We hardly get the chance to visit Brown Canyon, so it was a treat to hike in it three times this week. (We have written about the canyon before after our first visit in this Speedy Journal entry.) Not only was there a public hike on Saturday, but we also led our first hike for a private group on Wednesday. In between we got together with most of the other volunteers and Dan to hike the Jaguar Canyon trail, one which is not often done, since the public hikes usually take the Arch Canyon trail which ends at an impressive stone arch, always a crowd pleaser.
We went along on the public hike, led by Craig, to provide backup and ensure that no one was left behind, but also to get prepared for our upcoming private hike. As we had only been on a couple of previous public hikes, we are still learning about the canyon. There were eight people on the public hike up to the arch. It was a nice day and a pretty good group of people except for one woman who kept going off the trail and exploring on her own. She slowed down a little when Craig mentioned that rattlesnakes hang out among the rocks in the washes.
The first stop we made on this hike, and on the one we led, was at the Environmental Education Center (an old lodge in the hills now used for group rentals). It gives the hikers a chance to use the restrooms before starting up the trail and we can talk about the history of the canyon and its acquisition by the refuge ... and everyone likes the large stuffed jaguar in the main room.
The jaguar is a story in itself. There was known to be a jaguar that inhabited the canyon named Macho B. He was "accidentally" snared by Arizona Game and Fish, then collared and slowly deteriorated and his life ended when he was captured again and found to be in such bad shape that he was euthanized. The official story is here and the investigative reporting on what really happened is here. A pretty sad story all around.
However the stuffed jaguar in the EEC is not Macho B (his remains are at a USFWS Lab in Oregon). The one in the EEC is actually a South American specimen. It was taken from a dentist (yes, another dentist) who was trying to smuggle the skin in from a hunting trip in Brazil. He was fined for this offense, but didn't learn his lesson and was caught again a few years later trying to smuggle in protected species and served jail time. Someone in US Customs remembered the story of Macho B and its connection to the refuge and offered the skin for display. It was stuffed and now overlooks the main room of the EEC.
At a corral about a mile up the trail, the Arch and Jaguar Canyon trails split. On the public hikes, we take a break here in both directions. On the way up, we stop to talk about the previous owner, a rather eccentric commodities broker who built the corrals as well as other structures in Brown Canyon. The corral has an unusual curved shape attributed to the designs of Temple Grandin, an animal sciences professor who is also autistic and an advocate for autism therapies. (She is well known and there is an HBO film about her life.) Craig is quite interested in her work and talks more about her work than the corral itself.
On the way down from the arch, we usually let the hikers go down at their own paces and meet them at the corral. Here Ellen and I miscounted and one of the women ended behind us leaving the corral on the way back ... oops! No harm done and a good time seemed to be had by all the hikers.
On Monday we returned to Brown Canyon. The visitor center is closed on Mondays and Dan and most of the volunteers, us included, are off. We got together to do a hike of the Jaguar Canyon trail. It goes up another drainage roughly parallel to the Arch Trail. It ends at a small waterfall (sort of a dribble, actually), so it does not have the impressive conclusion of the Arch Canyon trail. As a result, it is rarely hiked but it is kept open.
Aside from the work party that did trail work in September, we were probably the only "official" hike of the season ... assuming that we don't include the Border Patrol or the undocumented immigrants that they are looking for. We ran into a pair of heavily armed (M-16s, etc.) Border Patrol agents coming down the trail as we were going up.
It is named the Jaguar Canyon trail because there was supposedly a jaguar seen on the trail in the past. We found evidence of recent cat scrapes at several locations which we suspect, from their size, to be mountain lion. The cats, both mountain lion and bobcat, scrape up a patch of dirt and urinate on it to mark their territories. Evidently, the Jaguar Trail is someone's territory since we found at least a half-dozen scrapes along the trail.
The trail is steeper and narrower than the Arch Canyon trail and more wooded when you get into the oak forested elevations. There seemed to be more bird activity along this trail. We even saw another life bird species, a pair of Hepatic Tanagers. The big find of the day, however, was a full fuel can of the type used to refill string trimmers or brush cutters just about at the top of the trail. It was evidently left behind on the work party day. It had been sitting up there, untouched, for about four months. We took turns carrying it out.
It was also Dan's birthday and we wanted to surprise him, both with the hike and in song. We stopped to take a break and broke into Happy Birthday. We gave him a card signed by all, Evelyn had made blond brownies and Ellen bought Dan some special chocolate bars. It was a great hike for both the scenery and the companionship.
On Wednesday Ellen and I led our first Brown Canyon hike. It was a "Private Hike". Although the refuge has a scheduled public hike twice a month, anyone can call and schedule a private hike for any day assuming a guide can be found. It is a fixed fee of $40 for up to 12 people. We had four women about our age. They had been friends since high school and get together every year for a hike or two. One of them winters in Tucson and reserved the hike.
They were a fun group and enjoyed the walk up to the arch. We tried to remember all of the plants and places but missed a few. There are a couple of interesting cacti that Craig points out that I never found. I think they bonded a bit more with Ellen than with me since they seemed to cluster around her as I led the way, but we all had a good time. We didn't see many birds, but they were more interested in walking and talking and hearing the stories about the canyon and hearing about our lives as volunteers. They liked it enough that they said they might come back next year to do the Jaguar Canyon trail.
I guess we are now "official" Brown Canyon Guides. Maybe there'll be a badge?
Photos
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