April 15-17 Barfoot Park redux, and a dayhike to Chiricahua Peak

I'd already done an "overnighter" at Barfoot Park, but there is so much to see in the high Chiricachuas -- and I wanted to hike the Chiricahua Crest Trail starting above Rustler Park -- that I allotted 3 more days up there, camping once again at Barfoot Park. I drove the trans-Chiricahuan dirt road up to Onion Saddle, where the road drops down to the western side of the Chiricahuas, and took the Rustler Park road. The mountain lupine were in bloom, so I got my Canon-brand tube extender out, which turns my Canon 17-55 f/2.8 lens into a macro lens, and got a closeup --

It's a great and inexpensive way to turn what lenses you have into one that does macros (I could even put the tube extender onto my 100-400 f/5.6 lens, if I so wanted, and achieve a macro that way). I had bought a 3rd-party tube extender prior to getting the Canon one -- and it didn't work at all, though what does one expect from something costing a mere $15? So with macro, landscape and telephoto possibilities, I was set for my Barfoot sojourn. Taking the fork to Barfoot Park, the rough and bumpy dirt road goes through an area burned by 2012's Horseshoe 2 fire (that's "Cochise Head" in the center distance, through the burned trees, so-called because it looks like an "Indian's" profile in a horizontal position) -- 

When I arrive down at Barfoot Park, I find I'm not alone -- surprisingly; a couple from the Gila area of central Arizona was camping there for 2 days. We chatted about birds and the beauty of the place, then I took off for the road to Rustler Park. Along the road the views were wide-ranging and spectacular, with clouds adding to the overall picture  -- 

This is looking north, from the road to Rustler. I climbed to the top of the hill in the center right and looked out to what is truly an awe-inspiring view -- 

Only a panorama can give a mere inkling of "you are there", so this is 4 photos stitched together, looking southeast to Cave Creek Canyon in the distance; the snaky road is the trans-Chiricahuan road that I'd driven up earlier. In the distant left are the mountains of New Mexico. It's a view I never get tired of seeing... 

Here's a closeup of Cave Creek Canyon and the road.  That's Silver Peak on the left, and the town of Portal is on the other side of it. I then turned looking west from the same spot -- 

The destruction from the Horseshoe 2 fire is appallingly evident. I'll be hiking in that area when I "do" the Chiricahua Crest Trail tomorrow...But back to Barfoot Park, as evening descends over Buena Vista Peak, where Barfoot Lookout with its fire watch "hut" once was, but the fire along the crest burned everything in its path -- 

I got an early start the next day, the 16th as I would be hiking the Chiricahua Crest Trail from Rustler Park to Chiricahua Peak, highest point in the mountain range. I went to the trailhead at Rustler Park and the fire destruction was evident from the beginning -- 

Notices for reasons of (probably) liability, charred signposts (behind the Crest Trail sign), dead, leafless trees, and then there's Rustler Park campground, where I had camped in a dark green forest in 2008; now -- 

The actual "park" is just beyond that hill in the middle center; it's a meadow, like Barfoot, and, somewhat incredibly, escaped the worst of the destruction. But it's still a sobering sight...I decide to take a "shadow portrait" using the morning's lengthening shadow of myself and the 500 f/4 lens, which I carry with me on my day hikes as you never know when you'll see that "special" bird or animal here -- 

The trail goes just below the ridgeline, but sometimes a spur trail will take you to a view looking west -- 

The view seemingly extends for a hundred miles, showing valley and mountain range marching off into the distance -- and just below, hills stripped of growth from the fire. Then you enter the wilderness proper -- 

Though you can't see it, by this time the wind was starting to pick up, and would howl for the rest of the day, coming from the northwest. The trail sometimes just hugged the side of the ridgeline, with a drop hundreds of feet below, which can be unnerving at times when carrying a camera lens like the 500 at your side -- 

 But the views continued to be spectacular; here's a panorama looking west --

Finally, about 6 miles from the start at Rustler Park, you reach the top of the Chiricahuas -- Chiricahua Peak, and the USGS stamp telling the elevation -- 

Someone had left a small notepad in a baggie for hikers to record their names; the last person to do so had been there 3 days ago. A lone raven flew "kited" in the wind above the peak (there are very few if any crows in southern Arizona, and two species of Raven, Common and the smaller Chihuahuan). The top of the peak is flat with pine trees thinned out from the fire -- 

After having lunch I begin the mostly downhill hike back. There are still pockets of what the forest cover used to look like; here's a part of the trail near the curiously-named Booger Spring (well, we may not want to know WHY it was named that) -- 

As far as birds, Yellow-rumpeds are everywhere, I see 2 Spotted Towhees at about 9000 feet (!) and come across some Western Bluebirds at a saddle with trail junctions. Interestingly, Eastern Bluebirds were once common in the Chiricahuas, with a Mexican form that was known as "Azure Bluebird", and they are still around.  I so wanted to turn the Westerns I saw into Easterns, but it's another example of never totally knowing what you'll find here...Just before Rustler Park I come across Coues White-tailed Deer -- 

Here's another panorama showing the Chiricahua Crest looking north,with the burn area all along the upper reaches -- 

And the area around Rustler Park in the late afternoon -- 

Whew!  What a long day. I go back to Barfoot Park and set up camp out of the back of my Tundra -- 

The 2 people from the Gila area are gone, so I have the park to myself. And after dinner, just when I thought the surprises had finished for the day, I'm treated to another. Birds hover, or "kite," in the air around the rock face of Buena Vista Peak in the early morning and evening. I'd seen Turkey Vultures do it, and a Red-tail or two, but while looking at the peak behind Barfoot Park I saw a bird slowly gliding along the bluffs. I put the 500 f/4 lens on it and saw a black bird, looking very much like a Turkey Vulture, but it didn't fly with the same rocking motion as TVs do. As it flew to the west in my direction, I realized I finally had a Zone-tailed Hawk. It's been said that Zone-taileds use their similarity in appearance to Turkey Vultures to confuse any possible prey --

 This is probably a male, with its broad white band on the tail and one band at the tail base; females also have the broad white tail band, but also 3 to 4 narrower white tail bands (this info from the National Geographic's "Field Guide to Birds of North America", which along with Rick Taylor's "Birder's Guide to Southeastern Arizona"is my bird Bible when in the area). What a great way to end my stay at Barfoot Park. I get up early the next day, have breakfast, pack up and park the truck near the meadow and try one more time for possible Red-faced and Olive Warbler, Hepatic Tanager (I've seen them here on a stay 6 years ago) -- and Short-tailed Hawk, a bird which has been proven to nest in the area. I think I see the Short-tailed, flying along Barfoot Peak to the north of the park, but turns out it's just an adult Cooper's Hawk. So I head back in the direction of Rustler Park as I have one more bird to look for -- Olive Warbler, which is not really a warbler at all and has been recently placed in its own family. I've been told by a respected authority in Portal the location where they are most likely to be found, and after 3 tries I get some good photos of this somewhat elusive bird, then with a feeling of "mission accomplished" I say goodbye to Barfoot and the high Chiricahuas -- for now...