I dropped off some brownies for Joan, the "postmistress", and her husband Chuck, and also some photos for their daughter Deb, who runs the Rodeo Tavern, to put up for display there. Then I took off down the main, paved road through Cave Creek Canyon and parked at the start of the unpaved road up South Fork. There's been some major road-building going on there for the past few weeks; I tried to go up the road on Monday, but the big dump trucks with the rock loads kept coming by, so I went to the Greenhouse Trail and Winn Falls Overlook instead. Today it was quiet, and the gate at the start of the road was closed -- so no road building. Perfect! This unpaved stretch of road is famous among birders as the Elegant Trogon, an exotic-looking bird usually found only in Mexico and Central America, is found here -- and nests here also; this, and a few other "sky islands" here in SE Arizona, is at its northernmost range. In case you don't know what an Elegant Trogon looks like, here's one I encountered at the end of South Fork Road a few years back --
Definitely NOT your typical bird found in the United States. Because of its rarity and that it nests here, recordings of bird calls (used to call in birds) are not allowed along this stretch of road. But it's too late in the season for the Trogons to be here -- they winter in Mexico and points south -- and I didn't see too many birds during the hike, except for the ubiquitous and raucous Mexican Jays, some Yellow-eyed Juncos, and a few Ladder-backed Woodpeckers and Ruby-crowned Kinglet that I saw at the beginning. But I'd come to look for fall colors. We'd had a wind event here in Portal on Monday -- the day I did my Winn Falls hike, though it was nearly windless where I was -- so many of the leaves had blown off the trees, and we're expecting rain and much colder temperatures on Sunday and Monday. So this may be the last best time to see the colors of autumn...I hiked by myself; if I can't find a hiking partner, then I'd rather go alone than not go at all. There are mountain lions here, and rattlesnakes, but as I mentioned earlier I encountered neither. However, just to be sure I whistled and sang as I walked, just so the big critters (black bear also) knew I was around -- and not a deer. It was chilly at the start of the hike as the sun had only come into a part of the canyon, but the fall colors were there from the beginning. The road ended just beyond the Forest Service cabins (2 cabins that are leased out, though you still have to buy them) with a big berm that stopped traffic from going further, though the campground host for Sunny Flat, who I came across along with his wife at the end of the hike, said ATVers could still get across -- and probably will. The "road" past the berm will probably never be used again except for walking, and is pretty rocky even for that. During Hurricane Odile, South Fork creek became a raging torrent and actually jumped its bank, cutting across the road and flowing to the other side, so the Forest Service decided it wasn't worth the effort to get rid of all the rocks and make it drivable again, Being a weekday, I had the road and trail all to myself. Past the old picnic grounds and original end of the road, the trail begins, and you go through greenery, oak trees, Arizona sycamore, and Apache Pine mixed with fall color --
There's even some yucca along the trail, providing an interesting contrast between riparian and desert southwest flora --
Then you turn a corner, and hidden by a large rock you see a beautiful small cascade with a large pool --
Just beautiful. The canyon walls soar on both sides, and autumnally-tinged trees once again provide a view unique to the Chiricahuas --
The aftermath of Hurricane Odile is especially noticeable in the canyon after the cascade. In the times I'd hiked here before, prior to Odile, it was filled with flowers, thick grasses, and trees; now it's filled with rocks and a swath about 50 feet wide stripped of everything except for the rivulet of South Fork Creek that caused so much damage. The trail, which formerly used to be easy to follow, is now marked by red ties around tree trunks so you can find your way. Part of the trail is through a now-huge bank of rocks, and you eventually come to a raised bank along the creek that requires some careful picking among the rocks to get to the other side, and the trail. I decide that's far enough for today, and have lunch. Then I retrace my steps; color is still all around me in the afternoon light --
Every time I go on a hike here in the Chiricahuas, I always think that I should give myself time to read up about the flora here; perhaps someone reading this who is knowledgeable about botany will tell me what these are. Until then, I can only admire them...But I do recognize this leaf, from an Arizona sycamore; it had fallen off its tree, and floated down the creek --
It's sort of the culmination of autumn here, at least to me -- the fall of autumn, so to speak...I meet a few people on the way back, including a birder and his wife (?) who asked me which woodpecker here had a brown head. (An Arizona Woodpecker, a resident here.) I get back to Faranuf, grateful that the hike, for once, is level. And I return just in time for the sunset, and a memorable cloud --
But then, pretty much everything I've done here at Faranuf, Portal, and the Chiricahuas has been memorable...
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