https://www.strava.com/activities/5104911144
I will always enjoy walking through this hilly landscape popular with ATVers, campers, hunters, equestrians. The springs are located south of the town of Sonoita. The trailhead parking is three miles south on Papago Springs Road, just past the Y in the road and the cattle guard.
Finding one's way around the area requires good navigation skills. I would never want to venture here with a good tracker, as all the trails are unmarked, many converge and many more run parallel to forest roads which may dead end.
My problem today was my lack of sleep last night. Kevin's Chromebook got me up at 1am and I could never get back to sleep. I don't know why he insists on playing loud videos while I'm in a deep sleep. By early morning I was already feeling fatigued, but not too fatigued to walk, talk and listen.
I took Hansel and Zeke for this trip. I picked up Steve and Trace at 9am and together we drove to the trailhead. It was already getting warm when we started at 10am. We parked near the horse trailer area and walked in a southwesterly direction. Steve said he wouldn't mind heading back to where the big trough was that we came up to on our last venture here, but this time we couldn't find the right path. Instead we came across a campground with lots of left-over brass from the target shooters.
We couldn't find the old windmill, either. as we stayed on the main forest road walking south. My navigation skills this time failed me! I then suggested we stop at the two-mile mark and go back the way we came. Steve wanted to explore the drainage so we did that instead, adding almost a mile to our return walk, walking that last ridge back to where we had parked just as the heat of the day became intense.
The oaks are dropping their leaves. It was a very dry hike. At least the rock formations add some scenery to an otherwise dead and dying dry landscape. I was on alert for snakes but luckily all we came across was the head of a juvenile javelina that Hansel had picked up.
We finished off our day with a visit to the Copper Hop Ranch in Elgin
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