Cochise Stronghold West with Hansel and Bill

Bill asked me only yesterday if I wanted to join him on this hike in the Dragoons.  It's a 10-mile out-and-back hike through the northern part of the Dragoons, filled with spectacular rock formations.  Weather was expected to be in the upper 80s with clouds moving in in the late morning with chance of rain between 2-4pm.

He picked me and Hansel up shortly after 6am.  We got started at the trailhead  at 815am with broken clouds and 74F 

I haven't done much serious hiking this year because the house demolition house hunting and now house organizing was my priority this year,  I take the summers off because of the heat.  I took a chance today because I also know I need to get back in shape.  This hike would show me if I still have it.

Bill is a good hiking partner because we have the same pace and stops a lot for photographs.  I never feel like I am inconveniencing him.  We both like photography and stop a lot to take pictures

We met two other people on the hike, two women, Barb and Lova, from Tucson.  They were hiking the Stronghold starting from the East End.  We met them a quarter-mile east of the HalfMoon tank, the only water source along the way.  We met them again on our return hike and they were just past the tank.

It was sunny on the way out.  I watched Hansel for heat exhaustion.  His tongue was quite red with a half-mile to go to the pucnic area.  That took us 2:35 hours and 5:07 miles.  Denser clouds began forming on our return hike, which cooled the air and gave us all a boost, although I could feel my leg muscles tightening.  The return hike is a slow and gradual uphill.

We got back to Bill's Nissan Pioneer at 1:32.  We had hiked 10.4 miles in 5:15 hours.  I was feeling complete exhaustion set in.  Stopping at the Family dollar in Tombstone for cold iced tea didn't help much, either.  I

I was starting to rain when Bill dropped me off. I was tired and hungry and I still had things to do that I ended up not doing.  I fed all the dogs, Hansel got extra chicken, and called it a night.  The rain didn't last long enough to soften the soil so I could do more weeding.

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