Ramsey Canyon Hamburg Trail

When we visited the Discovery Center the first day we arrived at Kartchner Caverns, we asked the Ranger what her favorite hike in the area was. She recommended Ramsey Canyon located 30-miles south of here, near Sierra Vista, AZ.

The trailhead for the hike is through a Nature Conservancy building and, in fact, the first mile of the hike is on Nature Conservancy land before entering Coronado National Forest territory. These bluffs surround the Nature Conservancy trailhead.

For the first mile we hiked up a rather steep and rocky trail to this Overlook at 6,200 ft.

Looking east you can see Sierra Vista in the valley below. If you enlarge the picture you may see the dirigible above the city and Fort Huachuca, an army intelligence center. We are right on the border with Mexico, so this may be some type of surveillance. 

Using the telephoto lens.

Looking to the west from the Overlook, we could see down into Ramsey Canyon, where will will be hiking.

After a steep descent into the canyon from the Overlook, we encountered the creek that flows through Ramsey Canyon.

At the bottom was this nice little water-fall into a pool of water.

The trail then continued through the canyon, gradually climbing and following the stream bed.

There were numerous stream crossings - sometimes with water in the stream-bed, sometimes the stream disappears beneath the stream-bed and it is dry.

We hiked up the canyon as far as the abandoned Hamburg Mine (copper, silver & gold), and towards the end encountered this section of snow along the canyon wall.

High above us were - not mountain peaks - but mountain "knobs".

For our lunch spot we chose a particular section of the stream where there were cascades and that wonderful sound of flowing water.

Lunch view; beautiful stream and pools bordered by reeds. Several times today we had to remind ourselves that we were hiking in Arizona. The trail was more like a Rocky Mountain trail, and the canyon was filled with pine and fir trees - with an occasional yucca. 

Just before we returned to the Conservancy Center we came upon a flock of turkeys. Frederick counted over 17.

We stopped at a Fry's Supermarket in Sierra Vista and were charmed by this "OWL CAR."

Today's hike:

Length - 5.63 miles

Duration - 4 hours and 6 minutes, including lunch

Elevation gain - 1,600 feet (167 floors on the Fitbit)