Up Sheelite Canyon and back down via the Sawmill Trail

Distance: 10.24 miles

Elevation: 5497' - 8359'

Elevation gain: 3489'

Significance: Bragging rights to one tough uphill hike in the Huachucas.  During a normal monsoon season, this canyon is brimming with birds and other wildlife.

Hiking up Sheelite Canyon and down via the Sawmill trail was Ellen's idea this time. She asked me Thursday evening and I said yes.  It's been since 2016 since I was up this canyon.

We started our hike at 6:42am at the Sheelite parking area on Garden Canyon Road.  I was 45 minutes late because I forgot about the closure of the BST gate entrance.   We got started at the same time as a group of young soldiers, most of whom were not geared up to hike long distance, took off for the same canyon.  We let them get a head start so that Hansel and Gretel, who never were on leash today, could get a head start.  that group didn't go very far, though.  We passed them at the mile-mark and never saw them again.

We both kept a steady pace.  Once again I felt energized. never once feeling winded while hiking up this shady and narrow canyon.  Ellen led the way.  The trail was easy to follow for the first two miles, as it gradually increased the grade up the dry waterfall at the 2-mile mark.  Luckily we found several pools of water for the dogs to frolic in as I only brought two quarts for them to cover seven miles.

So many of the oaks are now showing stress from the drought.  The hillsides are brown and grey from dead and dying trees.  Granted, many of the trees were killed in the 2011 fire that dessimated the upper canyon, but many more younger trees have also perished in this drought.

The canyon is home to many birds and bears.  We only saw one pile of dried bear scat early on.  More disturbing were the four dead coatimundi we saw along a quarter-mile after we climbed the waterfall.  What had killed them?  They all looked juvenile.  

The dogs and I were happy to come across several pools of water as we climbed along the otherwise dry waterfall at the two-mile mark.  They dived into the water.  This helped my water supply for them.  They were energized by the cool water for that last big push to the high point.

The last mile to the Crest Trail was the hardest to follow.  The first three miles were mostly easy to follow, with cairns marking the way.  But it was the upper canyon that got burned and over the last ten years the burned trees have been blown down the hillsides, blocking or totally wiping out the trail.  Red tape replaced cairns as we meandered up this part.  

That big donut I picked up in Tucson last night was accidentally left behind at one rest stop we made to orient ourselves to the GPS track.  Hopefully that donut will make one hungry bear very happy. I was very upset to learn at our lunch break that I had left it behind at a rest stop only because I had to remove the donut box from the top of my backpack to get to the water.  I had wanted to share that donut with Ellen.

We took our lunch break on the high point on the Crest Trail, on some boulders that gave a view of the northern mountains.  We could see Mount Wrightson to the northwest and Huachuca Peak to our northeast.  The dogs had their can of food each.  Gretel cuddled with Ellen and Hansel cuddled with me.  Both dogs were on their best behavior today.

Once we continued our hike from here, it was all downhill, through dried or dying oaks and stressed pines.  The overcast clouds kept us protected until we got to the lower Sawmill trail, which was nothing more than an old forest road.

We encountered two men down this section, who stayed a safe distance from us because of the dogs.  They finally passed as when we took a water break at the intersection of the Sawmill and Garden Canyon roads.  The dogs were thirsty here, finishing up their water bottle.  I needn't have worried because there was more water that followed us back down to the cars within a quarter mile of getting back on the main road. 

It was 90F when we got back to our cars in the early afternoon.

***

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