This was my last day to bag a peak for May. I asked Ellen two days ago if she wanted to join me, and she did! While I posted the hike on the local MeetUp, no one else came along. Hansel was our canine partner.
We met at 6am in the lower Carr Canyon parking lot, then drove in separate cars to the Old Sawmill trailhead. It was already 62F under clear skies and heavy dust in the air. I had no idea how I'd hike today, with the high temperature in town expected to reach the high 80s. We were the only two people in the parking lot. We took off at 6:22am
We hiked at a steady pace all throughout the hike. I was up front this time and Ellen in the back. She had to stop a few times to get her heart beat to rest. She still is not fully recovered from her lung infection from last summer.
The drought continues to raise havoc on our dry forests. The high desert grasses are dead and haven't been able to come back. We saw very few flowers beside some lupine and blooming lilac The only green we saw were the young aspens and Douglas firs along the crest. While the sawmill springs was running, there was no water higher up. Even the bathtub springs was barely trickling.
It was while we were resting at the bathtub that a Homeland Security helicopter swooped low overhead, then came back moments later even lower. The chopper blew up dirt around the crest trail; it it was that low. Something was up. It made Ellen nervous. "Should we even be here?" she asked. butt I didn't let a bunch of illegal migrants ruin my plans to bag the peaks. Once we continued on to Miller, we didn't hear any more helicopters.
Despite our water and heart beat rests, we made it to the top of Miller Peak in 3:38 hours. We met another couple that had just come down from the peak and were now on their way to Carr, and then a younger, buff man with only a camelbak for support, who passed us by as we were in the final half mile to the peak. Turns out he does both peaks at once every two weeks. No wonder he sped on by!
The peak was calm with barely a breeze. We sat in the shade of an oak tree and ate our lunch. Hansel got his shank steak. This kept him occupied. so he didn't bother Ellen for food. He got a second steak on top of Carr peak when we got to that peak at 12:15pm.
We walked right past a US Border patrol agent sitting on a rock off the Miller peak trail as we descended. Neither Hansel nor I saw him. He startled us. "That's some good camouflage!" I told the young man. He was one of eight agents dropped off from the chopper to track 40 migrants coming across the border earlier. "We just don't know where they are, but there were some reports of a few by the Miller Canyon bathrooms."
The rest of the hike was nondescript, returning the way we came. Hansel was now panting from the heat and staying close by. He was no longer interested in chasing deer or squirrels.
We met three more people as we descended Carr peak, three young men hiking 18 miles from Montezuma's Pass to lower Carr Canyon parking lot via shuttle. Two of the men were visiting from Phoenix and had left that city at 2am to join their SV friend for a morning hike. So apparently these long hikes through the Huachucas are popular!
We got back to our cars at 1:54pm. Hansel flopped right into the back of the Honda as I turned the AC on. It was 80F at the trailhead and 87F when I got back to town.
I was not nearly exhausted as I was the first time I did this double peak hike with Ellen in 2018. By 6pm I drove back to Susan's to pick up Fritzi, who got rave reviews for his overnight behavior.
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