Hike of the Month

hike of the month Trailhead Set Your Sights on ROOSTING EAGLES While Trekking Through Sycamore Tree-lined SCOTIA CANYON

I HAD HEARD ABOUT THE roosting pair of bald eagles at Parker Canyon Lake, but didn't expect to see them. After all, I have explored the area several times and never had a glimpse. For a moderately easy one-way hike of 5.5 miles, my friend and I left a vehicle in the parking area above the Parker Canyon Lake Store, where the trek would end. We drove a second vehicle to our starting point in the western foothills of the Huachuca Mountains. Only 7 miles north of the Mexican border, this section of the Arizona Trail (AZT) leads from a lush sycamore-shaded riparian canyon, through rolling shortgrass prairie to a lakeside environment, offering opportunities for viewing plants and animals in three very different habitats. The route dropped down a rocky path from the parking area, into sycamore-lined Scotia Canyon. Although dry where we crossed, water flows in the creek bed intermittently both upstream and down. The trail followed the drainage as it wandered through shady woodlands of Chihuahua pines, silverleaf, Arizona white oak and huge alligator juniper trees. Scotia Canyon was named for the first ranch in the area, settled by the Duncan brothers from Nova Scotia. It is thought that in the late 1800s the brothers walked from Tombstone to the southern end of the Huachuca Mountains, where they found shoulder-high grass and permanent water a cattleman's dream. The lure of gold, silver and copper also brought prospectors and mining camps to the area in the 1880s. Today little remains but the abandoned mine shafts and tailings. When we hiked Scotia Canyon, the early February day proved sunny and unusually balmy. The trail passed by small, clear pools, alive with tiny black twirling beetles and water striders and rimmed by sun-warmed boulders. A Mexican jay scolded us from above. A mile from the starting point, the trail passed a windmill, then followed remnants of an old road. As the path continued above the little creek, we saw wild turkey tracks. Like us, they headed west. After another mile, we arrived at a fence and gate, where the trail turned to the left not through the gate and climbed a steep wooded hillside. Following an eroded track down to Forest Service Road 48 afforded views of the rolling Canelo Hills region to the west. As we crossed the road and entered a grove of large oak trees, we startled a pair of white-wings. My Audubon field guide told us that these large desert doves inhabit only areas of South America and the southern United States. The trail climbed a hill to trail markers that directed us across a dirt road, and down into a shallow, rocky drainage. The final hill proved an easy climb to the start of the AZT-Parker Canyon Lake Trail, located on South Lake Road. The AZT continues west, through the Canelo Hills to the small community of Patagonia. We departed from the AZT there, and followed South Lake Road to the right (north), for 100 yards to a service road and gate, which was locked to prevent vehicle access. After climbing, carefully, through the fence perfectly legal, we were told by a ranger we made the easy walk to the lake and a junction with the Lakeshore Trail. Rimmed with waist-high golden grasses and framed by the Huachuca Mountains to the east, Parker Canyon Lake shimmered a brilliant blue. A large, dark-colored bird with a white head and tail sailed over the lake, and we could not believe our good fortune. The bald eagle glided down to land on an old oak tree, joining a second eagle already perched there. The two eagles sat together watching some common merganser ducks bobbing about in the water. To the right, the Lakeshore Trail led us .7 of a mile to the store and parking area. We had seen some birds at the northernmost limits of their range, and glimpsed bald eagles, which are uncommon this far south. In certain spots in the world, north and south merge to create a unique blending of wildlife southeastern Arizona ranks as one of the best such places anywhere.