Little Elephant Head and Quantrell Mine

Distance: 7.8 miles

Elevation gain 1871'; 4587' - 5131'

Time: 5:17 hours

Significance: Physical challenge, views, old mine and an opportunity to question one's sanity

https://www.strava.com/activities/8074800266

This was a hike that Ryan led with the Huachuca Hiking Club.  I had always wanted to do this hike but never found someone willing to hike it with me until today.

We were a group of eight:  RyanD, SteveS, JimA, SidB and his friend JimS, DougB and his friend Jay, Hansel and I.  I drove with SteveS and Hansel and Ryan drove with JimA, Doug, Jay.  SidB lives in Rio Rico and met us at the trail head with his friend JimS.  It was a cool 45F in Sierra Vista when we met for the carpool, but a pleasant 60F at the start at 9:10am.

The hike began on the Quantrell Mine- LEH trail with a gentle uphill along an emory oak and ocotillo forest.  Grasses here were already seeding, glistening nicely in the morning sun.  The ocotillo leaves here were also turning orange, but as we gained elevation, the ocotillo at higher elevation were already naked.  We had open views to the west and southwest.

At 0.7 miles the turn-off for Little Elephant Head (LEH) the path went west and immediately began climbing.  Here is where I left the sore thighs from last weekend come back.  The next mile was slow-going and steep and required much rock scrambling.  Hansel stayed with me for the most part, but the climb for him was much less painful.

Views now opened up in all directions, from the Santa Ritas with Mount Hopkins and its radio towers, the distant Sierritas, Catalinas, Baboquivari, and the even more distant mountains of northern Sonora.

We had a snack on the top of LEH.  Big Elephant Head (BEH) to the north towered over LEH with its prominence.  I could see the bike trail to BEH in the narrow valley below, the same trail I explored with Zeke several years ago but had to abort because of mad cows.  That trail does not look easy!  How could bikes even make it up that climb?  Unless that trail I saw below is another trail, but no other trail is listed.

We descended 56 minutes into our hike, going down the way we came and stopping briefly at the intersection to the mine.  We were now at the 2.9-mile mark.I was tired but determined to hike to the mine.  SteveS, SidB and JimS were all interested.  We all minus Ryan hiked another 0.3 miles to the first (flooded) mine before the other three turned around.  It was now just SteveS, SidB, JimS and me.  And we still had another 1.85 miles to the mine.  And it was all uphill.

Alltrails rates this trail as "easy" with just 967' elevation, but I still felt the fatigue from last week.  "Easy" is not an adjective I would use for this trail, but I know it's because we climbed LEH first. This S-shaped route first goes north and in the western slopes, providing for cool shade.  One doesn't see the Quantrell mine until the path loops around and continues in a northeastern and then southeastern direction, but then it comes into full view that last mile.  The trail has been recently cleared of overgrowth. Reds and orange were dominant colors along the way.

I was ready for a break now. Hansel and I sat in the shade, the other three sat in the sun near the vertical shaft of the mine.  A rusty cable leads into the mine, but one would require more safety gear to go farther down.  A small creek trickling down hill perhaps at one time provided the water needed to extract the gold, silver and lead from the mine.

I shared my turkey sandwich with Hansel, giving him all the turkey and leaving me with the Harvata cheese and multi-grain bread.  It was enough for  me.  I had more food back at the truck.

Quantrell mine is located just east of BEH.  The massive quartz monzonite monolith is impressive from this vantage point.  Hard to believe people hike to the top.  It's still something I haven't done.

We rested for fifteen minutes in the sun.  We chatted about the dominant trails of the Great Lakes States, which are either beach or dune trails along the water, or former rail or river roads that are now rail trails.  They can be just as scenic as the western mountain trails.

The return hike was much easier now, especially since we bypassed LEH and hiked almost all downhill back to our cars.  Our cars were the last vehicles in the small parking lot.

It was just SteveS and I now.  We took the southern route back to SV, taking I-19 south to River Road and from there west to SR82.  I hadn't driven this route in years, perhaps ten years.  More spacious homes now dot the foothills north of Nogales and in Rio Rico.

Steve and I had an interesting conversation (we always do) about family loss, grief, Indiana and hiking and I wasn't paying attention to the speed limit.  I was pulled over for speeding 73 in a 55 mph zone.  Ouch.  The officer let me go with a citation for "wasting natural resources" and for going a mere ten miles over the limit.  Why don't I just use cruise control, asked Steve.  Because I always have to step on the brakes while cruising!

We had a nice meal in Patagonia's Wagon Wheel, a self-proclaimed cowboy bar right on SR82.  Patagonia is a well-known speed trap as well because the speed limit in town is 35mph after slowing down from 45mph.  There is always a cop car watching drivers.  An arts festival was rapping up in the town park but the Wagon Wheel wasn't busy. He had a cheese burger, I had chicken enchiladas and we both had a Barrio Blonde, a light beer that goes well with Mexican food.

We drove home to a nice sunset.  I dropped Steve back at his truck at 5:30pm and I got home at 5:50pm. Despite my sore thighs, I walked Wolfie, Gretchen and Sweetie for another round around the hood.