San Pedro River
52 Hikes in 2025 - Hike #3
Although I love the Huachuca mountains, it’s no big secret that the San Pedro River is one of my favorite places here in Southeast Arizona.
When I worked at Fort Huachuca the first time (2014-2017), I used to get off work at 6 am, grab my big camera and come down here to the river to take wildlife pictures. I did this at least 3 or 4 days a week, especially during the summer. What I liked best is that it is all mostly flat trails, but you can choose whether you want to walk along the river, traipse through the grasslands, or explore one of the sandy washes. Some days I’d find a good spot not far from the parking lot and just take pictures for an hour two, and some days I’d wander around enough that my fitness tracker registered 6 of 7 miles before I got back in my car. The variety of wildlife along the river is also excellent. Obviously a lot of birds. But also deer, skunks, porcupines, foxes, coyotes, and although I never personally saw one, there are rumored to even be mountains lions down by the river from time to time.
It’s Nice To Have A River So Close
We have company coming in the middle of the week, so didn’t really want to travel too far for this weekend’s Hike # 3 of our 52 Hike Challenge. With temperatures in the high 50s, we also thought it might be a good idea to knock out a route we might not be as likely to enjoy in the hotter months (when we mostly stick to the shaded hikes in the mountains and valleys). At just 6.5 miles from our house, heading to the parking lot at the San Pedro House seemed like the perfect fit.
The San Pedro House
The San Pedro House is staffed by volunteers, and is a great place to stop and look around, either before or after your hike. You can ask questions about your hike, check out what types of birds and butterflies have been sighted recently, and even pick up a book, a hat, or other souvenir. Seriously, if you are looking for a book about birding, reptiles, nature, or the history of this area, please consider stopping by the San Pedro House instead of ordering it from Amazon.
Heading North On The Path Less Traveled
Since we had our stepdaughter's dog with us (and since Kelly prefers to hike in more secluded spots), when we got to the end of the path from the San Pedro House, we took a left to to under the bridge. Luna stayed on her leash (as required) while we were in the paths, and especially south of the bridge. But once we were out far enough away from other people and dogs, of course she took the opportunity to jump in the river and get her feet wet.
The great thing about this part of the river is that there is usually water in it, regardless of the time of year. Parts of the San Pedro run underground during the dry months. But I’m pretty sure I’ve never seen this section of river without water in it.
The flip side though is that the path is definitely more “wild” than the well maintained loop south of the bridge near the house. Seriously, for about 3/4 of a mile, we were walking through brush above our heads, on a path that had obviously been previously trampled, but in spots was only a foot or two wide.
That said, we’ve been here plenty of times before, and we had a destination on mind. About 2 miles up the trail, there is a nice clearing where the river gets shallow, but runs a little quicker. The views out here are why we pushed through the weeds.
Kelly of course has never come to a shallow stream that she didn’t want to cross. So while the dog played in the water, and I attempted to take pictures of birds, we lost Kelly for almost an hour and she when searching for an bird blind that she swears she saw on a hike out here years ago. As she was crossing though, she did point out some evidence that beavers may be back in San Pedro River.
Speaking of bird pictures. As I mentioned at the start of this article, this used to be one of my favorite spots to take wildlife shots. Now I have mixed feelings about even bringing my real camera on hikes. About three years ago when I still lived in Texas, my Sigma 50-500mm (aka “bigma”) lens got stuck in the 50mm position and the button for the zoom lock fell off. Sigma doesn’t even make parts for this 25 year old lens anymore, so I no longer have a super-zoom. I’ve had my eye on either the Tamron or Sigma 150-600mm lenses for a while now. But with a handful of teenagers still to raise, it’s often real hard to justify spending money in myself.
Don’t me wrong. I’m not “lens poor”. I still have a 70-200 F4L that is a very capable lens, and which I love a lot. But unfortunately it’s no birding lens.
One very good thing about the San Pedro House though is that they put out feeders and there are plenty of birds that are used to being around people. So I was still able to get a few images I’m not totally embarrassed to share before I got back to the car.
As I mentioned, Kelly went off exploring in her own for a while, so I’m sure she has more pictures and videos that she will likely upload to our Facebook page within a day or two. She did send me one PSA style she made about water conservation at the San Pedro House.
One last thing about the area around the San Pedro House. When you park your car, of you look to the right of the House, you’ll see the remains of a big cottonwood tree. 10 years ago, there was a little cabin underneath it, and you could walk right up to, and even climb in the cottonwood tree. Unfortunately, at some point the tree died and the big branches started to fall off off. The cabin is not longer there, and there’s now a fence around the tree.
I could probably write another 1,000 all the things I love about the San Pedro River. On the other hand, since other people have already gone to the trouble, I think I will just link over to this excellent website, for those who want to learn more about the area: https://www.sanpedrorivervalley.org
And I think that’s about all I have for today.
Til next time,
Todd