We enjoyed our short stay in Tucson but it was time to go so we hit the road to our next destination near Sierra Vista AZ. We have always wanted to explore this area so we’ll stay awhile to hike and birdwatch.
This area is home to many of the higher mountains in the southern part of Arizona. There are many world renowned birding hotspots with a 30 minute drive of where we are staying at Quail Ridge RV Park. Amazingly this park is less that $15.00 per night for full hookups and while it is nothing fabulous we are settled in on our gravel site with views of the mountains around us.
On one of our first excursions here we hiked in the Brown Canyon Ranch which was acquired by the US Forest Service in 1998. It offers a glimpse back in time when the the historic Brown ranch house was an active entity. A windmill built on the ranch was used to create a small pond which is now encircled with Arizona Cottonwoods making a haven for birds in this dry environment.
We hiked some of the trails from the ranch house toward the mountains. The habitat was mostly high desert grasslands. It is still early spring in these higher elevations but we were able to spot several nice birds in the vegetation. It is always nice to see the strikingly beautiful red Vermillion Flycatcher.
We have visited this ranch several other times during our stay. Each and every time we were greeted by the Vermillion Flycatchers. Also prevalent at the ranch were both House and Cassin’s Finches as well at several Bewick’s Wrens. One of the best birds we saw was a male Bullock’s Oriole high up in the cottonwoods.
Another excursion we took was to attempt to drive up the scenic and winding Carr Canyon road. This rough dirt road is the only road into the upper reaches of the Huachuca Mountain Range. It was built at the turn of the century so it was narrow and winding with very tight switchbacks.
We knew we might not be able to drive all the way to the top since high-clearance vehicles are recommended beyond the Clark Spring Trailhead. We drove about a mile past the trailhead before experiencing rough, narrow and steep switchbacks with no guardrails which made Sharon very nervous.
We found a somewhat wider part of the road where I was able to do a 5-point turn to turn us back around. We stopped at the Clark Spring Trailhead where we birded a bit and found unique birds, a Painted Redstart and a Bridled Titmouse, both only found in the USA in the mountains of southern Arizona.
This was an exciting start to our hiking and seeing some of the unusual birds we had hoped to find while visiting!
