Leaving the San Pedro River, I followed the arrow-straight shot of ranchette-residential Waters Road and Three Canyons Road toward the Huachuca Mountains. The latter road, in particular, carried very little traffic as it was a private road, with an entrance-code-activated gate at the far end barring random Sierra Vista traffic from using it. However the gate was easily circumvented on foot, or so I discovered after 8 miles of self-questioning commitment to this untested roadwalk route.
Crossing AZ Highway 92 I soon entered the Coronado National Forest at Hunter Canyon, then followed signed 4WD toward Kelly Spring, which I'd been anticipating in order to dump the last of my San Pedro River water, but alas, could not locate (or it was dry). Hunter Canyon Trail then led easily over a viewful saddle into Miller Canyon. (photo: San Jose Peak in Mexico, beyond Hunter Canyon.)
The infamous aerostat blimp presides over the Huachucas, watching for illegal immigrants and drug smugglers. The exact location of the blimp, in reference to the surrounding peaks, is impossible to judge, seeming ever to change based on the viewing location.
I walked down the dirt road in Miller Canyon to intercept Highway 92 once again, then followed the highway north less than a mile to the Sierra Vista suburb of Nicksville in order to resupply (Hereford post office). 75 miles on foot from my starting point at Cochise Stronghold, this was the first food resupply of the hike. Then it was back up Miller Canyon to the trailhead, with several border patrol trucks cruising blithely past me on route. A final BP agent, coming back down Miller Canyon Rd, stopped to question me briefly, and explained that I probably hadn't seemed suspicious out on the main road, due to the "newness" of my equipment. Goodness knows this was to their credit, though, as any backpacker toting snowshoes must be quite the peculiar sighting on Sierra Vista sidewalks.
packing snowshoes (Northern Lites Elite Racer) for the high country
entering Miller Peak Wilderness
Nickel-sized shell on motel carpeting Something small and white had caught my eye as I negotiated an awkward blowdown across the trail up Miller Creek. The root ball of the upended pine exposed a small crater of freshly tilled earth in the sidehill there, well above the creek itself. Initially I thought I might have found a fossil, but later research revealed the tiny nautilus shell - in fact, shells, as the main one contained several infinitely more miniature versions of itself inside stacked like Russian dolls - to be the recent home of a female freshwater snail.
A snowy Miller Peak, as seen from snow-free south-facing slopes traversed by Miller Canyon Trail.
Finally entering the snow zone not far from the crest of the range, I found the trail well-packed down by previous hikers, surely including groups of illegals that had been responsible for the sudden escalation in assorted trash spotted at trailside.
After the lovely snowmelt cascades of lower Miller Creek, well-named Bathtub Spring seemed rather less desirable a water source, but is perhaps the first fairly reliable source that northbound Arizona Trail hikers encounter since the border. I'd given myself the option of detouring south several miles in order to summit Miller Peak, but the deep snowpack leading up there, not to mention my fatigue just after the stiff climb up Miller Canyon, quickly discouraged that idea.
First Arizona Trail sign encountered. Here on the crest of the Huachucas I joined the AZ Trail and would continue with it, more often than not, all the way to the Santa Catalina Mountains outside Tucson.
Panorama toward Mexico from the Arizona Trail aka Crest Trail
Huachuca Agave, a localized variant of the Parry's Agave
Northward along the crest, now descending somewhat in elevation, where the snowpack became very spotty, hardly necessitating the use of snowshoes. This snow-free scene was not expected after my walk along the San Pedro, ever gazing up at imposing snowy peaks on the westward horizon. At least I'd brought along the lightest pair of snowshoes I could find, and would surely need them farther along on the journey given the wet winter, I surmised.
Granite Peak in the foreground, old Mexico beyond
Ramsey Canyon framed by Pat Scott Peak (left) and Carr Peak
Carr Peak, with Sierra Vista, the San Pedro River, and the Mule Mountains beyond
Patagonia Lake off to the west, a day's walk ahead via the Arizona Trail
crest of the Huachucas, looking south
Distant Mt Wrightson and the Santa Rita Mountains, 50 or 60 trail miles ahead on my Sky Islands traverse
Patagonia Lake
point-leaf manzanita in bloom
Meadow Valley near the Mexican border, from the Canelo Hills
the Canelo Hills
Big views back to the Huachucas finally opened up after several hours of mid-elevation undulating across the Canelo Hills. I'd recalled this view from my Arizona Trail thru-hike attempt of 6 years earlier and had been anticipating it, wondering why it was taking so long to appear, the usual problem of "memory-induced space-time compression."
Approaching Canelo Pass, all the while soaking in the solitude and quiet. I'd observed that commercial jet traffic still remained virtually non-existent overhead, as had been the case since starting the hike in the Dragoons, and the nights in particular were astonishingly free of unnatural sound. Blessed be the border regions in this significant respect.
rainbow hedgehog cactus
Meadow Valley 2-track with approaching storm
Every now and then I'd find a stretch of "I don't remember this being here" singletrack, small sections of trail completed since my thru-hike of 6 years prior. Roadwalking is at a minimum now, making the Canelo Hills passages among the most impressive of the entire Arizona Trail in terms of AZT-specific singletrack construction.
cane cholla
last season's bloom
Down Under Tank, a veritable lake at several acres in size this wet early spring. Some of the AZT signs in this area were a bit confusing, still oriented for old routes of the AZT since abandoned. The area around nearby Cott Tank was particularly bad, as it had been since the early 2000's, with trail signs directing hikers in a big circle there. I met a couple of AZT thru-hikers there, who also remarked on the confusion. After "falling for it" again myself, I gathered the gumption to uproot a wooden trail post and haul it several hundred yards away to where it should have been located. Repeat thru-hikers are dangerous sorts, doncha know.
Redrock Canyon wash
Kunde Mountain
Red Mountain, from the final pass before reaching Harshaw Road and the town of Patagonia, my 2nd resupply point of the journey. A redeveloped open-pit silver mine - the so-called Hardshell Mine - has been proposed several miles south of the AZ Trail route along Harshaw Road, which would end up carrying heavy truck traffic between the mine and the main highway out by Patagonia - not a popular notion among most town residents, from what I could tell.
