Fall Road Trip 2023 - Tucson to Portal

After leaving Tucson, we continued to head east and stopped at another Desert Museum in Rodeo, New Mexico. The Chiricahua Desert Museum is considerably smaller than the Arizona-Senora one and we both thought it was a bit run down since we'd visited there several years ago. The Apache Museum is right next door so we stopped in there as well for some interesting history of the area. 

We then headed back into Arizona and camped near Portal for a couple of nights to do some hiking in the Chiricahua Wilderness, Coronado National Forest. It's an area well know for bird watching. 

We got there late in the afternoon so just did a short hike (~20 minutes) from the campground up to Vista Point.

The following day we hiked Basin Trail which was an 11km reasonably level hike. We've been avoiding anything too strenuous as I've had a really bad cough since about 3 days into this trip. (Today I went to a medi-clinic and learned that I have bronchitis and was prescribed medications to help get better.) 

The first things we noticed was all the bear scat on the trail! Thankfully, it looked quite old and, with it being November, we hoped all the bears are in hibernation. Being the curious one though, Andrew had to take a closer look at what they eat. Juniper berries seems to be a mainstay. 

What do bears eat?

There are also a variety of cactus along the trail and I learned the hard way that you really have to pay attention to them. One like in the photo below stabbed me in the thigh as I walked by it! Despite not drawing blood, it felt like it went in a long way and the whole muscle hurt for a few hours afterwards and hurt to touch for a couple days after. 

We had great views of the valley for most of the way and the fall colours were beautiful. 

At the campground the next morning, we filled one of our water jugs and this little acorn woodpecker liked the fresh water he got from the grate. 

We then hiked a portion of South Fork Trail. We didn't get far as we'd planned as there was another very cooperative woodpecker that we spent most of our time getting closer and closer photos of. 

We saw many deer while we were in this area. They didn't seem too bothered by human activity. 

White Sands, Mountains, Desert and a Lake

After seeing the White Sands National Monument spread out before us from the distant launch sites, we had to stop there. "It's known for its dramatic landscape of rare white gypsum sand dunes." Andrew did get some dramatic photos!

Despite the fact it was quite a warm and sunny day, I was surprised by how cool the sand was on my bare feet.

My footprint in the sand.

We slowly made our way to the west coast, first stopping at Portal, Arizona, to visit a couple that Andrew had met a few years ago at an environmental conference. They have a beautiful home on the edge of the Chiricahua Mountains. Great views and incredibly peaceful and quiet. The area is also well known for many types of birds and the gentleman we spoke to at the park visitor centre said he'd seen over 100 species of birds so far this season. 

Our next stop was Tucson and a visit to the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. We'd been there a few years ago and really enjoyed it. We again spent the better portion of a day there. 

Although this guy wasn't part of the exhibits, he was definitely amusing!

We finally made it to our next flying destination near San Bernardino, California. One morning, while waiting for the potential afternoon flying, we headed up to Lake Gregory and hiked a loop around the lake.

These guys came flying/swimming/running over to us as we approached. Obviously they are well fed by people!

They quickly lost interest once they figured out we didn't have anything for them.