We left WY for CO to take care of some house related errands before closing on our new house in South Fork, CO this past Friday. It’s been a hectic week-end moving all our belongings from the RV into the house and cleaning, organizing, doing yard work and lots of laundry. The house came furnished so we can spend the weekend in the house, but we leave tomorrow (Monday) to head back east and grab furniture and things we’ve had in storage for the last five years. Leading up to this moment has been both exciting and bittersweet. It feels like our RV adventures are ending. But we hope once a Coronavirus vaccine is available to the masses, that we can take a few RV trips again, perhaps next summer. In the meantime, we love our new house and look forward to watching wildlife in the neighborhood- bears do come through as well as deer, elk, lots of rabbits, and chipmunks; also we were told by the previous owner we would see turkey in the back yard (sure enough, we saw four this morning). And we especially look forward to snow and the ski season. We are about 30 minutes from Wolf Creek Ski Area and plan to play in the snow a lot this winter, providing there’s a way for ski areas to stay open. I’m gonna wrap this up now because I have some windows to wash, some dishes to sort through (there are a lot of items one inherits with a furnished house that you have to find a new home for), and a shower to scrub. Stay safe, and have a great week!
Campers are out in force! We left CO after inspection on our new house because closing wasn’t for three weeks, so we went to Grand Teton National Park and Yellowstone. We didn’t make reservations to camp in the parks, because we knew where to find dispersed camping near the parks. This would allow us to keep distant from other campers and to enjoy some areas not as populated as the national parks. But we planned excursions into both parks, by bicycle, foot and by car. What we discovered is that the number of people using dispersed campsites (sites that are free with limited services, usually in National forests or BLM land), has greatly increased this year. We talked to park rangers and learned that the park system and neighboring towns were seeing more tourists and first time campers than last year! This at a time when both parks didn’t hire back the number of staff as usual and didn’t expect things to be busy. But like us, many, many people eager to get out of their homes and to outrun Covid-19 are turning to the outdoors and camping. We were surprised how many people drove dozens of miles into the forests to perch their campers on bluffs, at the end of dirt roads in precarious places, or found shade along streams and rivers. We camped about six miles down the bumpy gravel part of Gros Ventre Rd outside Jackson - well known for wildlife sightings. From there for a week we kayaked in Atherton Lake, drove further into the forest in the car looking for wildlife, hiked and swam. Although there were a lot of campers fishing, ATVing, and driving the road, we still found hikes with no one else on the trails, or at most 1-2 other hiking parties; these trails were not in the parks, but in national forests. We biked in the Grand Teton Park and saw lots of bikers coming in as we were leaving...you had to start early to avoid crowded trails. In Yellowstone we drove in around 5:30-6am (the best time for wildlife spotting AND to beat the crowds), but got caught in late afternoon traffic leaving the park through the southern entrance. We wore our masks if we got out to watch wildlife and a crowd gathered, or in two cases we walked atop a hill 75 yards away from the crowd and sat down out-of-sight to watch wolves in the distance. This was delightful. The first day we watched a member of the Slough Creek pack on a ledge above a buffalo herd for about two hours. Friends from our bear viewing escapades in AK happened to be camping on the north side of the park and had been driving in each night, looking for wildlife. They had spotted bears and wolves on a buffalo carcass nearby and told us where to be on the look out. The day we got there, the carcass was picked clean but because Rodger and Sue Knox told us where to look, we enjoyed watching this black wolf and another dark wolf greet briefly, and mostly we watched the black wolf wander in and out of sage brush. Photographs were terrible from a detail perspective, but they show a black dot in the distance and remind me of the joy we felt that day. Another day we went to a well known area for wolves in Hayden Valley and walked up a hill. A man with his son were there and thought they saw a coyote or wolf in the distance. With our excellent star gazing binoculars, Terry spotted a different black wolf slowly moving away from where we stood. We sat there for over an hour watching the wolf meander towards the tree line. Twice, he trotted towards a flock of geese, making them take flight. As we sat on the hill watching his movements, Rocket stayed in the car. The sun got hot by late afternoon, but in the earlier hours of the day Rocket was fine with all the windows down. During or after lunch each day, we took him into a creek or river to play fetch and cool off. Twice on our Yellowstone visits, we connected with friends. The first day, our friends the Knox’s met us at Slough Creek in time to get a glimpse of the black wolf surveying the buffalo. We ate lunch at a social distance and then caravanned to other nearby parts of the park in search of bears and other wildlife. We saw pronghorn, courting buffalo, hawks and ravens, an Osprey family on the nest, and two black bears (separate spots) but they were distant and not photographable. It was great to see Rodger & Sue, and to retrieve a large golf umbrella we left leaning against a tree in British Columbia last summer bear viewing! Sue and Rodger live in GA but brought the umbrella with them on the off chance we’d find them looking for bears halfway across the country! The other friends we enjoyed Yellowstone with are Cindy and Russ Shaw. We became fast friends this trip at a dispersed campsite (one of our favorites) just outside the southern entrance of Yellowstone. I’ve written about Grassy Lake sites before because this is the third time over the last five years, we’ve stayed there. These unique sites are in seven areas with a varying number of free sites in each. They lie in the John D Rockefeller Parkway which connects the road from Grand Teton National Park with Yellowstone. Most of the seven dispersed site areas have room for only one camper, but the first site has room for four, and the second has room for two. Every time we’ve stayed at site #2 which has room for two campers. This year there were so many campers looking for sites that most of the areas had more than the sites allow (on several nights we had 3 in our area meant for only 2). These areas have vault toilets, bear proof food bins and trash cans, and they are maintained by park rangers. Campers are limited to a fourteen day stay. They are superb sites along the Snake River. The Shaw’s arrived the same day we did, and we loaned them our inter tubes to float down the river. Every day we each did that in late afternoon to cool off, and they were so grateful they invited us for snacks and a bonfire each night. (Snacks in the time of Covid-19 meant each couple had our own bowls of nuts and chips and dip, poured out without touching the food). Russ and Cindy we’re fortunate enough on one float down the river to spot a mother otter and her pups frolicking in the beach. We told them of our love for bear viewing and wildlife spotting and of our time watching wolves in Yellowstone so one day, they tagged along in their car and we hung out together in the park. We looked for hours in several places for wolves and arrived just after sunrise, but we didn’t see any wolves. We did see elk, marmots, an otter, buffalo, lots of hawks, and even enjoyed watching a deer cross the creek right towards where we were having our lunch in our lawn chairs - away from all the crowds of tourists at roadside picnic tables. Another thing we did with the Shaws was to hike to the hot springs not far from our campsite. There are two named springs - Blueberry and Polecat Creek - and they offer varying temperatures. There was another family when we arrived, but they soon left and we settled in 6’apart. The Blueberry spring has a pool down by the river and one about 50’ above which has a view of the Tetons. We’ve been in it when the Tetons were snow capped, but it’s also nice to bathe when the yellow wildflowers and green fields abound. The water was really, really hot - maybe 108° on this visit, but we had a lovely time chatting and soaking. The Shaws had seen a bull moose, and a cow and her moose calf all together nearby the spring one day we weren’t with them. We scanned the fields and didn’t see the moose, but it’s a lovely spot to see moose. Rodger and Sue also stayed here a few weeks before us, and they too spotted moose. We were fortunate to see several in the Tetons, none in Yellowstone. We left WY for CO to take care of some house related errands before closing on our new house in South Fork, CO this past Friday. It’s been a hectic week-end moving all our belongings from the RV into the house and cleaning, organizing, doing yard work and lots of laundry. The house came furnished so we can spend the weekend in the house, but we leave tomorrow (Monday) to head back east and grab furniture and things we’ve had in storage for the last five years. Leading up to this moment has been both exciting and bittersweet. It feels like our RV adventures are ending. But we hope once a Coronavirus vaccine is available to the masses, that we can take a few RV trips again, perhaps next summer. In the meantime, we love our new house and look forward to watching wildlife in the neighborhood- bears do come through as well as deer, elk, lots of rabbits, and chipmunks; also we were told by the previous owner we would see turkey in the back yard (sure enough, we saw four this morning). And we especially look forward to snow and the ski season. We are about 30 minutes from Wolf Creek Ski Area and plan to play in the snow a lot this winter, providing there’s a way for ski areas to stay open. I’m gonna wrap this up now because I have some windows to wash, some dishes to sort through (there are a lot of items one inherits with a furnished house that you have to find a new home for), and a shower to scrub. Stay safe, and have a great week!
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The next day we bought foam cans so Terry could plug up any holes to storage bins and ways inside the coach. We bought a second mousetrap, some repel packets with castor oil and peppermint oil (supposedly mice don’t like the smell), and we dipped cotton balls in peppermint extract and placed them in cabinets inside the coach and each storage bin underneath. All this after we thought we had the proper repellants and strategies to foil mice. A few weeks earlier when we met “the family,” I freaked when we went hiking, and I realized a mouse had eaten through the mesh pocket on the outside of my backpack trying to get to the dog bones I had packed in anticipation of the next day’s hike. What made me so anxious was that the backpack had been sitting on the RV dashboard the night before the hike, and Rocket was sleeping just a few feet away! Sure enough when we returned to the RV, I found droppings and evidence that one of the family had eaten my pencil eraser! These mice weren’t just intruding for some delectables, they didn’t even have the good sense to seek out tasty food - just dry old dog bones and pencil erasers! So while this was a great isolated and scenic campsite, we relocated.
I don’t have many photos to go with this blog, but below is a funny video of Terry releasing mice and me screaming at one of them who runs straight towards the car door where I’m filming! https://youtu.be/2iBMy85A8Co (Be sure and turn up the sound!). Not my best videography, but good for a chuckle. Another video, (not shown below) shows Terry trying to get the mouse to leave his temporary home. https://youtu.be/XPJbP1gZ_38 If you have any suggestions on how to repel mice in an RV please share, and well give it a try! This week we watched young deer kick boxing, a coyote mousing, a hummingbird drink from a trumpet flower, an elk cow and her calve browse, and a chipmunk forage - all from our RV front window which overlooks a valley stream and meadow. It’s been a great place for a holiday week of social distancing while being up close with nature. It started Monday when we moved to a part of the Rio Grande National Forest close to Wolf Creek Pass near Pagosa Springs, CO to explore the area. There is a campground in the forest up the road from us that is closed (Tucker Pond), but lots of dispersed sites are available. We didn’t want to drive the rig too far up into the forest over bumpy gravel roads but found a great site just 1.25 from Rt. 160. We perched the RV on a narrow bluff overlooking Pass Creek and a beautiful area below to watch for wildlife. The first couple of nights we questioned our wisdom, because the wind howled. At 40 mph gusts, the shake and noise was a bit unnerving, but we’ve endured much stronger winds than that before, so decided to stay put. Later in the week, those winds were gone and we’ve been rewarded with the wonderful animal sightings. From this location, we’ve explored a few areas...but the closest is Pass Creek Road that continues for miles passing the closed campground through hills with views of Spruce forest, meadows of grass and wildflowers, and mountain streams. Most nights we drive up the road looking for animals, and we always see something. We haven’t spotted any moose or bear in the road here, but we’ve also hiked to places where they might be. The nights have been cool, but the days sunny and warm - not hot and humid. Terry is loving the low humidity and in the Colorado sunshine, 57° feels like 70. Our exploration of this area has included driving scenic roads nearby, hiking in both the South San Juan and Weminuche Wilderness areas, floating down the San Juan river, and enjoying the hot springs in Pagosa Springs. First let me write about Pagosa Springs. The town is built around the river which bubbles past little parks, the visitor center, the hot springs resort, and onto a conservation wetland. There are small shops catering to tourists, inflatable tube rental outfitters, ATV rental stores, gift shops and restaurants, accompanied this summer by a delightful spirit. The visitor center wouldn’t allow visitors inside, but the nice staff member came to the door and handed me pamphlets and answered questions the day before our float. She gave me a map of town with color coded walkways showing how to get back to you car from various parking places. The draw for us here is the river so we bought some inflatable tubes the next day from Dollar General and after a hot, sweaty hike on Turkey Creek Trail (yes we saw a turkey), we cooled off with a float down the river for a couple of hours before walking back to the car. Along the river are several places you can haul out and take a break at a park or soak in a hot spring alongside the river. The water this time of year is very low, and Colorado needs rain. Several times my butt hit rocks as the current pulled us down river which is why I think most of the rental tubes have bottoms as well as back rests. Our tubes were for kids 12+ and had no bottoms nor backs, but we thoroughly enjoyed our float. The river wasn’t so crowded that we were floating next to others very often - just a couple of times did we bump tubes in a rapid and then move right along. When we soaked in the hot springs in two different areas, we were 4-6’ apart and the change over of folks was often so we didn’t feel we were exposing ourselves to the “virus.” On the streets, there were a lot of vacationers (especially from Texas) eating ice cream cones, shopping, and picnicking. We kept to ourselves and didn’t visit the vendors. And we did all of this on Thursday, before the 4th of a July festivities started: they had outdoor vendors and activities Friday-Sunday. Other days, we did scenic drives like the 23-mile Park Creek forest road. This is a gorgeous drive that takes you through some lovely meadow areas where you can scope for elk, deer and other wildlife. You have to drive slowly because the road is gravel and bumpy. It took us about an hour and a half and we made our way to the end which is an old mining area, and turned right another four miles to a dead end that takes you to a hike in the San Juan Wilderness. Here we hiked to a bowled out meadow ringed by hills with snow patches on one side and woodlands on the other three. It was a spectacular place made even more special because we didn’t meet any other hikers. We enjoyed scoping for animals, and Rocket enjoyed digging for ground squirrels and rolling in the snow patches. At one point he slid down the snow on his back until Terry stopped him before hitting a rock! Because we wanted to take our time driving there and back, looking for animals and adding a hike as well, we took lunch and late afternoon snacks. In keeping with our social distancing theme of the holiday week, we took a few hikes around Big Meadows Reservoir which is just a few miles from our campsite. One was the Archuleta Trail which ends at a lake, but we weren’t sure how far it was. The guidebook claims you will see wildlife, and we did! We hiked around Big Meadows lake and up into the wilderness until the elevation kept me from wanting to finish the 7 miles (one way) at Archuleta Lake. Terry and Rocket climbed on while I scoured for marmots in a rocky area and played with my new camera settings. This hike starts at 9,200’ and gains elevation ending at 12,200’. While we’ve been hiking at these higher elevations lately, I’ve been going slowly, feeling the effect when trails get steep like this one did after about five miles. The weather was perfect for hiking, and we saw marmots, deer, chipmunks, geese, and ducks. But the fine dust in this part of Colorado, and the dry air do irritate my skin and allergies. I’ve had to take allergy pills to keep from sneezing all day, and I really think it’s the dust. Other hikes we took around Big Meadows Reservoir include a hike up the washed out forest road from Shaw Lake to Hunters Lake, and one on an old logging road near the Big Meadows Campground. Both hikes were interesting because of the weather. Saturday, July 4 was forecast to include an afternoon storm after 2pm, so we started at 7am. Well, the storm came earlier than expected. The hike is mostly (about 6 of 7 miles) on a dirt road that was once drivable until water and rocks slid down the mountain and washed out the road. Now closed, we figured few hikers would want to hike up the road to Hunters Lake since Shaw Lake was easily accessible for them, coming before the road closure. And we saw quite a few groups fishing, swimming and picnicking. After the six mile walk on the road, a one mile trail takes you to Hunters Lake - a small and secluded body of water where a merganser mother quickly whisked her babies out of sight. And although we were told moose inhabited the area around the lake, we saw none. We reached the lake without seeing another hiker, but we did see a distant herd of about 50 elk, half a dozen chipmunks, and way too many cows. The cows are allowed to graze in the forest and have a habit of lying down in the middle of the road. We saw several groups of cows with calves, and the mothers got nervous for their babies when Rocket was around. But Rocket doesn’t herd the cows the way we’d like him to - to move them out of the road. He stares them down and then runs into the woods in wide circles meaning we’re left to face off the nervous moms while they look around for the crazy canid. In the end, Terry’s waving of his hat and yelling “move along” was more effective than our border collie! On the way back to the car, thunder rumbled, rain spattered, and eventually hail descended. Rocket is very afraid of thunder and other loud sounds, and he was frantic to get back to the car. So he and I left Terry to come at a slower pace, while we ran and stumbled through the storm over the last few miles. We all made it safely off the trail, but boy were we tired. It was about a 14 mile hike, but Rocket ran a lot of it as he chased chipmunks, squirrels and marmots. He ran over countless downed trees as a result of a fire about six years ago. On the trail to the lake, we all had to climb over or slide under many downed trees. And these areas make us a bit nervous when storms are forecast. We’ve been caught before in burn areas during a storm, and old burned out trees snap and creak as the wind often takes them down. So we were glad to be hiking down the road during this storm rather than in a tight wooded area where they can fall on you! As for the other hike made interesting by weather, that one was today and took place on an old logging road near Big Meadows Campground. The only reason we knew about the road was because a South Fork visitor center naturalist told us bear and moose have been seen there. He had recommended other spots and we didn’t see the mega fauna so when we began the hike, I had my doubts about what we’d see. About an hour and a half into the trail, thunder began to rumble and rain spatter. Terry told me and Rocket to once again run ahead so Rocket could get to the car and feel safe. I didn’t particularly like splitting up, but Rocket was nervous so he and I ran ahead. Soon I was sorry to have done so. Terry called me about a half hour later, and I quickly worried he had fallen. Instead, it was good news. He had just seen a mother bear with two spring cubs run by him on the trail! Our first bear sightings of 2020, and only he saw them. The mother ran down the trail away from him and then crossed over the trail and ran into the spruce trees giving him just a quick look at her large body and the two small cubs running behind. So we are very happy to have spent this holiday week here enjoying nature, while staying socially distanced from other vacationers. It’s Sunday and many of the campers have left the forest, but there are still quite a few fishing in the streams and lakes, and a few on their ATV’s. We hope you and your family have had a safe and happy 4th of July, celebrating what made America great over 200 years ago - our freedom.
Who buys a house during a pandemic? Well we did, and apparently, other folks are buying too, but inventory is low so in many areas of the country, competition for the few houses available in your price range, means they move quickly. We discovered this in SW Colorado where we were searching in four areas: South Fork, Del Norte, Pagosa Springs, and Creede. These towns are close to Wolf Creek Ski area where we want to live. When we arrived on the scene last Monday and learned it was a seller’s market, that homes we saw online the previous week were under contract, and that there were only about a dozen in our price range, we were dismayed and surprised. In talking with others in real estate in Richmond and Atlanta, we learned the real estate market is picking up, and homes are selling quickly. We vowed not to get pressured into buying something too quickly because after all, we have our home on wheels and don’t need to buy right away. But by Wednesday, we found a good deal in this fabulous town full of character - Creede, CO - and we wrote a contract. There was a contract written the day before on the same house, but those buyers couldn’t afford to buy the small lot the seller owns which is out the back door. We didn’t want the seller to use it to store junk (he’s moving a couple hours away) or sell it to someone who would build and obstruct a beautiful mountain view, so we included that lot in our offer and the seller accepted. THE TOWN Creede is an old mining town (like so many in CO). Silver brought miners here in 1869 but was hard to extract. By 1889 the boom began and the town ballooned from 600 to about 10,000 in 1891! One claim to fame for this little mining town is it was the last Colorado silver boom town in the nineteen century. While silver prices plummeted in the panic of 1893, Creede didn’t join others that became ghost towns. The mountain rock held zinc, lead, copper, silver and gold and mining continued through 1966. Here were some interesting characters in the town’s history on the Wiki page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creede,_Colorado
THE HOUSE We envisioned buying a small home since we don’t need much space and had sold or given away many belongings before our five year RV odyssey began. And we looked at some small homes, but none that had both the view we want and a layout we like. The house we contracted for has 5 bedrooms and 3 baths, a two car garage, and is about 2800 square feet sitting on two combined lots which are just over a half acre. But it was priced right and the back porch sold us on the property. The inspection is July 10, and if all goes well, closing is August 19. What follows will be another trek cross country to both VA, MD and VT to gather belongings and clear out our storage unit so we can settle in the house early September. It will be a complicated process as we navigate traveling with this virus in our midst. But we don’t feel like risking air travel so will drive back and forth, leaving our RV in Creede. We may camp along the way to minimize contact in hotels, and we’ll take food with us to avoid interacting with folks at restaurants. Our brave new world, huh? THE PROCESS We arrived in Colorado just a week ago and spent two nights on our son’s land. It was great to see Sundance after nine months and to reunite with his dog Zappa and kitties. Rocket especially enjoyed staring down the cats both from afar through the window and in Sundance’s house. Sundance is working three jobs now, so we didn’t linger since he’s gone all day. By Monday, we were doing drive-by home inspections - checking out the neighborhoods and homes we had already viewed online. That eliminated about a third of the twelve we had identified. Then we called listing agents of several properties and explored Creede for the first time. The agents wore masks in the homes and sanitized them before and after each showing. We used hand sanitizer as well. The last one we saw is the house we contracted at 327 Holy Moses Drive! While working with the agent in his Main Street office, Rocket came in and met the office dog Maggie. Maggie doesn’t much care for dogs who are in her face, but Rocket, aloof as ever, ignored her. At one point he showed much more interest in the open back door (people and dogs come and go through open front and back doors), and I discovered that the night before a bear had come through town and rummaged through the office trash out back! Not sure if Rocket was reacting to his scent. (Realty office had just bought a bear proof can but forgotten to put trash in it, instead using the old can). The sellers countered our original offer, and the realtor suggested we should go back to the house for a second look while the owners were there and meet them. To me that seemed really strange and small town dealing, but I’m glad we did. They have lived there over 30 years and Kelly, the male, had a lot to say about his renovations and life on Holy Moses Dr. It was really good to get a tour with him and talk with his wife about the neighborhood. Most importantly, I learned that herds of elk and deer move through the field across the backyard in winter. And one day, a neighbor called to tell Elaine a young black bear had climbed the telephone pole in the backyard. He had recently been kicked of by his mother and didn’t realize the subdivision wasn’t prime habitat. The sellers described their neighbors and told us about half of them only reside here in the summer - some from TX, some from OK. That’s probably because it can get pretty cold here.
It was an interesting 100 mile hike for me; 160 miles for Terry, especially during the Coronavirus pandemic. But what happened my last day of the hike was so unexpected, such a nice surprise and totally random, that I can only label it as “trail magic.” After eight days of hiking, Terry and I were on our way to where we dropped our car near Boiling Springs/Carlisle, PA and we planned to get a hotel room for the night, before I drove back to VA - about 5.5 hour drive. I was a few minutes behind Terry on the trail, and we were NOBO’s (northbound hikers) when a SOBO hiker engaged Terry in conversation. By the time I caught up he was handing Terry a piece of note paper with the name of a deli in NJ near the AT – a place his buddy had started. When I arrived, he asked if I too was planning to hike the whole trail, and I told him I was not. He told us his trail name (more about names later) – “I’m Obsessed.” Terry explained he was “Blurry Man” and I was “Ellie May” (after Ellie May Clampett from the Beverly Hillbillies who had a fondness for wild animals). Then he handed Terry a $100 bill and said he wished him luck – that he was handing them out to all the through hikers (through hikers plan to hike the whole 2190 miles). Terry exclaimed, “oh no, please save it for someone else – I’m OK.” But “I’m Obsessed” insisted and off he trotted. Now we’ve heard about trail magic and even witnessed some ourselves over the years, but hiking the trail during this time of Covid:19 has been strange, to say the least. And we didn’t expect to meet any trail angels. But here he was be-bopping south on the AT in PA spreading love and joy! As Terry hiked in the coming days he met other hikers who were the beneficiaries of “I’m Obsessed’s” generosity. All said they were eager to go to the deli and pay it forward by buying subs and munchies and sharing with others. Sometimes trail angels give you a ride into town, allow you to use their shower & launder clothes, one even took a hiker to a concert! But we thought that trail angels would be sheltered in place right now. That day was an interesting one for several reasons, but the most memorable was meeting “I’m Obsessed.” Also what happened on that last day of my hike was a fierce, but short lived thunderstorm during mid day. We had decided that once the rain started, we wouldn’t put on rain gear because it would be refreshing to wash the sweat off our bodies and wash out our week-old hiking clothes. It would be our natural shower, but when the downpour came (accompanied by thunder claps and lightning flashes) not only did it pour down our bodies, it settled into our boots. So all day we hiked with shriveled feet and soggy socks. Three or four miles from the parking lot we began hiking - oddly enough - through corn fields. The trail from Georgia to Maine runs across private, state, federal lands and in this particular spot, the trail conservancy wants to preserve the land as it historically had been used so there’s a path through corn and what I think was a soybean field…nice and flat. When we came into town, the trail crosses over a creek where we saw about a dozen young folks wading and swimming in the water as we heard a loudspeaker off to our left from a cement pond! There was a huge town swimming pool, and the pool was open for business. We were surprised, but happy for the residents because it was a hot day. As we walked the path along the lake and into town, we stopped to chat with a nice older gentleman out for a walk. He was happy to hear that we were seeing the country in our RV and now on foot and enjoying life before our bodies get too old to recreate. Within a few more miles, was our car and we used Google maps to find the closest hotel which was a modern Microtel Wyndham. It was strange to arrive to a nearly empty parking lot and read the sign on the door that no one could enter without a mask. Inside, the 2 receptionists were 6’ apart and wore masks and gloves with plastic shields in between us. (I have to say we only saw 3 hikers wearing masks of the 50+ we saw in 8 days on the trail.) The sign in the lobby said the seating area for breakfast was closed but they would have take -way items for breakfast, free. (All the appliances were covered, and any breakfast sandwiches in a mini fridge could be heated in your room microwave.) There were several bowls of fresh apples in the lobby – all the fruit was individually wrapped in plastic. It was eerily quiet in the hotel but very comfortable, especially for a couple whobadly needed hot showers and fluffy pillows. I picked up a pizza and beer that was delish, and the hotel even had a laundry room for our stinky hiking and camp clothes. For AT hikers, most carry two sets of clothes: one you hike in (quick drying shorts & shirt, pair of socks – underwear optional); and one you change into in the evening around camp (lightweight long hiking pants and shirt with comfortable socks). So there wasn’t a lot of laundry to do, but I was glad that Terry could continue on the next day with a clean body placed into clean clothes. (It wasn’t necessarily important to him though.) A few things about hiking during the Coronavirus…. There were people who started the trail in late Feb and early March who we met, having hiked half way of their 2190-mile journey. Some got off the trail for short periods,and others just kept hiking. I asked if they found it difficult to catch a ride into towns for resupplying or if they had a hard time finding supplies, and they all agreed they had no problems. I think when Terry heard that, he wondered then “what have I been doing waiting for things to open up?” He originally had planned to start 3/30 but felt things were too unsettled, and the AT Conservancy was discouraging hikers from coming on the trail this year. Several states closed shelters and pit toilets because so many day hikers who live close to cities were trying to get out into nature and hike with the early shelter-in-place order. Parking lots were full, trails were crowded and the conservancy was worried about congregating hikers spreading the virus by using the picnic tables, shelters and toilets. By the time we started on the trail, experts were indicating that hiking was one of the lowest risks of catching the virus. Since we never planned to sleep in the three sided shelters with other hikers but to instead carry a two-person tent, we decided to begin 5/27 at Harper’s Ferry (MD side) and hike north, carrying hand sanitizer and wet ones, keeping our distance from folks on the trail and at the camping areas around the shelters. I had decided back in the fall that I no longer wanted to hike all 2190 miles at one time, but Terry was still determined to hike it. The virus cut into his plans making it difficult for him to finish in the four months we had left before Oct (need to be in Colorado to find a home to settle in before snow sets in). BUT he was determined to give it his all and hike the northern section first, fly down to GA after finishing in ME and then hike the southern portion from GA to VA (he’s already done 165 miles of the VA-MD section). We were surprised to see signs along the MD section of the trail by order of the governor declaring the shelters and toilets were closed. (90% of these signs we read laying on the ground, having been torn down by someone.) But half of the toilets were open, and it’s hard to keep folks out of a three sided, un-lockable shelter in the middle of the woods, so those usually had people sleeping in them. In PA, there were no signs from the governor but some of the toilets were locked. Which I have to say was just downright mean and silly, creating problems for not just the hikers but the trail caretakers. I mean AT through hikers carry hand sanitizer and no one’s lingering too long if they can help it in those stinky pit toilets. I enjoyed being out on the trail and hiking the 100 miles I did, but my feet were very sore; and, I missed my comfortable bed and warm showers. It was really fun to meet the other hikers – many who slept in the shelters,often with strangers, and managed to stay virus free(Jumpstart, Data, Pinestick, Josh and others). I mentioned trail names earlier, and it’s a tradition to acquire or be giving a trail name which other hikers will use to refer to you along the trail, instead of your given name. Terry’s been Blurry Man for a few years since he doesn’t want his face on social media and I blur his image. He dubbed me Ellie May since I adore wild animals, and in The Beverly Hillbillies show of the 1960’s-70’s she had raccoon, possum, and monkeys as pets. And we heard some wonderful night sounds of owls, coyotes, foxes, whippoorwills and frogs to name a few. We had some hideous weather – humidity was crazy high several days,and we dripped as we walked. And there was quite a bit of rain – mostly after hiking at night. But we didn’t get cold, and we had plenty of food and water. For me, the part we walked in MD & into PA was not too hard. I’m not exactly fond of 2-3,000’ elevation gains so these sections were much lower, thankfully. But there was a lot of rock walking, and that gets tricky when the rocks are wet. I left Terry on a Thursday with a plan to rejoin him in three weeks for a birthday celebration – somewhere on the trail in NY or NJ. He was to call me on Saturdays and Tuesdays if he had a signal. When I didn’t hear from him Saturday, I assumed he didn’t have a signal. But then on Sunday morning, while I was out on a run he left a couple of messages…he needed a pick up from PA. It was disheartening to hear his messages, because I knew how much he wanted to complete this hike. But try as he might, he couldn’t get comfortable because his shoulder was aching. It was hard to sleep and deflating or inflating the mattress didn’t seem to matter, Advil and rest weren’t keeping the pain at bay. It was time to listen to the body and stop this constant walking with a 30-lb. pack on his back. Or was it just that I jinxed him by telling people I met, he was going to hike the whole trail? You see, several times now – first in 2018, then 2019 – we had both planned to hike the whole trail, and I announced it in blogs…only to have something happen shortly after each announcement that was a setback. In 2018, Terry went skiing in VT a week before we were to start the trail and broke his shoulder. In 2019, we were training for the trail when his knee started giving him fits – two tears in his meniscus meant surgery and a few months of down time. So this year, when I gave up the dream of completing the whole trail, he was still eager to do it but said don’t say anything to anyone. Of course we had to tell a few people: our son, my mother who we’ve been living with during the pandemic, Terry’s siblings (one of whom watched our dog during this 100 mile hike), etc. Even a day or two before the hike, perhaps my mention to someone on a dog walk, explaining why Terry was training so hard, just perhaps I jinxed his attempt.
It’s mid morning and the water is calm as I slowly paddle through the cove. I approach the swamp where land’s edge greets the furthest extent the water reaches. There are snags everywhere - tree stumps, branches and bushes in the water - making navigation in my inflatable kayak a bit dicey. The goal is to reach the heron rookery close enough so the birds aren’t spooked, yet close enough to get some photographs. I’ve got binoculars and let the kayak drift while I scope out the four nests, trying to count the young and adults. It’s difficult because if I glass too long on the nests, I can drift into a tree or branch. At one point, I nearly run into a partial heron carcass hanging from a bush - possibly the victim of an eagle attack! (A mature bald eagle flies over the cove as I paddle.)
I’ve not witnessed this behavior but once paired together, the male gathers sticks for the female who weaves a platform and saucer-shaped nest cup lined with small twigs, bark strips, pine needles and moss. Nest building can take from three days up to two weeks. And the finished nest can range from a simple platform measuring 20 inches across to more elaborate structures used over multiple years, reaching four feet across and nearly 3.5 feet deep. These nests are typically high in the trees, 20-100 feet off the ground, like the ones I photographed. But a friend from Texas has watched herons nest near the ground which is more common in areas free of predators. Apparently Great Blue Heron parents both incubate the 3-5 eggs for 25-29 days; and they can have two broods a season. But next year, the herons will not return as a couple; they may choose different mates each year. I watch the three squawking nestlings scream for their father’s regurgitated offerings, then within minutes, he flies off the nest. Apparently both parents regurgitate food for their offspring, but this bond will only last for the nesting season. This particular day, there are four herons in the top nest, and another adult sitting on a branch about 20’ lower. Lower still is another nest with a parent and several babies much younger and smaller, making it hard to count. In the same tree is another nest which appears to be abandoned. Weeks ago there were nestlings and an adult on that nest, so I’m not sure if the young are nestled in the bottom while parents are hunting, or if the young were lost to predation. To the right of this tree, which houses three nests, is a nest in another tree obscured by branches. This nest is difficult to photograph in the clear because too many branches make it difficult to focus. But it holds two young and an adult. After counting the birds and photographing them for about twenty minutes, I paddle through the waterlogged low hanging tree limbs and out into the open part of the cove, managing to keep the inflatable boat seaworthy! Then I swing left, away from the main channel to check on some more nests, passing turtles sunning on logs. There’s a section of dense trees on my left, and I believe there are nests in there because I’ve seen birds fly into the trees squawking. But my goal is only a few minutes paddle towards a power line cut-out where I hang a left into a narrow channel that leads to more nests I’ve viewed before. Before I even see the nests, I hear the young squawking for food. There are at least four nests that I can see, and this morning they hold seven birds in this section of the rookery. Photographing the birds is a bit harder since there are more branches in the way. Also the angle from the water to the high spaces means I can’t get too close or I won’t see much of the birds in the deep nests. When born, young herons are able to vocalize immediately, but they can’t fly until they’re about 60 days old. At that time, they continue to return to the nest and are fed by the adults for another few weeks. So visiting the rookery should be a pastime for me for weeks to come. I’ve photographed blue herons in many different states on our RV odyssey, even in Canada and Amsterdam. A familiar bird, it’s the largest heron in North America with a six-foot wing span. One of the reasons I think they’re so common, is a variable diet which allows them to exploit a variety of habitats and to winter father north than most herons. They will eat fish, amphibians, reptiles, invertebrates, small mammals, and even other birds. In fact, last September when we were bear viewing in British Columbia, a fellow photographer filmed a heron spearing and eating a rat! The herons have a quick and sharp bill that they use to spear prey and long claws to help secure and tear large animals. I love watching them both stalk prey in shallow waters, or stand utterly still and wait for their prey to swim by. They grab smaller prey in their strong mandibles or use their dagger-like bills to impale larger fish, often shaking them to break or relax the sharp spines before gulping them down. In most places they seem to spook when humans get too close, but I have found in developed urban areas some become habituated to human presence and photographers can get close. The adult herons in Clarksville seem to spook when I’m around, or other photographers. But perhaps they are more accommodating to fishermen/women. There are other birds in the area to keep tabs on, bluebirds, Osprey, Eagles, vultures, cardinals, gold finches, Canada geese, and many more. I’m guessing the young heron nestlings I spotted back in April may be fledging soon, but I can’t know when they hatched. The ages do seem to vary of the eight nests I’ve seen, so I hope to study their behavior some more in coming weeks. I’ve had a hard time blogging during Coronavirus because it seems there aren’t many interesting topics to write about since I’m not on the road. But there is other wildlife nearby, and I have some hiking and outdoor activities I’m doing, so perhaps I’ll write another nature blog in a few weeks. Until then, if you want to know more about the habits of Great Blue Herons or other herons, I suggest you check out allaboutbirds.org or birdweb.org or audubon.org. Stay safe and well, and let me know of any heron sightings!
About a month ago I wrote a blog about traveling back to VA amidst the Coronavirus outbreak and our upcoming plans. No sooner had I posted that blog on a Sunday - suggesting our plan for an Appalachian Trail (A.T.) hike of 7-10 days, when we had to pivot Monday morning. We began reading that while many were not working and were staying at home, they were actually heading to the trail for day hikes. The trail which spans 14 states and passes through 88 counties, is within a day’s drive for half of the U.S. population! Parking areas were full, picnic tables and latrines were seeing heavy traffic and folks were not social distancing. So whereas we had once thought hiking in the woods was a good way to distance from the virus, we soon learned too many others thought the same thing. Shelters where through hikers spend the night or use the picnic areas to prepare food were being closed in NJ and MD. Virginia soon followed suit. We had to rethink our plan. The Appalachian Trail Conservancy that manages the trail from Georgia to Maine requested a temporary closure on April 1. This was/is no easy task, given the public land in those 14 states is managed by national parks, National forests and a patchwork of locales. The Conservancy has promoted the benefits of experiencing nature and hiking both physically and mentally since 1925. But the group’s president said this unprecedented act was necessary: “The past few weeks have shown that the A.T. is no longer a place where effective social distancing can take place, and that drastic action must be taken to help limit the spread of this highly contagious virus both on and off the Trail.” The conservancy along with 29 of the 31 Appalachian Trail Maintaining Clubs formally requested the official closure of the 2,193-mile Appalachian National Scenic Trail (A.T.) by delivering a letter to the Secretaries of the U.S. Departments of Interior and Agriculture, the Deputy Director of the National Park Service (NPS) and Chief of the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) recommending the Trail’s closure effective immediately until April 30, 2020. So for the third year in a row, out attempts to hike the AT have been stymied. While I’ve given up the idea of hiking the entire trail in one calendar year, Terry still hopes he can, beginning May or June...of course dependent on the trail opening and the Coronavirus. So for the time being, we are staying with mom in Clarksville, Va and hiking nearby Occoneechee State Park where camping and the visitor center are closed, but hiking trails are open. We bought an annual pass on a weekend when there’s someone manning the booth at the park entrance. (During the week, there’s an honor system with envelopes for fees.) The park has a boat launch which is open, and manning the booth on weekends should help the park make some money. The ranger wore mask and gloves and had a fishing net on the end of a six foot pole which she held out to visitors’ car windows. The basket contained an envelope for you to put your money in ($7.00/day if you don’t buy the annual pass) and the ticket for your car window. Social distancing while taking payment... So we’re able to get in shape for the A.T. when it’s safe to hike it, and we’re so happy to be recreating outdoors. I’m really sorry for those in cities with limited options. We can bike ride, dog walk, hike, and even take the kayaks out on the lake. This morning I spent a few hours paddling to a nearby heron rookery in a cove. Quietly I watched as herons flew overhead, fed chicks and even did some nest building. (I saw 21 herons throughout the whole day.) There were also lots of turtles out as well as a family of geese, eagles, vultures, cormorants, even blue birds. A neighbor pointed out a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher nest. The birds were fast and flitted in and out - not sure if they had bugs - while I gawked. I’m happy to say that my family is safe; although, Terry’s Aunt Dorothy passed away April 7 in her sleep after living to be 101. Feels odd to not be able to gather with family and celebrate her life, but we will find a time when things are safer. She will be buried at Arlington Cemetery alongside her husband, Capt. Robert E Shea USM (Ret). Rest In Peace Aunt Dorothy. Stay safe friends and family, and may you find beauty wherever you are, even if it’s just the Cardinals outside your window, or a nature film on PBS!
Dear Future: In a hundred years, I hope you will consider these words. We are living in perilous times. It’s 2020, and a pandemic is sweeping the world. I know it by three names: the Novel Coronavirus (which sounds almost pleasant because of the word novel, but the name’s deceptive and the virus, anything but pleasant), Covid-19 or just the Coronavirus. Some people choose to nickname it with racial slurs, but they’re not worth repeating so I will skip that. It’s deadly, indiscriminate, and some days overwhelms our collective psyche. It’s slowly making its way around the world insinuating itself into every day life, seemingly in every corner of the globe. For me and other Americans, it means daily White House briefings, constant reports through our televisions, radio, Twitter and Facebook accounts with data about how many people are infected, how many have died, how many have recovered, how many test kits are available, and where the clusters of outbreaks are. Weekly the data gives doctors and scientists new rules for how we manage our lives: Whom we can see (but mostly whom we can not see), how close we can be to each other, whether we cover our faces, how often we wash our hands and surfaces around us. The rules get stricter, and we get more concerned. No doubt all of the above words will be obvious to you. Because I’m sure much will be written about this devastating virus, it’s after affects and the challenges it presents for our future. But here’s the thing...I want you to remember how it made us think about the world around us. I want you to remember that amidst all the charts, graphs, and data points that there was a psychological shift. And that for those of us who have time to reflect on our future (for those who aren’t swept up in trying to treat the sick or mourn the dead), there are some important lessons that can be applied to life in the future. I’m not talking about how to stockpile necessary personal protective equipment or mobilize workers to care for the sick. I’m not even talking about how to keep the supply chain running so we have safe food, toilet paper and hand sanitizer. I’m talking about the most important lesson of all. We live in a global society, and we need to protect our planet and each other. It’s really very simple. In fact it’s so simple, it’s astonishing that we’ve ignored it for decades, even centuries. If we continue to ignore the connectivity of us to each other, to all living things, we don’t deserve this Mother Earth. For Americans, it’s easy to come together to help out our neighbor - the one on our block, or in our home town, even the ones in a neighboring state. But it gets harder to look beyond our borders and realize that suffering happens everywhere. That plants and animals, clean water and air don’t recognize the borders humans draw on a map. That what happens in a small village in China may impact a little girl at school thousands of miles away. We need to take better care of each other, and while we may disagree on the way to govern individual countries, we need to at least agree on the way we take care of our planet. I find it hard to believe that in a hundred years, when most of us who lived through this horrific event are dead, that harmony will exist across borders and nation states with no warring factions. But I implore you to come together on global laws that will keep our planet safe. Climate change is real, and if anyone reads this letter in 2120, will we have taken steps to clean the water, soil, and air for future generations? Will we have recognized how connected the rainforests are to the melting ice fields? The polar bears and seals to the whales and the kelp forests? How connected we are to each other? Drought, wildfires, increased tornados and hurricanes threaten whole communities. And in turn, those devastated effects ripple through countries and across borders. So, do the consequences of viruses which can be transmitted in many ways. This Novel Coronavirus travels in respiratory droplets which can live on inanimate objects as well as travel onto our skin where it can easily make it into our mouth and lungs. It’s a pneumonia like disease that leaves some people gasping for air. And that’s the clean air of their bedroom. But it’s a metaphor for what life may be like in the future.
I’ve always been an optimistic person. I like that about myself. It enables me to get up and face the problems in life without despair taking over, even in the most dire of times. So what I’m trying to focus on today, April 4, 2020 is the other psychological shift I see taking place. Since we’re social distancing, my mom, husband, and dog Rocket and I are only interacting with folks from a distance or through our computers. But what I hear from friends on the phone, read on Facebook or emails, is that many of us are fighting the isolation by strengthening the relationships of those closest. Parents are spending more time with their children who are home from school for the last few months of the school year. Adult children who are living with their parents, are talking about the state of the world with those they love most. And important friendships are strengthened as people connect on FaceTime or Zoom where they can see each other’s laughs or tears. We’re social beings and connecting with each other is therapeutic. Another by product of this disaster is the connection musicians are making with audiences far and wide, using Facebook as a performance platform. Solo guitarists, band members connecting through computers and broadcasting duets live, even re-broadcasts of past concerts free, these have been a balm for me after watching a newscast full of death and disease. So what I want readers from the future to understand is that while this is a terrible pandemic and the suffering for many is unimaginable. The ramifications of how this will impact our financial markets, future job market, health care systems, mental health and so much more will be huge. But the one thing this pandemic has done is give us time to reflect on what’s important in our lives. For me it comes down to relationships: relationships with my family and friends, relationships with my God, my neighbors, and relationships with Mother Earth. I hope that 2120 (or any years between now and then ) will not see a pandemic like this. But if that’s the case, I sincerely hope mankind will be more conscious of our connectedness. As author Herman Melville wrote:
“A thousand fibers connect us with our fellow men. Our actions run as causes, and they come back to us as effects.” Sincerely, Holly Barden Stadtler - April 4, 2020 We love traveling the continent in our RV, but this has been an interesting few weeks as we traveled back to Virginia. OK maybe the title got you to read this - what we call a tease in television - and you’re thinking were sick. But neither Terry nor I have tested positive for COVID-19! Furthermore, we have no symptoms and have not even thought about getting a test. But we were on a two month trip traveling through Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico as the virus gained a foothold in the US. And it did give us pause. CALM BEFORE THE STORM In February we listened to some news reports and felt compassion for the folks in the nursing home in Washington state and in China. Yet we enjoyed the beach in TX, then made our way to Saguaro National Park, AZ (see desert people blog of 3/5 ) followed by a visit to Chiricahua National monument where I blogged about the Coatis (3/8). The plan was to spend a slow few weeks crossing the country next, eventually landing in Clarksville, VA by 3/25 in time for dental cleanings and some prep time for a 3/30 start date of Terry’s summer project - hiking the 2190 mile Appalachian Trail (AT). I was going to start with him and hike for 7-10 days but not spend the whole six months hiking. I would just pop in on sections and hike with him. Yet as we moved east, in early March, our plans began to change. We didn’t have a lot of personal contact with folks since we like to find off-the-beaten path places to camp and hike. And we thought we’d drive a couple of days, then stay somewhere a few days, steadily moving east. We found a nice free campsite in a town park in Haskell, TX where we had water and electricity and warm weather right beside a ball park where Terry watched (through the fence) a couple of innings of HS baseball. There was a running track around the park with a lagoon stocked with fish, and I took a nice run trying to get in better shape for hiking. And then there was the Titus County Fresh Water Supply area in TX with free camping on the lake where pelicans, blue herons, egrets and other wildlife fish and nest. We stayed there two nights. With the exception of one person, we didn’t come into close contact with anyone at these places. The one person we did come into contact was a water supply ranger who has each camper fill out a form to put in the windshield (you can camp free for 10 days). Terry used his pen for that. We didn’t think too much about that, until 48 hours later. We could have enjoyed this beautiful spot longer, but the ranger warned us that the next few days heavy rain was coming, so we just stayed the two nights. Our last night at the water supply area, President Trump addressed the American people. I didn’t watch much of it (was on the phone with a friend), but I did begin to understand that life was changing for everyone on Mother Earth. I felt things shifting but couldn’t quite grasp how or what things they were and what the future would look like. It wasn’t something visual yet. At that point there were no mobile testing sites with lines of cars, nor signs in the windows of businesses, nor face masks and gloves popping up on my social media feeds. You hear people talk about something being palpable. And that word to me conjures up the feeling someone has in a horror movie scene - as the music takes an ominous turn, the darkness descends and the hair bristles on the back of the actor’s neck...the shift is palpable. It’s a feeling in the air, but you’re not seeing the monster still hiding in the trees. These couple of days as a new reality took hold, to me there was a palpable shift. The next few days we moved across the country wondering how long we should dawdle. We considered going to camp at a state park in Myrtle Beach, then visiting our niece Amanda and going to her kids’ soccer games and dance recital in NC (those, of course, were soon canceled.) That next morning, Thursday 3/12 I began to write down everywhere we came in contact with surfaces or people that could have been carriers of the virus. I wondered if the CDC would be tracking down contacts for those infected, and I wanted to make sure two weeks later I would be able to remember. I wondered if we should hurry back to my mom in case she were in need of help or had to be quarantined. We began washing our hands diligently after filling up at gas stations or getting groceries. We did what we were being told - to stock up on a two week supply of essentials. And even though we had multiple choices for shopping since we were traveling over a thousand miles, we couldn’t find toilet paper in most stores. However, a little know secret is that RVers and boaters have to use rapid dissolving toilet paper...the kind you find in camping stores or in the auto section of Walmart. When we did find toilet paper in that section, Terry was walking through the store with several 4-packs when a frantic woman stopped him. “Where did you get that, the shelves are all bare?” Later we saw her at the check-out with her 4 packs of Scott brand TP for RVs and boaters! So quickly, that palpable feeling became a bit more tangible. The shelves were empty of toilet paper, paper towels, Clorox wipes and hand sanitizer. Next came the graphs on TV showing the stock market plunge. Trading was suspended after a 2000 point drop. We drove on, mostly alone with our thoughts with the only clear direction being east.
WHAT’S NEXT
Thankfully, none of us (Terry, mom, me) has any symptoms. We have spent most of our time in the house or walking the dog. Terry and I have been to the store and to the car repair shop - wiping car surfaces and washing our hands long and hard. And we’ve enjoyed our dog walks and runs/bike rides. We recognize Terry can’t live his dream of hiking the AT this Summer. Hikers are being discouraged from hiking the trail for several reasons: hostels and outfitters for resupplying food may be closed; trail angels who provide rides into towns will not be volunteering; shelters on the trails where hikers sleep make close contact the norm. BUT we want to get out and experience nature since there are so many things we can/should no longer do. So we may pack our car with extra food, hike a section of the AT for a few days then return to the car. We’ll take the stored food from the car and hike the opposite direction on the trail for a few days and turn around and hike back to the car. We’ll sleep in our tent and avoid the shelters, take our hand sanitizer and keep our distance from other hikers. We think the risk of infection will be low, and it will be a nice change from sheltering in the house. It will be just a short spell on the trail, something to make we feel like we still have control over our movements. That is if there’s no lock down before we get started. I hope that my next blog can be interesting and informative, perhaps even inspiring - in light of all the gloom that exists since COVID-19 came into our lives. And I hope and pray that those reading this will remain virus free and safe and healthy - wherever you are. The first thing I noticed was the long brunette tail hanging from a crook in the tree. I’d never seen one of these animals and had come to Chiricahua National Monument hoping for a glimpse and, of course, a photograph. A bicyclist had dismounted to take a picture and was in the middle of the road. He explained to us that minutes before, a pair of animals ran across the road chirping and squawking loudly. I got out of the Subaru while Terry stayed with the car, still partly in the road since there were no nearby pullouts. That’s when I saw a pair of these furry brown critters arguing in the dry wash below the roadside. But the trees and brush obscured the animals, making photographs impossible. The pair quickly separated and slid off in different directions; then another animal came from behind me, crossed the road, and went down into the wash. I snapped off a few quick shots and after waiting a few more minutes was rewarded with one who came nearby and allowed me to videotape his foraging. You see, they’re near sighted, and I had been quietly standing 20 yards away. Here’s a short video I shot: https://youtu.be/8Gnyf_P-rIo Their tails shoot straight towards the sun when they’re traveling and lower to the ground when feeding. The tails are long and bushy and they taper at the end with faint rings, often forming the shape of a question mark floating in the air. These non prehensile tails used for balancing and signaling belong to the Coatimundi, or Coatis for short - pronounced ko-WAH-tee. They are mammals mainly found in Mexico and Central America, but include small populations in Arizona and along the Texas border. Members of the Procyonidae family (which includes raccoons and ringtails), they travel in large bands of females with young - foraging during the day, sleeping in trees at night. Males are solitary except for a few weeks in breeding season (which is early March), when they look for receptive females. Omnivores, they feed on nuts, berries, insects, lizards, tarantulas, and small mammals. They are interesting to observe, and I find them beautiful as well. They have bear like paws and walk on the soles of their feet, and their non-retractable claws and elongated nose help them find food. Like raccoons, these animals are highly intelligent and able to problem solve and remember tasks. And their double jointed ankles can rotate beyond 180° allowing them to descend trees head first. We were fortunate to see three different bands of the white nosed coati over the course of 48 hours. The first band numbered four, the second five, and in the third group we saw twelve! The band of twelve had members that were smaller than the rest and must have been last year’s pups. I enjoyed watching them move through the forest turning over rocks and leaf litter, but when one crossed the road, I moved to the other side where photographs would show more of the animal. When I stepped on the crunching gravel towards her, this female began to snort loudly, signaling danger to the rest of the band. She climbed onto a branch and continued her rant. The band were now split on both sides of the road, and we didn’t want to stress them, so we drove on. They don’t appear to be too bothered by humans, but I’ve been told that’s because their eyesight isn’t too keen, so they’re tolerable of our presence until seeing or hearing of us distracts them from foraging and they become nervous and tree bound. When we weren’t watching Coatis at Chiricahua, we were hiking or driving the six mile road up through and above the canyons. This picturesque landscape where the Sonoran desert meets the Chihuahuan desert has interesting rock formations formed from volcanic activity millions of years ago. It’s also the landscape of the Chiricahua Apache band whose superb warriors fiercely resisted colonization by the Spaniards in the 1500’s and later (1800’s) Mexican and white men of the United States. Warriors like Cochise and Geronimo led the band bravely for many years, but by 1886 surrendered, and the Natives were resettled in Oklahoma and Florida. There’s only about 17 miles of hiking here, but one day we decided to hike the big loop and parked at the Visitor Center. Combining several different trails which are well marked, we circled up past Big Balanced Rock (just one of many) to Echo Canyon and descended to Ryolite Canyon for a 10.5 journey. The weather was cool when we started (53°F) with few clouds above, and about 65°F when we finished, six hours later. The views of the seemingly unbalanced but alarmingly balanced rocks, the grotto formed by the rocks, the neon green desert lichen covered pinnacles, the scent of the Juniper trees near the canyon floor as Mexican Jays shriked around us - all made for a very enjoyable hike. We discovered the monument has several short trails that when connected total about four miles (round trip) that pets are allowed on. So our last day here we walked with Rocket through the wooded section along Bonita Creek where the first white settlers built a home and began leading horseback groups of tourists through the forest and into the canyons. Rocket was overjoyed at this because we met four different groups of horseback riders on the trail. He loves being around horses and moves into herding position on sight. The horses always take notice of him and stare, and I wonder what dynamic is playing out between the consciences of these two species. In 1934 the Civilian Conservation Corps established a camp here to build roads, trails and make improvements to the national monument designated as such in 1924. We are very grateful for their work and our national park system that has preserved this wilderness for our enjoyment. As a national monument rather than a park, there’s no lodging facility in the park and admittance is free. If you want to camp, there are a few options. There is a small campground with 25 basic sites, and only tents or campers no longer than 29 feet (ours is too long). There’s also a gravel area outside the entrance where dry camping is allowed; we saw about 5-6 vehicles clustered there. Or you can do what we did, drive five miles from the entrance down a washboard dirt road with limited maintenance into the Coronado National Forest. There’s no campground, but there are dispersed sites in the woods. The road makes for very slow going, especially in big rigs. But we set up camp there, and the first night had it all to ourselves. (Although Rocket and I did discover a striped skunk on our night walk! There are four species here: hog nosed, striped, spotted and hooded.) Tucked into the woods near a stream, our site was nice and quiet. After we set up the first day, we were driving the forest road in the Subaru towards the monument when we spotted a dark shape lope across the road. It was hard to tell just what it was since it was backlit, quick, and distant from us. We suspect it was a black bear. It was skinny and small as bears go, but they are just starting to come out of torpor here so we’re counting it as a bear. If you come to Chiricahua you’ll be inspired by the beauty of the landscape. And hopefully you’ll glimpse some wildlife. There are white-tailed deer, Javelinas, mountain lions, coatis, black bear, rattlesnakes and nearly 300 hundred bird species including the Acorn Woodpecker, Mexican Jays (once named Gray Breasted Jays), Horned Lark, Painted Redstart and more. We highly recommend making this a destination as you move through Arizona. You can drive the road and hike a bit in just a one-day visit, but I’m glad we spent a bit longer and really got to experience the monument fully.
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AuthorFormer documentary film producer, wife and mother of one...I'm taking time off to see the US with my husband Terry. Here's where I'll write about our adventures RVing until the money runs out! Archives
August 2021
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