Slavin Gulch

Hiking to Slavin Gulch's watering holes was Ellen's idea.  It was my idea to get a small group of women together from the SV Hikers group.  We were a group of five:  Ellen, HollyW, CelesteF, BonnieM and I with Hansel.   We are strong hikers. We met at 0600 in town and then drove in two cars to the trailhead in the Dragoons

There was a 30% chance of rain in the afternoon.  Skies were cloudy and it felt humid, and it got more humid once we got started just before 7am.  We were the only two cars in the parking area and the only ones on the trail.

Would there be water?  Middlemarch Road looked like had several flashfloods in its three washes from the July 3rd storm, and the road to the trailhead looked recently washed out as well.  There was also some water in the creek a half-mile into our hike.  Things looked promising.

But once we got to the first, then second and finally third watering hole, we saw nothing.  No waterfalls, no pools at all.  There was only enough water for Hansel to refresh himself.

We made the third watering hole our hike break.  This was just two miles into our hike.  I had water, Hansel had a can of dog food but he still made his rounds with the gals.  

He likes Ellen and will try to lick her face, but she doesn't like that.  Everyone else has dogs and doesn't mind Hansel at all.  Everyone complimented him for being such a sweet dog, running up and down the boulders and darting into the dead grass, but always coming back to me.

Since there was just enough water to cool one's feet, we didn't stay long.  Once we all had our snacks, we got back on the trail for the return hike. By now the clouds overhead were getting darker and a cool breeze refreshed us.  It felt less humid.

We came across a young garter snake on the descent.  I had been on snake alert since snakes tend to come out of their ground holes after heavy rains.  Garter snakes are harmless, though.

We were back at our cars in under two hours.  I was back home by noon, having stopped in town to stock up on dog food.  The four miles weren't enough for Hansel.  He was ready for another hike by 5pm