Saguaro National Park and Chiricahua Wilderness

We are currently at a Comfort Inn in Silver City, NM with actual internet, so it's time to catch up on the happenings of the past week or so.

Prior to leaving Tucson, we did a day hike in West Saguaro National Park, which is Star’s first real hike since her big fall.  It was a huge success.  She not only carried a 15 lb. pack halfway (half of it water) with no problems; she completed 4.8 miles and one thousand feet of elevation up and down.

We started our hike at 7:40 a.m. at a temperature of 68 degrees to try and beat the heat.  The Kings Canyon trail took us high up into the big cactus country to a ridge line. The terrain was completely foreign to us.   Despite many warnings about rattlesnakes, we did not run into any signs of them…thankfully.  Even without water, the hike was fantastic, with many varieties of cacti, including the majestic Saguaro that grows over forty feet high, numerous flowers, and other desert plants.  We probably encountered less than 10 people, but desert sun and empty water bottles sent us back to the car by 11:30 a.m., where it was already 95 degrees.  But hey, it’s a dry heat…right?

Entering West Saguaro National Park

Beginning our Climb

Mt. Wassen, our Destination

Early Spring Flowers, Desert Style

The Largest Cactus We Encountered

Practicing my Self Defense Moves against
Rattlesnakes

One Final Photo from Tucson

Then the road turned and went directly for an immense wall of mountain that looked impossible to drive around.  It had to be a dead end-there could be no opening in that sheer stone obtrusion, that invasion of mountain.  Where the canopy opened, I could see canyon walls of yellow and orange pinnacles and turrets, fluted and twisted, everything rising hundreds of feet.  I couldn’t have been more surprised.  I’d never heard of the Chiricahuas.  I expected nothing.

William Least Heat Moon

We left Tucson on Saturday morning, and headed southeast on I-10 toward the New Mexico Border and the Chiricahua Wilderness.  As we drove, we witnessed one huge dust storm after another.  Luckily, we avoided them all.  At San Simon, Arizona, we took an exit off the interstate, total desert except for rows of fruit trees (not sure what fruit) and a huge mountain range to the south. Following directions for the Cave Creek Ranch, we turned right onto a rough asphalt road, straight as an arrow, that disappeareed into some vanishing point miles ahead.  After 9 miles, the asphalt ended and a dirt/gravel road began, still heading straight south. 

At this point Star took the wheel, and about halfway down the 16 miles of dirt road, the track narrowed and began to climb.  

With Star navigating, we continued to climb gradually until we were surrounded by huge forested mountains with enormous and colorful rock spires in the middle of a flat desert.  As we approached our destination, a huge canyon with tremendously varied rock formations appeared.  I turned to Star and exclaimed, “My God, Star, it looks like Yosemite Valley!”  We later found out the locals call this place “The Yosemite of the Southwest.”  Its official name is Cave Creek Canyon.  And it almost is Yosemite, except it has no crowds, no development, no souvenir shops, only one settlement of around 100 residents, and one general store/restaurant.  

Star hiking up Cave Creek Canyon

6:00 a.m. from our Cabin

We later discovered that Chiricahua Wilderness is a world class birding location.  Although there are almost no hikers here, there are birders from as far away as Canada, and many stay in one of the 11 cabins at Cave Creek Ranch. Our cabin was cozy and private except for frequent visits from the deer, who emptied our bird feeder as often as the birds and squirrels. The area is also home to coyotes, mountain lions, Javelinas, and of course, rattlesnakes. Birders who stay elsewhere pay their $5 and set up on the porch of the office, where you can sometimes smell the resident skunk. 

The photo below may not be the best one ever, but it does catch an Elegant Trogon perched on a tree branch. I'm not a birder, but everyone was really excited about this spotting.

We are in Silver City two more days, and then it's time for our mad three day dash back to South Carolina.  The next blog post will detail our highly adventurous Gila Wilderness backpacking trip, which didn't exactly go as planned.