Birding and Hiking in the Chiricahua Mountains…

With this large mountain range just minutes away from our doorstep, we had to go hiking as much as possible. Having hiked quite a bit in the lowlands we decided to take a loop drive up to Rustlers Park, one off the highest points in the mountains.

Our first stop though was another one of the places where feeders were out for birders to enjoy, This time it was at the George Walker House a BnB in the mountains. We were greeted by the owner and his friendly boxer when we arrived (along with about 5 wild turkeys).

The 100 year old home was very welcoming and we were escorted to a beautiful courtyard with multiple feeders. We were encouraged to sit at any of the comfortable benches to enjoy the birds as long as we wanted.  We were shown where the restrooms were and introduced to a few of his guests who were already enjoying the birds. What great hospitality.

We saw lots of birds on the feeders but after about 40 minutes it was time to move on up the mountain. The road was a bit rugged but after crossing several creek crossings we came upon a fellow sitting by the side of the road. After chatting with him a bit he pointed out a coatimundi high up In a fir tree.

Sure enough we looked and at the very top of a 150 foot plus fir tree was a fur ball. He/she was actively feeding on what appeared to be either the fresh shoots on the end of branches or on the newly forming cones. We watched for nearly an hour as it slowly descended the tree. Every now and then it would sneak a peek in our direction to make sure we weren’t a threat. It sure was fun watching it work its way down the very tall tree.

Afterward we stopped near Rustler’s Park to hike the road where we saw a lot of different nuthatches. After about an hour we walked back to the car and started our trip down the mountains.

We stopped for one last visit at the South Fork of Cave Creek before heading home hoping to finally see the Elegant Trogon. After birding about 20 minutes, we heard one off in the distance. We worked our way over to where the sound was emanating from and finally saw it in a tree about 15 feet off the ground.

We weren’t able to get any pictures of it, but we followed it down the road and it would call every now and then. When it did, we moved to where it was and caught a glimpse of it again. It was a beautiful male bird with its bright red breast.

A couple was passing us and said that they too were hoping to see one and we explained there was one in the area as we had last saw it about five minutes ago. While we were chatting, I looked up and saw a male trogon sitting in a tree about 10 feet off the ground and only about 75 feet from us. I pointed it out to Sharon and the other couple. I immediately snapped off a few photos before it left.

One last little hike before heading back to the RV was a short stroll over to Vista Point, a short hike we passed several times. It was about to rain but we hurriedly hiked the 1/2-mile trial to the vista point. And we were so glad we did what a fabulous 360 degree view this point offered! Lot of photos were taken there…

What a great day this was to see this vista point along with both a coatimundi in the wild and an elegant trogon so close! Our stay is now complete…

Hammond LA…

We left Biloxi early in the morning to miss the traffic caused by all the vintage cars at the Crusin’ the Coast rally. Before long we pulled into our next site at Hidden Oaks Family Campground in Hammond, LA.

Hidden Oaks CG is a mom and pop kind of place which hosts lots of weekend events and as such is rather large. It has over a 100 sites and lots of permanent residents living in park models with large shade shelters built over top of them. We can surely imagine this place hopping on one of those active weekend events.

We would only be in Hammond a few days so they put us on a nice gravel pull through. There is an old ox bow lake in the middle of the park and we were parked  where we could see the lake out the front windshield. Also we found some nice trails to walk inside the park including a daily morning loop alongside the little lake and down to the river on the south end of the property.

Another fun thing about the park is that there is a flock of peacocks who free roam around the park. There were about 10 of them and one all white peacock. They often foraged around the motorhome so I am pretty the locals often feed them.

The town of Hammond is smallish but it does have a small college in town and the downtown area has a fairly lively area as well. We even checked out a small brewery, Gnarly Barley, near downtown. They served some really good craft beer and while we were there they also had some nice live music. We also got a kick out of the food truck’s name, photo attached.

Not too far away from our campground there was a nice boardwalk trail out into a fresh water swamp. Sharon loves hiking boardwalk trails so we found this one and even though the hike was short it was a nice afternoon diversion. One thing we saw lots of on this walk was the pinkish eggs of the non-native Apple Snail.

At the base of nearly every Cypress tree we saw what looked like pink bubblegum stuck to the trees. But on closer inspection it was apparent that these bubblegum blobs were the snail eggs. A little search on google told us exactly what they were.

Thanks, Hammond for some good beer, nice hikes and for learning something new!

Phinizy Swamp Nature Park in Augusta GA

Our next stop was at Diamond Lakes Regional Park Campground in  Hephzibah, Georgia just outside of Augusta. This park site was originally part of the former Augusta International Speedway which was purchased by the City of Augusta and later became the South Augusta Sports Complex. It is a huge park!

As many of you know Augusta is home to the Master’s Golf Tournament. While I used to play quite a bit of golf I rarely play anymore and I was never a fan of watching golf. However, since we were here we were hoping to go see the course. Well as some of you may know Augusta National is a private club accessible only to club members and their guests, neither of which included us. So no tour of the course for us! I can’t imagine how much money they lose by not opening at least the pro shop to the public.

The next day we found another swamp hike at the Phinizy Swamp Nature Park. When we arrived we thought it must be a very popular park however, the lot was full because scores of volunteers were at the park repairing the boardwalks. As a result the first 100 yards or so it was quite noisy with hammers banging nails and saws whining while cutting boards.

The Phinizy Swamp Nature Park is a 1,100-acre nature park close to Augusta, Georgia. The park is mostly wetlands and woodlands. It has a campus for water research and environmental education complete with a visitor center. Once we walked past the initial boardwalk and the campus we found it rather difficult to find the rest of the trail.

Persistence paid off and soon we were walking atop the berms of the retention ponds which made up much of the park. Alongside the berms were lots of  bald cypresses draped in Spanish moss along with forests of loblolly pine and various oaks. The signs posted along the trail warned to watch out for Alligators as well. After a mile or so we spotted a six footer swimming in the open water.

While it was still too early for the migratory waterfowl to be here it was still a pleasant walk of several miles around the swamp. We had planned a loop trail, that is, until a 6-7 foot Alligator laying across our trail changed our minds. As we reversed our course back the way we came we saw a female Black-bellied Whistling duck with several babies in tow, a somewhat rare sighting for this area.

While visiting the Augusta area we did enjoy our brief stay. We certainly didn’t have the time to properly explore its offerings..

Congaree National Park in South Carolina

Along the Congaree River in Georgia lies the little known Congaree National Park. Comprising over 27,000 acres and located in central South Carolina near the state’s capitol of Columbia Congaree National Park is the largest intact expanse of old-growth bottomland hardwood forest in the United States. It has only been a national park since 2003

Home to an incredible biodiversity of flora and fauna there are some 25 miles of trail including 2,5 miles of boardwalks. The vegetation is predominantly comprised of loblolly pines, oaks, maples, bald cypress, tupelo and holly trees.

We chose to hike the 2.3 mile loop trail as it was very popular for birding and walking, This trail is raised about 6 feet above the forest floor. The trail is mostly on boardwalk and winds through an old-growth forest. Also trail guide brochure suggested we would likely not encounter too many people while hiking this trail, which we didn’t..

There wasn’t a lot of water in the swampy areas since it is late summer but we did take a spur hike on a boardwalk over to the Weston Lake overlook. The lake is an old channel of the Congaree River. At the Weston Lake overlook we saw several mud slider turtles and sunfish.

We also saw some huge loblolly pine, beech trees and bald cypress trees. The boardwalk trail took us through an impressive cypress-tupelo swamp with their fluted bases and hundreds of cypress “knees” emerging from the grounds below.

We heard a screeching, Red-shouldered Hawk while walking the trail and later we spotted one and wondered if it was the same one we heard earlier. We stopped to enjoy viewing it through our binoculars and snapped a few photos as well.

We heard many other bird species including the various woodpeckers, Carolina Wrens and Summer Tanagers. We spotted a few deer as well as many skinks, anoles, and spiders. Thankfully, according to Sharon, we saw no snakes.

While the park appears to be a swamp; it is better categorized as an old-growth bottomland hardwood forest which can be often flooded by groundwater or surface water. As we walked along the Boardwalk Trail we could tell when the soils were less boggy by the changes in understory vegetation and the different tree species. We were both very glad we walked the trail as it was such a scenic, peaceful stroll.

One last hike in Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge

Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge is a 2,088-acre National Wildlife Refuge situated along the banks of the Rio Grande in far south Texas. Established for the protection of migratory birds in 1943 this refuge is noted for its unusual flora and fauna. The habitat known as subtropical Rio Grande Delta riparian forest was protected as most of it had been lost to agricultural clearing in the Rio Grande Valley.

Many species of plants and animals found in far southern Texas cannot be seen anywhere else in the United States. Ocelots, Green Jays, Chachalacas and several others are unique to this area. Thus, ecotourism is a popular pastime especially with the birders who hope to see some of the over 400 different species recorded.

Sharon and I love hiking in this park as there are over 12 miles of trails taking us through this unique subtropical Rio Grande Delta riparian forest. Scattered throughout the park are several bird blinds set up for those of us who like to see and photograph up close many of the birds that either live at or visit during migration.

While there isn’t a lot of shade on the trails, as most of it is low level shrubbery, there are some interesting and unique segments along the trails. One area we particularly love is on the southwestern edge of the Willow Lakes trail. This part of the trail takes us through a mystical looking area of tall oak trees draped in moss.

With this park being less than 15 minutes from Casa Del Valle Park where we were staying it was convenient to visit for a nice hike while enjoying some of the best nature this area has to offer.

NOTE: We left Alamo TX and are now in Choke Canyon Lake State Park until April  29th…

A Visit to Phoenix Desert Botanical Gardens

Now that I am finished with all the repairs to our RV we started looking for something fun to do. After scouring the internet I came across the Phoenix Desert Botanical Gardens. It seems that once a month (the second Tuesday) there is free admission.

We have been burned on things like this before by showing up only to find out the offer wasn’t valid anymore, especially since Covid happened. I did call ahead to check and was glad we did since visitors are required to obtain a ticket even though it is indeed free on the second Tuesday of each month.

I check out their website and only one time slot was left (actually one of the times we  preferred) so we scored our tickets. It was only about a thirty minute drive over to the gardens from our RV park so we parked (also free) and walked to the main entrance.

We were certainly glad we had tickets because a lot of people (disgruntled people) were near the entrance booths complaining about the need for tickets and that none were now available. We showed our OCR codes from my phone to the ticket taker and in we went.

We walked the entire trail system within the Gardens. Our favorite was an unexpected exhibit – the Butterfly Pavilion. It really is pretty cool as it is a 3,200 square foot open-air structure. It features plush garden plantings along with a water feature and thousands of live colorful butterflies.

We spent a good deal of time enjoying the variety of butterflies before venturing back out into the gardens. There were several loops representing different types of natural gardens. The varieties of cacti were as abundant as anywhere we have ever visited. There were also lots of plants still flowering adding beautiful splashes of color here and there. Some of the unique features of the garden were:

• The subfamily Opuntioideae: The Garden features the world’s most complete collection of this group, displaying 208 of the 261 species and varieties recognized

• Over 2/3 of the total number of species in the cactus family are held in the Garden’s collection
• The Garden displays 186 of the 212 known species and varieties in the genus Agave, making this the most prominent agave collection in the United States and perhaps in the world.

We spent several hours enjoying the plants, butterflies and birds in the gardens. Upon leaving we decided to go to one of our favorite happy hours in Gilbert AZ called Joyride. They have one of the best happy hours in the area for sure and was the perfect ending to a great day…

NOTE:  We are currently in Mesa, Arizona until November 1st…

The Surrealness of Lake Abiquiu NM…

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We loved our stay in Albuquerque as we always seem to have a great time whenever we visit.. Who knows, we may even choose to live here one day. However the time came to move on and our next stop is one of my favorite NM parks. Riana Campground, COE Park, at Lake Abiquiu.  Warning: There will be lots of photos in today’s blog!

There are only about a dozen sites with hook-ups at the park and none have sewer. What is lacking in services is made up for in views and expanse. Another big plus is most of the campsites have a grill/smoker, picnic table and shade shelter. I took full advantage of the smoker and smoked a couple of racks of ribs!

We were a bit worried about the heat this time of year but with daytime highs only in the 80’s and lows in the upper 60’s it was perfect. It is monsoon season so there were always rain and thunder showers nearby making for some pretty landscapes with the rain shadows.

I won’t say a lot about this area as we have stayed here before and blogged about it. Let’s just say everywhere you look would make a great watercolor painting or postcard.

We hiked all around the trails within Riana Park which offer  some very scenic moments. Of course we both took lots of photos and todays blog is photo rich as a result.

We also took a day trip over to the Ghost Ranch where we ended up spending most of our time around an old dilapidated ranch house and corral. They also erected an archway of elk antlers near a very tiny rustic church. Amazing photo ops!

Just down the road a piece is the Echo Amphitheater and just across from it a little closer to us is a short hike to see a nice natural arch perched on the side of a rocky mountain outcrop. The rock features in this small part of New Mexico are stunning…

We certainly enjoyed our stay at the lake giving us a little downtime after our social whirlwind stay in Albuquerque. Next up will be Colorado…

NOTE:  We are currently Durango, Colorado until July 23rd…

What is that rattling noise?

Next stop for us was in a park we have been to many times before, San Angelo State Park. We initially planned to stay four days but when we arrived we noticed a strange noise coming from the front end of our Honda CRV. Everything I read online suggested it was a suspension issue, but I had no way to get under the car to check it out.

More online research yielded an overriding favorite place for car repairs, Kelly’s Auto Repair. I called and they said bring it over as they would be able to squeeze me in. I sat about an hour when the mechanic called me to come into the shop. I went udder the car to see that the stabilizing rod had lost it’s bushings and needed to be replaced.

I authorized the job so after calling around for parts, they located one. Less than an hour later the job was done! The total bill was… get ready for this… $84.10. I was floored as I was expected nothing less than $350.00 and honestly expected more. I paid my bill and will tell everyone who will hear me to go there for any needed car repairs if  anywhere near San Angelo Texas. I feel there is no more trustworthy and competent mechanic to be found!

With the car repaired we enjoyed hiking in the state park, visiting the craft beer spots downtown and playing a bit of disc golf. San Angelo State Park may not have much of a lake but it has miles of good hiking trails. One of our favorite loops is the Roadrunner Trail, a 3.2 mile loop.

On the Roadrunner trail there is a turn out where there is another fenced pasture with Bison and Longhorn Cattle on it. One day we happened to luckily walking by when the rangers were feeding the Bison and Cattle. We had an enjoyable chat with them about the herds and all their newborn babies.

It has been a wetter than normal late spring and early summer here. As a result there are a lot of wildflowers in bloom and it is still very green. Butterflies are fairly abundant on anything that is blooming. Also, as I mentioned earlier, we have been coming here for years and this is the first year there was enough water in the lake to actually look like a lake!

With a few days remaining in San Angelo we thought we had better get some last dinners at a good Tex Mex restaurant. As luck would have it we found a good one that had some excellent salsa and great cheese enchiladas…

NOTE:  We are currently in Roswell, New Mexico until July 5th…