Carr Peak with Zeke

I slept in again and missed the sunrise. I didn't get started with the hike until 11:30am.

The parking lot was full when I parked at the Old Sawmill trailhead.  I parked next to a Border Patrol SUV, the only space still open.  My car registered 88F.  This looked to be a hot, crowded hike.  Ugh.

My eyes were still a bit sore from the recent allergies, but I was slow more because as I found myself in deep thought about a lot of things.  The sky was mostly clear and I had to rest Zeke more than usual to cool off his warm fur.  We didn't get a cooling breeze until we reached the peak.

The trail was not as drenched from last night's rain as I had hoped.  The grass around me looked mostly dry, too, and the hillsides weren't covered in the flowers as I had hoped, although there were the usual late summer flowers of white aster, yellow coneflowers, and higher up the lantanas and red salvias.

The upper springs waterfall was dry, but at least the aspens are still a healthy green and the Golden Columbines reaching out toward the trail as if wanting to grab passers-by.  Wild onion were blooming on the peak.  While the flowers were not in mass quantities as usual for mid-August, there were still plenty of bees and butterflies enjoying their nectar.

The big news today was smoke billowing from a lightning strike last night south of Brown Canyon.  I could see it early on whenever I faced the south. It looked to be on the east side of Ramsey Peak, thus putting it on Fort Huachuca.  There were no efforts to put it out as it wasn't threatening any structures.

There are still ladybugs up on the peak.  I don't ever remember seeing ladybugs this long on Carr.  They were already swarming the peak in June.  A few dropped into Zeke's waterbowl.

Clouds began forming once I made it to the top in 2:30 hours (!).  I met a retired couple, Greg and Dawn, and their daughter Maddie and dog Cairo.  The couple had moved here three months ago after discovering how badly land is managed in Belize, where they wanted to retire.   While propety taxes are low, it takes years to get any homes built, so they chose Sierra Vista.This is their second climb up Carr in three weeks.  Another young couple showed up shortly thereafter, but I left by then.  The peak was getting too crowded.

I got back to the Honda at 3:47pm.  It began raining as soon as I made it back to SR92.  The rain was coming from the east side of the mountains. I made it home at 4:15pm, ate some hotdogs and beans that Kevin had made.  I was hungry and thirsty and not so much tired from the hike. Once relaxed, I got a well-timed text from Susan asking about walking the dogs.  We had a good hour of daylight left and I said yes.

We met at 5:15pm for a quick mile-long ramble.  Only Sadie stayed home.The river was muddy but not rushing. This way the pups got their much-needed exercise.  We even met Bob as he was finishing up walking his Golden Retrievers.  Gretel barked loudly at him and he reminded me that I need to train her not to bark at people since German Shepherds have a bad reputation as being aggressive guard dogs.  I agree with Bob and know I have to work on her barking. Gretel has become more of a barker than Hansel.  Hansel now would rather stay near me and assess the situation before joining the barkfest.

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