Loop Hike in the Dragoon Mountains

Amy and I were invited to hike with some of our favorite hiking buddies, starting at the Cochise Stronghold campground in the Dragoons. Our loop would take us up the Cochise Trail then onto a social trail for the return.  As we ascended, the views became very nice.

Many interesting rock formations. After 3 miles of ascending at a moderate grade of 6.8%, we reached....

....the Stronghold Divide.  We continued on the trail for about 1/4 mile before finding a cairn that marked the off ramp and a descent....

....into a ravine where we follow an obvious, social trail, up to a jumble of boulders where we took a lunch break and enjoyed....

....awesome views.

Monoliths soared around us including one called, Rockefellow Dome.  Some of these are favorites of the rock climbers, who we would encounter later.

Check out the colors on this Rainbow Hedgehog.

Note the rock ball that has fallen between the two vertical slabs, above.

Wow! Check out that view!  Lorna wanted to explore a route to a nearby saddle but this modern day "Daniel Boone" explorer had to turn around, thwarted by bushy plants.  We got back on the social trail and began the most interesting part of our hike that began with....

....walking beneath these two boulders and soon.....

....pausing beneath a rock that appeared to be poised to slide at any time.  Amy on the left, Kathryn on the right.

The trail was well marked with cairns, some of which were creatively displayed in a notch.

Bill B, a very knowledgeable guide, reached a point that gave him a good vantage of what was a very, very steep descent.  There is more than one route down and we chose the right side of the canyon which followed the base of a wall for a good distance.  Meantime, to our left....

....we watched two climbers ascend, with ropes.  That looks like fun, with ropes, of course.

We continued our descent, steeply, finally reaching the road below and then a short walk to our vehicles.  We finished with 6 miles and 1500' of climbing.  We shared a drink in the parking lot before starting a 2 hour drive home which included.....

....passing a field having at least a dozen, almost life-size, dinosaurs. The location is known as "Rattlesnake Ranch" and there was a "Welcome" sign out front but our day was already a long one with a ways to go. In AZ, around every corner, you never know what you will see.