Well, I finally did it this month: The dogs and I hiked up Miller Peak today, a butt-kicking 9.4 miles up steep and rocky switchbacks to a 9466' summit. The starting elevation was 5750' at the trailhead, 8750' at the Crest Trail.
It was 58F in the valley at 10am with no wind. I got to the trailhead to Lutz Canyon after a 5.5 mile drive from home. Another car with Washington State plates was parked nearby. It was mild as we started, and I wrapped my fleece sweater around my waist. I never needed my wind/rain jacket for this hike.
We started the ascent at 10:21am, entering the Miller Peak Wilderness. I wasn't sure how far I was going to go; I figured I'd take the dogs to the snowline and turn around. But we never reached a snowline. The entire trail was mostly dry with a few insignificant snow sheets near shaded north slopes. The dogs mellowed up after the first mile when they realized "Oh shit, she's taking us up to the peak!"
The trail did not look familiar to me. I thought I had done this hike back in 2005 with Kevin. I never came across the abandoned mining equipment, such as the famous steam engine or air compressor that stand in all its rusted glory off the trail. Was I that hard at breathing to notice?
I only made one false step on an illegal trail near a switchback. When I realized the trail was too rocky, too straight and too far up a northern slope, I turned around. I don't know how much time I lost here, but at least the dogs enjoyed romping in the icy snow.
The trail started out as a single track for the first 100 feet. Then it widened to its old mining trail width for the first mile, climbing ever uphill at a steep slant. Parts of this trail were badly eroded by landslides and other fallen debris. Parts of the trail still had the deepened sections that old bull wagon wheels had dug in. The first mile was shaded and followed the dry creek bed of the Lutz Creek. Several overgrown former mining trails split at various points along this lower trail to other mines nearby. I did not explore any of them because of the time. I knew I had to beat feet the entire hike to make it back at a reasonable time.
Emory oaks, manzanitas, Arizona mountain laurel studded the path. Near the upper Black Bear mine the flora changed to Douglas fir, scrub oak, thornbrush and various grasses. I rested here,
wishing the discarded backpacks, clothes and food around the mine entrance weren't there. This was the first place I saw so much trash the illegals leave behind. When I looked down the mine shaft all I could see was discarded trash the entire way. This must be where illegals take lunch breaks or spend the night before continuing down the steep switchback to the trailhead.
The view of Lutz Canyon was spectacular, and the higher I climbed the more I could see the mountain ranges of northern Sonora. The view was toward the Southeast. The higher I climbed the more narrower the trail became. This was not a very heavily-used trail. Thornbrush pricked me along the last mile of the slope.
We made it to the Crest Trail later than expected. I had taken several water breaks for the dogs and stopped a few more times to look at some of the rocks and minerals off the path. I have enough crystals at home so I left the specimens for the next hiker. We didn't reach the ridge until 1:35pm and the peak was still 1.5 miles away. By now the dogs stayed close by; they were tired, too. We were now on the highest point of the Arizona trail. The only spot higher than this is along the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.
At least the Crest Trail was relatively level and there was more snow here for the dogs to cool off with. Most of the snow was icy and in small patches under trees. The trail itself was quite dry. Crampons were not needed on this hike. The only people we met were a couple from Washington State. The dogs were excited because they had their dog with them, too, a small Black Lab mix. They turned around before reaching the summit. But I was determined to make it.
The only treacherous part was the half-mile climb up the peak trail to the summit. The northern slopes here had thick layers of icy snow on the trail. Despite the snow that fell here over the Christmas holiday, the oaks looked precariously drought-stricken. Meteorologists are already predicting a poor wildflower showing this spring due to the lack of winter rains and snow.
We made it to the Miller Peak trail at 2:14pm and made it to the summit 20 minutes later. We were at 9466 feet elevation.
The lack of any wind surprised me. It was calm and warm on top. It was a perfect place for the dogs to rest for 20 minutes, snack on the jerky I carried for them, and enjoy the view. The dogs seemed to look down on the valley, and Sadie especially seemed thrilled to be on top of the world. I could have laid down myself and napped in the afternoon sun. It was just the dogs and I on this remote summit, with the rest of civilization in the valley below.
I took a few photos of me at the summit, but all of them have more of the dogs' butts in them then of me! Whenever I'd run to the focused spot (usually a shrub or a large rock) the dogs would run after me. This resulted in more close-ups of Sara's black butt than any shots of me. But other than that, the dogs were well-behaved and did not stray too far from me.
I could have stayed at the summit longer if it weren't for the waning sunlight. I was already an hour later than expected at the peak. The cellphone I had died on me as I tried to make the one connecting call from the peak to Kevin, to let him know I made it to the top and that I was soon on my way down.
The panoramic views off Miller Peak were spectacular. I recognized some of the stockponds in northern Sonora that Mike took us to. Mount Wrightson poked its prominence to the northeast. The San Rafael valley was to our west, the San Pedro Valley to our east, and the vast Sonoran mountains to the south. Visibility was great today! The Sonoran National Park where President Reagan fell off his horse while vacationing in Mexico in 1989 was also quite visible, and its long ridge quite prominent.
We left the summit at 3:06pm. I could hear shooters in Ash Canyon below as we slowly closed in on our truck. We made it back to the truck at 5:17pm. We had the mounstain shade over us the entire time, which seemed to please the dogs just fine. We were all exhausted when we got back to the truck, and I was relieved to get off my blistering feet. My Montrail Torre GTX hikers were a bit too heavy and hot for this trek. I could have done this hike in my Adidas trail runners.
I am glad I made this hike afterall. The dogs did great but I think I will leave Sara home next time. She gets overheated too fast and tires easily. She's better off home with Dad so just in case there's an emergency in the mountains, Kevin could take Sara with him and have her track my scent. She's an excellent tracker and I wonder sometimes if her previous owner, a Military Policeman, had her trained in that skill. She loves to track scents while hiking and her head is never upright like Sammy's.
I'm not sure what trail I will hike up next month, but the western slopes sure do look inviting.
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