Desert Wanderings

Phoenix and Joshua Tree (62 degrees, chilly, windy)

Barker Dam

"In the empty of the desert,

water is king

and shadow is queen"

Mehmet Murat ildan

Joshua Tree

We find ourselves in the desert, surrounded by Joshua Trees, cactus, fan palm trees, and endless sand. Joshua Tree National Park is immense and although we have visited twice it feels like we have only touched the surface. Some areas have HUGE boulders piled high upon each other. While other parts are very desolate. Occasionally the desert is interrupted with a fan palm oasis  It's beautiful and very interesting to explore and you could get very lost here. 

Cholia Cactus

Joshua Tree

We spent two days hiking. One hike, 49 Palms, was very challenging for me. My tracker said I'd gone up 49 flights of stairs. We did climb up and down a lot but it's probably not accurate. It ends at a pretty oasis of fan palms where wildlife find something to drink. 

Relaxing at the oasis

 There is a 500 foot elevation gain and the sweeping views of the park below was amazing.

Our favorite hike was the Barker Dam. It was very pretty and looped past this pretty lake.

On the third day we drove across the park. 

Beautiful Fan Palm Trees

Cooper's Hawk

We stopped for a short visit at the Patton Museum. This is where Patton trained his troops in the desert (200,000 at at time) during WWII.  It was an interesting stop. The museum is dated but has some interesting exhibits. 

Patton and Willy

This time we stayed at Joshua Tree Lake RV Park and Campground. The sites are water and electric and on sand.  Note to self - close windows when leaving. A brisk wind suddenly came up and we came home to lots of sand everywhere inside of the RV. Good grief!  Last time we stayed at one of the National Park Campgrounds, but it was difficult to find even a slightly level site. 

Pam, John, Me, and Kathy

Prior to coming to Joshua Tree we stopped at Lake Pleasant Regional Park outside of Phoenix. John's cousin Kathy and her friend Pam had rented a house in Sun Valley. We had a great reunion and shared lots of stories and laughs. The campground is very nice situated in the high desert. Our site was without hookups and had a lovely view of the lake. There are guided hikes and kayak trips offered by the park but we didn't have time to participate.  Our main complaint was the entrance was only staffed with one person.  So each time you came back to the park you had to wait in very long lines to enter. 

Lake Pleasant

Our lake view

What a cool Jeep

One day we attended an air show at Luke Air Force Base. The Blue Angles along with many others performed. It was awesome!  John loved going around and looking at all the planes and the air show was so much fun. 

F-15 Eagle

Blue Angles (F-18 Hornets)

We will now be traveling along the California coast. We have not explored California very much and are really looking forward to it. Stay tuned and happy trails!

Checking Out Some Great Arizona Birding Hot Spots With Friends

Portal, Ramsey Canyon, and Lost Dutchmen Arizona (average 50 degree temps, cool, mostly blue skies)

Full moon rising over the mountains

Jann, Barry, John, Bob and Amy (left to right)

After a ten day stopover in Albuquerque for some medical checkups and shopping we joined our friends Bob and Amy who had just finished their second volunteering gig with Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge.  We met them last year volunteering at this beautiful refuge and planned to spend some time together checking out some great birding hot spots in Arizona

Rusty's RV Ranch

Our first stop was a very remote area located at the foothills of the Chiricahua Mountains in Portal (southeast corner of Arizona). We also met up with our friends Barry and Jann and we all were excited to explore this new area. Rusty's RV Ranch is a great campground which we all liked very much. The sites are huge with full hook ups.The owner gave us a map with lots of tips on where to explore. 

Chiricahua Mountains

We drove all around the area and stopped at a Bed and Breakfast, cemetery, someones front patio, and lots of other areas she had suggested. We added 12 birds to our life list in just a few days.

This was our first time birding at a cemetery. 

We were looking at the Paradise Cemetery for Montezuma Quail here but didn't have any luck finding them. It was definitely remote.

Coati

Although a Coati is not a bird we sure enjoyed watching him rooting around at the bed and breakfast we stopped at for quite awhile.  They are members of the raccoon family.

Open range 

Geronimo

This is where the Apache once lived and there were many places to hide to avoid capture

Our next stop was Sierra Vista. Jann and Barry needed to head back to Colorado for some repairs. It was sure great to spend some time with them and we look forward to our adventures in Canada and Alaska when we met up again later this spring.  This time we stayed at a military base campground called Apache Flats. This is our second visit and it's one of our favorite campgrounds. There are some great places to bird here including Ramsey Canyon and the base itself. There are also lots of hummingbirds and a great place to see them is  at Ash Canyon Bed and Breakfast. Mary, the owner places out lots of feeders and lounge chairs to sit and view the action. It was a little early in the season to see many of them but we still had a nice visit here. The Elegant Trogan had been seen at the base in a remote canyon. With a lot of persistence John was able to see it for a brief moment. He was a very happy birder. 

Petroglyphs  located on the military base

We liked our visit to Sierra Vista even more this time.  It's a big area to explore and we shared some great meals together. One of the highlights was a cowboy concert at the beautiful Arizona Folklore Preserve. This intimate venue offers concerts on weekends almost year round. "where the songs and stories celebrating Arizona and our western hesitate and culture are performed and preserved". If you are in the area be sure to check it out.

A great road trip one day for us was to Patagonia State Park. We took a fun birding boat trip and our guide was amazing.

Our last stop was at the Lost Dutchman State Park in Apache Junction. What a great place to camp. It definitely has the "it" factor. Watching the sunsets at night were spectacular. The Superstition Mountains in the background glow orange for brief time and watching the twinkling lights of Phoenix in the distance around a campfire is just about as perfect as it can get. We were only able to reserve a site without hook ups and this was with a couple of months advance planning. It's a popular place.

Our best day was traveling down the Apache Trail.  We did this last year with my brother and we so enjoyed showing this remote and beautiful place again to our friends.  It's a long day and a jeep sure makes it a perfect adventure.

Superstition Mountains take on a red hue at sunset

John cooked a delicious breakfast for us one morning

The ranger led hikes we took were excellent. Be sure to inquire at the front gate or on their website. They are free and very informative.

Ranger led hike

Along the Apache Trail

Near the Roosevelt Dam on the Apache Trail

Bob and Amy

John and I

One of the prettiest areas for birding was called Riparian Institute in Gilbert.  This multi use area offers lots of trails and ponds to explore. We all loved it here. Our bird guide at the State Park told us about it. What a gem.

We so enjoyed our time together with Amy and Bob and their adorable dog named Maggie May. As I put this post together it amazes me how much we saw in such a short time together. We are looking forward to our next adventures this fall and feel blessed to have them as friends.