Memories of the heat on my last San Pedro adventure - and climbing temperatures across Southern Arizona - motivated me to get an early start, after a few errands and a bit of driving I arrived at the Fairbank Historic Townsite. I wandered around the site for a few minutes inspecting buildings and reading signs - but I was quickly on the San Pedro Trail.

The Fairbank Cemetery was a short (well signed) side trip from the main trail - I didn't know what to expect but the hill-top location overlooking the river and feeling of the place surprised me a little, a bit lonely and distant. I lingered a few minutes and moved on.

2013 June Path along the River after Willow Wash

After Willow Wash the wide trail became single track - sometimes overgrown - and I followed what I think were Mountain Lion tracks along the trail to the Contention area. After a nice break in the shade I decided to take the river bed back - it was dry near Contention and stayed dry for sometime, but eventually there was a bit of flowing water.

I took the river back to Highway 82 and then followed a small path along a fence line until emerging at the old rail platform under the highway near Fairbank - just a short walk from the car - finished before the worst heat of the day!

Undammed and flowing north from Mexico into the United States the San Pedro River is amazing - I recently started doing some reading to understand a bit more about the area - some links that I thought were interesting/useful:

• San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area - BLM's site for the San Pedro RNCA.
• Wikipedia - San Pedro - a nice place to start.
• Friends of the San Pedro River - "dedicated to the conservation and restoration of the river through advocacy, education, and interpretation."
• The San Pedro River Valley - a tour of the river - pictures, maps, links, information - a great resource!
• Wyatt Earp Explorers- by John D. Rose - Quite a bit of interesting information about Historical Sites from the author of several books about the area.
• The San Pedro River: A Discovery Guide - Nice print guide to the river.
• Reintroduced beavers branching out in San Pedro - Beavers where extirpated by the 1920s and reintroduced in 1999.
• The Latest: Pumping Arizona's rivers dry? and Death of the San Pedro: Not if, but when - Several recent articles in the High Country News - hard to imagine a time when water in the west will not be an issue...