Advertisement
Published: April 13th 2022
Edit Blog Post
A long day driving new roads over hills and dales.
We decided to take advantage of the Chiricahua National Monument, supposedly 1-1/2 hours away. Ha! It was only 20 miles over the Pinery Canyon pass road, but much of it was like a washboard, and some even washed away, with trickles of the creeks running over the road.
Only one car passed us going up to Rustler’s Campground, where we stopped to do a little birding at a higher elevation. It was FREEZING up there, so windy and about 47 degrees. Good thing we had our New Zealand windbreakers on.
And what did we find at the campground? Besides not one camper. Robins!
On the way down we did meet a walking party of 5 with a birding guide and we captured a photo of the Gray Vireo, another new life bird. We saw little bushtits too but they moved too fast for photos.
Continuing up up up we passed only one other vehicle – a middle aged (at least) woman on a dirt bike laboring very slowly. On the way we saw white-tailed deer and warnings about bear (in fact, each and every campground site
had a bear-proof locker).
Oh yes, and that "1-1/2 hour drive" was probably more like 2-1/2, and fortunately we were passed by only 1 car, and had to squeeze by only 2 cars. Most of it was like the Road to Hana on Maui except much higher. We were so thankful that we didn’t meet the cars at those narrowest bits.
The fame of the Chiricahua National Monument is its extensive “hoodoos,” rather like the rock formations at Bryce Canyon, except these were formed when a thick layer of volcanic ash gradually eroded
It was so blustery still on the heights we did very little hiking, and after sandwiches for lunch headed home – this time by the freeway most of the way, and then down a cut thru which ended up being another washboard – arghgh. At least it was interesting as we cut thru huge acreages of pecan trees. And took about the same amount of time - just less stressful.
We may never eat carnitas again – we have had it every night since we arried – that’s what happens when you shop at Costco. But it was tasty, along with asparagus, day
3. I had to call David in from his long chat with our host for dinner. He was still busy photographing the rabbits – look at how much bigger than jackrabbit is compared to his 2 little buddies.
We can’t get over how well appointed this place is – Saran wrap, washing up stuff, lidded glass bowls, lap rugs. It was chilly outside last night, but it must also be very well insulated. And very comfortable bed.
No scorpions or snakes (besides the one in TX) or tarantulas seen yet, but some of you might not like the fact that last evening I was laying on the day bed reading and felt something wriggling on my arm – it was a little lizard! We call them chi-chas and quite like them, fortunately.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.472s; Tpl: 0.018s; cc: 12; qc: 68; dbt: 0.1701s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb