https://www.strava.com/activities/7545143811
It was a busy day. All the things I had planned on doing were accomplished with Steve: we hiked the Silver Spur trail in the Chiricahua National Monument, tried a new brewery in Willcox, and had lunch at La Unica in Willcox. Weather was near ideal. I say "near ideal" because there were storm clouds around us all day, but we were never in a downpour.
We had originally agreed to meet at 7am, but I overslept and didn't pick up Steve until 8:30am. It was still raining steady in town, with dark clouds to the east where we were going.
Traffic was steady as I drove off in a drizzle from my home. I came up to an accident at the traffic light at Ramsey Canyon Road and SR92. Multiple LEO vehicles had their lights flashing. It turned out to be a load vehicle with passengers that had lost control and slid into the ditch. A helicopter hovered overhead but I saw no ambulance. I never read anything else about this incident online.
It was noticeably cool today, in the upper 60s and cloudy.
We got to the Chiricahua National Monument just before 11am to begin our 5-mile out-and-back walk along Bonita Creek and the Silver Spur Trail, the only trail where dogs are allowed in the park. A ranger weeding along the path warned us of a bear north in the foothills, but we didn't see any bear. We did see a lot of deer, which made Gretchen pull on her leash for the duration of this walk.
The Silver Spur trail is a flat walk that goes through the historic Faraway Ranch, a homestead founded by Swedish immigrants Neil and Emma Erickson back in the 1910s. The ranch house is currently closed for preservation, but the surrounding buildings are still very much intact. One can well imagine what the area looked like when the ranch was busy, nestled in a narrow valley protected by mountains to the north and south.
This is a pretty walk, but it would have been prettier had there been water in the creek. I was hoping there was water for the dogs, as we left our packs in the car. The only water available was near the Visitor's Center, off the trail but in the creek. We stopped there on the way back as well to let the dogs drink.
We were back at the truck two hours later. It was hot and muggy now and dark clouds were moving in. I felt a little heat exhaustion overcome me (my fault), and was glad to be done with the walk.
We stopped briefly on our way to Willcox at the Dos Cabezas Pioneer Cemetery, where the earliest settlers are buried. There are a lot of unmarked iron crosses in this cemetery. The main family was the Stump family,
We got to the Tirrito Farms Brewery by 2pm. This is a new establishment that opened in April. Dogs are allowed on the patio, where we sat and tried each two different beers (I had the witbier and Helles) and ordered some fried onion rings to hold us over. The beers were excellent and true to their genre, but the food prices are far too high. Who wants to pay $25 for a gourmet hamburger, or $19 for a hotdog platter?
We finished off our Willcox visit with a late lunch at La Unica. This place started out as a food truck, but has been a sit-down place for close to 20 years. Our server, Gracie, is one of the family employees. It looks very much like how a Mexican restaurant would look, with its colorful murals, fake cacti, and iron wrought art.
It rained over the Chiricahuas as we drove back home, passing a bad accident off the interstate exchange 302. This was a fatal two-car accident in which the front passenger of the load vehicle, a 67-year-old man, died. Both vehicles had extensive front-end damage. Law enforcement personnel were still at the scene two hours after the accident occurred.
I got home early in the evening. I had a fulfilling day and a fulfilling belly. I had eaten three big meals today, the most I've had in months, and felt stuffed until late at night.
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