November 22 -- A Day Hike On the Last Day in the Chiricahuas

With very little effort, you meet the nicest people on the road...Dodie is from Minnesota, is an artist, and spends winters and spring renting a house in Portal, AZ. I first met her last April during a party that a mutual friend, Peg, threw for me -- kind of a "meet and greet". Along with being a talented artist, Dodie as also a phenomenal birder, and we've gone on a few birding hikes in the Chiricahuas. On Saturday, November 22, we went along the South Fork in Cave Creek Canyon. Before that, we had breakfast at the Portal cafe, then I dropped a sack of trash that I'd been carrying around in the back seat of my rental car for a few days (there really aren't many, if ANY, trash receptacles either in Rodeo, New Mexico or Portal, and you just don't want to leave it by the roadside) at a trash pickup site located just across from my new home. After that, I took Dodie to the Faranuf house -- where she was blown away by it, and the view from the back yard. (We found at least 3 types of Sparrows in the back yard during the few minutes we "glassed" the area.) The road along South Fork is closed because of the Hurricane Odile flood damage, so we parked at the beginning of the road. When we arrived, we saw a Border Patrol truck there, and the BP agent said there had been recent sightings of "narco traffic" up that road and trail, so he warned us to be on the lookout. During that hike, we never saw evidence of that, or anything that looked remotely threatening. Starting with the bridge and 2 Forest Service cabins, we started seeing and hearing lots of birds, including 2 Arizona Woodpeckers, and a Hermit Thrush --

And Dodie saw an Apache Fox Squirrel, also known as "Mexican", as it's found mostly in Mexico and is in the United States only in the Chiricahuas. The underside is a rich rufous color -- 

The rocky, eroded canyon walls along here are rich in color; the green is from lichen -- 

I spot a male Hairy Woodpecker drilling into a piece of dead wood along the road -- 

Then Dodie points out a "landmark" up on the canyon wall; folks call the white formation inside the cave "The Madonna", as from the distance it can look like a statue of the Virgin Mary -- 

My friend and real estate agent, Helen Snyder, tells me that the white rock had possibly been painted that color over 30 years ago, to enhance the "statue" look and make it more visible from the canyon floor. And it's in a "bat cave"...A little further along the road, I see a flycatcher of the "Empid" classification; at present we're waiting for a positive ID of it, as Empids are always challenging --

Mexican Jays are numerous along South Fork Road and South Fork Creek beyond. We see this one up-close-and-personal at the picnic area at the end of the road -- 

Once the road ends, the trail begins. It's still in good shape, despite the flooding along the creek bed from Hurricane Odiel in mid-September of this year. And the autumnal colors are hanging in, with Arizona Sycamores and Bigtooth Maple -- 

We stop for lunch, then head back. It's early afternoon now, and the bird activity has dropped to nearly nothing -- but the scenery more than makes up for it -- 

On the way back down the road, we come across a Forest Service employee in an SUV with a dog in back. We tell him about what the Border Patrol officer said about possible "narco traffic" in the area, and I introduce myself to him as a future owner of a house in Portal. (You want to be on a "first name basis" with all branches of law enforcement here, as you never know when you'll need their help for whatever reason.) I return to Rodeo and The Cowboy Room for a quick nap, then drop by the Faranuf house to sign papers that Helen had left for me, pick up a bottle of wine at the Portal Store, and have a pleasant, relaxing dinner with my friend Dodie at the house she's renting here. So now it's Sunday, and nearly time to begin the long trek back to Overton, Nevada and Discovery...