Huachuca Crest Trail loop along Brushy and Korn Canyons and the Huachuca Peak trail

This was a hike led by TomR and the Huachuca Hiking Club. This was a hike I was looking forward to, as it's a challenging hike in little-used areas. 

Getting to the trailhead off Brushy Canyon is not for the faint-of-heart as the road there is badly rutted in sections and with several steep dips into washes. 

 I had a rough start, though. I had to walk both Fritz and Gretchen around the neighborhood before leaving for the meet-up so that they got some exercise before getting tethered up the rest of the day. Hansel was the first dog out the front door so he was my lone canine this morning. He's a proven good hiking dog but today he was overly excited to run off some pent-up energy. 

I had a major glitch leaving the house, though. My truck's battery wouldn't start, even after I plugged in my battery charger. I guess I killed it for good last week. I was late for the 7am meet-up, but Ellen stayed behind to wait for me, so Hansel and I rode with her to the trail head when I drove up at 7:15am in my Honda CRV.. 

Ellen has mastered off-road driving in her Toyota FJ Cruiser. It's almost an hour drive to get around to the western slopes of the Huachucas, and when we finally met up with the other eight hikers, they were still getting their gear on for the hike! No time was lost waiting on Ellen and me and I was relieved. I hate having people wait on me for being late.

We were a group of ten:  TomR, SteveS, JimA, RyanD, BillC, KarenF and guest An Ye, Doug, Ellen and I. Hansel was the only dog.

The loop trail starts out on level terrain in Brushy Canyon and a few drainages with water. It was sunny and already warm.  Hansel liked that. But in hind sight I should have kept him leashed until he was tired enough to walk closer to me, because he kept insisting on running up front. Then he'd want to run back to me, bumping into people.  Oops.  I opted then to stay in the rear from the group, but this rear position only slowed me down as the elevation began to kick in after the first mile.  I just didn't have the energy to go fast or far and made frequent breaks.  Am I really so out of shape?!

Ellen, Doug, and Ryan were at times in the rear with me.  Doug asked me if I had been hiking much lately.  I said I had, but obviously not elevation!  I try to walk 5.5 miles a day at school and with the dogs, but distance does not always equate speed. I guess I'm going to have to start hiking up Carr Peak again for my monthly elevation training and conditioning.

Our first rest break was at the drone crash site in Lyle Canyon.  The grade here was already climbing, and got worse as we continued up Lyle to the Crest Trail. But once on the Crest Trail and another break just before descending above Huachuca Canyon, we began our descent into Korn Canyon.

My phone died while on this hike with two miles to spare, so I couldn't capture the track completely.  Korn Canyon is a shaded and pretty canyon with several historic rock walls remaining.  I had been here before a few years ago with Gretel and the HHC group.

I was relieved to get back to the car.  I realized how dehydrated I had gotten.  I was tired, thirsty, and now hungry.  I gave most of the chicken I had brought along for lunch to Hansel.

SteveS got his Nissan truck caught in a steep drainage, digging his rear bumper into the dirt.  Unearthing that took some strength from among the men, but SteveS did manage to get unstuck and we all made it home.