Friday, June 29, 2012

Copeland Mine Road Hike


Our most recent hike is one of my favorite short hikes in the Gila National Forest.  When I need to get the dogs out and I'm not really feeling like a strenuous excursion, I just load everybody up and we quickly head down to Copeland Mine Road.

It's an unmaintained 4x4 road in the Burro mountains, not too far from the Continental Divide Trail.  Usually, no one else is there and the dogs can run and chase lizards to their heart's content.  I generally do a short loop of the road that ends up being maybe a mile and a half, but if I'm feeling energetic there are all sorts of possiblities with this road and it can even be a nice long meandering hike as the road connects with other trails in the forest, and exploring side canyons is always an option.

There's no water available on this trail, but once the monsoons start there are plenty of puddles for the dogs to cool off in.

The trail is generally shady and comfortable, for both man and beast, making it a favorite summer jaunt.  In the winter, however, I tend to avoid this trail because the ease of accessibility makes it attractive to trappers, and after one of the dogs encountered a trap, I just decided to avoid the area during trapping season.

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