Wednesday, 4/16 – Sunday, 4/26: We spent a leisurely week (plus) changing from site 7, t0 9 to 2, taking walks and trying to find the adventure wherever we could. Here are the highlights:
- Did some local birding on the site, trails and Flying W picnic area. Saw hooded orioles, both at our site and down in the river bank cottonwoods; watched the momma house finch go in and out of the ramada to feed her hungry, squealing chicks; Gambels quail calling from cactus and shrubs – and constantly crossing the road; canyon wren echoing from different canyon walls (and from the bathroom wall at the picnic area); Cactus wrens all over the place; finally identified the Bell’s vireo with the help of Kaufman guide and Audubon app; Lucy, yellow and Virginia warblers at the picnic area; brown crested flycatcher, also there; western kingbird; ubiquitous vermillion flycatchers – both male and female; lots of black throated sparrows their tinkling calls and songs; verdin here and there; many turkey vultures, as many as 11 at once, seemingly flying in formation in the evening; red tailed hawks, of course. And a pair of black hawks, seeming courting above the cottonwoods, their favorite nesting place.
- Other wildlife: our first encounter with a rattlesnake – 3+ feet of it – crossing the dirt road about five feet in front of us as we started out for our morning hike; two javelina near the river – I heard a grunt as I was pursuing the (up until then) unidentified vireo, turned my head to see what looked like a black pig, ran up the trail to tell Ron who had already heard them galloping by and was watching through his binoculars; heard falling rocks and searched the cliffs to finally find a few big horned sheep – at least three ewes and a lamb – grazing on the hillside above our site. Got them in the scope but couldn’t get any clear photos; saw a couple of cottontails hopping along, first at this camp; many lizards of all shapes, colors and sizes, one of which had a tail almost three times the length of his body, another of which noisily overturned rocks and hungrily chewed whatever it was he found under there; and our camp hosts Walt and Kathy reported seeing a Gila monster by our former site.
- Woke up one morning, tried to move the van but no sound. The battery had completely died as a result of Sirius overuse – too much Broadway and CNBC without running the engine. Luckily Walt had jumper cables and was able to restart us without a problem.
- Used our outdoor shower for the first time. First Ron washed my hair then I did his. Heaven! Looking forward to trying it for an actual full body shower in a day or two. (Which we did take a few days later, thankful for the spacious sites and plentiful water.)
- Making plans to get the van serviced in Vegas, then hightailing it home, trying to dodge the Covid 19 virus as we do.
- Weather is starting to heat up drastically. Over 90 during the day and not much below 60 at night. It is the desert, after all. And the night sky looks like we are in a planetarium: stars, stars, stars, the occasional planet and the rising moon so bright it was casting shadows.
- The cactus is beginning to bloom – hope to have pictures by the next post.
The Ultimate Road Trip 