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| Hiking | 12.50 Miles |
4,300 AEG |
| | Hiking | 12.50 Miles | 10 Hrs | | 1.25 mph |
| 4,300 ft AEG | | | | |
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| partners | | Randy and I decided to take advantage of the solitude of a weekday and hit the trail - and I had never done any of these hikes before. Randy said that a large storm had been parked over the Chiricahuas all of Wednesday, so it promised to be a nice wet hike, and we both packed for the monsoon storm that we were certain would come.
We left Tucson at just after 5am, and it was cool and cloudy in the old Pueblo. We made it to the trailhead in Turkey Creek around 7am. The moment we crossed the first road bridge over the creek, we knew we were in for a treat. Water! Lots and lots of water!
From our parking area at the campground, we struck up stream to the Mormon Canyon Trail, rather than taking the Ridge trail (mostly 'cause I'm just a canyon type of gal). On the way I was rewarded with not one but two gorgeous waterfalls on Turkey Creek - one over an old concrete dam and one natural cascade in a narrow bit of canyon. Both were roaring and swollen with the recent rain. With these gems so close to the camping area, I can totally see why this is one of Randy's favorite camping spots. The clouds seemed to be parked in for a while, so we had some perfect hiking weather ahead of us.
The Mormon Canyon trail was in excellent shape, and was extraordinarily beautiful. While I imagine that the natural springs and perennial stream make this canyon particularly scenic year-round - with the extra moisture from the rain, it was an absolute show-stopper. A perfect lush cascading stream. It climbs steeply, but not insanely so. When it meets the Mormon Ridge trail, however, the clear, wide track turns into a tangles, chaotic obstacle-course which more closely resembles a timber pile than a trail. We went over, and under, and around, and over, and around, and under dozens of fallen, burned out trees, in the .7 miles between the Junction and Chiricahua Saddle on the Crest Trail. While it's a tangled mess, the trail is not terribly difficult to find and follow.
At Chiricahua Saddle, we meet the Crest Trail and begin some clear sailing out along the high ridge. Although we were walking in and out of the burn area, the greenery remained lush and enthusiastic. Where the burn was, we get wildflowers, raspberries and amazing views - where the forest was untouched, there is a dense, wet wood with incredible fungi, mosses and ferns. Such beautiful country.
We hiked past the base of Paint Rock, with it's striking red color and green mosses creating a palette that even Van Gogh would have envied. We pulled off the trail to the chute that leads up to the peak of the rock. Because I had the trail dog along, we elected not to climb too much higher, but enjoyed our lunch in an amazing spot that truly felt like we were protected from the rest of the world.
The views from the stretch of the crest near Paint Rock are simply incredible. I had never been on this part of the trail before, and I was awestruck. While the barren fire scars were somewhat sad in terms of the obvious loss of biological diversity, the views that were created, and the geology that was revealed, is incredible. I began to realize that this might become one of my favorite hikes in Southern Arizona.
At the junction with the Rapsberry trail we snacked on some still-tart rapsberries, which got us hyped up again and ready to keep on. We made the lookout at Monte Vista at about 2pm, and spent a very pleasant hour talking with the lookout, playing with the dogs and eating another snack. Finally, the building clouds convinced us to get back on the trail, so we started back down the very steady, if heavily-switch backed Morse Canyon Trail.
About two-thirds of the way down the Morse Canyon Trail, Lilo perked up like she'd seen a squirrel and dashed into the woods. Just a second later, I heard Randy (who was ahead of me) call out "bear! bear cub!" I hurried up, but Lilo had already stopped before I had a chance to call her. Evidently she saw mama bear before we did, and she knew enough to be good and scared. She came straight back when I called, not looking back once. The mama bear scampered straight up a tall Douglas Fir when Lilo bolted - I've never been so thankful in my life. Baby bear had long since dashed up the hill out of sight. It all happened so fast, neither Randy nor I got a single photo of the drama. It's not such a loss, though, as I know I'll never forget the encounter. We'd just been commenting on the lack of wildlife in the area... I supposed that they were all at a conference. Now I know that the conference must have been about the bears, which is why mom and baby weren't invited. I hope that nothing bad was said about the pair - they were quite polite to us.
The rest of the hike went down without incident - a smooth, easy trail back to the road above the campground. We found water again about three hundred yards above the trailhead, and stopped for a long moment to take a few last photos.
On the way back to the car, we detoured to the main creek to throw our Wendy and enjoy the last of the beautiful weather. More than 12 trail miles, and we didn't catch a single drop of rain!
About two minutes after we got back on the road, in the dry safety of Lil' Bit, it started to rain at last. Not hard - just a soft, delicate shower. We stopped at Ringo's gravesite, because again, I'd never been, and got rained on just enough that we felt like we'd been hiking in monsoon season in the Sky Islands.
Life really is very, very good!  |
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Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.- Barack Obama |
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that I hightailed it out of there directly back to the campsite where I could see if I could dry it out. I was so happy that a couple hours later when I tried to turn it on, it actually worked. 
- it took me a little longer to go up this steepest part of the hike. I wasn't sure that I could finish.
The beer was good back at the cars.
