Friday, December 27
My second hike at Kofa National Wildlife Refuge in southwestern Arizona is to Ten Ewe Canyon. Ann, Bill, and I decide to leave our canine crews at home. They did enough hiking yesterday.
Bill drives us up the bumpety-scumpety-rumpety-doo road known as Queen of Kofa Road, casually known by me as the Mother of All Kofa Road. It’s a teeth-rattler and kidney-twister!
You’ve seen ads for four-wheel drive vehicles climbing boulders and crossing washes. Well, Bill can scoff at those ads!
Of course, we have to stop at The Skull Cave. To give you an idea of the scale . . . I stand in the “mouth” of the cave with a few feet of space above me. The walls are blackened from campfires.
From here Bill, Ann, and I proceed on foot. As we walk around Signal Peak, the vegetation changes. Ann and Bill help me identify desert plants with names like Mormon tea, cereus cactus, and jojoba (pronounced hohoba),
We wonder at the name of this grass growing in a lichen-painted rock.
Of course, we hope to see Kofa wildlife such as bighorn sheep, kitfoxes, mule deer, and bobcats, but don’t have any luck. One is more likely to see these animals very early in the morning or right before dark. The desert tortoises are in hibernation now.
Ann and Bill have seen a bighorn sheep since camping here. It walked on a narrow ledge along the face of a cliff as if it were strolling on a boulevard.
The three of us climb up a big boulder. Bill inches his way further up the rock with my camera and takes this great shot of light through the “window.”
This next photo, from left to right, shows jojoba (small green leaves and brown berries), a relatively young saguaro, beavertail cactus, and a leafless ocotillo in the background.
Ann’s Native American friend told her that when she was a child she wore sandals with soles made from the beavertail.
A few times during the hike I feel a pang of concern for Bridget and Spike.
The three of us are always together, so I know it’s hard on them to be without me. As we drove away, I could hear them howling and, thinking of them, I can hear the howls again.
By the time Ann, Bill, and I walk into Ten Ewe Canyon, the light is fading, so I don’t have photos. We don’t venture far because it’s always a good idea to allow plenty of daylight for the trip home.
And, oh, what a homecoming!
I open the door to the Best Little Trailer and out fly Bridget and Spike, jumping and twirling, bursting with happiness at the sight of me. They run around me in circles, come in for drive-by kisses, scamper away, and repeat.
My two pups, how dear they are. They’re ecstatic simply because I’ve come home. They offer me no recriminations for leaving them behind, only pure and boundless joy that we’re together again.
rvsue
NOTE: “RVSue and her canine crew” received its one-millionth visit today, December 28, 2013, since the first entry was posted on April 21, 2011.
Thank you for being part of that number!
I LOVE RVSUE SHOPPERS!
I appreciate every order. These links show examples of the variety of Amazon products purchased from my blog:
Pet Parade No-Tangle Dual Leash
South Shore Savannah Collection Door Chest
RC Pet Products Dog Socks, Black Sneakers
Ankle/Foot Active Wrap, Hot & Cold Therapy
Wave® Music System III – Titanium Silver
Fishing, Cabin, Lodge, Canoe Twin Comforter Set
“REAR VIEW MIRROR”
Less than four months into our vagabond life, the crew and I are surprised by New Mexico weather:
