Our first sight of Kaiser Springs had been last year, when
Mike and I took an amazing trip to his old military stomping grands at Fort
Huachuca in Sierra Vista. He kept a
mental memory of the placard he saw on the side of the freeway, offering a nice
little reprieve from more of the daunting hikes we’ve scaled. The drive was about three hours, located
outside this little town called Wikieup, and which calling it a “town” is a
stretch. We ate lunch in this diner that was owned by one of those conspiracy
theory nuts who was proud to boast of his shooting skills, so make sure you
don’t try to steal anything.
Surprisingly, however, the food wasn’t half bad, and we left to hike on
a full stomach.
It was a bright, sunny day, so the sun beating down made the
air warm. To get down to the path, the first hurdle is climbing down a rock
face to reach the canyon path below. It
was fairly easy, but you must pay attention where you put your feet. Once down, you are in a wash, so if you go on
a rainy day please note these canyons can be hazardous from flash floods. On sunny days, however, the heat is trapped
between the walls so make sure to bring extra water.
The path is easy to hike, and prevents some amazing views.
About forty-five minutes later, you reach the hot springs. The water trickles
out of the rock to soak the ground, meandering through grass and mud to
eventually meet up with a small river.
The water here is ice cold. I took off my boots and socks and put my
feet in, only to pull them out seconds later.
It’s the bone freezing cold that actually hurts. Mike and Matt went off
boulder hopping but I stayed behind on a rock and took a ten minute nap. With the sun above, the sound of rushing
water, and weariness from the hike settling in, I relaxed almost
immediately.
Once the boys came back, we decided to head home. All along the path were droppings I thought
belonged to wild horses or perhaps burrows (like we have in NV), but as we
rounded a bend, we saw a wild cow (more accurately a bull with no horns). Now,
I have no idea if cows/bulls can be wild but as far as I knew, there weren’t
any ranches around. We were on Federal land. So, either the bull was wild or
managed to escape from his home. In any
case, we stood calmly as he passed by us, giving us the stink-eye.
If you’re looking for fun and easy, this is definitely the
hike to take. Make sure to check out my
video on the trip!
To watch the video click the link: https://youtu.be/gPeQ-SROthk
Thanks
for stopping by! Come back next Sunday for another adventure with Mike &
Beth!
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