Thanksgiving week

I was on holiday break all last week.  I didn't do much (hiking) except for a few short local trails.  My biggest achievement was getting new Cooper Endeavor Plus tires for the Ridgeline on Tuesday morning.  I no longer have slow leaks in any of the tires and I can feel safer riding on tires that are not slowly cracking from dry rot.

I joined RodC, JohnS and SteveA on a hike back to the Babocamari cascades on Tuesday, but I already have posted that.  

I mostly slept in until past sun rise every day and hung out with the dogs and then watched news and current events via YouTube in the evening.  I've become obsessed with the recent murders of four University of Idaho students who died from knife wounds the morning of November 13th.  All of them were members of the Greek houses on campus, which always invites secrecy. I'm certain the killer is a former member of one of the Greek fraternities who was obsessed with one of the women he killed.  It may take months before the killer is identified.

This past week is the one-year anniversary of the house fire.  It was an event I did not want to remember.  I made no plans to go anywhere for Thanksgiving, but then Ellen invited me to have a holiday lunch at her parents' house in town.  That event turned out to be much more inspirational than planned, and I thanked Ellen and her parents for a good time over good food.

It helped that her parents are both veterans.  Rebecca, the mom, served in the army, and her dad in the navy.  Both met when they were stationed in Japan in the 1970s, but she resigned when they got married because she could not be assigned with her husband.  They both shared some fun times of their early enlistment.  It was later they both became Christians.

All the dogs got extra raw poultry on Thanksgiving.

On Friday I joined Susan for a short 2-mile walk from the Lehner kill site to the SP River late in the morning.  I haven't walked much with her and her dog Allie this year, mostly because of Allie's declining health.  Walking two miles is too much for her now, so Susan tends to just walk Allie up and down her street. She got to see Wolfie again, who was very well-mannered around Susan.  Wolfie will bark at other people, but not Susan.

On Saturday I did another short 5-mile hike with Ellen along the Murray Springs-Clanton Ranch house with Hansel.  The tall weeds there have been cleared, but an old wood bridge over a narrow wash is gone, creating a wide detour going north toward the Escapule Road trail head.

One thing I didn't do was explore Keystone Peak in the Sierritas. That may happen over Christmas break when it's cooler and more overcast.  And of course finishing walking The Loop in Tucson is still a goal. Walking is my greatest therapy right now, but getting started when it's cold and dark out is a challenge for me.

I had Hansel in the front yard for several weeks.  He never ran off. He's back in the back yard.  He wasn't happy the first two nights, but it's now day 4 and he's gotten used to staring at me from behind a chain-link fence.  I would like to try having Gretel up front for a while.  Getting her out of the back yard without also luring the other three dogs back there won't be easy.

Yesterday morning a small 20-acre fire broke out above a campsite in lower Carr Canyon.  I could see smoke from the high school parking lot.  By the end of the day the fire was extinguished.

Starting today, people in federal buildings must be masked up again.  The flu, the RSV and covid aren't going away.  Damn pests!

 https://www.ci.moscow.id.us/DocumentCenter/View/24764/11-29-22-Moscow-Homicide-Update

Babocamari wash

My original plan for today was to drive two hours west to hike the Sierrita mountains west of Green Valley and hike up the road to Keystone Peak, the range's tallest summit at just over 6100.'  I had invited SteveA to join me.  He initially seemed interested, but a few hours later told me he'd rather stay local and hike with Rod and John.

I ended up joining Steve instead anyway.  The new tires for the Honda Ridgeline that I had ordered yesterday morning through our local BigO Tires didn't get to the store in time for me to get them installed before closing time.  Instead, I arrived at the store at 8am with Hansel this morning, walked down to a new coffee shop to wait on my new tires, sipped on a hazelnut/Irish creame latte and watched traffic on SR roll by, and drove off with new tires at 9:15am.  I drove straight to the Babocamari river trailhead.  It was a good day to hike: upper 50s with partially cloudy skies. I arrived at 9:45am.

John and Rod's trucks were parked on the alkaline flats a short distance inside the State Trust Land.

Hansel jumped out of the truck and immediately caught the scent of the others.  I relied on him to lead me to the group.  He was following a scent, but the many scat piles along the path would always get him distracted.  Every now and then I saw a large foot print.  It looked fresh.  So I followed Big Foot.

There was flowing water in the Babocamari river.  The deciduous trees have lost most of their leaves, so views down to the river are easier to spot.  Hansel even ran down to drink some water. I expected all that water from our last monsoon to have dried up by now. I was pleasantly surprised.

Hansel picked up speed a half mile from the cascades.  I knew then that he had spotted the group.  They were still walking toward the cascades and I joined them, having a snack near the old bridge.  Hansel had his can of pureed venison but also begged for more from the others, especially Rod's grass-fed beef sticks.

 
I wanted to explore the river past the old bridge.  We could see that the path was overgrown with catclaw.  I went on anyway while the three guys watched me for a  while before resuming their walk back to the trucks.  Only Steve waited for me, although he needn't have as I don't like keeping people waiting and I had no idea how much farther I could go.

I made it 0.3 miles one way, battling heavy, prickly brush taller than me.  I was getting poked and scratched from head to toe. It was not fun, but what kept me going was seeing the faint remains of the rail bed in the more cleared areas.   The even grade was still noticeable. Of hiDowned grass revealed old cattle (or deer) resting areas or even that of border crossers, but the thick overgrowth near the water prove that this area gets little human attention.  

A deep pool flanked by rock walls is just past the old bridge before the river returns to a 4-foot wide, grass-lined creek.  This is what I saw when I explored this part of the Babocamari in August.  Hansel enjoyed the water, but I knew I had to turn around.  A very thick wall of catclaw convinced me to turn back, just shy of a south-flowing wash. My arms and thighs were stinging from the many thorns that had poked me.

I walked back with Steve who kept in touch with Rod via radio. We all joined up again a half-mile down the rail bed.

I was up front with John when I told him I wanted to cut across the desert to see how effective the short cut is. It was surprisingly easy here, with mostly creosote shrubs that don't prick and are easily avoided.  This short cut subtracts 0.8 miles from the big S-curve on the  southeast section of the track.

Proud for having found this short cut, my joy was quickly dashed when Hansel caught sight of a desert hare and took chase.  Asshole!  I annoyingly stopped my hike and started yelling his name.  To no avail.  Even a mile from the cars, I continued yelling for him, but figured he ran back to the other guys to walk with them.  He would recognize Steve's scent and stay with him.

I did what other dogs do to mark their territory:  I peed on the road once I got off the short cut.  This would let Hansel know I'm in the area.  That hack apparently worked: I found Hansel walking north, sniffing the dirt.  I had gotten into the truck to drive back on the road hoping to find him.  As soon as he heard me, he ran into the truck to rest.

My assumptions proved true.  Steve said that Hansel ran back to them, then darted back on the short cut, then back to them several times, and when he caught my scent he quickly picked up pace back to me.

The hike was three hours long.  I had hiked six miles.  Hansel probably added two additional miles.  I'm glad to have done this hike; it was nice to hike with old club members again. I can always reconnoiter Keystone peak another weekend.

https://www.strava.com/activities/8154531049

 

Sandy Bob Canyon

It was Ellen's idea to hike this canyon again.  We last did this on September 7, 2013 and I last did it with Ryan a year later.   We invited HollyW and SusanM but neither could come. Susan had a Corvette Club function. 

I was concerned that my head cold, which developed mid afternoon last Wednesday, would get worse, but I felt fine at reveille.   

There have been some changes since our last visit. Houses are getting built on the rocky flats. There is now a small shrine to "Quin" in the parking area. The rutted ATV trail is now graded and graveled.

We agreed to meet  at 9am above the Mule Tunnel.  I arrived early, giving me enough time to clean up the parking area of beer cans and bottles, as I hate just standing around and waiting.  There was quite  a bit of trash here!  The parking area must be a popular place to hang out and drink beer while gazing out at the view facing Sierra Vista.  

The flats are now privately-owned by an older couple, Jim and Camilla, but they allow hikers to walk through their land to the waterfall.  We happened to see them drive by and I let them know what our plans were.  They allowed us to walk through without hesitation.  Their newly-adopted dog Zeus, a chocolate Lab, was excited about getting to sniff Hansel from the open driver's window.  Camilla gave us precise instructions for the trail: "It's at the end of the second drive way on the right!"

It was 39F when we started our hike at 9:20am.  I never took off Kevin's green hoodie.  It warmed up to 54F but I kept the hoodie on because I was sweating and taking the hoodie off would have chilled me.  Some of the deeper pools of water had thin layers of ice. Clouds were absent with a gentle breeze.  It was a good day to hike.

The old ATV trail is now graded and reinforced with gravel.  It becomes a private road  half-mile down.  The trail is now at the mile mark before it leaves the road and switchbacks downhill another 0.4 miles.  We could see dried horseshoe prints here.  It took us 32 minutes to get to the first saddle where we began our bushwhack.  It took us another hour to hike the next 1.5 miles to the falls.  

I led the hike, but since I hadn't been on it in nine years, I hiked downhill too far to the northeast before getting on the drainage that one follows to the falls.  There was no water until we were  half-mile from the dry falls.

Hansel enjoyed the hike.  He jumped up on the rocks but never strayed far, and he took advantage of the water.  

The only wildlife we encountered was a Scarlet kingsnake.  It resembles the more venomous coral snake.  I initially screamed when I saw the snake near the water, but once we got a good look at the color scheme and the rhyme "Red on yellow, kill a fellow, red on black venom lack" we were at ease.  Hansel showed no fear, either.

There were no wildflowers.  All had gone to seed.  We only came across one Indian paintbrush near the drainage that provided some red.  We both had plenty of seeds from the waist down!

 

There was no water trickling from the falls.  The falls were in the shade, making them hard to see from where we sat, across the horse shoe bend and directly facing the falls.  We rested here for a lunch snack.  Hansel and I ate some leftover wheat tortilla shells from last weekend's climb up Gold Hill.  

We didn't stay long as we were both getting chilled.  We opted to continue our hike making  a big loop, hiking up a drainage I had hiked years ago when Rod from the hiking club led this hike. I never could find the trail back, a single track near the ridgeline.  It was still a scenic hike with views over other water falls in the area.

The hike was 6.2 miles long and took us four hours.  I know we went out of our way getting to the canyon,  but at least we weren't stalled by fallen flora or cliffs.

We met the landowners again once we were back on Juniper Flats road.  They were driving by. Again Camilla asked us cheerfully how we liked the hike.  But now I was glad to be on terra firma again.  The loose rocks made my angles weak.

A medical helicopter in Tombstone canyon closed the Old Divide road into Old Bisbee, so we just took the Mule tunnel into town.  We both wanted a snack at the Bisbee Coffee Company.  That place has the best coffee in town.  I had a hazelnut mocha latte and Ellen had  huge slice of apple pie.  I had a real meal at Neariah's in Bisbee-San Jose.  It was my first visit and I had very filling Sonoran enchiladas.  I took half of it home to eat later. 

My very first YouTube upload! 

Gold Hill scramble

Cool and windy temperatures were forecasted for the afternoon.  DrS from the hiking club had a hike scheduled for Gold Hill.  I wanted to do this scramble again knowing he was starting from the south end.  Ryan and I did it from the north end almost two years ago.

We were to meet at 9am off Gold Gulch Road.  I left the house with Hansel and arrived at 8:50am.  I didn't even get lost driving around Warren this time.  The doctor, SteveA, BarryD, DougB and Karen and DavidS were already waiting.  Were more coming?  Susan never showed up (she never answered my text at 7am).  It was 49F with high wind-swept cirrus clouds above us. We were anxious to get started on time, to which the doctor replied: 

"If this were the Bisbee group, we'd still be standing around talking!"  I know, I've hiked with that chatty group, but most of us in the Huachuca Hiking club are retired military and like timeliness.

We started the hike walking east down the old mining road, then continued in the gulch and then cross-country in a northeasterly direction toward Gold Hill. The elevation quickly accumulates as we scrambled up the loose rock hillside, looking for limestone outcropping for better stability.  Fossilized coral protrude from much of the limestone.

SteveA and Barry were higher up as I stayed with Doug and the doctor, with Karen and David below.  David recently recovered from a fractured ankle and had to take it easy, but at our first rest break he determined it was better to drop out.  The scramble only got worse as we gained elevation.

Most of the flora that we walked across was dead sage which easily gave way.  There wasn't any catclaw or other prickly flora to cut up our legs.  The ocotillo and prickly pear were easily avoided. Views to the south opened up.  The border wall was visible and the Sierra La Esmeralda range, part of the Sierra Madres, thrust toward the sky.  The primary colors were hues of browns.

We had no radios with us.  Normally this group has two radios.  We had to be vigilant, as the doctor was now behind us and Barry far ahead. Doug, Steve and I stayed in the middle but we all joined at the summit for our lunch break.

Winds were beginning to pick up.  Barry mentioned he got blasted by a few ravens when he reached the summit.  He was busy getting his drone set up for a few videos.  I had heard the drone buzz overhead and commented that I hope it didn't capture my butt crack; my jeans were loose and I kept having to pull them back up.

I like the views from atop Gold Hill.  There are so many peaks here I've yet to bag.  But Barry and I both agree that Gold Hill is not a peak we need to bag again.  It's just too much work and the steep descent can make climbing down treacherous. I did fall three times, but luckily I fell backwards on my ample butt rather than forward and into an ocotillo. 

Doug was the last person back to the cars.  It was 1:40pm.  This hike had taken us almost 4.5 hours! I racked up 3.4 miles and an elevation gain of 1265'

We wanted to eat in Bisbee afterward, but the Brewery Gulch was crowded with tourists.  We all just drove home.

 

Walking Tucson's Loop: from The Pit on 22nd Street to Harrison Road and back (6.8 miles)

Today's time in Tucson ended up being very worthwhile, despite the late start.

SteveT and I agreed to meet at 10am at his place, but on my drive there I realized that I had left my credit card by the bed.  I had to turn around as I needed that card for the drive to Tucson.  I had to gas up ($3.53/gallon) beforehand.  Driving back home cost me over half an hour.  I didn't get to Steve's place until 10:45am.  But it wasn't just my credit card that caused a delay.  My rear left tire was low on air again.

That tire's air pressure was more than just from the cold morning. It had a puncture in the tread.  Steve also saw a small nail embedded in the rubber which had not punctured the steel belt.  He plugged the leak, inflated the tire and we were on our way to the Old Pueblo at 12:15pm. 

I dropped off tin and cardboard at the recycling center, then stopped at Himmel Park to photograph a mural by Joe Pagac, his first mural for Tucson dedicated to his childhood neighborhood.  Pagac, along with Ignacio Garcia and Jessica Gonzales, paint some of the most beautiful murals for Tucson. We stopped along Speedway Blvd for a few more murals but had to ignore most of them due to time. We had to get to the Loop! 

http://joepagac.net/public-murals

https://www.jessicagonzalesart.com/

https://www.ignaciotheartist.com/

We made it to The Pit for lunch at 2:50pm, a growing popular food truck plaza.  We were both very hungry by now.  There were six food trucks open, the most I've seen on a Saturday.  Even the BBQ truck was running.  The owner, Les, fully recovered from a mini-stroke and is back selling his famous Cajun shrimp and BBQ.

We started our walk at 3:15pm, walking the Loop section from 22nd Street south. It was sunny and in the low 70s; pleasant conditions for walking.  I had no idea how far we would go in daylight.  I always hope for at least two miles one way. We passed Golf Links Road and the trail became more rural, with more evidence of horse and small farm lots. Lots of joggers and cyclists passed us.  We stayed mostly on the horse trail, a soft decomposed granite section parallel to the black asphalt.

We passed the Michael Perry park which was buzzing with children.  The dogs drank water from the fountain.  I didn't bring my pack today because it was cool, but this water was a delight.  

We were nearing the end of the Pantano River Park section of the Loop.  This was a quiet, reflective part of the Loop, with memorial trees decorated by grieving family members known as of the Garden of the Families.  Mostly emory oaks, one day these trees will be a shade barrier for Loop users.  There were even two trees dedicated to beloved pets that had passed on.  These two trees were 0.25 miles from Harrison Road.  Steve encouraged us to walk to Harrison road to complete this section.

 https://tucsoncleanandbeautiful.org/adopt-a-park-public-areas/other-programs/commemorative-tree-parks/

The sun was now fading fast.  No clouds meant no dramatic sunset, but it quickly cooled down. We finished the walk past dusk, the official closing time of The Loop, but there were still plenty of cyclists with their lights on coming in either direction.  There were even a few people coming out to take over benches and tables.

The Pit was now booming with people as we returned.  Some were even playing bocci ball.  The lights along the old gas station canopy created a festive atmosphere.    We stopped one more time to get dessert from a small table, Pies the Limit, owned by a very personable Rafael.  I bought some cheese cake for tomorrow's breakfast. It was now 6:10pm and we still had one more stop to make before driving home.

I wanted to show Steve the Arizona Beer House on Kolb /Road.  I had last been there a few years ago with Zeke and was impressed with the varied beers on tap and in cans and bottles. There was even a food truck outside specializing in Mediterranean food, but we weren't hungry. We kept the dogs in the truck to nap while we sat at the bar.  (My phone was low on battery juice and needed recharging.  There are AC outlets along the bar for that).  A young woman and her Weimeraner pup were nearby.  I'm sure Hansel would have been very interested in sniffing that dog out.

We both enjoyed our time at the Beer House.  The guys working the bar really know their beer and are very helpful.

I'm almost done with walking the 54-mile Loop around Tucson.  The Harrison Greenway going south is seven miles and I still have five miles of the eastern Julian Wash to complete.  The Harrison Greenway is a straight path on the east side of Davis-Monthan Air Force base, with no streets to walk under and no rest stops or parks to stop at.  I'm expecting that to be a boring and taxing section that I may just do in one attempt with Hansel on a cold winter weekend.

 

https://thisistucson.com/eat/tucsons-new-food-truck-park-is-tucked-into-a-former-gas-station-parking-lot-and/article_12556abc-b087-11ec-9eb7-871fc7f07b2a.html