On the Border

The

Cattle Guard

Crossing

So, on Saturday afternoon, I went over the Montezuma pass. You get a commanding view of the valleys from up here, both on the Naco/Douglas side, with the border running through the middle, and on the San Rafael Valley side, the west side, where there is no obvious border line.

About half way down on the other side, I came upon a Border Patrol just getting into his truck. "I know that you guys are on a shoestring budget and all, but this scenery HAS to make up for some of that," I said. He agreed and we started talking about the beautiful mountains. He was from Kansas and prior to coming here had not seen mountains at all.

As the conversation progressed, I asked him about the trails. He took me about 10 feet down the road to what was to me nothing but a gully. "There one is," he said. Looking closer, I found that there was indeed a trail leading up to the road and across from it, the trail continued up the mountain. He told me that most all of the gullies and washes would have a trail in them.

As I continued my drive down the mountain, I would stop and look at a random gully/wash and there would be a trail in the bottom. Interestingly, in one location where there was a stream running down the gully, there was a guard rail for a block or so on either side of the bridge and no parking signs posted. I parked at the end and walked back to the bridge and saw the trail running through paralleling the stream. A wide spot had been worn next to the pools formed by the rocks.

If the gullies and draws are the roads into the U.S. then this must have been a major rest stop on an interstate.

Continuing on, the road forks, so I took the road towards Lochiel as it headed south.

The trees began to thin with more grassland appearing. I was getting tired of driving and seeing no sign of the 2-strands-of barbed-wire border so I pulled up at a cattleguard. Off to my left, south, I saw two ATV's heading up a two-wheel dirt road and decided to wait for what I believed to be a couple of kids, four-wheeling on their ranch. Much to my surprise, they turned out to be two border patrol agents! Not at all what I was expecting. Drew and Blaine were very happy to be on this side of the mountains rather than on the Naco/Douglas side. Here, they were out in the beauty of nature, no press, no demonstrations, four-wheeling!

After talking Seattle, South Dakota, Minutemen, and photography, they told me the border was just down the road they had come up. Except, instead of two strands, it was seven. I would know I had found it because of the cattleguard. Across the cattleguard was Mexico.

I had talked with Drew and Blaine too long and the light had failed to get a good photo, so I found my way back on Tuesday morning.

Going over the pass, I noticed a marked increase in border patrol trucks over Saturday night.

I got back to the crossing. It is so simple here. Seven strands of wire that become a cattleguard and back to wire, stretching off to the horizon in either direction. No agents, no customs, no sky towers or tower cameras, no hassles for anyone wanting to cross. The only impediment to a quick vehicle crossing would be the 12 inch wide by 12 inches deep, rough trench dug on the U.S. side.

On the U.S. side, there were "donuts" in the dirt where the likes of the Drews and Blaines had fun with the ATV's. On the Mexican side, plastic bottles, lots of empty plastic water bottles.

Behind me, I hear the approach of a vehicle and recognize the white and green of a border patrol pickup. It was a young female agent checking up on the car she saw. She was glad I wasn't with the Minutemen as then she would have to file a report.

Once again, the conversation was pleasant and friendly.. When I asked her whether he saw more people or drugs crossing here, it was a definite DRUGS! Very few people, individuals looking to head north for work, came through here. This was a marked contrast to the answer I got in Naco.  Other than the drug runners, she was also concerned that in the past week they had caught 2 felons coming north out of Mexico.

This sector to her was much quieter then Douglas where she had been earlier. Yet it was picking up - a lot in the past few days. On average, she told me, they get 50 arrests per day. The prior day, they had 100 and were heading for an even greater amount today! Everyone in their sector was working overtime and agents were being called in to the station to help with bookings as they only had two working in the office.

As we were speaking, a blue pickup came up on the Mexican side about a mile or so away, drove along a ridge and disappeared. "That's one of our drug trucks", she said. The vehicles used to traffic drugs are well known to the various agents as the same ones are used until caught and confiscated. . She said that he had been over before and they hadn't caught him yet. In the span of our conversation, he passed by 3 times. Then yet another white vehicle pokes up over the hills and goes back down. "It's going to be a busy day," she says. "They are anxious to get across." This was a concern as I had not triggered the sensor as I came down the road.  Sensors are hidden in a small mound of dirt with a piece of wire poking out. There should have been a radio call that the sensor was "tripped" when I drove by and again when she did. Neither time did that happen, so she would have to position herself out of sight and watch this crossing.

We talked about the MM project and the press photographer's fascination with anyone wearing a sidearm, which she, of course, also wore. Out here, she not only has a pistol, but a shotgun and "longarm" as well. Not just for protection from the drug runners but also for those times when the Mexican army was out "having fun". She wouldn't elaborate but didn't correct me when I presumed that they weren't just throwing rocks at the border trucks like the Mexican kids in Douglas.

I was warned that with this much activity this early in the day, I should be very careful heading back. The tone in her voice told me she was very concerned and serious. I decided I wouldn't stop and further investigate some areas to photograph. She went to position herself "over the hill"' as we parted company.

On the way back, her concern continued to haunt me. Yet, it was not without merit. On the trip over, I saw nothing but scenery and border patrol trucks. Going back was another story. In one area I saw two men, just off the road in the vicinity of the "interstate rest stop" loading a lot of something into a pickup. A short distance again, another pickup backed into the trees at a trail head. 

Both reinforced my resolve not to stop and photograph anymore.