Good morning all! I have found taking the pictures for my sights and than writing about our Exploring, VERY calming. We have three wonderful kiddos, who enjoy the six weeks of school, two weeks off of school schedule--WAY more than we do! With all of the other day to day stressors, until about a month ago -my mother-in law lived with us. Long story short, stress relievers are a must! I surly hope that you enjoy my posts even half as much as I enjoy working on them. And that until I find an editor, you ignore my grammar and writing mistakes. Just down the road from Benson is Dragoon. I have posted about the area a few times now. My favorite being about visiting the tourist trap, also known as The Thing. The state rest area is also worth a stop, if nothing else to enjoy the amazing rock formations found through the whole area. If you have not checked out the area, Dragoon Days are in early November. I will have to look up the specific days and what happens, because we are new to the area and have never been. But a good festival is always high on my to-do list.
The temps were perfect last Sunday for an Exploring trip. And our two boys needed out of the house as much as I did. I had planned on checking out some of the hill trails in Sierra Vista, but did not want to drive that far. **On that note--I have not done any hikes or real sight seeing in Sierra Vista yet--any readers have any suggestions for us??** Soon after jumping on the Internet, I found the Slavin Gulch Trail. Many sights talked about the area, but few gave good details on getting to the actual trail head. Please note: Google maps is NOT a good method for finding this area! Mainly because the dirt roads, do not have marked street names. We only got lost once even with the less than grand directions.
So many trails---So little time!!
I have also noticed in my travels that hike books and web pages do not really tell you some key factors in any hike. When we lived in beautiful Bellingham, Washington we used to love Exploring a spot of beach called Teddy Bear Cove. I have some amazing pictures from this area, and it is beyond nice. All of the hike books talk about this great beach. But none of them mention a hugely key factor! For whatever reason it is a big hangout, no pun intended, for guys to swim in the nude. Mostly much older men, at that. I found this out -one glorious day while Exploring with our youngest. He was eight at the time. Needles to say, every time I posted a blog about the cove, I included this info. If nothing else to save someone else from suddenly going blind for a short period of time. OR having to explain such things to there kiddos. On that note--a few notes on this trip, nothing as Earth shattering, for sure!
Every guide I found noted that during the right season, this trail could be found in a car. Obviously this is Arizona, and this whole area is in a flash flood zone, so even with our four wheel drive, I would not be around the area at all during Monsoon season. But this road was amazingly ruff and I would not recommend taking any car down it. In fact at one point, we decided it would be faster to walk, and did just that. At one point you are in Forrest Service land, so as always should be the case, pack out what you pack in! By the time we found the trail head, we had very little water left. So as always in Arizona, take lots and lots of water. There is an open water tank with running water, between the ranger station and the trail head, but we were unsure how clean that water was. Much of the year, the water is also running down the canyon, so if nothing else you can cool off quickly! It was beyond dry on our trip.
When you enter the big city of Dragoon-just past the rail road tracks, you will drive by a very old store. Take an immediate right at the store. You are on a dirt road, which is deceivingly well maintained to start. Soon you pass through a gate, and the road keeps getting rougher and rougher from there. About 20 minutes from the gate you will pass into Forest Service land. Follow the sign to the left, pointing to the springs. We gave up and parked just past this sign, leaving a mile to the trail head. At some point we encountered a huge wasp nest and decided it was time to head back to the truck. The rock formations alone were worth the trip. Further up the trail, you pass old mine relics. The loop I read about is supposed to be 2.5 miles. So a nice trek into the landscape. We did not make it far enough to give a very accurate report on conditions and such. But it was far enough to wear out the kids. I would say it looked like a moderate hike though. We started in the river bed and of course, like all good hikes, the trail mostly went upward for a long ways.
Break time in some hard to find shade.
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And as always
**HAPPY TRAILS!!**
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Check it out personally by dropping by our book cases on the car port of 759 Mcneil street
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MY blog rundown
Some of my better pictures end up here: http://
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My longest running blog series. Full of random rambling, Exploring, jokes, rants, and of course coffee love! http://
Some of my better pictures end up here: http://
My newest page all about Arizona and what it has to offer everyone! http://
My longest running blog series. Full of random rambling, Exploring, jokes, rants, and of course coffee love! http://
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