Flowers of Tonto National Monument

Here are sme of the flowers we saw at Tonto NationalMonument:

Flowering banana yucca

Indian paintbrush (Castileja exserta)

Desert penstomen (pink) and firecracker penstomen

Mariposa lily

Flat-top buckwheat

Hedgehog  cactus

Globe mallow 

Marah gilensi (wild cucumber)

Apache Trail

Apache Trail

On Sunday we took a driving tour of the Apache Trail, which heads out of Apache Junction and winds through the Superstition Mountains. 

The road passes Canyon Lake, a reservoir with dramatic cliff walls.  At 9:30 am there were already kids swimming in the lake.

We knew the road would be windy, but we were surprised when the pavement stopped and the route became a bone - rattling washboard gravel road.  It wound up to the summit in the Superstition Mountains with a great view of the rocky cliffs. 



Then it became a windy, precipice clinging one laner till it descended to a bridge over Fish Creek.  We stopped in the canyon and went for a short walk under the cottonwoods and sycamore trees.

The road then climbed up again till we had a view overlooking Roosevelt Reservoir.

 Then the road widened and became paved.  Our last stop was the Tonto National Monument.  They've built a wheelchair accessible pathway that switches back and forth up to the ruins, protected by a natural overhang. 

The whole hillside was covered with flowers in among the saguaro and other cacti. 

It was breathtakingly beautiful.  We were allowed to walk through the ruins as long as we did not touch the walls.

In the evening we walked the trails around the campsite, only to find them full of photographers taking advantage of the golden hour to take glamour shots and family portraits against the Superstition Mountains.  So we had to take one ourselves.

Only the golden hour has segued into the pink minutes as the sun sets

Siphon Draw Hike

Heading up the trail a the sun comes up

The trail to the Flatiron in the Superstition Range takes off from the campsite.  Our aim was 2/3 up the trail to the "basin."

The Flatiron is the lump in the middle above the rightmost window in our trailer

Since it was Saturday, the trail was crowded with locals.  The trail starts gradually up the slope toward the rocky area.  This area is just crammed with blossoming brittle bush.

When you reach the rocks you pretty much go straight up a draw and follow the dry watercourse.  It's very steep.

Pausing on the hike up to the basin

We reached the basin in 1-1/2 hours, then you drop down into a ravine before climbing up an even steeper ravine to the top of the flatiron.

Instead, after taking a break and taking in the view of the eastern Phoenix area, we headed back diwn, passing the hordes.

Looking back towards Phoenix and the advancing hordes

There were not many birds around; therefore we bring the plant of the day:

which I think is a Justicia

An obvious hummingbird flower but no hummingbirds to be seen.

On to Phoenix

On Thursday we pulled up stakes and drove to Lost Dutchman State Park.  We have never spent much time in the Phoenix area before, so we were looking forward to discovering new territory.

The campsite is set in a spectacular setting, right at the base of the Superstition Mountains.  We think the park must get a lot of rain from clouds dumping as they hit the mountains, because the vegetation is thick and lush and the Saguaro are especially plump and many branched here.

The next morning we checked out the Gilbert Preserve, which like the Sweetwater Wetlands recycles treated sewer water, only it's about 4 times as large, and is part of a large public park.  It's full of birds

Like this American avocet

and even fuller of cottontail rabbits scampering about.  The only species more in evidence may be retirees with giant cameras who have taken up wildlife photography in the retirement.

Lots of warblers here and ducks and shorebirds, egrets, avocets and even a black crowned night heron, but the bird of the day is the black-necked stilt, and no wonder:

A Beautiful bird

Our afternoon was spent at the Heard museum in downtown Phoenix, a collection of the art of native Americans of the Southwest.  I have long wanted to see their collection of southwest pottery, but there are also great collections of Hopi katsina dolls and Navajo rugs.



We were especially appreciative of the shaded courtyard complete with a soothing water feature where we could take a break with a cup of coffee, between forays into the museum.

Not so fun was driving home on the freeway during rush hour traffic.

Farewell Dorothea and Farewell Tucson

It was fun having Dorothea hang out with us, but her week was up, so after a short hike up King's Canyon Wash to see the petroglyphs, we drove her to the airport in Phoenix.  Traffic was crazy at the airport so it was a quick goodbye at the departures dropoff, and we were well on our way back to Tucson before I realized I had forgotten to switch to the front seat, with no place to get off the I-10.

By the way, here's another picture of Picacho Peak taken from the I-10:

We climbed this!

The next day was our last day in Tucson, and we visited the Agua Caliente Regional Park.

It's an oasis in the desert (but the palms  are planted).  With this last week's hotspell all the Mesquite trees have leafed out, and we full of birds.

The Lucy's warblers had arrived, we watched a pair of beardless tyrannulets build their nest, hooded orioles were flying in and out of the palm trees,

and someone pointed out to us a hummingbird sitting on her nest.

But the bird of the day was a Bell's vireo singing its crazy song.

We hit the Sweetwater Wetlands on our way home, but it was fairly quiet in the afternoon heat.

Searching for the Holy Grail

It's a one hour drive south to Madera Canyon from Tucson, and we were up at 5 am to arrive at the trailhead at 7 am. Madera Canyon is famous for being the first spot in the United States to record an elegant trogon, a bird seen more often in Mexico. We've visited Arizona 7 times, and every time we've searched for and failed to see a trogon (we've seen plenty other kinds of trogons in Mexico, where they pretty much hang around in the trees waiting to be photographed).  So I was a little surprised to see the elegant trogan listed on the Madera Canyon checklist as common in spring and summer.  And we'd been skunked 7 times!

The lower canyon was still cool with the shade of large trees.  But soon we heard first a Hutton’s vireo and then a definite warbler calling.  I spotted a silhouette high in the canopy and we identified it as a red-faced warbler, a beautiful little bird, and a lifer for us.  Then a different warbler song that we recognized as the painted redstart we saw last week in Ramsey Canyon.

Then Dorothea said, what's that chuck chucking sound?  Leo thought it sounded like it might be a trogon, so he pulled out his tablet and played the song (ethically suspect these days, by the way), and right away I saw a large bird fly in nearby.  Holy Grail, bagged.

But just because you see a lifer, it doesn't necessarily mean you get a decent picture.

Bird of the Day, even though I was actually more excited about the red-faced warbler.

Then we continued up the very steep trail into the pine trees, with ever improving views of the Santa Rita mountains and the deer plains below.  We hoped to make it up to Agua Caliente Saddle, but it got hotter and less shady as we switched back and forth and we decided to save ourselves for another day, and headed back down the mountain.

Unlike some, we're always happy to pose.

We saw at least three kinds of pines on our hike:

These are my educated guesses (educated by google and the old Trees of North America guide)

Apache pine

Arizona white pine (P. stobiformis)

Mexican pinyon

Of interest to Dorothea were the various live oaks and this Arizona Madrona

Because of their similarity to the Garry oak and arbutus back home on Vancouver Island.

Back in the canyon, we stopped at Kubo and Santa Rita lodges to check out their popular bird feeders where we saw magnificent hummingbirds (2023 note: little did I know in 2017, but in that same year, they divided this hummingbird into 2 species and named the species that occurs in Nicaragua and north the Rivoli's hummingbird, and the magnificent hummingbirds we saw long ago (1994?) in Costa Rica are now the Talamanca hummingbird.  Instant new lifer!), a Scott's oriole and a hepatic tanager.  No decent photos of these rare (north of Mexico anyway) birds,

And on our way home we braved the scorching heat to check out a historical site, San Xavier del Bac, on the Tohono O'odham reservation.  The mission was established in 1692 and the church constructed in 1783.

Mount Lemmon

Sunday was forecast to be the hottest day, up to 96°F, so we scheduled a drive up to Mount Lemmon, elevation 7000 feet.  This involved stopping at a lot of viewpoints with short walks to rocky points so we got to recuperate from yesterday's strenuous hike and take advantage of the truck's air-conditioning.

The day was a lesson on Arizona's so called Sky Islands, with a tour of 7 different ecosystems as we climbed in elevation,

Fairy duster grows in the lower desert ecostems

topping out at the "Canadian" ecosystem with Douglas fir, pines and typical Canadian birds. 

Like this spotted towhhee

The road ends at Tucson's little local ski hill, and there was even some snow left on the slopes. 

Bird of the day was the yellow-eyed (Mexican) junco, though perhaps we should have chosen the American robin, a real rarity in Arizona, though not to us.

Seven Falls

Because we're too stupid to avoid the crowds we revisited Sabino Canyon Recreation Area on Saturday instead of waiting for a weekday.  Instead of walking up Sabino Canyon, we took a side trail up Bear Canyon that was recommended to us by two University of Arizona Students we met in Ramsay Canyon last week.  It leads to a popular swimming hole at the base of a series of falls.

We got up at 5 am to beat the heat and the crowds.  By the time we reached the parking lot on the other side of Tucson it was 7 am, still cool, but the parking lot was filling up.  (As Dorothea mentioned, it is the largest trailhead parking lot she's ever seen).

We managed to hike mostly on our own for the first half of the trail though the trail runners were already meeting us on their way back.  It was mercifully shaded by the canyon most of the way, following and crossing the creek numerous times. 

The hillsides were covered with blooming yellow brittle bush (though it doesn't show up all that well in photos).

On the second half of the hike, the later rising youngsters were catching up to us slower oldsters.

When we got to the falls, it was busy with families and young people enjoying the very cold water.  Only two of the oldsters joined in on the fun. Not me, I am a stickinthemud and did not want to get my clothes wet.

Dorothea tried the waterslide too, but we are respecting the photo ban.

We headed out at 10 am to avoid the heat of the day, and met crowds of young people sweating up the trail.  The heat was bearable until the last 1/2 hour, though it was getting tiresome standing in line to get across the stones placed in the streams.  The last half hour walking down the paved road was excruciatingly hot, but we survived.

We all remarked on how well-behaved the young people were at the falls and on the trail and on the lack of alcohol present.  This may have had something to do with the 2 hour uphill hike and the ranger stationed at the entrance.

Saw some great birds too,


Kestrel on Saguaro

And a special treat was these early Saguaro blossoms (they usually don't bloom till May).