February 17 - Cave Creek

It was crisp and clear and 30° when I got up before dawn this morning.  I breakfasted in my room and left at 7 a.m. for the Cave Creek trail and the south fork of Cave Creek enjoying the morning as the sun rose over the desert.

The Road from Portal toward Cave Creek Canyon

The trail goes through Douglas fir, Chihuahuan pine, sycamore, blue oak, pinyons and juniper along the creek.

One of the “historic” structures is this old powder shack.

Currently empty . . .

The Mexican Jays accompanied me for quite a distance.

 
I tried to get a photo of the Western Bluebirds feeding in the mistletoe, but all I could capture was a shot of the mistletoe itself.  This appears to be the same Phoradendron juniperinum, or a similar species, as I was seeing in west Texas?

It's hard to tell the mistletoe from the juniper leaves . . .

After walking the lower trail, I drove up to the South Fork trail at about 10:30 a.m.  The walk enters the designated Wilderness Area.

A few flowers were blooming along the trail, even though it is early in the season.

I do not know this flower.  Any thoughts?

I believe that this is Senecio parryi

The “Horseshoe 2” Fire burned through this country in 2011, blackening 222,955 acres.  It appears that the monsoon rains cause some major flooding, and have filled the riparian zone floor with gravel and cobbles.

Probably not good for the vegetation . . .

I made it as far as the junction to the Burro Trail, which the sign says is only 1½ mile – it seemed to me that I’d walked over 2 miles before I turned around and returned to the trailhead.

I returned down the canyon to the Cave Creek Lodge, where they request $5 to sit and watch their birds.

This is reasonable, as they obviously go through lots of seed, suet and peanut butter.  It paid off, as I saw my “life” Scott’s Oriole there

as well as other birds

Nice male Acorn Woodpecker

These Thrashers are amazing at flipping seeds and catching them mid-air!

Cock Quail

and the same small herd of white-tailed deer at the Ranch as yesterday.

Coues' White-tail buck

Contemplative doe

Embarrassing:  I had gotten out of the car to see if I’d left my water bottle and coffee cup at the Cave Creek Lodge feeders, and out of habit had flipped the lock.  Unfortunately, I’d locked the keys in the car with it running!  After about 15 minutes a pickup came from the south, and Montes, a gentleman from Las Cruces, stopped to help. I had very little Spanish; about as much as he had English, but he had a pair of pliers, and I dismantled a barbed-wire fence brace so that we could get behind the passenger side window enough to push the button to open the window.

Finally, I got on the road again, returned for my water bottle and cup, and returned north to I-10, then west to Wilcox, where the cheapest gas was $2.51, so continued on to Benson and gassed up for $2.199/gallon at the truck stop and bought a 6-inch turkey sandwich at Subway for $6.99 + tax.  I continued through the evening to the Vagabond Inn in Green Valley, south of Tucson.

Cave Creek Trail eBird Checklist is Here

South Fork Cave Creek eBird Checklist is Here

Cave Creek Ranch eBird Checklist is Here