The hike this week with the
Portal Rodeo Hiking Club to Hummingbird Spring on the east face of the Chiricahua Mountains just outside
Portal, Arizona was spectacular. It was lead by Peg Abbot owner and lead guide of
Naturalist Journeys who was kind enough to start the trip with coffee cake and lots of hot coffee for everyone. Access to the trail leading to Hummingbird Spring is across a small section of private land along a public access route (close the gate) on Starview Place just south of Portal Road. The trail then wraps around the low rhyolite and limestone foothills, slowly climbing the face of the Chiricahua's until reaching Humminbird Spring. The spring is located further uphill but a pipe delivers the dripping water to a cement trough which the dogs were happy to play in. The loop shown on the
Hummingbird Spring map (or in the sidebar) covered about 6 miles and included a maximum elevation change of 1000'. Shorter or longer hikes are easily created from the numerous trails in the area. In fact the group broke up along the hike with some returning after reaching Hummingbird Spring and then later the group again split with several hikers continuing south climbing another ridge to view the San Simon valley before looping back and hiking out. The geology at the contact between the limestone and rhyolite is quite interesting. Faulting is evident in many places (
see this photograph) and the zone of mineralization is evidenced by several test pits and at least one abandoned mine shaft.
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| Trail to Hummingbird Spring |
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| I want some too. |
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| Not a Hummingbird in Hummingbird Spring |
I sure love to hike and so happy I started hiking with group again on Thursdays. We went up further and did some bushwhacking. I am glad you joined the hiking club and enjoying it also. Amazing how Pegs dog likes that cold water!
ReplyDelete"A ridge to far" is how I felt looking up at the last ridge you, Bev, and Peg climbed and except for the overcast which did not help the photography it was a fun hike.
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