Join the Muleteam this Saturday for a “Two For One Hike” in the canyons & foothills of the Huachuca Mountains. The trail is about 6.5 miles total with grasslands, forest, steep hillsides and a canyon creek. Bring water and lunch, but no dogs into Ramsey. All drivers will be shuttled back to their cars at Brown Canyon Ranch. Back mid-afternoon. Meet April 13 at 9am by the Old Bisbee courthouse fountain to carpool. Free, but gas donation is appreciated. For more details contact Molly at 432-3902 or eeo.source@gmail.com.
Optional meeting spot is Brown Canyon Ranch off Ramsey Canyon Road.
Those with dogs can go with us to the lunch spot, which will this year be about 1/4 mile beyond where we usually stop for lunch when hiking Brown Canyon, at an overlook into Ramsey Canyon. You can even take your dog a bit further than the lunch spot if you choose. -Molly
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BACKTRACK - Echo Canyon
At the earlier time of 8 AM four dedicated hikers and (unsurprisingly) no dogs gathered for the Echo Canyon hike at Chiricahua National Monument. This really small group-- the minimum that would make the hike possible--waited until about 8:15 in the hope that a few more would show up. On the way out rainclouds became more numerous, though not very large and dark but still contrary to the weather forecast, which predicted dramatic clearing from much more complete cloudcover the preceding day. With so few hikers, noone disembarked from our one car for the campground tour on foot. As determined before the hike from a website link for available campsites at the campground, the group campsite was, as expected, found to be empty until check-in time of noon for a Saturday night reservation. Up to five cars could have been parked there, but we decided that we did not need the extra time required for a foot tour and breezed through, first seeing Site 22 which Ken and Sandy reserved for the upcoming campout. We then saw the residence building from the map -- which turned out to be a medium size stone "cabin" across the narrow roadway from a bathroom building also of historical stone construction. Crossing the two Bonita Creek dips was easy as it was dry, but as we neared the three adjoining campsites, 23, 24, and 26, a line of vehicles-- one pulling a camp trailer and one an RV-- completely blocked the narrow roadway and partly blocked from view what we believed was Site 23. We could not be sure since the numbered sign was also blocked. After what seemed like a long few minutes, we learned that the line could not moved until a baby's diaper could be changed, so we backed up all the way to the bathroom building where we found someone dressed in a park service uniform, asking him if he could speed up the clearing up of the blockade. He appeared happy to do so and got into his truck, followed by Elizabeth's SUV. When we arrived the blockage was gone, revealing our three sites in their pristine glory, except that Site 23 had two tents presumably belonging to absent campers. We thanked our park friend and apologized for wasting his time.
We arrived at the Echo Canyon trailhead, to be pleasantly surprised that the parking was less than a third full. Few other hikers were seen on the trail. We decided not to climb all the way to the Massai Point parking, being content to have lunch just below near the piled-stone observation point. Temperature was barely pleasant enough between breezes, but the sun became more frequently blocked by increasing coverage of small rainclouds. We arrived back early enough at the trailhead that, despite occasional "spritzing" by slight sprinkling of raindrops, a hike up the trail to the Sugarloaf Peak Lookout and back down was agreed upon. Spritzing increased some, and we made our stay brief under an eave of the locked lookout before heading back down. Drive back was uneventful despite seeing a lot of rainpuddles along the highway, which were not there on the way out. Arrived back in Bisbee at around a little after 4:30 PM following the hike, estimated to be around six miles total with elevation climbs of somewhat below a thousand feet total. We did learn more about the campground from our brief tour. Most intriguing is that the residence building is NOT for park staff managing the campground but is a real private residence inhabited by owners. There was no time for an explanation from the owner talked to, but this is a mystery to be investigated further at the campout. There IS a host managing the campground at Site 16. - Brad
360º photo link - https://rebrand.ly/SugarLoaf
Hiking photos since 2000 are at muleteam.shutterfly.com.
CALENDAR - Need a hike for April 27!
Apr 20 - Miller Canyon in the Huachucas with John B
Apr 27 - ???
May 3-4-5 - Camp/hike - Chiricahua National Monument
May 11 - Last hike & potluck in lower Carr Canyon with Larry
Larry
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Our Heartfelt Sympathies to Molly, Elizabeth, and Brad !
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