Arizona

Saturday, April 21, 2007
NM parks put on a program about migratory birds. There are 240 species that hang out in the area and we found in a quick walk-about you could see over 30 birds. A treat for us seeing was an injured peregrine hawk that one of the rangers had to rehabilitate – on permit The afternoon sessions were canceled due the forecast of high winds and the desire of the park employees who lived over six hours away desiring to get home before the weekend was over.

Signs on I25 alert travelers that Aerry Derry is the next exit. Turns out they are two towns close together. I though it was proper that the signs did not read Derry Aerry. Well the signs do read that way southbound.

Sunday, April 22, 2007
We drove about four hours west to Benson, AZ. We intended to stay one night. But the CG is so nice and there are so many things we would like to do in the area, we will stay through Wednesday and then go on to Tucson. The CG is mostly vacant and has a pool and hot tub all at a good price.

We washed the van yesterday, first time in a month. It looked clean until we hit a swarm of honey bees on I10 today. It was over in a flash, leaving a hundred or so bees splattered mostly on the windshield.

Monday, April 23, 2007
Today we went to Chochise Stronghold. I was not expecting much. Dorothy was keyed up for it. It turned out to be one of the best hikes we have had. It was a rather easy one-mile hike over mostly easy terrain. The trail goes up a canyon, mostly through a wash to Chochise Spring. Which was probably not named by the Chief, but in honor of him. Now that the whites have killed most of the Indians, it’s PC to honor them.

Chochise did not think of the place as a stronghold, but the place where he and his clan lived. However, the geography could not have been better, it’s a fortress. They could see who was coming for miles and there are countless ambush points.

The small CG there is shaded and delightful. We will be back in the Lazy Daze.

Tuesday, April 24, 2007
We did a day trip to Chiricahua NM. We hiked one mile down the Echo Canyon trail to the “Grotto” area. We think it was the single best hike of our lives. The Apache called Chiricahua the land of standing rocks. It may also be the capital of balanced rocks. Great landscape with BLUE skies.

Chiricahua is about 30 miles from Chochise Stronghold. Perfect range for smoke signaling from Geronimo to Chochise. I have no idea if the Apache actually used smoke signals.

Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Our destination today was Ramsey Canyon which was billed as a unique micro-climate canyon. It may well be. The Nature Conservancy has bought it and charges five bucks a person to hike it. We passed.

We drove to Bisbee, AZ, billed as an historic mining town. It is. Since the copper mine did not play out until 1952, all of the stone buildings are in decent shape and have been taken over by artists catering to tourists. Bisbee also has a population of old hippies. I always wondered where they wound up. We had delightful Mexican fare for lunch. Drove home through Tombstone, which has nothing worth seeing.