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.  

Aloha Maui, Hello Mainland

After spending over two months ridding ourselves of our Maui possessions, dealing with our landlords on getting out of our lease, selling one of two vehicles, shipping our remaining vehicle to San Diego, and finally, cleaning our Maui rental from top to bottom, we have escaped Maui completely exhausted but happy to be returning home.

The flight to San Diego was, thankfully, uneventful.  We arrived at the Best Western Bayside late on Tuesday, which turned out to be an excellent choice for unexpected reasons.  The room was rather basic, but the employees were out of this world with kindness.  As soon as we checked in, they set us up a cab ride for the next morning to an undisclosed location to pick up our Prius.

We mistakenly thought our car would be available for pickup at the docks in San Diego, but the cab driver knew where we needed to go.  We were dropped off 8.5 miles inland from the hotel in a back alley at a towing company's small office.  Evidently, there isn't enough room at the docks to hold vehicles, so this company is contracted to hold vehicles shipped from Maui until the owners arrive for pick-up.

After retrieving the car, we headed back to the hotel, loaded up the car, and took off on I-8 headed east towards San Diego at about 10 a.m.  We went through the strangely beautiful Cleveland National Forest east of San Diego as we hugged the Mexican Border.  It was fascinating watching the border patrol vehicles riding out in the desert between I-8 and the border.  At one point, a border patrol vehicle suddenly came out of nowhere and crossed the interstate highway directly in front of us. Luckily, I was paying attention and hit the brakes.

It quickly turned hot as the desert sun rose, and by 11 a.m., the car thermometer read 100 degrees and stayed there until late that afternoon.  We briefly exited the car to sight see on a couple of occasions, but the heat made all our outside ventures short ones.  For all those people who say, "Oh, but it's a dry heat", I say "Bull Crap!"  Hot is hot, and the California/Arizona sun felt hotter than even Maui.

For me, the highlight of yesterday's drive was the Imperial Sand Dunes in southeastern California. 

We arrived in Tucson around 6 p.m. last night at a B&B called The Big Blue House, a small quirky place with quirky owners.  Just our kind of place!

We ate a delicious dinner at The B-Line cafe and enjoyed being back in a university city.  When Clemson one day grows up, maybe it will be more like the area around the University of Arizona. There are numerous weird cafes, restaurants, and bars surrounding the campus, and the place is electric with young people everywhere.  Even Star got in on the action!

Sunset from our room at The Big Blue House

Today, we are relaxing and trying to get our "mainland legs" back under us.  Tomorrow, we head to Saguaro National Park for some day hiking.  On Friday, we head to Chiricahua National Monument for four days in a cabin.  We will be off-line and off-grid for those days, so it may be a while before hearing from us.