A NATIONAL FOREST DRIVE.
Day 93 – It was 29 degrees at 7 a.m. this morning. It took a long time for the sunshine to reach our campsite. Buried in the trees is beautiful, but it sure was cold!
It’s amazing how much extra time you have when you don’t have internet and cell phone connections. It’s also interesting how many things you think of that you’d like to look up (and can’t): the weather forecast, the latest news; and when planning where you’re going next, review of campgrounds, mileages from point A to point B; e-mails, texts, and the closest place to find cat food. How did we ever exist before?
We spent several hours driving through parts of the eastern side of the Coronado National Forest and the Chiricahua Mountains. First we drove south of the campground on a road that is supposed to be good for birdwatching. From what we’ve been told, this area is swarming with birders in the spring – the busiest season around here. We’d seen very few birds in the campground. One mile south of us where the dirt road ends, there were birds everywhere. Birds we don’t see in the northeast. It was great!
The scenery was beautiful wherever we went. After the birding place, we drove back to the road that leads to the campground, then continued south west to another dirt road which was narrow and wound around, climbing into the hills. We passed by two small campgrounds; one was permanently closed and the other was for tents only – the road into it was barely passable by car, let alone by a trailer/RV. At the end of the road, up in the hills, we stopped and walked around. Rob walked to a small waterfall on the creek.
We returned to the main road and decided to grab a sandwich at a place we’d seen on our way into the Forest in a tiny town called Portal. It was lunchtime and we still had lots of exploring we wanted to do. The Portal Store & Cafe was a quirky little place. There were hardly any people there, but there were enough tables, especially outside, to feed a large crowd. When I asked our server when the busy time of year was, that’s when we found out that this area was a big birding destination in the spring. The service was excellent, the food was good, and we were told they have WiFi, so tomorrow we’re going back again and bringing the computer, so we can look up some campgrounds, mileages, & directions.
After lunch we drove on a loop road west & north, beginning near the Cafe. It was almost immediately unpaved, another dirt road. It started out easy to drive on, but about 45 minutes in, it was almost impassable with rocks and several streams crossing the road. The Honda did well. We took it very slow. The scenery was again amazing. We climbed to an elevation of 6,475 feet. The road was pretty much a single lane; we rarely encountered anyone else. At times it was muddy and sometimes there was snow on the sides of the road. We returned to the campground and went out to the tent, spending the remaining part of the afternoon reading our books. The high today was 56 degrees, with hazy sunlight, and low wind.
After we leave this area of the National Forest, we’re going to stay close to the western side of the mountains for more exploring. That side has mountains that reach up to more than 11,000 feet. And the Chiricahua National Monument supposedly has some stunning rock formations and scenery.
After it got dark, Rob went out and took some more star pictures.
Love the birds!