The Test

The Rustic cabin at the Painted Pony Resort received its' first set of guests and a family reunion held at the estate provided the occasion.  A family of 5 stayed in the cabin for the reunion and tried out everything.  The only glitch found was a breaker on the demand type water heater.  The breaker was starting to fail and tripping after about 5 minutes of usage, making showers short the first night.  A run to the Valley Mercantile Saturday morning for parts and an hour of work had the problem resolved for the guests. The fence walk through installed to ease walking access between the main estate and the cabin was completed before their arrival allowing them the option of walking or driving between the cabin and estate.  It was another happy family centered gathering at the Painted Pony Resort.

Merry Christams from Rodeo New Mexico

A wish for all, have a merry Christmas and healthful and prosperous new year.  And for a little holiday cheer, 2 holiday colored metates from New Mexico.  Preparing a holiday meal is certainly easier than in the past when corn and other plant material was ground by hand.  Although useful tools to past inhabitants, these were not recommended for preparing the holiday mashed potatoes, but do grind coffee beans well.

Holiday colored red and green metates

A Fence Walk Through

The Rustic Cabin at the Painted Pony Resort provides additional space for family reunions and other groups visiting the estate.  Although connected by roads, additional access to the main estate is now provided by a walk through in the fence line.  Simply walk down the main runway from the main estate and head east on the crosswind runway.  At the end is a pedestrian walk through for those wishing not to drive between the Rustic Cabin and the main estate.  The rock and wire walk through consists of 2 - 180 degree turns allowing pedestrians to easily pass through the estate fence line and onto Painted Pony Rd and a quick way to access the Rustic Cabin but keeping inquisitive cattle out.  The rock walls mark the location of the walk through and are easily visible from the road.

Wildlife friendly fences are important in keeping cattle out but allowing the wildlife, and people, access.

pedestrian walk through

Portal Rodeo is a Big Place

Many visitors to the twin cities of Portal Rodeo are surprised at the scale of the area, things that look close are really much larger and miles away.  The landscape is large and snapshots rarely do it justice.  Zooming in to get a particular aspect of the view always excludes the surrounding landscape and the final image seems lacking.  To compensate multiple images are usually collected and stitched together not only to highlight a particular aspect of the landscape but capture some of the surroundings as well to provide context.  Below is a sunrise image of a short lived rainbow that appeared just at sunrise over the flanks of the Chiricahua Mountains.  To completely capture the rainbow as well as its' context, 2 snapshots were taken and stitched together to create the final image making for a much more interesting scene.

A sunrise rainbow in the Chiricahua Mountains

Rustic cabin at the Painted Pony Resort

Work continues on the exterior of the newly remodeled 3 bedroom Rustic cabin at the Painted Pony Resort.  Work has centered on the exterior of the cabin and low rock wall dividers were built to create a "front yard" to define the front of the cabin.  Crusher fines were then laid down to provide a smooth walking surface within this area.  All the rock was hauled from around the property and comes from earlier inhabitants previous work.  The majority of rock was from a single room in the hamlet across the riverbed and additional rock was hauled from an early homestead on the property.  There is no shortage of rock in the alluvial San Simon valley and native rock was used frequently for buildings and walls in the area.  A drive into Portal or Rodeo and rock walls and buildings are easily found indicating that native rock has a long history of use as a local building material.  Cattle excluding walk through gates are planned in the fence lines allowing those staying in the cabin easy walking access to the main estate for family reunions, weddings, or other events when the cabin is in use.

Rustic cabin exterior

An Afternoon Walk in Cave Creek Canyon

It has been awhile since visiting the canyon from the Painted Pony Resort but with guests in residence who were interested in some hiking the opportunity seemed ripe.  So off into the canyon for a nice winter riparian hike along the nature trail which runs from the ranger station/visitors center along Cave Creek to Sunny Flats campground.  Upon emerging into the campground the view below presented itself.  A crescent moon setting over the rim of the canyon, a perfect photo opportunity.  Out came the cameras and everyone recorded the view.  With warm temperatures and a deep blue Arizona sky it was a perfect afternoon of walking in the canyon.

The crescent moon setting over Sunny Flats campground

Winter Sunrise in the San Simon Valley

With sunrise views of Portal Peak and the Chiricahua mountains and sunset views of the Peloncillo mountains the San Simon Valley has spectacular views everyday.  Below are 2 images of the morning view of the Chiricahua mountains taken just a short time apart.  The first, a large panorama shows the view as sun was cresting the Peloncillo mountains illuminating the Chiricahuas, while the second image shows Portal Peak just a short time later with the valley in complete sunlight.  The changes in lighting and cloud cover create completely different impressions of  this sky island in southeastern Arizona as seen from the Painted Pony Resort in southwestern New Mexico.

The Chiricahua mountains at sunrise

Portal Peak a few minutes later