I've decided to pick up playing the classical guitar again. I've played it off-and-on (mostly off) since I was 7 or so -- but I was never very good at it despite lessons. I never liked doing scales and things for warming up -- I always wanted to go right to the guitar compositions. But it's frustrating and relaxing at the same time -- and I hope to get good enough that I can play for small audiences here. But that won't be for a long time yet...After breakfast I loaded up Diamondback, my hybrid bike, and took off down Portal Road. It was a great morning and hadn't gotten hot yet, though I like to have my ride finished by 11am at the latest. I was riding up South Fork Road -- the paved part, more about the unpaved section in a moment -- when I saw an Turkey Vulture way up high, flying the the east. Then I saw another, then another; there must've been a total of at least 100 "TVs"; the roost in the canyon, then come flying out during the morning, heading for the valley. It was an amazing sight -- wave and wave of Turkey Vultures, appearing suddenly from the distance like bombers in a huge formation. I stood there on my bike with my mouth open, so forgot to take photos. But it's a common occurrence at about 7:45am, so next time... I headed up the road, passing closed campgrounds (and who knows when they'll reopen; the Coronado forest service cites liability issues -- but they can give liability as an excuse to keep the campgrounds closed ad infinitum, with the POSSIBILITY of flooding) then came to the unpaved section of South Fork Road, world famous for its birds (and sign saying "No tapes beyond this point") and you used to be able to drive it up to the picnic grounds, but since Hurricane Odile last September it's been a mess, and probably will never be "fixed". The road is "ok" up to the bridge and Forest Service cabins -- then it's a rocky mess that not even high-clearance, 4WD vehicles can negotiate. The flood from Odile was so great that South Fork creek jumped its banks, cut a swath through the road, and now part of it is on the other side of the road from its original route. All this time I was glancing up a the canyon walls, with their green covering of lichen --
And in that photo you can barely make out a bird (possibly a raptor) in the top-center blue of the sky. Here are more views of the canyon walls -- and yes, the rock covering is REALLY that green --
There are shallow caves here -- hence the name Cave Creek Canyon. The Native Americans, hundreds of years ago, used the caves as burial sites and for other reasons. There's a unique one with a white rock that, depending on who you talk to, either is naturally white or was painted that color by someone who climbed up. It's known locally as either the Madonna, or Virgin Mary, Cave as that is what some people see in it -- though I just see another rock --
That's the "Virgin Mary" on the left. There were quite a few butterflies fluttering about, but the majority seemed to be this one -- Arizona Sister (thanks to Lori Conrad for the definitive ID) --
After pushing my bike through rocks and the creek crossing the road, I came to road's end at the picnic ground. This area is known for its birds -- but on that day you wouldn't know it; all I saw or heard were a Flicker, Plumbeous Vireo and Mexican Jay. No Trogons (5 had been spotted there a few days before) or any other exotic birds. I finally left after about an hour and headed back down the jumbled road, the route easier than going up it. I arrived back at Faranuf just before 12pm. I puttered around until 4:30 when I went to the Painted Pony Resort in New Mexico to discuss "things" with a few friends, then on coming back got this photo of the Chiricahuas, with "angel light" or "God Rays" or whatever you want to call them --
Just another great day in a long string of great days..
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