-nude a tree rather quickly.  What a shame, as the aspen look otherwise healthy this year (no brown spot fungus yet).

Infact,  the entire forest is a lush, bright green.  The locusts and alpine lupine are currently in bloom.  Purple penstemon are just now popping out and, one of the biggest surprises: seeing ladybugs on the peak.  They hadn't been showing up normally until around the third week in July, but our winter rains must have gotten everything blooming out of season.  Many of the beetles were all over me like flies on feces.  I'm sure a few even got a ride down the mountain, too.

We met two groups of two on our way down, young people wanting to get up to the peak.  By the springs where I normally stop to let Zeke drink were two semi-professional birders sitting in the shade with their $12,000 lenses.  We chatted a bit.  They normally come up the first weekend in May to catch birds in migration, but today they weren't as successful.  One of the men, Batiste, runs a B&B in Hereford.

We were back at our cars in 3:31 hours.  It was 9:47am and 65F.  By now I was hungry and after meeting Kevin at the Sierra Animal Hospital where Sadie and Minnie had a 10am appointment for their standard annual vaccines and geriatric exams, I stopped at Vinny's, our town's best New York style pizza and pasta joint.  We both  like their food and I picked up pasta today. The dining area is still closed, but the place does a busy take-out business now.  Kevin and I both like supporting Vinny's because the owners always give back to the community via monetary donations and fundrives for schools, police and first responders.  They have a small Statue of Liberty outside its doors wearing a  black face mask right now, an appropriate symbol for our current pandemic and the loosening of the nation-wide lockdown with the "stay home, stay healthy, stay connected" mantra these last two months.  I'm hoping we can all get back to normal, but scientists are predicting a return of the virus in September.   I chatted a bit with a very talkative woman who was the first customer inside today. 

Kevin paid for today's vet visit, but I'll be getting the annual shots for Zeke and Minnie and the two pups before the end of May.  I always appreciate when he helps out.  It's not cheap maintaining healthy dogs.

Carr canyon road seemed rockier than usual driving up this morning, and one corner seemed narrower than usual.  Even Ellen and Batiste said the same thing.  The CNF did remove a few precariously-hanging boulders off the side of the eroded cliffs.  Quite a few CNF fire trucks were also driving up the mountain as we were leaving.

I love getting a six-mile hike in before 10am.  It still leaves so much of the day for other things.  Not that I did much else, though. Ellen said she was going to take a nap.  I just sat outside with Kevin and played with the dogs before coming inside to recharge my phone and write this.

As for the pups, Gretel's ears are now lifting.  Hansi is developing a shoe fetish.  He likes to grab shoes he sees on the floor and then takes them outside.  He doesn't destroy them or chew on them.  Like Sammy, he just likes to slobber on them.  Both continue to be attracted to Minnie, having learned to stay away from the other three dogs.  She's been a good mentor for the pups.  I really hope she can teach them to enjoy water. I know Minnie uses the kiddie pool because she always leaves dirt and grass in the water when she gets out of the pool.  I catch the pups stepping into the pool to cool off their paws or to retrieve a ball, so that is a good sign.

***

Global cases: 5,272,525

Global deaths: 338,336

US cases: 1,642,543

US deaths: 97,543

Russia cases: 326,448, ranked #2

Russia deaths: 3,249

Brazil cases: 310,087, ranked #3 and climbing fast

Brazil deaths: 20,047

Arizona cases: 15,608 (46 in Cochise County)

Arizona deaths: 775 (one in Cochise County, first reported Wednesday)

SPRNCA from Escapule Road to river

Walking the San Pedro trail from Escapule Road going south is a hike I did with the Huachuca Hiking club back in 2005.  It was one of my first hikes with the club.  We stopped at the Clanton Ranch House ruins (there's not much there but remnants of one adobe wall) and then walked back to our cars, an easy three miles. I don't remember much else of that hike. 

Today's walk started at the same trailhead off Escapule Road, but my goal was to take Susan down to the river via the springs and wash that flows to the river.  She had never been to this part of the river. But instead we took the unmarked dirt road to the ruins and continued via a game trail to the river, 1.7 miles from where we had parked.  The dogs were panting in the exposed sun.  It was 72F and breezy, but already too warm for the dogs.  The low-lying catclaw did a number on my exposed lower legs as I was wearing capris and cheap water shoes with thin soles.

We came out to the water just below a populated area.  I wasn't sure if the river north was still BLM land.  We let the dogs romp in the water to cool off.  We sat in the shade and let them play fetch.  I could see the old railroad bridge towers (what is left) from my first walk here with Sammy, Sara and Sadie a good ten years ago.  Susan agreed to go toward the towers and to walk back to the cars from there, making this a four-mile loop.  It was  0.3 miles to the old bridge as we walked mostly in the river.  A coatimundi scurried out of our way.  A blue heron flew off.

This was a pretty part of the river, with high banks, tall grass, and an opening for the sun.  The river going south took a sharp turn east south of us, but we didn't go that far as we saw mallards with babies and we didn't want the dogs bothering the animals.

We took the old railroad bed from here that parallels the wash.  The wash is now fully overgrown with tall reeds and water running through it.  I didn't even recognize the old spring here.  It looked too wet and grassy to walk through so we took the high railroad bed, but then quickly opted for the wash when we realized how hot the tailings were for the dogs' feet.
t
The railroad bed is now heavily overgrown as well, with thorny brush and tall grass proving some protection.  Walking in the wet wash was was more pleasant for us, even though the soft silt sucked the shoes off me. At onepoint I stepped on a mesquite thorn that pierced my right foot arch.  I extracted the thorn, but somehow broke the thorn and walked the rest of the way with a 1/4" thorn embedded in my foot.  Walking was slow and tedious, but there was water for the dogs to stay cool in.  We'd return to the old railroad bed when the brush was too thick to carefully walk through.

We passed a rusty carcass in the wash.  The trunk had a huge boulder in its trunk but only the metal frame remained.  Why was that old car there?  Was  it dumped by its owner and left to rust in the wash?  How did it get there?  The banks on either side of the wash are too high for the car to just tumble down and remain upright with no other damage.  Perhaps it was left behind by miners who once worked the area?  There is a lot of history in this area known as the Escapule Wash, but one has to look carefully around the area to notice.

We came across some barbed wire that forced us once again to get down to the wash.  Allie ran ahead and took a straight drop down into the wash, perhaps 20 feet.  Susan screamed, but Allie landed upright on all four feet.  We struggled to find a safe route down to the wash, but we all had to leap down.  Sadie slid down head first but was otherwise injury-free. Only Minnie seemed to have sprained her right rear leg and limped for a while.

We got to the pedestrian bridge as my phone died.  Here is where we climbed back up to the official trail and walked the way back to our cars, now a good bit warmer.  We took it slowly, but we were all glad to be back in air-conditioned cars at 3:30pm.  All dogs were tired and thirsty.

I enjoyed the walk, but we needed cooler, overcast skies to better enjoy the scenery.

Hans und Gretel are growing

This is a totally newsless post other than to document the growth of my pups.  Gretel's ears are finally showing some strength at the base of her ears, lifting her ears off her head and losing that Rottweiler pup look.  This is how Hansi's ears were a month ago, when he was seven weeks old. He is now 11 weeks old and Gretel is ten weeks old.  Same dad, different mom.  Both are growing fast but Hansi's a good third bigger than Gretel.  Her ears should be completely lifted in another month.

Otherwise it was a quiet day, walking the dogs with Susan at 4pm from the Hereford bridge south for a total of two miles.  The river is drying up fast, with a lot of that slimy river weed coming to surface.

Lots of high school graduates were out there celebrating by the bridge when we got back to our cars, but we tried to stay out of their way.

***

Global cases: 4,892,927
Global deaths: 320,816
US cases: 1,550,245
US deaths: 91,981
Russia cases: 290,678
Russia deaths: 2722
Arizona cases: 14, 170 (46 im Cochise County)
Arizona deaths: 686