Desert Skies and Petrified Forest

Desert Skies and Petrified Forest 

April 28-30, 2023

We departed our Forest Service campsite near Sedona and drove to Flagstaff.  Having identified a laundromat, we washed a large load of clothing including our sleeping bag liners.  From Flagstaff, we drove on I-40 east to a campground west of Holbrook, AZ.  

It was called Desert Skies Camping.  Following the directions from Google Maps, we found ourselves in the middle of a mini junkyard complete with angry dogs.  After some time a truck raced up and directed us to “site 3”.  The rutted dirt road led to a bare patch of earth marked by a rusted 55-gallon drum/ homemade smoker.  As we stepped out of the car we realized that the wind was pretty strong (20-25 mph).  Setting up the tent was quite challenging.  Once again we needed some extra guy lines to prevent “tent lift off.”  When we started to work on the inside of the tent we realized that a large amount of red dust had blown into the tent.  I became quite despondent.  We seemed to have arrived in a patch of desert with almost no vegetation, no running water and no view (unless you count the trucks zooming along the freeway).  Best of all, the “bathroom” consisted of a port-a-john in one side of a horse trailer.  You can’t make this stuff up!  

After a chilly night, we set off in good time to arrive at the Petrified Forest National Park for opening time.  We entered at the north end and enjoyed a nice walk along the edge of a bluff to the “Painted Desert Inn”.  This building has been extensively restored and has a real 1950’s “travel the west” feel to it.  Following the loop road through the northern section, we were able to stop at numerous overviews giving gorgeous sights of the wilderness area called the painted desert. The road crosses a section of the former Route 66, marked by a abandoned Studebaker and a line of telephone poles.  

The southern section of the park is lower in altitude and is characterized by many eroding mesas, revealing the colorful layers of the Chinle formation. We stopped to see the remains of a native settlement that was occupied from about 1300-1500.  We enjoyed a loop walk through the bad-lands formations called the Blue Mesa.  It was in this area that we started to see the petrified tree sections.  These are truly amazing as the bark is so recognizable yet once you touch it, you know it’s stone.  Many sections are highly colored and some show the growth rings of the original tree.  I wondered that we hadn’t seen any of these “logs” in the northern section.  Our theory is that the south section has eroded further, revealing the trees that were submerged in water and mud and over millions of years, turned to quartz.

After a long day of sightseeing, we drove to Holbrook for dinner, had an excellent Mexican meal and returned to our campsite for another chilly night.  At least the wind had diminished, so there was some reason to be thankful.    

Gloria

Campsite #3 at Desert Skies ... a little bleak !

Tent pitched, Rav 4 positioned as a wind break (useless !) ... We may have viewed this campsite more favorably if the wind hadn't been so strong and it wasn't so dusty. In fairness the owner was very pleasant. He even had his ~ ten year old son and younger sister drive over with a picnic table and chair (on their own!)

One common  feature of much of rural America is that no-one seems to take away the trash

Desert Skies offers a couple of fixed tents through AirBNB. 

The old horse trailer that now functions as a porta-potty

The painted desert in the northern section of Petrified Forest National Park

The beautifulPainted Desert Inn ... now a museum

An old Studebaker marking where Route 66 used to run ... right next to where I-40 is now

The southern section of the park near Blue Mesa

The 1 mile trail trough Blue Mesa was amazing

Bad Lands formations

The path wound its way through a lunar-like landscape

A large section of petrified log. We read in the visitors center that a section that was cut and polished up in Vermont took 4 x times as long to cut as granite - indicating just how hard these quartz fossils are, and why they remain whilst the surrounding sediments are washed away

Moving on to Sedona

Moving on to Sedona

Mon 24th April - Thursday 27th April

Leaving Aravaipa was really hard. We had been looking forward to the weekend with Tasha and Mac so much, and it had turned out to be really special. I felt sad, like a child at Christmas with so much expectation and then the realization on Christmas evening that it was over. We will see Tasha and Mac in Spokane in about 4 weeks, so that’s not so long. The other aspect that was difficult is that we spent the previous 7 nights in deluxe accommodation. We had turned soft and were out of the habit of camping. All in all, it was going to take a little while to get re-adjusted.

As we drove past Phoenix the temperatures topped out at 91oF. In the following two hours, as we drove north towards Flagstaff and gained elevation the temperatures dropped to 56oF. It also started to rain and through the clouds we could see a large snow capped mountain. From Flagstaff we turned south-west and descended through Oak Creek Canyon to arrive at the National Forest Service campsite at Pine Flats. It was mild-afternoon and we were lucky that the rain eased up and then stopped. We got the tent pitched and decided to drive down into Sedona. The whole area is absolutely spectacular with incredible red and white towers of rock all around. We have never been here before, but a friend of ours had said they thought it was fantastic, and at first sight it seemed amazing. To be honest, we felt a little overwhelmed. We planned to spend 4 nights in the area but didn’t know where to start exploring. Thankfully our friend Evan replied to my text with some hiking suggestions and we were also aware of a couple of State Parks that we wanted to visit. As a photographer, I also felt a little pressured because I wanted to capture the beauty of the surrounding, but didn’t know where the good view points were or at what time of day that might be at their best. We saw some great photos for sale in town that set a very high bar!

The campsite at Pine Flats is pleasant enough, but jammed in by the side of the road. This is somewhat unavoidable in the steep sided canyon, but our specific site was the closest to the road, and whilst earplugs diminished the noise, headlights would light up the tent with great regularity. When trying to book 4 nights I was actually only able to get 1 night at Pine Flats and 3 nights at Cave Creek about 1 mile down the road. So on Tuesday morning, rather than wait for our new site to become available, we simply packed up everything and went on with our plans. We checked into our second campground later on Tuesday evening and found that to be a lot quieter and pleasant to hang around. I should add that when we were with Tasha we were laughing about how much warm clothes we had brought with us that now seemed redundant. Whilst hot during the day, temperatures here in Oak Creek Canyon have been dropping below 40oF at night and we have been using all the warm gear that we brought with us!

Over the following three days we hiked in Red Rocks State Park and visited the chapel of the Holy Cross, where we also did a small walk. We hiked in Boynton Canyon and Wilson Canyon. Then this morning we did a lovely walk in the West Fork trail off Oak Creek Canyon. All of these were excellent and over the past three days we feel like we have hit some real highlights of the Sedona area. The truth is that you could come here for three months and hike a different trail everyday, without repeating yourself. There is no way that you can see everything, but we started to feel happy with the idea of seeing just some beautiful places. The town is extremely busy and very touristy, and the trails are heavily used. If you don’t arrive early in the morning it’s likely that there won’t be parking available at the trailhead. From Thursday through Sunday the town runs a shuttle bus service to the various trailheads. We were impressed with much effort the town has gone to facilitate access to the trails and wilderness area. 

I will let the photos speak for themselves, but say a little more about our hike up the West Forks trail. We chose this one for our final day partly because it was close to our campsite and also in a different area than we had walked previously. When we arrived at the entrance to the parking area, (you need to pay to park and enter this wilderness area), the attendant informed us that this was one of the top 12 walks in the country and to expect 13 river crossings during the outward leg of the hike. The whole trail is just over 3 miles each way and we had to wade the river 12 times in each direction. We eventually opted for flip-flops and water shoes and ended up carrying our boots on the outside of my backpack. The water was absolutely frigid! (We saw a couple of snow  banks further upstream). It took us 4.5 hours to do the round trip, taking lots of breaks for photos and to listen for birds. The trail was fairly straightforward but the river crossing required a little care. It was an outstanding experience! Highly recommended.

Tomorrow we move on again, this time up towards Petrified Forest National Park 

Mike

Red Rocks State Park. The trail we followed took us along the river and then up onto an escarpment with great views.

The Chapel of the Holy Cross. A stunning piece of architecture built into the rock. However, it was an extremely popular site to visit and was very crowded

We took a short walk from the Chapel and within minutes were in splendid isolation. We passed just one person during the hour we were on the trail and enjoyed spectacular views.

The road from Flagstaff crosses Wilson Canyon on the Midgley Bridge, just north of Sedona. 

A pleasant hike of a mile or two up Wilson Canyon brought us to spectacular views of the surrounding mountains

The Boynton Canyon trail is also very popular and takes you underneath some amazing red cliffs

Gloria traversing one of the stream crossing towards the upper end of the West Fork trail. Some of the crossings were easy shallow paddles across smooth rock, others were through more bouldery sections. We decided that it was safer to wade and accept our feet getting wet, rather than try to boulder-hop.

The views throughout the West Fork trail were unbelievable 

Oak Creek just upstream of our campground. The photo was taken after dark using a flashlight to illuminate the scene. It was about a 2 minute exposure.

Aravaipa Canyon

Aravaipa Canyon

Sat 22nd - Sun 23rd April

 

Visiting Aravaipa canyon has been a dream of ours for many years. It is a wild and beautiful area situated about 50 miles north east of Tucson and is popular with hikers, back-packers and birders. There aren’t many places to stay in the vicinity of the canyon, but when we found out about Aravaipa Farm and Orchards from the internet, we thought this would be a great place to be based. It is located about 5 miles from the entrance to the canyon and has several beautiful casitas, in an idyllic setting, that are available to stay in. Tasha and Mac were keen to join us and so we booked two casitas for three nights and this became perhaps our most highly anticipated stop on the whole trip. However, we almost screwed up. I knew when I booked the accommodation that we would need permits form the Bureau of Land Management to enter the wilderness area. I figured I’d get round to booking these in due course and didn’t think much about it. When I finally got round to securing the permits about six weeks ago, there were none  left. They allow 30 people per day to enter the canyon from the west end (and 20 more from the east) and all of these slots were booked for weeks in advance. On the advice of BLM I kept checking back on the recreation.gov website and got really lucky. It appeared that a party of three people cancelled a three day visit for Thur/Fri/Sat. I took two of the permits for Friday, thinking Gloria and I could go in then, and three permits for Saturday, hoping that one more might become available, or failing that, at least Tasha and Mac could visit the canyon with either Gloria or myself. No additional permits appeared and so in the end I contacted BLM and asked if we could hold over a pass from Friday so that we could all go in together as a family on Saturday. They seemed happy enough and so that’s what we did.

After a hearty breakfast we drove up the dirt road to the trailhead and started hiking about 9 am. The route meanders up the stream and for the first mile or so passes through dense riparian woodland. Part of the time you are walking on the banks and some of the time wading through the river. It was a magical place and we made slow progress mostly because we kept stopping to listen and look for the plentiful birds. Hiking and birding can be a difficult compromise at times. We ate lunch sitting on a gravel bank in the shade the trees and then continued upstream with more and more wading required. Gradually the heavy woodland gave way to rock canyon walls and we entered an astonishingly beautiful section with the sun lighting up the rock and river sparking as it flowed briskly through the narrows. Above us we could see steep mountain slopes dotted with saguaro cacti. I have rarely been in a place that was so atmospheric and thrilling. We never had a fixed destination for the day but decided that we should plan to turn around shortly after 3pm. We figured it would be quicker walking / wading out and even though we had only covered 3 miles or so, we wanted to leave enough time to get back in daylight. However, before turning around we all went for a full-body dip in the stream. Let’s just say it was “refreshing” and I’m not that embarrassed that I was whimpering a bit! We finally got back to the car at 6 pm after 9 hours in the canyon. We were all quite tired and looking forward to some cold drinks and dinner. The experience lived up to all my expectations, but left me with a desire to return and complete the full traverse at some point.

Sunday was a wonderful lazy day! We wandered around the orchard, looked at birds, lounged around the swimming pool and ate lots of fine food!

Mike

Mac, Tasha and Gloria in the downstream, wooded section of the canyon

The river as it flows through the quieter shady section

Canyon tree frog in the river

Whilst trying to adhere to. a gluten free diet, Tasha hasn't given up on fine food ,., Rice cakes, fresh avocado and smoked salmon for lunch!

McKenzie Woolley ... Mac ... a wonderful human being!

The start of the first narrower section

Steep rock walls force you to wade the river

The classic box canyon - not a place to be in a flash flood

A back-packing family took advantage of this flat section amongst beautiful scenery. You can get a permit for 3 days (2 nights)

Gloria in silhouette, wading back down the river

Oracle State park and the journey to Aravaipa Farm and Orchards

Oracle State park and he journey to Aravaipa Farm and Orchards

Frid 21st April 2023

Our route from Sierra Vista passed through Tucson and continued northeast.  The landscape was increasingly arid. We noted the presence of numerous saguaro cacti that hadn’t been a feature of the southeast portion of Arizona. My thinking was that we were now at lower elevation and thus seeing these cacti.  We stopped off at a state park called Oracle State Park, to take a walk.  As check-in time was 3:00 pm we had some time to fill and our little stop was perfect.  We got to see those arid conditions up close!

From the state park we continued to traverse desert-like terrain for a few miles.  Once we neared the valley, we could see a dramatic greening of the landscape.  Our destination appeared like an oasis beckoning to us.  We turned off the road onto the drive of the farm/orchard and headed steeply down hill to a ford of the stream/river.  Once across the ford we entered the gate and saw the orchards on either side of the driveway.  After finding the office and checking in, we spent some time unloading our coolers and food from the car. Finding space for everything in the tiny “kitchenette” was made more challenging when we spotted a plastic storage box labelled “secure food storage” with a drawing of a mouse nibbling on cheese.  Some things went back into the car, some items went into the fridge and a few things had to be stored in the microwave!  What a riot!  There was no unpacking the coolers because we needed the fridge to store other items.  Some aspects of the accommodation were rustic but the whole place was peaceful and lush, there was even a swimming pool.  

We took a short walk around the orchards.  Cooked a meal on the gas grill and waited impatiently for Mac and Tasha to arrive!

Gloria 

The original ranch house at Oracle State Park

Doors and shutters of the ranch house at Oracle State Park

Grasses, shrubs and cacti

Flowering barrel cactus

Butterfly on a thistle plant

Aravaipa Farm

The orchards

One of the Casitas

The fire ring directly behind our "Mountain casita"

An old truck ... become flower bed

Birding the Sky Islands of Southern Arizona

Birding the Sky Islands of Southern Arizona

Monday 17th - Thursday 20th April 2023

Without the mountains, Southern Arizona would be mostly desert with quite limited biodiversity. However the presence of several mountain ranges which rise to just under 10,000 feet, results in a highly diverse set of habitats that attract a wide variety of plants and animals. The mountains have been termed “sky islands” and represent some of the best birding locations in North America. Over the past four days we have been exploring the canyons and peaks of the Chiricahua and Huachuca mountains, visiting some world renowned birding hotspots such as Cave Creek Canyon and Ramsey Canyon.

Southern Arizona is wildly beautiful. I think we have caught it at a particularly good time as many of the desert plants are blooming and the streams are running well. The temperatures are warm during the day and cool at night, and the sky is unbelievably blue. We arrived at Cave Creek Canyon about an hour after dawn. It was still quite cool and it was magical experience walking up the valley, through thick stands of trees, listening for birds and trying to pin them down. Above the trees, spectacular golden cliffs of rock are visible all around. There were several other birders walking the trails, many of whom were there to try and catch a glimpse of an Elegant Trogon, but although it had been seen on previous days, it didn’t make an appearance that morning. After a few hours, we took a short drive up a dirt road to the Western Research Center and spent some time checking out their hummingbird feeders. It was quite a display and we saw Blue throated, Broad Tailed, Broad Billed, Magnificent (Rivolli’s), Rufous and Black Chinned hummingbirds. A further 8 miles of bumpy, nerve wracking driving up the same dirt road took us up to Rustler Park and the higher mountain elevations. Here there are large pine trees and a whole different set of birds. The area is spectacular but appears to have suffered a lot of storm damage and the campsite itself was closed (permanently?). Given that temperatures during the day are in the mid 80s down on the plains, we were surprised to see that there were still odd patches of snow up in the mountains. 

For our first two days visiting Arizona we have been staying at a ranch just to the north of Rodeo, which is actually in New Mexico. It has caused us some confusion because the two states are in the same time zone, but Arizona does not use Daylight Savings Time. We left our AirBNB in New Mexico and arrived 15 minutes earlier in Cave Creek Canyon, Arizona. I felt like Dr Who, but as our phones did / did not adjust the time depending on whether we had cell phone connectivity, we rarely knew what time it actually was! We chose to stay in AirBNB because the camping sites are limited. There are some spectacular sites on public land in cave Creek Canyon, but they are small, very popular and first come - first served. We weren’t at all confident that if we showed up we would find a place. For the second two days we travelled over to Sierra Vista. Driving around southern Arizona it is common to pass through border control checkpoints. With Massachusetts plates and lily-white skin we never had any problems. I spent time contemplating how many hours it might take had they wanted to empty and inspect our car! I suspect hey took one look and came to a similar conclusion!

The main highlight from this part of the trip was visiting Ramsey Canyon. A path runs through a heavily wooded valley with a small stream, before heading up switchbacks to more mountainous terrain. The first section passes through Nature Conservancy land and you need to use their car-park and pay a fee to enter. We had stayed at the Bed and Breakfast at the head of the road many years ago, and remember it well because of the amazing fruit pies that they served their guests in the afternoon. The Inn is now under new management but still looks lovely. When the Nature Conservancy car park was full, we were able to use one of the Inn parking spaces (for a small fee). We saw lots of cool birds in the canyon itself, including a Black Throated Grosbeak and Western Tanager. Up in the higher parts we also saw Red Faced warblers, my favorite bird from this trip. The low point of Sierra Vista was our visit to the waste water treatment plant. You are probably not surprised by this, but it is another well known birding sight We saw a lot of reed beds, an empty pond and hardly any birds!

It’s been at least 12 years since we were last in this area and our impression is that the prime birding locations are much more popular, more developed  and less wild than they used to be. We took a drive over to Lake Patagonia, about 50 miles further west. Our memory of visiting here previously is that we arrived at a small parking lot, walked through a gate in a fence and wandered down to the lake. Now there is an extensive State Park with r

oads, campgrounds, marina, launching ramp and even a wooden bridge across one inlet. It’s still lovely, but barely recognizable from what we we remember.

Now we are heading about 50 miles north east of Tucson to spend three nights with Tasha and Mac at the Inn to the west of Aravaipa Canyon. Our bird list of the year stands at ~ 260.

Mike

The cliffs that surround Cave Creek Canyon

Looking down from the Chiricahua Mountains

One of the sketchy dirt roads - this one in Carr Canyon, Huachuca Mountains - "not recommended for passenger vehicles"

Rustler Park, high up in the Chiricahua Mountains. There is extensive damage with many downed trees, caused either by storms and / or disease. 

A set of three photos of a white tailed deer and her fawn up in Rustler Park (Mother)

Fawn

Mother

Patagonia Lake

San Pedro River valley - a good riparian birding spot

The lower sections of Ramsey Canyon

The view from the top of the switchbacks above Ramsey canyon