This is an unofficial trail south of Forest Road (FR) 61 and the Huachuca Mountains that runs north-south toward the US-MEX border. There is no Forest Service trail sign indicating the trail, nor any other signs. The well-trodden trails on both sides of the creek were made by the feet of illegal entrants coming from Mexico. There are many such well-trodden trails along FR61 made this way.
Several deep swimming holes are in this creek near the FR, and a popular party hang-out for locals on hot summer days. Today, however, there was no one at the swimming holes, and the only sign of human use were six Budweiser cans strewn recklessly along the creekbed.
Bear Creek is normally lush with running water, hugged by oaks and sycamores and meandering along a shallow canyon toward the south. Open-range cattle graze along the green banks of the creek. We have never hiked it to the border as a private ranch separates us from that, but the 90-minute hike there is a lovely hike and ideal for the dogs as there’s no one to bother along the way.
No one other than open-range cows that linger along the creek…. Kevin had to tie the dogs to a rope for a while to restrain them, or else Sara would have bolted toward the bovines that we finally caught up to toward the border.
A wildfire a month ago had ravaged several hundred acres of brush on the west side of Bear Creek. We passed old ash piles and darkened trunks of junipers and oaks along the way. http://www.svherald.com/articles/2008/04/09/news/doc47fc5e4f93257796621761.txt
Bear Creek broadens out near the border, revealing volcanic rock in carved meanderings as tadpoles swim in the water.
“A waterpark for dogs!” I exclaimed as I jumped around the round-topped rocks, looking occassionally south toward Mexico.
A fence kept us from walking further south. Was this an unmarked section of the border or a private fence as we've seen at so many other border areas? There were no signs telling us otherwise, and it was so tempting to walk further along the creek that etched itself further south along a shallow gorge. Mexico is so tempting along this part of the international border, with the Sierra MAdres luring futher along the horizon.
Someday I will discover Sonora better.
We turned around here, climbing uphill and bushwacking back along a ridgeline with the Huachucas now directly in front of us. The creek seemed further west as we walked north, approaching the southern edge of the Huachucas.
I was depending on Sara to find the way back, but it turned out that we were over a mile EAST of Bear Creek the further north we hiked, crossing a USBP road and a windmill by a stockpond. This no longer looked familiar.
“The creek is further west!” said Kevin, and I didn’t want to believe him. But he was right in the end, but even he didn’t realize how far west we had to go.
We stopped for a water break at one dry creek, sitting on high ground while the dogs laid down in the shade. We heard several vehicles nearby , and we knew we were near FR61.
It turned out we were just a few feet from the road. It was passed 3pm now and we turned west on the road. Shortly thereafter a USBP van came toward us from the west, stopped and the agent behind the wheel asked us if we were OK.
“Was that your vehicle down there?” said the young man, referring to Kevin’s pick-up parked off the road near Bear Creek.
“Bear Creek is that way” he added, pointing westward. What we didn’t know was that we were 1.3 miles away! How did we manage to get that far off course? The fenceline near Bear Creek is deceiving; perhaps the border is further south along the creek than we thought.
Another USBP van came by later and stopped again, also asking us if that red pick-up was ours. Again we confirmed that it was. "You won't see much activity until after dark" said the agent. "They like to hike up Copper Canyon at night." Copper Canyon is a steep, rocky canyon close to Montezuma Peak, a 6570' peak with a panoramic view of the borderland.
Bear Creek is a pretty hike and I figured it would be about a four-mile hike. But when we got back to the truck at 3:20pm it felt more like close to six miles.
I picked up two small bags of trail trash, mostly plastic bottles but a few Budweiser cans that came from hunters and not illegals passing through. We passed a burlap potato bag that we left on the trail, a US #2 potato bag that was surely used to smuggle drugs into this country.
FR61 is a very scenic road that I will always enjoy going on. It ends in Nogales 40 miles west, passing alluvial plains and wide canyons along the way. It’s a little-explored area that I hope to go to more often. Mexico is just a stone's throw away on this road, and so enticing.
"This is such a pretty road, and no matter how many times we drive along this stretch, I have to photograph the views!" I told Kevin. I could just "feel" his response as he smiled.
Several deep swimming holes are in this creek near the FR, and a popular party hang-out for locals on hot summer days. Today, however, there was no one at the swimming holes, and the only sign of human use were six Budweiser cans strewn recklessly along the creekbed.
Bear Creek is normally lush with running water, hugged by oaks and sycamores and meandering along a shallow canyon toward the south. Open-range cattle graze along the green banks of the creek. We have never hiked it to the border as a private ranch separates us from that, but the 90-minute hike there is a lovely hike and ideal for the dogs as there’s no one to bother along the way.
No one other than open-range cows that linger along the creek…. Kevin had to tie the dogs to a rope for a while to restrain them, or else Sara would have bolted toward the bovines that we finally caught up to toward the border.
A wildfire a month ago had ravaged several hundred acres of brush on the west side of Bear Creek. We passed old ash piles and darkened trunks of junipers and oaks along the way. http://www.svherald.com/articles/2008/04/09/news/doc47fc5e4f93257796621761.txt
Bear Creek broadens out near the border, revealing volcanic rock in carved meanderings as tadpoles swim in the water.
“A waterpark for dogs!” I exclaimed as I jumped around the round-topped rocks, looking occassionally south toward Mexico.
A fence kept us from walking further south. Was this an unmarked section of the border or a private fence as we've seen at so many other border areas? There were no signs telling us otherwise, and it was so tempting to walk further along the creek that etched itself further south along a shallow gorge. Mexico is so tempting along this part of the international border, with the Sierra MAdres luring futher along the horizon.
Someday I will discover Sonora better.
We turned around here, climbing uphill and bushwacking back along a ridgeline with the Huachucas now directly in front of us. The creek seemed further west as we walked north, approaching the southern edge of the Huachucas.
I was depending on Sara to find the way back, but it turned out that we were over a mile EAST of Bear Creek the further north we hiked, crossing a USBP road and a windmill by a stockpond. This no longer looked familiar.
“The creek is further west!” said Kevin, and I didn’t want to believe him. But he was right in the end, but even he didn’t realize how far west we had to go.
We stopped for a water break at one dry creek, sitting on high ground while the dogs laid down in the shade. We heard several vehicles nearby , and we knew we were near FR61.
It turned out we were just a few feet from the road. It was passed 3pm now and we turned west on the road. Shortly thereafter a USBP van came toward us from the west, stopped and the agent behind the wheel asked us if we were OK.
“Was that your vehicle down there?” said the young man, referring to Kevin’s pick-up parked off the road near Bear Creek.
“Bear Creek is that way” he added, pointing westward. What we didn’t know was that we were 1.3 miles away! How did we manage to get that far off course? The fenceline near Bear Creek is deceiving; perhaps the border is further south along the creek than we thought.
Another USBP van came by later and stopped again, also asking us if that red pick-up was ours. Again we confirmed that it was. "You won't see much activity until after dark" said the agent. "They like to hike up Copper Canyon at night." Copper Canyon is a steep, rocky canyon close to Montezuma Peak, a 6570' peak with a panoramic view of the borderland.
Bear Creek is a pretty hike and I figured it would be about a four-mile hike. But when we got back to the truck at 3:20pm it felt more like close to six miles.
I picked up two small bags of trail trash, mostly plastic bottles but a few Budweiser cans that came from hunters and not illegals passing through. We passed a burlap potato bag that we left on the trail, a US #2 potato bag that was surely used to smuggle drugs into this country.
FR61 is a very scenic road that I will always enjoy going on. It ends in Nogales 40 miles west, passing alluvial plains and wide canyons along the way. It’s a little-explored area that I hope to go to more often. Mexico is just a stone's throw away on this road, and so enticing.
"This is such a pretty road, and no matter how many times we drive along this stretch, I have to photograph the views!" I told Kevin. I could just "feel" his response as he smiled.
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