I still have remnants of the cold that's lasted over a week now, so I figured the best way to get rid of it is a hike... But first, a few predawn scenes. They lasted mere minutes, and with the cloud cover the actual sunrise never panned out --
That was zoomed in with the 100-400 lens; this was a few minutes later, pulled out --
There was a minor controversy recently concerning the ID of a tree...I'd posted this photo on the Facebook page "Cochise County and its Wonders", Cochise County being the one I live in. It's a great site filled with local photographers who post lots of views from the county. particularly those that deal with Cochise County history (and there's lots of that; think Tombstone, the Chiricahua Apaches like Cochise and Geronimo; the list goes on). Here's the photo of the tree that I posted there --
Now, I admit that at this point I'm "botanically challenged"; I had no idea what species of tree this was. Before posting, I did a quick check on the Internet, and thought it may be a Poplar. Buzz--WRONG! Someone on the "CCW" page said it was a Cottonwood -- populous Fremontii, to be exact, popularly known as a Alamo cottonwood. I accepted that as I had no clue. But my friend and guru here, Helen, said "Hmmm, I don't know..." and suggested it might be an Ash tree, and asked for me to pick up some of its leaves for comparing them to those on an Alamo cottonwood. So the first thing I did while driving to the trailhead from my South Fork hike was stop by the tree to get some leaves. There was a woman with 2 dogs at the pullout near the tree, and she was taking photos of her dogs with the brilliantly-yellow tree for a background. We greeted each other, then I mentioned what I was there for, and did she have any idea what kind of tree it was? She immediately said Ash, thought wasn't totally sure. But she said she's staying with a friend there who's a botanist -- everybody seems to have a scientific specialty here, except for me of course - so she'll ask her. I took a stem with a few leaves and after my hike, checked them with photos of cottonwood and ash tree leaves on the Internet. See for yourself --
Alamo Cottonwood leaf
Ash tree leaves
And I took a photo of the leaf stem I'd gotten from the tree --
No doubt -- the tree was an Ash. So I posted all of these photos on the Facebook Cochise County page as I wanted to show the correct ID of the tree, and the steps I took to find it. In fact, it was so successful -- and fun -- that I collected more leave samples during today's hike, put them between the pages of a book once I got home to keep them flattened -- and will laminate them with my laminating machine that I use for photos. (I found out through an Internet search that you CAN laminate leaves, they just have to be dry.) Then I'll post the laminated leaves, which are on a paper with IDs, on the bulletin board of Friends of Cave Creek Canyon that I'm in charge of outside of our post office here; I think it would be great info for people like me who haven't a clue as to the trees here, but want to know. So -- a small controversy solved...
On to my hike... I've done the walk up South Fork, and the trail, a few times already. But it's a great hike, and fairly level unlike the others I've done since moving here. The dirt road up South Fork, off the "42", the paved road through Cave Creek Canyon, has been closed for nearly a year due to flood damage from Hurricane Odile in September 2014. It's just been re-opened this past weekend, so I was able to drive the 1 & 1/2 miles or so past the bridge and Forest Service cabins and not have to walk it as during previous hikes (though it's famous among birders, and very pretty). Here is Tundra "Dos" at the beginning the road --
And further along the road; fall colors are still hanging on, though they're definitely past peak --
A Facebook friend said she like the "crunchiness" of the leaves under her feet as she's walking on them; the fallen leaves here are near, or at, the "crunchy" stage now. No truck in this look down the road --
Beautiful. It's very difficult to find scenery like this in southern California... The road crosses the bridge, passes the 2 Forest Service cabins (they're owned by people, yet the land is leased as they're on Forest Service land -- and their "bathrooms" are outdoor outhouses) then the restored part of the road comes to an end in a berm --
The berm prohibits further travel up the road, which used to go to a picnic area about a half-mile further. But you really wouldn't want to travel any further than this, for on the other side of the berm is --
The "road" is a bit rough...It was torn up so badly by Hurricane Odile -- when the creek is flowing, it actually crosses the road as it jumped its bank from the left hand side to the right -- that the Forest Service decided to leave it alone. So you step gingerly over the rocks and debris, meanwhile getting views of the canyon walls all around you; here's looking back --
Gorgeous with the clouds; the sky is clearing up after a cloudy morning. Another view this time with fall color --
You cross the creek bed where it carved its way across the road, and are at the original end of the road with its picnic area and bathroom. This is where I saw my first Elegant Trogon, in 2008. They're still here in season, it's just harder to get to. I started up the trail --
"Maple Camp, 1 1/2 miles". No it's not..it was wiped out by the flood caused by Hurricane Odile as was much of the riparian area along the creek starting about a mile up the trail. But the trail is in good condition, and I got to the boundary of the Chiricahua Wilderness --
Up to this point along the trail I was getting leaf specimens for IDing when I got back to Faranuf. I laid them flat in a paper towel and put them carefully in my pack. Some survived the hike, some didn't. I even got a stem from that brightly-colored small tree to the right of the Wilderness sign. (ID hopefully coming in a future post.) You get peek-a-boo views of the soaring canyon walls framed by sycamore and other leaves with fall color --
The trail curves to the left, following the creek bed. At the first creek crossing is the first sign of flowing water. Further on up, you get gorgeous views of late-fall color mixed in with the shadows and light of the sun coming up over the canyon walls --
Here's looking back down South Fork --
And more autumnal, early-morning color --
And then you reach "The Bathtub", and -- well, that's enough for today's blog. Tomorrow will be "South Fork Redux, Part Deux" along with the Douglas Grocery Run I'll be doing today, November 24...
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