This is the Muleteam's last hike of the season. Join them this Saturday at the Carr House in the foothills of the Huachuca Mountains for a short walk and potluck picnic. The nature trail by a creek includes early settlement ruins, and our host at the Carr House will provide some local history. Bring water and food/drink for the potluck. Back early afternoon. Meet May 11 at 9am by the Old Bisbee courthouse fountain to carpool. Free but gas donation is appreciated. For more details contact Larry at 224-4951 or sunstudio@cableone.net.
• We'll park at the Carr House off Carr Canyon Road. Meet there about 9:45.
• Invite your friends, kids and dogs.
• If you have any version of a Muleteam shirt (or hat), wear it for the group photo.
You can also meet us after the walk for the potluck only. The hikers should be back about 11:30, and we'll meet at the Carr House picnic area. I'll bring the plates, cups, etc. and guacamole of course.
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BACKTRACK - Camp-hikes
I took the group photo and more are at
muleteam.shutterfly.com.
Elizabeth's 360ยบ photo link -
https://rebrand.ly/NaturalBridge
On this Saturday we had 3 different hikes to choose from, so here are the reports...
1 - Six of us hiked from the Natural Bridge trailhead on the main road in the Chiricahua National Monument 2.4 miles to the end of the trail, from which there is a view of a natural bridge and other spectacular rock formations. The rock formations and blooming yucca and other flowers were great to see throughout the entire hike. We met Susan and Jim coming out when we were near the end of the trail. Thanks to Elizabeth for transporting us to the trailhead and to everyone for being good company, and thanks to all of you campers who were so generous with firewood, food, paper towels, stoves and other camping necessities! -Molly
2 - Two hikers drove from Bisbee to join the campers for the day hikes. Starting from the campground seven of us hiked the shady trail along Bonita Creek which was mostly dry, but deer and turkeys were seen in the wet sections. We checked out Faraway Ranch, and before heading back we had a snack and chat on picnic tables under a big tree. -Larry
And last but not least...
3 - Pinery/Horsefall Trail
This was the only hike at the campout that was so unknown to the campers
as to deter all
but one from engaging in this adventurous/exploratory activity. I was the
only one willing
to do so, and was rewarded by a most enjoyable experience. At no time was
the trail too
hard to follow with any difficulty, though the beginning of the trail was
the hardest to
find, there being utterly no sign revealing it. After looking around for
about 15 minutes, I
found that the access to the trail was by the lower of two short roads
turning off to the left
from Forest Road 42, Pinery Canyon Road.
This lower road quickly entered a wide open area suitable for parking
many vehicles,
presumably while occupants using the trail continue on foot or by other
means along the
remaining road which ended at a primitive campsite along a lively stream
draining upper
Pinery Canyon. This lower road was exactly opposite the well-signed road
to "Pine
Canyon Camp" turning off to the right from FR 42. The upper road on the
left leads to
another parking space and is presumably for users of the Ida Peak Trail,
only a short
distance away on the right of FR 42.
Campers at the primitive site mentioned a trail starting from there,
which continued
beyond the quarter mile or so that they followed it, indicating it to be
of some importance.
Starting on my hike there, I followed it along the merrily flowing stream
through a
heavily and delightfully wooded stretch for about a half mile when I
finally came upon
definite confirmation of what the trail was. At this point the trail
starting on an ascent
above and away from the stream at the bottom of the canyon, its change in
character
being signified by a large sign marked by the words Pinery Trail and a
left pointing arrow.
This marked the end of the first of six half mile stretches which I
divide the trail into. The
second stretch ascended up a moderately steep grade far less shaded than
the first stretch,
where the terrain was covered by what I call Buffalo Grass with some
brushy chaparral
and a few junipers and scrub oak. After several switchbacks the trail
reached a lower
section of the ridge between Pinery and Horsefall Canyons, climbing to
the distant heads
of both canyons. This part of the trail is the most obvious and clearly
defined, bordering
on being too well defined and in danger of becoming eroded to where
hiking becomes
unpleasant over its rocky surface. From then on the trail never again
became quite as
eroded as it was there.
Alternating between following the top of the ridge and just below on the
right side, a
short, welcome zone of flat terrain was reached before the ascent was
continued along a
moderate incline. Just before the ridge became a lot steeper on the slope
of a major
prominence looming above, at this end of the second half-mile section the
trail curved
sharply to the right and began a slowly inclined contour through what was
now thick
patches of buffalo grass along the upper slope of Pinery Canyon.
Before long a fence blocked the way through which a gate of typical basic
construction
allowed passage. Its posts were of unusually great height and it was kept
closed by two
loops of wire gripping the bottom and top ends of a stick joining the
gate's barbed wire
strands. The top wire loop was too short to pass easily over the stick,
so an additonal
small wire loop was linked through to connect the stick to its post. The
gate was open
when I first arived, but I left it closed both on my way up and later
back down the trail.
Beyond the gate was a series of tall thistle plants, each sporting its
violet/purple blossoms
at different stages of development. So far-- except for clearing of some
downed trees
along the stretch following the stream below-- few signs of recent
maintenance were
noticeable. Actually, unless a lot of effort could be spared to
completely dig out the
bufallo grass, little was admittedly needed along upper slopes except
where the grass was
sparse enough to allow using tools to carve out tread from the
sideslopes-- steep enough
to make footing precarious along exposed ground.
The gradual ascent continued to where the trail finally passed over the
ridge at a low
saddle and into Horsefall Canyon. This marked the end of the third
half-mile section and
the entire first half of the three miles hiked up to my destination of
the major ridge where
the Shaw Peak Trail makes a junction first with the Pinery/Horsefall
Trail that I hiked on.
There then follows only about a hundred feet away, the junction with a
trail down Jhus
Canyon to the east.
Entry into Horsefall Canyon was accompanied by a huge improvement in the
conditions
affecting enjoyment of the hike. Cool breezes became a lot more frequent,
the trail
entered on a descending phase, and the vegetation became less harsh.
Buffalo grass gave
over to greener, more lush types including a profusion of myriad clumps
of flowering
Lupine with their blue/violet blossoms along vertical stalks. Their color
was contrasted
with the lesser abundance of small, bright yellow daisy-shaped flowers.
Though the trail
tread was mostly still very narrow and grassy-surfaced down to the bottom
of the canyon
-- nearer to the ridge top than the bottom of Pinery Canyon now left
behind-- clear signs
of tread improvement were now becoming more frequent for the first time.
This trend
now led to improvement of increasing lengths of tread as the hike reached
its destination.
From the entering of Horsefall Canyon, this last half of the trail
stretching over 1 1/2
miles, is divided into two 3/4 mile segments instead of the half mile
divisions described
up to now. These two segments are divided by Iron Spring, roughly halfway
up remaining
canyon to the final junctions. Besides tread improvement, trail
maintenance was also
marked along remaining hiked trail, by much clearing of tall timber now
populating the
canyon and including some dead snags-- burned during the last wildfire.
Much of this
clearing involved cutting and removal of large diameter trunks from
across the trail and
leaving no obstacles to what was a much more effortless hike along the
improved trail.
After reaching the bottom of Horsefall Canyon with is meadowlike aspect,
the trail again
returned to an ascending state along the open canyon bottom, though much
more gradual.
On looking back over what I just hiked, I noticed how easily the trail's
sudden ascent up
to the ridgetop could be missed by hikers returning back to FR 42. In the
same manner as
the placing of that sign at the beginning of the ascent out of the wet
bottom of Pinery
Canyon, I hung a length of orange flagging from a small conifer beside
the trail and used
my pocketknife to carve a more permanent broad arrow into a vertical dead
tree trunk,
facing up the canyon and pointing left toward the ascending trail in
order to keep hikers
from failing to notice its change its direction, not at all noticeable
atop the thick grass
there.
Iron Spring proved to be a kind of developed spring found in mountains
of the SW U.
S., typical in having a long, rectangular trough with concrete sides at
one end and a
concrete box and lid at the other end. A short steel pipe extends from
near the top of the
box to allow draining of overflow into the trough. The sides of the
trough were worn
down so that water reaching their tops, now overflows without reaching a
pipe once used
to convey that overflow, but now useless. There was considerable water
in the trough but
hardly a discernable trickle over the tops of its sides, indicating that
any flow through the
spring was about at its end. How recently the spring had been still
flowing was seen by
the beginning of a clouding of the water but no growth yet of algae or
other plants such as
are seen in stagnant pools.
The remaining hike to its destination junctions, was along the most
enjoyable trail-- wide
enough with recently renewed tread-- usually not too flat but with just
enough slope for
side drainage-- and completely free of fallen trees or other obstacles.
Finally at the
junctions themselves, there were posted signs of varying ages. At the
junction where the
Pinery/Horsefall Trail ends and the Shaw Peak Trail begins there was one
older and larger
sign on two posts, where the characters were hard to read, being the same
color as the
gray wood into which they were carved. There were also two newer and
smaller signs on
single posts, with white characters on brown background. Just about 100
feet along the
Shaw Peak Trail was another junction with a trail proceeding east down
Jhus Canyon.
Here the Shaw Peak Trail winds over a route along the west side of a well
maintained
barbed wire fence constructed along the major ridge line proceeding from
Onion Saddle
to the Hilltop Mine. From its junction with the Shaw Peak Trail, the Jhus
Canyon Trail
immediately passes through this fence, using a "V" gate which restricts
access due to its
geometry and does not require opening and closure of a barrier. From that
second
junction, I proceeded a very short way-- about another 100 feet-- along
the Shaw Peak
Trail but found it to be very hard to identify through thick and brushy
chaparral over
rocky ground. I instinctively perceived a path along that short distance
and placed about
three cairns from the small loose rocks found nearby, before stopping to
have lunch and
returning back to the FR 42 trailhead.
- Brad
CALENDAR
New season begins the end of October. Have a good summer.
Thanks for hiking with me,
Larry
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