Patagonia Lake State Park and Kartchner Caverns State Park

We moved south to Patagonia Lake on Monday February 6. It is located about half way between the small town of Patagonia and Nogales which is on the Mexican border. It is really in the middle of nowhere, on a beautiful man made lake with rugged hills and riparian areas around it. We have been coming here for many years and love it. It is known for excellent birding.

Almost every day, we walked the birding loop trail and one morning we took a guided bird walk spotted 43 different species. The most unusual bird we saw while we were there was a Green Kingfisher which is usually not found in this part of Arizona. We did not see a lot of the birds as we have seen in the past. We think that is because of 2 reasons: it has been quite cold and we were here earlier than before. We have also had some very windy days. Just not the type of weather that you think of when you think of Southern Arizona. It gets down into the 30’s most nights but up in to the 60’s most days with beautiful blue skies.

Another area that we like to hike in is the Sonoita Creek Natural Area adjacent to the park. They have a beautiful 3 mile loop trail which is partly along the creek and partly above the canyon looking down on the creek. At one place, you had to cross the creek on stones and you also get to the cross the spillway from the lake on stones. We did the hike twice while we were there and saw lots of different birds.

The park offers pontoon boat tours on the weekends and we went on two of these. The first was a twilight boat tour on Saturday night. We saw a tiny island on the lake with about 3 trees on it and probably 500 Yellow Headed Blackbirds. Quite a sight! On the way back to the dock we saw lightning in the distance, so we kind of hurried back. This was followed by an absolutely beautiful sunset. On Sunday morning we went on an avian boat tour and saw among other birds 4 Black Crowned Night Herons.

Twice, we drove into Patagonia to go to the Paton Center for Hummingbirds. In other years we have seen amazing hummingbirds and orioles here, but this time we only saw two. We thought that maybe it should rename itself as the center for woodpeckers and doves!  We did take the opportunity on one of the trip to have dinner at the Velvet Elvis Restaurant that is an amazing building and they also make delicious pizza.

Female Lazuli Bunting

Gila Woodpecker and Ladder Back Woodpecker

One of the most unusual things that has happened to us on the trip occurred Saturday afternoon. I was walking back from the bathroom when I saw a new camper with a truck advertising a restaurant in Sandusky, Ohio, Mark’s home town. When I got back to the trailer, I suggested to Mark that he should find out if he knew the people. It turns out that it was his first cousin Rosanne Bodner and her husband Tom, whom we haven’t seen in 20 years. None of us could believe it- what are the chances of them traveling from Ohio and us from Oregon and ending up 4 sites down from each other in a campground in Southern Arizona? We had a very good time catching up. Sunday afternoon we took a hike together.

  

Monday afternoon we went wine tasting together in nearby Sonoita, AZ. The first place we went to was the Meading Room. We kind of turned in there by mistake, but decided what the heck and stayed. We tasted 3 different kinds of mead (2 bubbling) and two different hard ciders. It was interesting, but none of us felt like we need to go there again. Our next stop was Arizona Hops and Vines and we had a great time there. The weather was supposed to be rainy and we figured this was a great thing to do on a rainy day. Only it didn’t rain. It snowed! It was like a midwest blizzard! Unbelievable! It was so cold and wet and windy that running from the car to the winery was a very chilling experience. In fact in the second place we went to we sat on a sofa and was perfect for watching the snow from inside. with a wood stove burning in front of us.

On Wednesday, February 15, we moved a little ways east to Kartchner Caverns State Park. We spent 4 nights there. The cave was discovered in 1974 by 2 college students who wanted to find an undiscovered cave. Luckily they were very concerned about preserving the cave in its natural state and didn’t tell anyone about it for 4 years. Then they told the property owner who sold it to the state to be made into a state park. Every care was taken along the way to keep it in a pristine condition. It is a “living” cave with tons of formations like stalactites and stalagmites and soda straws and bacon and fried eggs and columns. We took two different cave tours and learned much. It is a very beautiful cave. The guides were so knowledgeable . Unfortunately, they do not let you take pictures in the cave so the pictures we have were taken in the visitor center of  the exhibits.

One afternoon we took a nice hike on the Foothills Trail around the state park. The scenery was very nice.

One excursion that we took from Kartchner was to White Water Draw  Natural Area about an hour east and south of the state park. When we arrived, we stepped out of the truck and immediately put on our heavy winter coats. It was COLD with a 20mph wind. 

Birding in Arizona... Not what we expected!

This is an area where approximately 20,000 sandhill cranes spend the winter months and we wanted to see this. 

Sandhills and Snow Geese

Snow Geese

All at once hundreds overhead

Sandhill Cranes

Only Snow Geese when we arrived

The cranes leave the area at sunrise to forage in fields and return between 10 and noon. We arrived at about 9:30 and there was not a crane to be seen. There were about 500 Snow Geese. We walked the nature loop and saw many other birds and water fowl. About 10am they started arriving in small groups. At about noon we went back to the truck to get warm and have some snacks . We had a front row parking space and could see where the cranes were landing. All of a sudden the skies were full of one huge group after another of Sandhill Cranes. It was unbelievable. We couldn’t figure how they could find a space to land among all the other birds. It was quite an amazing day.

On the way back to the state park, we stopped for about a half hour at Tombstone, an old west town that was way too touristy for us.

On Sunday, we moved back to the Tucson area to Catalina State Park on the north side of Tucson adjacent to the Santa Catalina Mts. We have taken a couple of nice hikes here already. The mountains are very beautiful.

Yesterday we spent much of the day at Tohono Chul Park, a very beautiful botanical garden. We had a lovely time visiting all the different gardens and walking the trails around the park.

 Eating lunch at the Garden Bistro was a big treat. FYI, prickly pear margaritas are very good. More to come... Cheers!!

 Phoenix and Tucson

February 7, 2023

We had a very nice stay for 9 nights at Lost Dutchman State Park in Apache Junction, AZ east of Phoenix. The weather has been very nice during the day, getting up in the mid 60’s mostly, but once the sun goes down at night it gets cold quickly. The lowest we had at night was 29 degrees. The water in our hose froze, but our little furnace keeps us nice and toasty,

We did lots of fun things during our stay here. We went to the Superstition Mts Museum and learned all about the history and lore of the area. The lost Dutchman, in the name of our state park, is Jacob Waltz who in the 1870s supposedly found a very rich gold mine in the mountains. Unfortunately he died before he could mine it and as the story goes that on his death bed he mentions the mine is in the Superstitions and people have been searching for it ever since. This part of Arizona was also famous for movie sets for western films from the late 1940’s to late 1960’s  and Apacheland was one of these movie sets. Elvis Presley was in a movie called Charro that was filmed here.

Apacheland Studio

Church of Elvis

Another day we went to Boyce Thompson Arboretum, a little ways east of Apache Junction in Superior. We have been here several times in the past and really like it. They have cactus from all over North and South America and desert plants from Asia, Africa and Australia. They have really nice trails and we walked all over. Mark was pleased to see 13 species of birds including a Vermillion Flycatcher and our first Northern Cardinals of the trip!

Barrel Cacti

Northern Cardinal

Hiking at Boyce Thompson Arboretum

One windy day, we went to the Musical Instrument Museum. This was our first time here and it was a wonderful find.The museum has over 10,000 musical instruments from all over the world. When you enter, they give you head phones and almost every display has audio visual information about the instrument or in some case the artist that you can see and hear. I never knew there were so many different types of instruments! We spent over 4 hours here and did not see it all. We visited  the Asian, North American and Europe areas as well as the Mechanical Music Gallery and the Artist Gallery. I guess we will just have to come back another time! 

Instruments from NW China

Instruments from S Korea

Orchestrion

Guitar Collection

We also enjoyed a 1 and 1/2 hour cruise on the Steamship Dolly on Canyon Lake, a short 15 minutes east of our campground.  Besides seeing beautiful scenery, we saw bald eagles and mountain bighorn sheep. Afterwards, we drove the additional 2 miles to Tortilla Flats, a little touristy Western town for lunch. Most times that we have been there the place in packed. That evening, we went to a music program at the state park with cowboy singer, Steve Jones. He sang lots of fun songs.

Big Horn Sheep

Steamship Dolly

Canyon Lake

We also enjoyed hiking in our state park. They have lots of very nice trails. Many of the trails continue into Tonto National Forest Wilderness, giving you lots of options for nice hikes.

We left Lost Dutchman State Park on Monday, January 30 and headed south to Tucson. We made a stop at Casa Grande Ruins National Monument near Coolidge, AZ. This is quite an impressive ruin. Archeologists think that in its highpoint in the 14th century about 2,000 people lived in the area. The ancient people were farmers and built many miles of canals to irrigate their crops. No one knows for sure why the people left the area, but it is thought that a series of droughts and floods and possibly overpopulation caused the people to disperse into smaller groups.

Our next stop for a week was at Gilbert Ray Campground in Tucson Mountain Park, on the west side of Tucson. The view from our campsite is lovely with mountains and lots of cactus. On our first full day in Tucson, we visited Mission San Xavier Del Bac, in southern Tucson. The church was completed in 1797 and is still being  used. It is very beautiful. We visited Saguaro National Park- West Tucson Mountain District. We went to the Visitor Center and took the Bajada Scenic Loop Road. We took some short nature walks. One of the walks was at Signal Hill to see some petroglyphs and another was called the Desert Discovery Nature Trail. The area is really stunning.

Mission  San Xavier del Bac

Saguaro National Park

Petroglyphs at Saguaro National Park

On Wednesday we went to Sabino Canyon Recreation Area in NE Tucson in the Coronado National Forest. The road to the top of the canyon follows the stream and crosses it several times. We usually take the tram to the last stop and then walk back down to the parking lot.It is beautiful walk with one lovely view after another. The stream was kind of high this trip and it went over two of the bridges. We had to cross these bridges and our feet got pretty wet. The water actually went over our boots crossing one of the bridges! It was a lot of fun and luckily, we brought other shoes along. After our nice walk we treated ourselves to lunch out a a nearby Mexican restaurant.

Sabino Canyon

"Wet Feet" Bridge

The Arizona Sonoran Desert Museum is another of our favorite places in Tucson. It is kind of a combination of zoo, aviary, botanical garden and museum. We always make sure we get there in time for the raptor free flight program. The birds we saw this time were a Chihuahuan Raven, a Great Horned Owl, a Crested Caracara and 5 Harris Hawks. It is quite surprising the first time they fly less than a foot over your head. We also went to an animal show and saw a Military Macaw, a Porcupine and a Barn Owl. We walked all the trails and saw lots of native animals including a wolf, coyotes, javelinas, an otter, a mountain lion and lots more. We also enjoy the hummingbird aviary and the native birds aviary. They have very nice cactus garden too.

Porcupine

3 Harris Hawks

Crested Caracara

Great Horned Owl

The weather was getting warmer, so on Friday, we went to Madera Canyon Recreation Area in the Santa Rita Mountains of Coronado Nations Forest.  It is south of Tucson near Green Valley and is known to be a great birding spot. Because of its elevation and the creek running through it, the landscape is totally different than in Tucson. We parked at a picnic area at 5400 feet and walked down on the nature trail to a picnic area at 5000 feet. We returned to our truck by walking on the road. Afterwards we went to a bird feeding station and saw even more birds: WildTurkeys, Acorn Woodpeckers, Yellow Eyed Juncos, Redstarts and Inca Doves. We saw 14 species in all!

Redstart

wild turkey

Acorn Woodpecker

Nature trail at Madera Canyon

Santa Rita Mts from Nature Trail

Yesterday and today have gotten into the mid 70’s and we even had shorts on for awhile in the afternoon. We have stayed a bit closer to our campground. Yesterday, we took a hike in Saguaro National Park. It was a nice 3.7 mile loop with cactus everywhere. Today we took a nice trail from our campground also, with many cactus. We finished the day off by going to the National Park Visitor Center for a program on the Full Moon. A ranger talked al little about the full moon and then a volunteer played his handmade wooden flutes, which are copies of Native American flutes. We were out on the visitor center porch facing east and it was so cool listening to the flute music as we watched the moon rise.

Hiking in Saguaro Nt Park

Sunset

Full Moon Rising with flutist

Yesterday, we moved on to Patagonia Lake State Park. More about that next time!