Tiny Planets of the Chiricahua Mountains

Life in southwestern New Mexico in the San Simon Valley between Arizona's Chiricahua Mountains and New Mexico's Peloncillo Mountains is like living on a tiny planet of your own.  I have written about the Bubble hypothesis, here and here, but to date have not created anything visual to illustrate the idea.  Below are several panoramas of the Chiricahua Mountains that were modified to illustrate the idea of the Bubble.  The original panoramic images were circularized and cleaned up to show the mountain range as a tiny planet in either a simple black background or with some starscapes.  The idea of little or tiny planets is not new, for example see these images, but it was something I had not given much thought to, until now.  The process is rather simple, a panorama is inverted then mapped to polar coordinates which circularizes the image.  The seam is cleaned up and any other modifications of the digital image are performed.  These 5 examples in color and black and white are just one more way of "seeing" the landscape in a different way.

The Snowshed Trail in the Chiricahua Mountains

The Snowshed trail #246 is one of those trails that climbs into the high country in the Chiricahua mountains, but the lower part of the trail is fairly gentle as it slowly climbs out of Cave Creek Canyon.  I had the opportunity to walk part of the trail yesterday along with entomologists from the Louisiana State Arthropod Museum who are currently in residence at the Painted Pony Resort on their annual collecting trip.  The goal was to do some collecting as well as recover a trail camera from last years collecting trip.   A warm sunny afternoon with a few scattered clouds and it up the trail from an access point just across the road from the trail to Chiricahua Crystal Cave.  A slow assent brought the group to some open meadows full of junipers and large stands of grasses, mostly Hairy Grama grass.  With the reds rocks in the background the views were typically spectacular.  The trail camera was recovered and with over 3000 images there should be some interesting wildlife captured in images.

Red rock cliffs from the Snowshed trail

A view south back into Cave Creek Canyon

The image above is the same outcrop in the photograph below, taken last year from the McCord trail.  In this instance the view is looking up canyon while the above image is looking down canyon.

Same outcrop as above but viewed from further down canyon.

The Friends of Cave Creek Canyon 2015 Garden Party

Another spring has arrived and it is time again for the annual Friends of Cave Creek Canyon (FOCCC) garden party.  A number of ask the expert tables were set up around Cave Creek Canyon's visitor center with topics ranging from local history to jaguars.  The plant sale took place again this year out in the garden FOCCC installed and maintains for the Coronado National Forest and the Painted Pony Resort now has a variety of new local perennials for the front garden.  Of course no garden party is complete without some tasty food and breakfast and lunch were served to visitors attending the garden party.  For additional images of the garden party please see FOCCC's Facebook page.

 

A panoramic view of FOCCC's 2015 garden party at the Cave Creek Canyon visitors center.

Insects of the Chiricahua mountains

Reptile exhibit.

Tables of experts at the garden party.

An Image From a Guest

The recent 2015 All-Star Telescope star party at the Painted Pony Resort always brings a host of talented astrophotographers out to image the sky, but the landscape also draws attention.  Recent experiments with black and white photography motivated some others to experiment in capturing the Chiricahua mountains in black and white.  The image below is a view of the Chiricahua mountains in black and white taken by the talented Canadian astrophotograher, John McDonald.  While I get images when and where I can, this is an example of what someone who knows what they are doing and captures the Chiricahuas in a completely different light.  The small puffy white clouds contrast nicely with angular mesquite in the foreground with the 8000' Portal Peak and eastern flank of the Chiricahua mountains in between.  Truly a spectacular image and thanks to John for allowing the reuse of his image.

Other images by John McDonald may be found on his RSAC Victoria Centre Zenfolio astrophotography page

Portal Peak and the Chiricahua mountains in black and white.  Image and copyright by John McDonald.

Advantages to Promoting Other Local Businesses

The Painted Pony Resort with its 756 acres is an estate rental with the aim of providing a large facility for gatherings whether it be a wedding, workshop, or family reunion.  But the estate is not the only lodging business in the area.  Many other businesses offer local lodging targeting different market segments and it only makes sense to provides references to other establishments for online visitors looking for a place to stay in the area.  Both the Painted Pony Resort website and the associated Blogging from the Boot Heel maintain listings of other local lodging resources as a courtesy to online visitors searching for area lodging as well as provide a map showing lodging in the area, see below.

A recent analysis of the blogs quarterly visitor statistics showed that exit links to other local lodging sites comprised 17% (82) of the total exit links (483).  Of the 17% of exit links to area lodging 83% (68) were to other local businesses while the rest were to the Painted Pony Resort.  While the estate is appropriate for groups it does necessarily meet the needs of individuals looking for a place to stay, but the ability to find other more appropriate lodging is important.  Meeting the needs of potential visitors and guests is important not only maintaining the integrity of the area but also in promoting visitation.  Providing tools for online visitors about the Coronado National Forest and other public lands in the area as well as resources for visiting the area will not only encourage visitation but allow visitors to find the specific resources that best fit their needs.

Louisiana State Arthropod Museum (LSAM) Returns

The Louisiana State Arthropod Museum returned this month for another visit.  Students and museum staff make the yearly trip and upon their arrival at the Painted Pony Resort is transformed into a field station for the duration of their visit.  Collecting equipment is unloaded, processing stations created in the garage, and microscope stations set up in the computer room.  After dinner and an evening introductory lecture on the high desert of New Mexico everyone relaxes in the hot tub or heated pool after the long drive then begin preparations for collecting projects.  The days are filled with collecting at various locations from the valley floor up to elevations over 9000' in the high country.  While a series of flight intercept traps are set up around the mountain range to sample the local insect populations.  Favorite collecting locations are visited and repeat samples collected.  Each evening students and staff return and a communal dinner is prepared.  Every day a different person is responsible for preparing dinner for the group which creates a series of international meals since students and staff come from around the world to study at the museum.  After dinner samples are processed and then the group relaxes with a movie, more swimming, and black light stations set up around the estate are monitored.  Of course with 750 acres the Painted Pony Resort and adjoining public lands are also used for collecting and students could be found out on the landscape with nets throughout their visit.

Here are several images by Mike Ferro of LSAMs 2014 visit to the Painted Pony Resort.  Additional images from the 2014 LSAM collecting trip may be found at:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/12666884@N00/sets
https://www.flickr.com/photos/98218272@N05/14669413607/
https://plus.google.com/photos/108279953306115325580/albums/6047139897560460737?banner=pwa

The first evenings lecture

The arrival and unloading

Collecting in the high desert

Collecting at the light trap

Processing samples in the garage

Microscope station in the computer room

Relaxing after a day of field work

Collecting from an ephemeral pool next to the estate

A Finished Image from the Chiricahua Mountains in Southern Arizona

Water is vital to the health of all living things and in arid climates such as the desert southwest this is even more important.  Below is a partially desaturated image of a well known landmark in the south fork of Cave Creek Canyon in the Chiricahua mountains.  Known as the Bathtub, it is a small waterfall that pours into a deep pool along the trail.  On a hike with guests from the Painted Pony Resort the group stopped for photographs at this spot and everyone spent time composing and capturing images.  This is my contribution.  The blue of the falling water stands in sharp contrast to the desaturated background highlighting the importance of water in the desert.

Blue water in a black and white landscape (click to enlarge)

Well, maybe one more.

An image from the McCord trail looking across Cave Creek Canyon at the rhyolite outcrops towering along the west side of the canyon.

Still the Yosemite of Arizona

Back on the McCord Trail

The Portal Rodeo Hiking Club headed out for a favorite hike along the McCord Trail.  Not having hiked in awhile a small group decided to check out Cathedral Rock while the majority completed the up and over to finish at Naturalist Journeys.  As with many plans this began to fall apart heading up the trail.  The steep climb from Cave Creek Ranch resulted in a long string of hikers as various skill levels sorted themselves out.  As a straggler (taking photographs) a late arrival at the overlook was guaranteed and as the majority of the group headed to the top of the ridge the small group decided to forgo Cathedral Rock and head back down hill.  While the slight overcast reduced the landscape photographic opportunities something new was seen.  An obsidian outcrop along the trail jumped out as the sunlight reflected off broken pieces of obsidian lying on the ground.  A dark grey with red inclusions and highlights, the outcrop shows no evidence of prehistoric mining activity and is the first outcrop personally seen in the Chiricahua mountains.  Generally obsidian nodules are found along the stream beds where they were tumbled to smooth round nodules.  Further down the trail a side route was taken to explore another trail not previously visited.  After about a quarter of a mile and in a wooded gully a Coues doe was found.  She was bedded down as I came around the corner and got up and watched me watching her.  Carefully getting the camera out the image below was captured.  I moved on and so did she, her bedding area vacant about 15 minutes later when passing by on the way back down the trail.  Although not a long hike, it was nice to see familiar faces of the hiking club and get out to explore a little more of the Sky Islands.

Obsidian outcrop

Coues whitetailed deer in the Chiricahua mountains

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

Monsoon Moon

The full moon has many names ranging from a Blue moon to a Wolf moon, but there is no Monsoon moon.  In celebration of the spectacular monsoon season the area has experienced this year it seems reasonable to add a Monsoon Moon to the list of full moons.  The Painted Pony Resort received another half an inch of rain last night but upon going out side this morning the view was a cloudless sky with the full moon setting over the Chiricahua mountains.  Bathed in light from the rising sun, the exposed rock of the Chiricahuas turned red and yellow and which contrasted against the green grasses of the eastern slopes.

The full monsoon moon setting over the Chiricahua mountains

Update: Waterfalls of the Chiricahua Mountains

Locating Cave Creek Falls in the Chiricahua mountains adds another waterfall to the list and the previously published posts on waterfalls.  The waterfalls in Turkey Creek, North Fork, and Cave Creek appear to have year round water making them ideal locations for wildlife viewing, especially in dryer years.  An updated map of waterfalls is provided below showing the relative locations of waterfalls of the Chiricahua mountains.  Presumably there are other waterfalls not yet encountered but the north south line of 8 waterfalls across the interior of the Chiricahua mountains provides days of exploration activity for those interested in visiting permanent water sites in this sky island.  Access to these waterfalls are all off trail (except for the overlook at Winn Falls) and may include some strenuous hiking but the effort in visiting these places is well worth the effort.

Waterfalls in the Chiricahua mountains

In Search of the Fabled Cave Creek Falls, Chiricahua Mountains

In preparing the post on waterfalls of the Chiricahua mountains
it became apparent that a number of waterfalls lie on a north south transect through the Chiricahua mountains.  These include 2 waterfalls in Turkey creek, 2 waterfalls (Shelia falls) in a side canyon of Turkey Creek, North Fork falls (upper and lower), and Winn falls. This brought up an interesting possibility, what about additional waterfalls in other canyons that bisect the waterfall transect?  Exploring Google Earth for possibilities one canyon seemed to be mist shrouded.  Curious I began asking around and no one seemed to know of any other waterfall but single member of the hiking club, he said it was "Cave Creek Falls".  Some what astonished that little was known about the location it prompted a trip.  Starting at Herb Martyr dam and proceeding upstream seemed the easiest way to access this waterfall and several members of the hiking club met up for a reconnaissance trip to try and find the falls.  We were met with flowing water in the upper reaches of Cave Creek (above Herb Marytr dam) and began to follow the water.  The stream bed above the dam is lined with horsetails (Equisetum) and as the 4 hikers and 2 dogs followed the stream bed we encountered a trail.  Thinking there should be a trail to the waterfall we followed it.  Much to our chagrin it was a segment of the Basin trail (segment #247) that leads from Herb Martyr campground to the Snowshed trail that we picked up from the stream.  The trail slowly angled up and away from our intended destination, but after some bushwhacking back in the direction of our goal the falls was spotted in the distance.  Clearly the route to this waterfall stays in the stream bed following the water.  Enlargements of the blurry image indicate that the falls is currently flowing but will be more spectacular during the monsoons or winter rainy season, so a return trip is planned for photographs when more water is flowing.  The total distance walked was 3 miles with 500' of elevation gain.

Horsetails along upper Cave Creek

The Fabled Cave Creek Falls?

Mountain hikers

Map of the walk upstream from Herb Martyr dam

Jhus (Whos) Canyon in the Chiricahua Mountains

Jhus canyon, pronounced WHOS, is located off the road into Whitetail canyon in the northern Chiricahua Mountains of southeastern Arizona.  Jhus canyon is a mid elevation hike on the north side of a ridge making it an ideal late winter/spring day hike. Sixteen members of the Portal Rodeo Hiking Club met up at the intersection of Foothills and Portal Road for a trip up Jhus canyon.  Upon driving up the access road a parcel of private land is reached and visitors must sign in and out when crossing private property.  A short distance beyond is parking at a gate onto public lands.

The trip started with a short detour to the grave site of Frank C. Caldwell.  A rough sandstone slab marks the grave which has offerings of pottery shards from a nearby Mogollon village and the inscription reads "Frank C. Cauldwell murdered July 26, 1903".  According to A Portal to Paradise Frank and another fellow, one-armed Jim Gould, were interested in the same women.  Frank had a prospect in Jhus canyon and frequently spent days at a time in Jhus.  One summer evening in 1903 Frank was exiting the canyon when he was shot in the back.  Jim eventually confessed to the killing and was tried for murder but claimed self defense.  He was convicted and sentenced to the territorial prison in Yuma.  After serving only 5 years he was released.  This odd occurrence was the result of the closing of the territorial prison in Yuma and moving it to Florence.  But Jim's sentence was specifically to Yuma so he was released, moving back to the San Simon valley. 

Next it was up the canyon.  Following the old road which parallels the stream bed the group headed up hill first stopping at the waterfall.  Perhaps 20-30' in height a dam below the falls was used to collect and pipe the water downstream, all now abandoned and silted in.  Continuing up the old track a large empty pool by an old homestead was encountered.  Varying in depth from about 3' to about 10' this "pool" may have also served as a water supply for either irrigation or household use as evidenced by several pipes leading out of the "pool".  Continuing up the stream bed/old road an old tailings pile was encountered.  Evidence of workings from sometime in the past.  Copper ore and pyrite were in evidence in the adit tailings.  Pushing on the group soon arrived at a second adit along the stream bed and the group adjourned for lunch along the stream bed.  The group then divided into 2 with half continuing to the ridge summit while the remaining members headed back down the canyon.  An easy 7 mile round trip it made for a nice late winter hike.  The map for this hike may be found in the sidebar or here. 

Grave of Frank C. Caldwell at the mouth of Jhus canyon

Jhus canyon waterfall

Copper ore in Jhus canyon mine tailings

Trail Camera in the Mountains

Thursdays are usually reserved for hiking with the Portal Rodeo Hiking Club, but this week other duties took precedence, so while the hiking club went up Gray Mountain, Chiricahua Sky Island Rodeo with one of her guests and I drove up into the Chiricahuas.  One set of guests to the Painted Pony Resort, the LSU Arthropod Museum, make yearly excursions to collect in the Chiricahua and Peloncillo Mountains.  The LSAMs use PPR as a base of operations collecting for the museum and ongoing research projects during the monsoon season in late summer.  Last year the group placed a camera off trail high in the Chiricahuas to document wildlife activity.  I was asked to find the location and replace the batteries and SD card in the trail camera and mail the SD card to them.  With a description of the location and photographs in memory 3 of us headed up into the mountains.  Arriving at East Turkey Creek on FS42, just past the turnoff to Paradise, we parked and started upstream.  Initially checking every possible candidate tree for the camera, it became apparent the camera was further upstream.  Continuing up the stream bed the location was eventually discovered and new batteries and SD card were installed.  The camera was replaced in the same location and the 3 hikers headed back down the canyon to the car. 

A review of the 3000 or so recorded images suggests that the upper reaches of Turkey Creek Canyon is more popular than thought with many images of hikers and summer swimmers, but wildlife also uses the canyon and its year round supply of water.  Below is a multi-image composite of one of the smooth water slides found along the bottom of Turkey Creek and one of a bobcat headed upstream.  I will leave the remaining wildlife photographs for the LSAMs to publish so as not to spoil their surprise.

Turkey Creek water slide

Bobcat high in the Chiricahua Mountains

Hiking Maps of the Chiricahua Mountains

The Coronado National Forest lists 60 trails in the Chiricahua Mountains suitable for day hiking.  Enough to keep anyone busy for quite awhile.  But access to information about trails, difficulty, locations, and conditions is always changing.

The last commercial compilation of hiking trails in the Chiricahua Mountains was published in the late 1970's and used copies are still available.  Entitled "Hiking Trails and Wilderness Routes Chiricahua Mountains of Arizona" this publication was considered the authoritative guide to the Chiricahua Mountains by many.  But times change and access to information also changes.  The amount of web based information available has exploded and information on outdoor activities was not lost in the change.

In addition to trail information provided by the Coronado National Forest, users have also contributed information.  The Portal Rodeo Hiking Club is out weekly exploring the back country in the Chiricahua Mountains and maps of the hikes are published here, here, here, here, and here, and of course on this blog.  All of these maps are published through Google Maps and index independently in a Google search.  Bootheel Maps is another source of updated trail maps available for hikers.  These trails are all personally inspected, have additional information such as an annotated gazetteer, and may be printed out for field work.

The newest place to find Portal Rodeo Hiking Club maps is at Wikiloc.  Wikiloc is a layer in Google Earth found under Galleries (in the tool bar on the left).  This layer displays uploaded hiking maps of your favorite trails contributed by others.  This tool allows interested visitors access to information about hiking trails, in this case those hikes from the Portal Rodeo Hiking Club.  These maps are linked to the original Google Maps of each hike where additional photographs, contributed my hikers, may be viewed. Or alternatively, the "photos" layer may be activated to view other Google Earth photographic submissions.

Below is a sample map of the trail up Silver Peak in Cave Creek Canyon from Wikiloc.  To view additional hiking maps, open Google Earth and click on the Wikiloc layer under the Galleries tab.  As time permits additional maps will be included in Wikiloc.


Addendum: A list of maps uploaded to Wikiloc may be found here.

South from Sulphur Canyon

Along the east face of the Chiricahua Mountains there are a number of small unnamed canyons that act as drainage for water from higher elevations in the mountains.  This weeks hike with the Portal Rodeo Hiking Club was along the east face and up one of these smaller canyons below Magnus Dome.  Starting in Sulphur Draw 14 members of the hiking club and one dog headed south along the east flank of the Chirichuas hiking through open grasslands recovered after the Horseshoe 2 fire last year.  Ungrazed, the grasslands appear to have recovered nicely with a carpet of grass over a foot tall across the lower slopes of the Chiricahua Mountains.  The first stop was a wildlife watering station.  Consisting of a large concrete apron connected to a underground cistern the watering station has a small open pool for wildlife.  Continuing south along the slope with magnificent views of the San Simon Valley and the Peloncillo Mountains the group eventually started climbing up a small canyon.  At the base of the cliffs the group stopped at the granary.  Perched on a ledge in a shelter cave, the granary is a mud, stone, and wooden structure that was used for food storage sometime in the past.  The presence of wood in the structure suggests it is of historic construction, possible Apache though no confirming pottery or other material was present.  This site as well as other shelter caves in the area have been mapped and studied by the Forest Service as evidenced by survey pins.

Leaving the granary the group continued up the canyon past fading petroglyphs on the cliff walls to 2 shelter caves with evidence of occupation.  Hidden behind large pieces of breakdown from the cliffs above and not visible from below these soot covered shelters were home to someone in the past.

The final stop for most of the group was another shelter cave even higher up the canyon with a keyhole view out onto the valley.  At that point the group divided into 2 with the majority heading back down the canyon while a hardier group continued up looking for a route to the top Magnus Dome.

Although only 3 miles was covered, hiking across the steep inclines made the trip more difficult. 

For a photograph from inside the granary please follow this link.

Portal Peak from Sulphur Draw

Granary or a room with a view

A view through the keyhole

A Trip to Paradise

Just before Christmas the Portal Rodeo Hiking Club weekly hike was a trip to Paradise.  Starting at the old corral on FS 42 (1 mile past the research station on the right) 10 hikers and 2 dogs headed up a ridge on the south west side of Silver Peak for a trip to Paradise AZ. Cutting cross country the group eventually found the trail and headed up the drainage toward the ridge top.  Passing a number of old gabions placed for erosion control the gentle incline made for easy walking.  Upon reaching the ridge top and passing through a gate the group headed down hill to eventually meet FS42B just outside of Paradise.  The return trip followed a slightly different route with a side trip for lunch on top of a knoll just below the Elephant rocks.  Following the main drainage and trail the group ended up in a large meadow before returning to the cars.  Covering about 6.4 miles with less than 500' of elevation gain an easy outing for a nice winter day.  The map of this hike may be found here.

Old corral in the Chiricahua mountains

Gabion in the drainage

The Chiricahua mine above Paradise

Hiking with Friends

There were 2 different hikes with members of the Portal Rodeo Hiking club this week.  One group headed down to Pine Gulch in the Rucker Canyon area while a second group hiked Silver Peak.  Five hikers along with 2 visitors from Canada chose the Silver Peak trail and met at the trail head at 8:30 AM on a warm overcast morning in the canyon.  As the group approached the first gate along the trail Susan found a number of horses and mules grazing along the trail side.  Several were branded with "US" suggesting they were Forest Service animals or other government workers.  These friendly animals came up for petting and any spare food.

The group moved on after photographing the animals stopping next at the turn off after the second gate to debate the merits of heading off trail to see Bill Willy's cave but several had the summit in mind so the group continued up the trail.  At the halfway point overlook under the pine 4 hikers decided to head back while 3 continued on to the summit.  The summit group made the top of Silver Peak while the rest wandered down the hill.  Chiricahua Sky Island Rodeo and myself encountered the horses and mules again but this time they followed us down the trail again looking for food and affection.  A nice ending for another hike in the Chiricahua Mountains.  The Silver Peak trail map may be found at this link or in the sidebar.

Susan many places at once petting every horse and mule.

Coming down the trail accompanied by 4 footed friends.

Contemplation at the halfway overlook.

Chiricahua Mine with the Portal Rodeo Hiking Club

This weeks hike with the Portal Rodeo hiking Club began in the historic former mining town of Paradise Arizona north of Cave Creek Canyon.   Paradise traces its' roots to 1901 with the Chiricahua Development Company work on the Chiricahua mine.   Two shafts were sunk and several other adits are found in the area as well as a 2 story stone building just south of the shafts.

The area was heavily burned in last years Horseshoe Two fire and evidence of high intensity burn are visible.  While the hillsides are covered in grasses and new growth, little new growth at the base of the trees is apparent.  The stream bed experienced significant down cutting with erosion channels up to 5 ft deep in places, a result of last years monsoon rains.  With the loss of vegetation the geology and evidence of past inhabitants is visible across the landscape.  The route along the old road is littered with artifacts from the development of the mine.  Small donkey shoes, tools, and pieces of machinery were found along the stream bed as well as iron/iron ore and evidence of copper.

Granite is visible at the mine entrance and in the mine dump indicating the shafts reached through the overlying limestone into an intrusive granite zone that was probably the source of the copper ore which filtered along the contact zone resulting in mineralization.  Although the mine was not successful it gave Paradise its start.

The hike covered 5.7 miles (including the detour up a side drainage) with an elevation change of 750'.  Thirteen hikers and 4 dogs made the trip including the Gypsy Carpenters who were back in town for Portal Irish Music week.  The map for this hike may be found at the following link.

Hiking route to the Chiricahua mine above Paradise. 

Erosion channel

Building site at the Chiricahua mine.

Shaft at the Chiricahua mine

Oak tree above Paradise