McDowell Mountain Regional Park, Fountain Hills, AZ

Days 50 – 56, Monday to Sunday, March 5 – March 11, McDowell Mountain Regional Park, Rio Verde, AZ

When we left Catalina on Monday, we stopped at Casa Grande to see the ruins there, and we listened to a great ranger talk that told us about the history of the people who built this huge edifice of caliche and the town and extensive canal system that surrounded it. The building predicted astronomical events such as solstices and equinoxes, as well as the lunar standstill that occurs every 18.6 years.

Knowledgeable and enthusiastic ranger talk.

Jan by the building.  There is a pair of Great Horned Owls nesting here.

I was still coughing a lot all week, and trying to rest.  We like the campsites here out in the desert, and Jan and Duane could see the fountain at Fountain Hills from their spot!  Jim did a lot of mountain biking on the trails here, one day biking a (slightly unplanned) 30 miles!  One day he met his friends Dave and Jim to mountain bike from the Brown Ranch Trailhead in the McDowell Sonoran Reserve.  I went on a bike ride with Jan on the roads in the park on Thursday. On Friday I was feeling better, walked the 3-mile North Trail nature loop, reinforcing my knowledge of the names of the plants and trees here.  I saw a Harris Hawk on top of a saguaro.  On Sunday I walked a 4-mile loop from the RV, down the Granite Trail to the Pemberton Trail, up to the old Pemberton ranch, then back down to the Visitor Center and up the road to our RV.

Horses as well as hikers and mountain bikers on these trails!

Bikers hoping not to unbalance the rock.

Better not to stand below this!

Jim and Dave, those bare legs are scary in the desert!

Big Saguaro and Big Guy.

North Trail with the Four Peaks in the distance.

Desert vista

Packrat nest on the North Trail.

This deserves some thought!

The dry winter means the wildflowers are not blooming here as we have seen them in the past.  There are lots of Curve-Billed Thrashers and Cactus Wrens, but not many Phainopepla.   That has been true this entire trip.   We got a hummingbird feeder that is stuck on the dining table window, and I was clearly able to identify a Golden-Fronted Woodpecker, a Texas bird that is not common in this area! 

Wednesday, we drove to Saguaro Lake and kayaked.  Last year Jim got a great picture of an eagle here!  We kayaked up to the top of Willow Creek Canyon, a narrow gorge, and beached the kayaks and walked up the canyon a bit.  We saw a Canyon Wren close up, as it walked upside down on the wall of the canyon hunting insects.  As so often happens, we battled a bit of a headwind on the way back!

Saguaro Lake

We paddled up Willow Creek, beached our kayaks and walked up the canyon.

Tuesday night we went down to Fountain Hills to have dinner at the All-American Brewpub, with a view of the fountain.  Friday night Dave and Ellie and Jim and his friend Teresa joined us for dinner.  We barbecued steaks, I made stir-fried veggies and rice, Jan and Dwayne provided appetizers, and Ellie and Dave brought brownies and ice cream for dessert.  A lovely evening!  The weather has warmed up a bit, so we were comfortable sitting outside.

Catalina State Park, Tucson, AZ

Days 43 – 49, Monday to Sunday, February 26 – March 4, Catalina State Park, Oro Valley, AZ

We looped to the east a bit for a different drive, up to one of our favorite parks!  The campground is full, as always.  Requiring reservations a full year in advance!  It has been a drought year, so we were OK about the wind and rain that accompanied our arrival!  Jim is feeling better, but I am coughing and trying to rest.

We did some shopping for groceries, and went to Walmart to get a hummingbird feeder which sticks to the window, putting it on the window right by our table.  With the shaded windows, it is not easy to see inside.  We soon had hummingbirds, Gila woodpeckers, and a cute Verdin, gray with a yellow head, and I could see the bright maroon red shoulder patches on its shoulder!  Not as many birds here this year – there has been a drought.  It is cold this week – snow on the Catalina mountains above us!

Hummingbird feeder mounted on the window

Catalina mountains with snow on them.

Fighting this cold and not wanting it to turn into pneumonia, I took it easy this week.  I did a lot of reading, a 1,000 page book called Column of Fire, by Ken Follet, about the reigns of Queen Elizabeth the 1 and the defeat of the Spanish Armada.   Jan and I went for a 12-mile bike ride out the park and down the bike paths one day.  Jim rode his bike over to Interstate 10, to a model airplane field, about a 30-mile round trip.  Friday there was a ranger-led archaeology walk to the nearby Romero Ruins, and he did a great job talking about the people who lived here 1,000 years ago, leaving the area in about 1400.  Jim and Dwayne took the copters to fly at Naranja Park one afternoon. 

I saw a bobcat along the bike path.  Jan saw a skunk!

Plane at model airplane park Jim rode his bike to.

These are big model planes!

Ranger with the light of knowledge shining!

Part of the Romero ruins, where people lived 1,000 years ago.

Moonrise over the Catalina Mountains.

Statues at Naranja Park, the Catlinas in the background.

A Lark Sparrow!  A new species identified!

Saturday, we enjoyed a concert at the trailhead at Catalina, a singer – guitar player – poet who does a very pleasing show.  We saw her last year.  A pretty spot under the trees with the mountains rising above us!

Music and the mountains.

Sunday night we met Tinker and Greg at an Italian restaurant in north Tucson.  This is such a nice area, and I look forward to taking better advantage of the hiking trails and bike paths here next year!  We got our reservations for next year – it is already filling up.  Lost Dutchman is full already, so we missed the boat on that one for next year!

Patagonia Lake State Park, Patagonia, AZ

Days 40 – 42, Friday to Sunday, February 23 – 25, Patagonia Lake State Park, Patagonia, AZ

After a stop to gas up the behemoths, we headed south, stopping for lunch at the artist village of Tubac.  I bought a wind chime that is a combination of glass and metal sculpture, including a photo cell that lights it up at night!  We had a nice lunch on the patio at a Mexican restaurant there.  When we arrived at Patagonia we put up our birdfeeders, and the finch sack was soon covered with bright yellow Lesser Goldfinches and a Cardinal or two!  We walked about a mile up the birding trail, which is along Sonoita Creek as it flows into the lake.  We saw a Vermillion Flycatcher, also a Bridled Titmouse!

Happy Lesser Goldfinches

Shovelers, and a bright Cinnamon Teal!

Vermillion Flycatcher

Beautiful butterfly, species unknown

Interesting mushrooms in the woods.

Sonoita Creek

Saturday Jim and I went kayaking on the lake, heading up an arm of the lake, pretty up there.  We saw Black-Crowned Night Heron perched in trees, also Cormorants.  We looped back around the lake and up to the launch site.  Jim has been battling a cold, coughing and not sleeping well, will hopefully be better soon.

Paddling up Sonoita Creek

A flower among the flowers.

Carefully threading his way back down the creek.

Comorants - Keep your mouth closed while looking up!

Sunday we went to Paton Hummingbird Preserve in Patagonia, saw lots of birdies at this special place.  We had met a couple at Lost Dutchman from BC, and they were at Patagonia - Judy and Barry.  They went to Paton with us.  In the afternoon, Judy used my kayak, and Jim, Judy, Jan, and Dwayne went kayaking.  Now it was my turn to rest, as I was coming down with the dread cold, not feeling well.

Cardinal

Hummingbird at Paton Center

Ladderback Woodpecker at Paton

Jan and Duane kayaking

Monday morning before we departed, I went on a bird walk for a while, saw Dowitchers and ducks.  I was feeling a need for rest, did not stay out long.  Jim and I went down to the Visitor Center and looked around there a little bit at the pond and bird feeders there.  There are some hikes in this area it would be great to do in the future!

Walking bridge near the Visitor Center

View of Patagonia Lake

Gilbert Ray County Park, Tucson, AZ

Day 36-39, Monday to Thursday, February 19-22, Gilbert Ray County Park, Tucson, AZ

We got up and got organized, leaving the campground about 9.  We arrived at Gilbert Ray about 12:30, were very lucky to get spots on H Loop, not our favorite!  They do not take reservations here, and the demand has been so great they have been turning away 25 to 30 campers some days.  I went on a hike up Brown Mountain, just to the first peak and back down again.  We went down to the little laundromat at Tucson Estates, and I got a haircut from a nice lady at the salon next door.  I went into the hardware store and picked up more postcards for kids and grandkids, and got more stamps at the post office there.

View of cholla and Brown Mountain from trailhead.

View of campground from Brown Mountain.
I could see 3Z and the kayaks with my binoculars.

 On Tuesday, I walked from the campground through the canyon to the Arizona Desert Museum, about 3 miles, and it took me a little over an hour.  If I had hiked up and down over Brown Mountain it would have taken a lot longer!  I met Jan and Dwayne there, and we had a tasty lunch in the restaurant.  Jim was fighting a cold and felt like taking it easy.  There is so much interesting to see and learn there, impossible to take it all in.  I watched the raptor performance, with free-flying birds, including a family of 4 Harris Hawks.  Most raptors are solitary hunters, but Harris Hawks hunt in groups!

Harris Hawk.  Note white stripes on tail, a way to identify them!

Coyotes posing for their picture

Javelina family snoozing in the shade of a bush.

Nice mountain lion exhibit.

Wednesday, Jim and Dwayne went to the Pima Air and Space Museum, and Jan and I went to Saguaro National Park, watched the video and a slide show about the plants and animals of the area.  Then we drove on a dusty road to see some ancient pictographs. 

After we got back, I rode my bike on the loop out of the campground, down McCain Loop and back along the highway, then through the campground loops, about 12 miles.  The drivers around Tucson area are polite to bikers and give you a wide berth!  Jim likes to ride the sandy trails around here, but with my lack of courage and my smoother tires, I am not comfortable with that!

Happy chain-fruit cholla at Saguaro National Park Visitor Center.

Jan at the top of pictograph hill.

At Pima Air and Space Museum.

There must be thousands of planes there, inside and outside!