The Arizona Trail: Finding the Trail to Its Start and Hiking the Coronado Cave Trail (2.0 Miles)

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 It's Arizona and it is as hot as I've seen. Benson is 3600 feet in elevation, but there is no reprieve in the heat anymore. On Wednesday, Jack and I hiked 4.2 miles South from the Gabe Zimmerman Trailhead. The sky had intermittent clouds arising from the monsoon conditions and it was a little cooler. Thinking we wouldn't need water for our hike, I didn't bring any with me. Bad idea.  Both Jack and I struggled with thirst, and we both appreciated the water I had left in the car.

Today the sky is clear and blue but it is hot, and the best place to be is inside with cooling. Unless there are monsoons in the afternoon, it is too hot to hike. And most of the time it is too hot anyway. 

Today I drove the 56 miles to reach the Coronado Memorial, which is where the trail to where the Mexican border begins. No one is allowed to drive to the border because of the construction of the border wall between the US and Mexico. So the only way I can start the trail at it's beginning is, if I hike there, take some photos, and hike back. I was running out of time as the park closes at dusk, and I didn't want to risk being locked in, so we just hiked the Coronado Cave Trail. It was a challenging, but fortunately short hike. The cave is a deep limestone hole and there is a foot or two of water in it. I didn't climb down into the recess because I wasn't sure what to do with Jack, and it didn't seem like a good idea at the time. We returned to the trailhead where I took some photos.






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