Deep in the Dragoons

With a geriatric cat at home, we've been taking shorter trips this fall. And we rediscovered the Dragoon Mountains, not far from home with a wealth of great hiking and camping possibilities.

November 11-13, 2016

This was a trip where we got everything wrong, but still came out alright. We decided we'd try for another SOTA peak, and to our amazement, nobody had activated China Peak in the Dragoon Mountains. Little did we know that there are several China Peaks in Arizona, and we were aiming for the wrong one.

So off we went on a Friday morning, peeling off Middlemarch Road onto FR 345A, which climbs deep into the southern Dragoons. We clawed our way to a fine campsite at about 6300 feet.

Instead of China Peak, we decided to bushwhack to the top of this neaby summit, which we identified as Cochise Peak.

(Scroll for panorama). Though getting lost seemed pretty unlikely, we turned on GPS tracking. We were almost to the top when we realized we had climbed the wrong mountain. Instead of Cochise Peak, we climbed an unnamed peak with an elevation of 7010' — 213 feet taller than our original objective.

It was a tough scramble. We're sort of amazed that we can still do this stuff at our age!

(Scroll for panorama). We weren't disapointed. This mountain has a rocky summit composed of weirdly stratified gray and rust ancient seabed and has fabulous views across the Willcox Playa to the Chiricahuas and south into Mexico.

Dennis setting up his telescoping fiberglas amateur radio antenna.

We actually made a few contacts. Too bad this peak is not SOTA-eligible.

Striking the antenna. If it looks like he was a few feet from a precipice, it's because he was!

Looking northeast at the ruddy rounded rock formations that are more typical of the Dragoons. In raven miles, we were just a short distance from Cochise Stronghold.

Instead of retracing our steps, we decided to see if we could avoid losing so much elevation by slabbing around the side of the ridge and intersecting the road higher up the canyon.

With game trails everywhere, it was pretty easy walking through waist-high yellow grass.

From there, we hiked up the road to a high saddle, where we had great views to the west and down into Slavin Gulch, where we have backpacked several times. The road continues downhill to Abril Mine, at the top of Slavin Gulch. Dennis is leaning on a rail from the line that once served this canyon.

That night we continued east on Middlemarch Road, eventually making our way to Whitewater Draw, where we were happy to be able to cook a nice evening meal in the comfort of the Taco Grande.

We were hoping to see the Sandhill Cranes lift off in the morning. There were very few cranes, and the water seemed curiously low given all the rainfall we had this summer. Agribusiness is buying up land like crazy in Cochise County, where they have unrestricted access to water for thirsty crops like pistachios and almonds. Over the last few years, I have noticed a drastic decline in water levels here and on the eastern side of Aravaipa Canyon. Is anybody paying attention?