Jan. 23-Jan. 30: Our next destination was Patagonia Lake State Park
in far southern Arizona. We had stayed at this reservoir, built in 1975 by a
consortium of ranchers, farmers, and natural resource people, on our first trip
out west and were eager to return to it. The drive was less than 5 hours and we
arrived in plenty of time to set-up, including plugging in for electricity and
water at our campsite. Such luxury!! Unfortunately, nestled down in the valley
as we are, there is no phone or internet signal and we have to drive back to
the highway to be in communication. The evening was for relaxing and enjoying
the sunset and temperatures in the low 60s.
Thursday we got up at our leisure and made a good
breakfast before taking a long hike around the campground, to the Visitors’
Center, and over the steep, high bridge over a channel(built to accommodate dreamed of sailing regattas that never happened), around the Marina, and
back to the campsite. We read in the warm sunshine for a while before making
lunch and setting off for Sahuarita, on the other side of the mountains. There
were two destinations for the afternoon. We were expecting to volunteer at the
Food Bank at the Church of the Good Shepherd, with which Sarah had put us in
contact. Unfortunately, when we arrived it was crazy busy with volunteers and
clients alike. Jim Armstrong, who knew Sarah, greeted us and made us feel very
welcome but basically said they didn’t need the help and encouraged us to come
to the services and stay for a meal on Sunday. We explained that we thought the
church was in Nogales, which is half an hour southeast of the State Park.
Sahuarita was actually half an hour or more northwest of Nogales on the other
side of the mountains, halfway to Tucson. So we won’t be coming back that
weekend, and instead hope to return both to volunteer and for the service when
we stay in Tucson. Since we had most of the afternoon in front of us we drove
to nearby Madera Canyon and took a hike on a small part of the Old Baldy
Mountain Trail, far enough up to look down into the valley a thousand feet
below. By then it was time to drive the few miles to Green Valley, our second
destination for the day, to see Barb White and Joe Wolfort at the place they
rent there. We arrived just in time to watch the MSU/Iowa Basketball game with
them. Barb made a lovely fish dinner, we did two loads of laundry, and MSU
pulled out another double-digit win to combine for a really nice evening with
these dear friends. It was nearly 11:00 by the time we returned to the park
where we went to bed, warmed by the good time and our electric heater, electric
blanket, and mattress heater.
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| The view of the Santa Cruz Valley from Madera Canyon hiking trail |
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It was pretty cool up in the Canyon but the sun was shining strongly on the hillside.
The canyon is nearly straight west of Patagonia, on the other side of the mountains. |
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| Gila Woodpecker |
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| We can't remember this woodpecker. Any help would be appreciated! |
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| A Bridal Sparrow according to the "expert" near the feeders. |
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| Gila Woodpecker |
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