I didn't waste time this afternoon. As soon as I got home from school, I packed the four current front yard dogs into the truck and headed to Copper Canyon. It's a 45-minute drive; we started our hike at 1:45pm. Hansel, Gretchen, Sweetie and Wolfie were the hiking dogs.
This time I made sure I took the left turn instead of the right turn at the quarter-mile mark. The road, once cobble-stoned, now is heavily storm damaged. What once looked like an Italian village street is now a boulder-smitten path heavily water-damaged in parts. There are now two piles of fallen debris over the road that are ATV barriers. The uneven road and the steepness make this short trail a moderate hike. Elevation gain is just under 1000' in the first mile.
Sweetie had trouble climbing over the many snags and rocks, even the small ones, and was visibly exhausted after two miles. She is the reason I stopped and turned around at the mile mark. The other dogs ran all over the place, but Sweetie stayed by my side as I stayed by her side on the walk back. I think her hiking days are over.
We stopped at the first flooded mine, then continued up a well-worm migrant trail which led us to a rusted pick-up hanging over the edge, and right after that a second mine I don't remember seeing before. Both mines were flooded.
We explored just a bit higher from that second mine, following the creek that now is climbing steeply up to the saddle. The trees opened up here, but I turned around because Sweetie was still at the upper mine and I didn't want her to panic.
There were still plenty of wildflowers and butterflies today.
Once again it began to drizzle on the drive back. We should be getting more rain this weekend from two tropical depressions forming off the Bay of California.
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