A Paradise for Hikers in Garden Canyon

GAR DEN CANYON

Looming on the Arizona-Mexico border, the Huachuca Mountains grab with their jagged jaws at clouds floating through cerulean skies. The granite domes make a formidable barrier, guarding some of the richest treasures to be found in southern Arizona. Today, the 73,272-acre Army post is the oldest continuously operating military installation in the Southwest. However, the Old Post wasn't the first human settlement in the San Pedro River valley. Paleo-Indians from the Clovis period hunted bison, tapirs and peccaries there up to 12,000 years ago.

Since the range formed 80 million years ago, wildlife and humans have traversed it through Garden Canyon. Its pine forests, grasslands and riparian areas provide a rich habitat for many plant and animal species. I decided to hike this canyon paradise hoping to find a hint of heaven.

The U.S. Army's Fort Huachuca encompasses Garden Canyon, and public access to it is through the post's main entrance. Past the guarded gates, the paved road leads toward the buildings of the Old Post, which was established in 1877 during the Apache Wars. The U.S. Cavalry chose the foothills at the base of the Huachuca Mountains near Garden Canyon as a strategic rallying point. The outpost relied on the natural resources provided by Garden Canyon, which earned its name from the Chinese truck gardens planted in the canyon's meadows.

After the Apache Wars, Camp Huachuca stayed open even when other military camps in Arizona Territory were being abandoned. The Huachuca Mountains provided an idyllic setting for the military to keep watch on rebellious Indian tribes, Mexican bandits and American outlaws.

As I began my journey up the corridor, I stopped at the edge of Garden Canyon Road in the knee-high grass of the meadow at the mountains' base. The grass rippled amber in the morning sun. A small herd of pronghorn antelope delicately stepped out into the open. Tan and white, they blended into the tall grass, and watched the road with large black eyes, their obsidian-colored horns curling skyward.

The herd soon moved out of sight, and Dr. Charles Slaymaker, an archaeologist at Fort Huachuca Military Reservation, walked with me to the shallow banks of Garden Creek. He leaned forward, point-ing out ancient mortars ground deeply

and smoothly into the bedrock on the creek bank.

"Ancient Indians would grind acorns here by the stream and then leach out the tannic acid," Slaymaker explained.

A nearby village site was excavated in 1964, revealing that an agricultural community blossomed there from A.D. 300 to 1540. The fertile basin provided an ideal setting for a per-manent community, and the water from Garden Creek allowed these first residents to cultivate crops of maize, beans, squash, gourds and cotton. Evidence of influence from several of Garden Canyon's different early culturesHohokam, Mogollon, Tricheras and Casa Grandes -leads archaeologists to believe that the settlement may have housed several groups during the 1,200 years it was occu-pied. After these people moved on, the region was taken over by Apache nomads, who then became the sole occu-pants of the San Pedro Valley until the 1700s.

I searched the grasslands for some sign of the people who once ran through the fields laughing and loving, but not even a hint of their long habitation could be seen. I climbed back into the car and headed up to the Garden Canyon Pictograph Site where the ancient people had left their marks-slashing lines of red ochre painted on limestone walls. The site, located just off the road, is harbored by an arch eroded into the limestone walls of the canyon.

Fifty-three ancient figures adorn the walls, which are protected by a chain-link fence. Even through the metal mesh, the elements beckon. The renderings in red-snakes, comblike images and a series of squiggly lines and bold dots - were created by Hohokam artists some 700 years ago. Much later, ancient Apache hands painted the black-and-white images of eagles, spirals and sacred Crown dancers.

A short way up the road from the Garden Canyon Site lies the Rappel Cliffs Rockshelter Pictograph Site. Soldiers stationed at the post use the cliffs near the site to practice rappelling.

These soldiers aren't the first warriors to utilize the spot. Indians using the pass often took shelter in the alcove, leaving behind memories in geometric and anthropomorphic shapes scrawled on the limestone rock. Ancient traders moving back and forth across the range also used the pass.

"They were the equivalent of a modern-day traveling salesman," said Slaymaker. "They brought things like peyote and macaws and took back things like turquoise."

Today, several Indian tribes have informal collecting rights on the military reservation, including the San Carlos, White Mountain, Mescalero and Chiricahua Apache tribes, as well as the Ak-Chin, Gila, Tohono O'odham, Pascua Yaqui, Zuni and Hopi.

The rugged range has not only protected and provided for humans, but also has been a sanctuary to native plant and animal populations.

The canyon encompasses semidesert grasslands at the base, sycamore and willow riparian forests along Garden Creek, juniper and oak savannas on the uplands, and finally, the conifer forests at the higher elevation ridges.

The range that cradles these environs stretches 22 miles in length and 8 miles wide. Garden Canyon, created by a watershed following a fault line on the mountains' east face, affords a natural corridor through the mountains. Nearly a thousand species of plants, 365 types of birds, 200 kinds of butterflies, 80 species of mammals and 70 different reptiles coexist in the unique melange of habitats harbored in Garden Canyon. Several of these species have been listed as endangered or threatened - the Mexican spotted owl, peregrine falcon, lesser long-nosed bat, Sonora tiger salamander, Arizona agave (which is a food source for the lesser long-nosed bat) and the Huachuca water umbel, a semiaquatic plant that grows in the canyon's wetlands.

"All of Garden Canyon is critical habitat," said Fort Huachuca ecologist Robert Bridges. The post's attempts at wildlife manage-ment have resulted in a butterfly list for lepidopterists, who often can be seen scouring the canyon for prime species after the July rainy season. Birders also trek to the wild reaches hoping to catch sight of one of the flashy tropical birds that migrate to the rich forests each spring.

As we traveled from the grasslands up through a forest of oak and juniper, I hoped for a glimpse of painted redstarts, elegant trogons, violet-crowned hummingbirds, northern goshawks and sulphur-bellied flycatchers. With more than a quarter of the birds found in North America nesting within its rich habitat, there is no disputing that Garden Canyon is a birders' paradise.

Occasionally I would turn just a second too late to catch the whisper of a bird's flight, only to see leaves rippling in the breeze. So I turned my attention to the bouquet of flowers cropping up between lacy willows, towering cottonwoods and gnarled oaks. Bridges pointed out lemon lily, wild grape, morning glory, catclaw mimosa and white honeysuckle plants. Butterflies danced among them, a colorful shower of petals caught in flight.

Bridges took me to the marshy cienega at Picnic Springs, where

pipes and spring boxes attest to the Army's original attempts to harness the free-flowing water for the post. He gently parted wav-ing horsetails and pointed to the delicate green blades of a plant growing in the water.

"We call it the humble umbel," said Bridges of one of the threatened species in the canyon.

I looked closer at the modest greenery.

"It's not a very dramatic plant," he apologized. "But we have a responsibility to sustain what we defend."

A Boy Scout cabin marks the end of Garden Canyon Road, and several short trails lead off into the woods. I headed out on a path labeled as Vanished Trail. I knew that I wouldn't see any of the jaguars that once lived there, but I did hope to catch a glimpse of any one of the region's inhabitants.

Seeing the pronghorn had whetted my desire to experience more of the canyon's secrets. I knew that mule deer, javelinas, coatimundis, mountain lions and black bears have been seen here, so I added them to my list.

Soon, however, I found myself lost in the woods as the trail I was on seemed to vanish, as its name foretold. Despite the veiled warning, I was unprepared for hiking without a trail, so I abandoned my hopes of spotting any wildlife and concentrated on finding my way out of the woods.

I stumbled back on Garden Canyon Road a short time later and began the return walk to my car. My eyes were on the road, so when I rounded a bend, I was startled to find myself faced with a flock of wild Goulds turkeys trekking across the road. These birds roam in small numbers along the state's southern border from the center of their range in Mexico's Sierra Madre Occidental.

Before this chance encounter, the only turkeys I'd ever seen were dressed in stuffing and giblet gravy, so I was shocked to see them walking about with their bristly feathers and skinny necks. I was even more surprised when I realized that they were actually gobbling. I think I'd hoped they would sound a little more dignified. The flock bobbed and gobbled and waddled into the forest, and I choked back a laugh at their crazy antics.

It wasn't exactly the wildlife sighting I had in mind. After all, the turkeys' red wattles and fanned rumps of black and white can't quite compare to the vivid coppery crown and violet tail feathers of the fabled elegant trogon, but I was in heaven all the same. Al Carrie M. Miner of Glendale enjoyed exploring this paradise in the Huachuca Mountains and plans to return in the near future. She also wrote the bark beetle story in this issue.

Peter Noebels of Tucson said he was impressed with the amount of wildlife he saw in Garden Canyon, where the transition from grasslands to lush mountain canyon is one of the most dramatic in southern Arizona.

LOCATION: Approximately 80 miles southeast of Tucson near Sierra Vista.

GETTING THERE: From Tucson, follow Interstate 10 east to Exit 302 and turn south on State Route 90. Remain on SR 90 and watch for signs directing drivers to Fort Huachuca's main gate as you approach Sierra Vista. On the post, follow the main road for 2 miles and turn left onto Garden Canyon Road.

TRAVEL ADVISORY: There is no fee to enter Fort Huachuca or to travel up Garden Canyon Road. However, because Garden Canyon is located on an active military post, you should check ahead on the status of public access. Be sure to have picture identification, vehicle registration and proof of insurance to enter the post. Federal and tribal laws protect all natural, historic and ancient features.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: Sierra Vista Visitors Bureau, (520) 417-6960 or toll-free (800) 288-3861. The bureau knows the status of public access to Fort Huachuca and Garden Canyon.

Walking the Arizona