Hike up Bob Thompson Peak, part 5

Here's another picture of Montezuma Peak, just west of Bob Thompson Peak. Again, you can see how steep and rough the terrain is. Pretty country, though.



One last picture of the hike. This is Eric grabbing a snack, with Arka hoping to get some of it. It was pretty warm by the time we headed down the mountain and the dogs would move from tree to tree ahead of us looking for shade. They drank almost as much water on the hike as we did.

Eric is 13 1/2 years old and average size for his age ... so yes, Arka is a large dog.

Hike up Bob Thompson Peak, part 4

This view looks westward from Bob Thompson Peak to Montezuma Peak about a mile away, and a ridge runs northward from there to Miller Peak. Just a few hours after we took this picture a fire started on the other side of Montezuma Peak and the high winds pushed it along that ridge. National Forest Service Trail 103 runs along that same ridge and is heavily used by illegals and smugglers. There have been at least five man-made fires in this same spot in recent years, all caused by camp fires they didn't bother to put out. The fire didn't reach Miller Peak, but it dipped down into Ash Canyon and threatened several homes there. It took almost 500 firefighters and half a dozen helicopters three days to get it under control.



This view looks southwest from Bob Thompson Peak toward the San Jose Mountains in Mexico. You can see how steep the hillside drops off. My GPS said that we climbed 2300 feet in about 1.1 mile, but most of the actual slopes were about 40 degrees with lots of loose rocks. It was easier going up than it was coming down.

Hike up Bob Thompson Peak, part 3

Here I am at the top of Bob Thompson Peak. Miller Peak is about three miles off in the background.

And here is Eric at the peak. It was pretty windy up there.

While we up on the peak, we met a Border Patrol agent who had helped apprehend a couple of illegals further down the slope a few hours earlier. He had some interesting stories about the Mexican military running cover for drug smugglers along the border.

Hike up Bob Thompson Peak, part 2

This is my son Eric taking a break on the slope. He carried half of our water and Gatorade, and held up just fine on what is a fairly steep hike over lots of rocks. I think he actually enjoyed the hike.

This is a rare picture of Eric's old man in the wild ... emphasis on "old". He held up OK as well.

Hike up Bob Thompson Peak, part 1

I finally talked my son Eric into hiking up Bob Thompson Peak with me. This is the mountain that rises about 2300 feet above our lot to the west, roughly 7350 feet at the top. It isn't the tallest peak in the Huachuca range, but the view is pretty impressive. We took two of our dogs with us ... the large (140 pounds) Anatolian Shepherd Dog is Arka, while the smaller mixed breed is a stray we call Zorra (Spanish for a female fox) who just showed up about 18 months ago and decided to stay.

The next few pages show several pictures from the hike, including this one taken part way up the ridge line. Mexico is in the background.



A bit further up the climb we found this lookout spot that was probably created and used by smugglers (people or drugs). The rocks were definitely stacked by hand to form a hiding spot and there was a lot of trash around, including several large window screen frames ... for what purpose I cannot imagine.