Oktoberfest 2014 in Portal Arizona

Time again for the annual event of Oktoberfest in Portal.  Held as a fund raising event for the Sew What Club in Portal, Oktoberfest is another chance for the community to gather, see old friends, exchange the latest gossip, and generally catch up on events in the valley and surrounding mountains.  All while enjoying a great lunch in the mountain air of Portal AZ and Cave Creek Canyon.

Oktoberfest getting started on a sunny Saturday morning.

Friends of Cave Creek Canyon at Oktoberfest

The German cafe with brats and sauerkraut.

Digital photography workshop

Below is a pdf of the Power Point presentation from the digital photography workshop presented for the Sew What Club in Portal.  The links to the software sources are listed on the individual slides.  I look forward to seeing everyone's application and modifications of the techniques presented.


The pdf file may also be found here and may be downloaded or the link kept for reference.

Friends of Cave Creek Canyon and National Public Lands Day

The Friends of Cave Creek Canyon celebrated National Public Lands Day by completing the next phase of the public gardens at the Cave Creek Canyon visitors center.  Eighteen friends showed up for a morning of moving rock and material to create walking paths and planting areas next to the visitors center.  The work went rapidly and within several hours the job was done.  The new garden area has a swale allowing water flow across the garden, several benches, and a picnic table for visitors.  Native plants and vegetation will surround the area and the Cottonwood trees provide shade.  Of course it was impossible to move all the rock without building a couple of balancing stone sculptures.

New garden area next to the Cave Creek Canyon visitors center.

Inuksuk

Balancing Stones

Waterfalls of the Chiricahua Mountains

Waterfalls are inspiring, evoking images of cool mountain streams and dense lush forests, but in the desert southwest there are also many waterfalls.  Found in the sky islands of the basin and range province of the southwest these desert waterfalls rely on moisture from the winter rains and summer monsoons for their displays.  Depending upon the time of year these waterfalls may range from a trickle to something truly spectacular to see.  In the Chiricahua Mountains of southeastern Arizona the best known waterfall is Winn Falls.  This 400 ft high waterfall is viewed from the Greenhouse trail and may explain it's familiarity to many.  But there are a number of other waterfalls without names which are not as familiar.  These seldom visited sites are high in the interior of the Chiricahua Mountains and access takes time and energy since these waterfalls are off trail and generally require a significant elevation gain to reach.  An interesting observation about the waterfalls in the Chiricahua Mountains is their location.  A string of waterfalls is is located on a north/south transect in the interior of the Chiricahuas, see below.  Each waterfall or set of falls is reached by hiking up a series of canyons that bisect a band of harder material that comprise the base material of each waterfall.  This line of waterfalls may be extended north and south where other little know waterfalls may exist, but will require some further exploration to to test this idea.

Waterfall transect in the interior of the Chiricahua Mountains.

Hummingbird Springs

This weeks Portal Rodeo hiking Club hike was a return to Hummingbird Springs on the east flank of the Chiricahua Mountains.  The hike started at Naturalist Journeys outside Portal Arizona with hot juices, tea, and coffee cake before heading off into the Coronado National Forest.  About 2.5 miles into the hike, past Hummingbird Spring, the group divided up with the majority pressing onwards while several hikers headed back to attend to holiday business.  Returning with the other hikers was an opportunity to check out a shelter cave in the quartzite and wander around the old Cienega at the base of hill outside Portal identified on old topographic maps.  Covering only about 5.5 miles while the main group traveled about 8 miles it was another nice day in the forest.  The map showing a trail route is here and in the sidebar.

View from a shelter cave in the Chiricahua Mountains

Chiricahua Mountains: Then and Now

Below is a compilation of historic and modern views from Cave Creek Canyon and Paradiase AZ in the Chiricahua Mountains of southeastern Arizona.  The historic photographs were located online, then overlaid on Google Earth to locate the site where the original photographer made the image.  A series of trips into Cave Creek Canyon and to Paradise followed to locate the place found on Google Earth, then a replicate photograph was made.  Replicate photographs were made from:

1. The intersection of Portal Road and Forest Service Road 42B at the mouth of the canyon.
2. The entrance to the Coronado National Forest on Forest Service Road 42.
3. Just before the entrance to Sunny Flat Campground on Forest Service Road 42.
4. At several locations in Sunny Flat Campground.
5. Half way up the ridge on the NE side of Paradise just before the bridge across Turkey Creek off Forest Service Road 42B.

The historic and modern photographs were then aligned with respect to one another in Sony Vegas Pro.  Since no information was available about the original camera and owing to differences in lens between the original camera and the modern camera used to replicate the view, the aspect ratio of each photograph was not maintained allowing better transitions between the historic and modern photographs.  The tops of the mountains (or ridge lines) were visible in every historic photograph and the skyline was used to initially align the photographs vertically and horizontally, followed by compressing or expanding the vertical aspect to align elements in the fore ground.

Oktober Fest in Portal Arizona 2011

The annual Oktober Fest was held today in downtown Portal.  As a fund raiser for Portal Rescue sponsored by the SewWhat Club this years events were again centered in Schaughency Park, the Post Office, and Myrtle Kraft Library.  As well as a number of vendors there was the silent auction of donated items, the bake sale, and of course lots of bratwurst.  The Oktober Fest girls were in evidence, busty blonde maidens every one and Dr. Topoff exchanged his PhD for an MD for the day to warn all the locals about the dangers of shingles (the roofing kind).  It was a pleasant day in Portal and the whole valley seemed to be in evidence.

Oktober Fest Girls and bake sale

The Doktor is in

Oktober Fest Panorama

Cave Creek Canyon Nature Trail

A dozen hikers from the  Portal Rodeo Hiking Club visited the nature trail which parallels forest service road 42 along Cave Creek in the Chiricahua Mountains and ends at Sunny Flats campground.  An easy walk along level ground, this mile long nature trail through riparian habitat is a good introduction to the Chiricahua Mountains.  After finishing the nature trail, the group proceeded up South Fork Canyon and was greeted by a male Elegant Trogon who called and followed the group for about 10 minutes.  Returning downstream the group followed the east side of the canyon through the 2 campgrounds with a total distance covered of 5 miles in the canyon.

Below is a photograph of the Elegant Trogon on a tree limb.  The enlargement does not do this beautiful bird justice and the Trogons should  be viewed in person to really appreciate this unique bird. Click on the photograph to see the full size image.  The nature trail route was added to the riparian hike map (blue line).

Elegant Trogon (center) in South Fork of Cave Creek Canyon.  Click on photograph to enlarge.

Arizona Fire: A Tour in the Chiricahua Mountains after the Horseshoe Two Fire

A group interested local business people were escorted through Cave Creek Canyon and the interior of the Chirichua Mountains to collect first hand information about the extent of the recent fire. Permission from the Forest Service and the current incident commander managing the fire were required to enter the Coronado National Forest since: 1. While the Horseshoe Two Fire is contained it is not out and 2. A forest wide closure is in effect until significant monsoons deliver enough moisture to reduce additional fire danger. While the monsoon has started in the Chiricahua Mountains, the burn has not yet received a level of rain to ensure the fire is out.

Information about conditions in the interior of the Chiricahua Mountains has slowly started to surface. Until now the Inciweb and community meetings were the only source of information about conditions within the burn area, but since containment the 34th annual Trogon count was held (here, here, and here).  A number of individuals from local guiding services made a second trip to collect estimates of species diversity and numbers which were very positive.  In addition, NASA released a Landsat 5 image showing unburned and burned areas within the Chiricahua Mountains. The Landsat 5 image was widely circulated on the internet but to provide perspective it was overlaid on Google Earth and the view angled to show the amounts of unburned vegetation present in the drainages in the interior of the Chiricahua Mountains.

Mike Johnson, the information officer with the BAER Team was kind enough to set up a tour and along with a safety officer from the incident command post and Ron Kaczor who mans the visitor center in Cave Creek Canyon a number of business owners met at the Portal Store and Lodge to receive a safety briefing before heading up canyon.

Cameras (still and video) were at the ready to document the conditions in the canyon and surrounding landscape to provide firsthand visual information about the conditions in the Chiricahua Mountains after the Horseshoe Two Fire for visitors who come the area.

The group left the Portal Store and passing the turn on FS42 saw the first big reveal of the towering volcanic tuff cliffs that line both sides of Cave Creek Canyon and everything was green. The first stop was the Vista Point overlook below Cathedral Rock . The group walked up the 200 yds of unburned trail to the viewing area for an overview of the interior basins in the Chiricahua Mountains. As predicted by the Landsat 5 image, much of the visible forest canopy in South Fork and the basin west of Herb Martyr was intact. Clearly, there are areas where fire runs up sections of hillside burned but for the most part things appeared in good shape. The group then drove up south fork to the day use area and a close up view of the area supported what was observed from the lookout. Evidence of low ground fire was apparent but the forest canopy was intact.

The group then proceeded up FS42 to Rustler Park. The south side of FS42 was back burned and there is evidence of ground burning but the otherwise the forest is intact. Only upon reaching the higher elevations along 42 did effects of severe fire start to become evident. At Onion Saddle the severity of the burn is labeled as high according to the Soil Intensity Burn map and the view was consistent with that assessment. The road into Rustler Park had evidence of fire but a bed of pine needles already covers the ground. Rustler Park received canopy burn and 2 buildings were lost during the fire. While the meadow is intact, the burn in the camping area appears severe it is consistent with Soil Burn Intensity map created by the BAER team. This suggests the landscape will change around Rustler Park and north towards Onion Saddle as regrowth begins.

The group then headed for a quick view of Barfoot Park. The road down to the park showed evidenced of fire induced weather. Limbs and foliage were turned upslope from hot winds moving up the mountainside at some point during the fire. Barfoot Park itself and areas around the park were intact and the meadow green. The yellow Barfoot lookout was missing from the view but the walkway that surrounded the building was visible from the meadow below.

The group then headed back down the hill with several stops for panorama photographs of the interior of the Chiricahua Mountains.

The results of the BAER team analysis were published and may be found here and the Soil Burn Severity map may be found here.

Personal note:
I wish to thank Bill Edwards, the District Ranger, and Dan Cottrell, the Horseshoe Two Fire incident commander for allowing the group a firsthand view of the interior of the Chiricahua Mountains after the fire and to Mike Johnson for his diligent effort in making the trip a reality.

Any complainants about the cost of this fire should be put to rest with one look at the Chiricahua Mountains. In my estimation the fire suppression teams did a magnificent job minimizing the impact of an event which could have been orders of magnitude worse.

Birders and Ranger at Vista Point after the fire.

Panoramic view from Vista Point in Cave Creek Canyon.

South Fork canyon off Cave Creek canyon.

South Fork Canyon off Cave Creek Canyon at the picnic area.

A view from FS42 below Rustler Park.

The spring at the entrance to Rustler Park.

Barfoot Park below Buena Vista Peak.

Portal Irish Music Week

This fall, October 13-18, will see the first Irish music camp in Portal Arizona.  A week of intensive Irish music training from world class instructors.  With 2 classes/day Cave Creek Canyon will be echoing with music all week.  For more information and registration please visit Portal Irish Music Week.

Portal Arizona's St. Patrick's Parade

Things are always a little behind schedule in the bubble and St. Patrick's Day celebrations were no exception.  St. Patrick's Day was on the 17th but Portal, not to be left out, celebrated the event Saturday morning with a parade and refreshments at the Myrtle Kraft Library in Portal Arizona.  Saturday mornings parade saw the Portal Rescue fire engine and ambulance as well as an entry from the Arizona Sky Village and a beautiful Porsche Roadster.  There was a Grand Marshal and of course a marching band.  The parade started down Rock House Road proceeding past the library and post office down to the Portal Peak Lodge.   Then the parade turned around and came back up the road finishing at the library where there were cookies and punch along with speeches, awards, and a good old fashioned sing a long.  Below are a few highlight photographs from the event.  Of course the spring weather was perfect and it was a great day for a parade.

Shamrock on Rock House Rd

The Grand Marshal in a mini Dreams carriage

St. Patrick

Marching band

Hummingbird Spring in the Chiricahua Mountains with the Portal Rodeo Hiking Club

The hike this week with the Portal Rodeo Hiking Club to Hummingbird Spring on the east face of the Chiricahua Mountains just outside Portal, Arizona was spectacular. It was lead by Peg Abbot owner and lead guide of Naturalist Journeys who was kind enough to start the trip with coffee cake and lots of hot coffee for everyone.  Access to the trail leading to Hummingbird Spring is across a small section of private land along a public access route (close the gate) on Starview Place just south of Portal Road.  The trail then wraps around the low rhyolite and limestone foothills, slowly climbing the face of the Chiricahua's until reaching Humminbird Spring.  The spring is located further uphill but a pipe delivers the dripping water to a cement trough which the dogs were happy to play in.  The loop shown on the Hummingbird Spring map (or in the sidebar) covered about 6 miles and included a maximum elevation change of 1000'.  Shorter or longer hikes are easily created from the numerous trails in the area.  In fact the group broke up along the hike with some returning after reaching Hummingbird Spring and then later the group again split with several hikers continuing south climbing another ridge to view the San Simon valley before looping back and hiking out.  The geology at the contact between the limestone and rhyolite is quite interesting.  Faulting is evident in many places (see this photograph) and the zone of mineralization is evidenced by several test pits and at least one abandoned mine shaft.

Trail to Hummingbird Spring

I want some too.

Not a Hummingbird in Hummingbird Spring

Portal Arizona, Christmas Sing Along

The yearly Christmas eve gathering of the Portal Arizona residents to sing around the outdoor Christmas tree outside of post office took place this morning. Between 20 and 30 residents showed up for a communal sing-along.  After about 30 minutes the group proceeded up the road to serenade some other local residents.  This is the closest thing to a flash mob you will find in Portal.

Portal, Arizona - Oktober Fest

A long day that started early in Portal, Arizona yesterday.  Oktober Fest celebrations were held around the Portal Post Office just past the Portal Peak Lodge in Cave Creek Canyon.  There was a large turnout throughout the day and it is hard to believe that so many people live in the area.  Picked up a copy of the new Portal Rodeo community phone book for the Painted Pony Resort, sold several copies of the Bootheel Photodocumentation Project, and ate some great food.  Below is a time lapse video from the event with some good Polka music.  Though I did not hear any specific German accents, I did hear several northern European accents during the day so there was some international presence at the festivities.

Oktober Feast in Portal, Arizona

I received an email from the Chiricahua Sky Island, Rodeo announcing the upcoming Oktoberfest in Portal.  This is a fun event with lots of good food and activities.

"This year's OKTOBERFEST will be held on Saturday, October 23rd, from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. AZ time, in front of the Portal Library and Post Office.  Sponsored by Sew What, this worthwhile fundraiser supports scholarships for local Rodeo and Portal area high school seniors.  Come and enjoy great German food at the CAFE under the sycamore trees, open at 11:00 a.m: bratwurst, cabbage rolls, and delicious salads.  Stop by the BAKE SALE and check out the wonderful cakes, pies, breads, and casseroles, all homemade by our outstanding local cooks.  Check out all sorts of great surprises at the SILENT AUCTION."

The community calendar at PortalRodeo.com has the listing. 

Note:  The times are Arizona time, not New Mexico time (that's 10 - 2 New Mexico time).  Daylight savings time will bring the times in both states back into sync. 

Another Wikipedia Article, This one on Portal, Arizona

A new article on the community of Portal, Arizona is now available on Wikipedia.

Chiricahua Peloncillo Heritage Days

A host of good talks at the Chiricahua Peloncillo Heritage Days event in Rodeo, New Mexico this weekend. This was the second year the event was held and sponsored again by the Wildlands Network. Held at the community center, the talks ranged from low level aerial photography (my bootheel photodocumentation project) to wildlife conservation and trail development, to food choices in rural areas. It was rather funny as each speaker was introduced it was another PhD, there was even a MacArthur Fellow, Bill McDonald from the Malpai Borderlands Group, who spoke about conservation ranching. It seems there is a high concentration of academics scattered about in the San Simon Valley and the towns of Portal and Rodeo. For an area with a population density of about 1 person/square mile, it seems a lot of them have advanced degrees in one thing or another. There was even a farmers market outside during the event and La Buena Vida Farm had a stand. I grabbed a few photographs of the event.


Chiricahua Peloncillo Heritage Days talk by the Malpai Borderlands Group


History talk at the Chiricahua Peloncillo Heritage Days event


La Beuna Vida Farm stand at the Chiricahua Peloncillo Heritage Days