Off to camp/hike southern Nevada and Arizona

[Burnham]

Spent some very nice days camping down south of Tucson near the border, and then a week in Saguaro NP.

Pics from the latter.

 

[No_Bivy]

jumping cholla cactus!!!

 

[Burnham]

Steer very wide of that stuff.

Just about everything that lives out there in the Sonoran desert bites, stings, or sticks.

 

[DMc]

Beautiful pictures, Burnham.

 

[FireFighterZero]

Must be some sorta cactus wren.

Great pictures.

 

[MasterBlaster]

Those petrified trees are amazing!!!

 

[Burnham]

Jim, those are a pair of curve-billed thrushes. They seem to lead a very similar lifestyle to the cactus wrens...we saw lots of those, too. Plenty of interesting birding down there, stuff I never see at home. Phainopepla, northern cardinals, Gambel's quail, Gila woodpecker, roadrunners, elf owl.

 

[stehansen]

Love Red Rock. Mt. Charleston has a lot of good hikes also.

 

[stig]

Don't you mean Curve billed Thrasher
Never heard of the other.

Sounds like you guys did good on the birds.
Was it too early for anything but the Ocotilla to be blooming.

I think I'll show Margot Saguaro NP next time we go , she loves Cacti.

 

[Underwor]

We have some friends that live S of Tucson, near Sonoita and Elgin. It is interesting and different country down there.

 

[Buddy]

Great pics Burnham! Love those petrified trees and all that cactus... I've been threatening to go visit an old friend down in Arizona this winter but I haven't done it yet. It would be cool to see all that in person.

 

[Burnham]

Don't you mean Curve billed Thrasher
Never heard of the other.

Sounds like you guys did good on the birds.
Was it too early for anything but the Ocotilla to be blooming.

I think I'll show Margot Saguaro NP next time we go , she loves Cacti.

You are of course correct, my friend. Thrasher, not thrush. My mistake, just not paying proper attention to my own typing . And also correct...ocotillo just beginning, in a few warm and wet washes some chuparosa, and here and there some brittlebush.

 

[Burnham]

Next pics will be from Organ Pipe NP. Beautiful place, and a really weird vibe...right on the border, and a major trafficking route for drugs and humans. I'll get to those pictures soon.

 

[Mick!]

Great pics, thanks for posting.

Petrified forest is astonishing.

 

[Bermy]

Ahhh, the TreeHouse Travelogue...thanks so much for the pictures Burnham
Happy smiles on both faces

PS, that pic of the lone tree in the canyon...D'ya think Jim got there before you?

 

[SeanKroll]

You are of course correct, my friend. Thrasher, not thrush. My mistake, just not paying proper attention to my own typing . And also correct...ocotillo just beginning, in a few warm and wet washes some chuparosa, and here and there some brittlebrush.

Looks like Autocorrect changed auto correct to also correct.

Auto correct...my worst enema.

 

[Burnham]

Ahhh, the TreeHouse Travelogue...thanks so much for the pictures Burnham
Happy smiles on both faces

PS, that pic of the lone tree in the canyon...D'ya think Jim got there before you?

That's a fun picture of a cool tree, for sure. A Ponderosa pine, usually they are only found at much higher elevations down there...but that is the north facing side of Ice Box Canyon . I'd guess it was something less that 100', but so much bigger than anything else around, and way up there on a bench in the middle of those 750' tall cliffs.

 

[Burnham]

Organ Pipe NP...only 2 miles from the border with Mexico. Lots of Border Patrol activity, checkpoints, many cameras and other detection devices, and frequent warnings posted. A big fence, 18 feet tall, which doesn't seem to do much to deter illegal crossings if what we were told by locals is true. We never felt unsafe, but then we stuck to designated trails and scenic auto routes for the most part...the same sorts of places the cartel scouts and drug mules avoid.

Very interesting conversations with Park personnel. The social dynamic down there close to the border is complex, to say the least.

 

[MasterBlaster]

Odd how they couldn't keep the fence straight.

 

[Burnham]

It's the same thing with how they can't keep roads straight, from your experience as a flatlander, Butch. It's much less work to follow the contours of the land than bulldoze, cut and fill, to get straight lines. Especially if you're trying to make it hard to get under or over the fence.

 

[MasterBlaster]

Shows you what I know about fence building!

 

[gf beranek]

Beauties. Thanks for sharing, B

 

[biggun]

Thanks for taking the time to post the pictures.

I was at the petrified forest in '97. We did NP after NP on that trip.

Have you every made it to Acoma Pueblo?