We really wanted to go somewhere for some time but it is quite hot anywhere in Arizona. In the end we decide to go towards Safford and explore Mount Graham, it can’t be too hot at around 9,000ft, can it? The drive is nice and as we approach Safford we decide to visit a possible good birding site. It is relatively close to the main road and it even has a tower that overlooks a wetland that is maintained by the local water company as a reclamation pond and marsh.
It is too hot however to be out in the sun for long. We see however swallows and red-winged blackbirds and mark this as a spot to return to see if it is better in winter.
Our AirBnB in Safford is advertised as being in walking distance of downtown but it is not, especially in the heat. However the second claim, that it is a historic house, is actual. It is quite interesting to live in such a historic house with first generation AC and even lightswitches that we haven’t seen outside museums.
The room itself is good enough and even though we are surrounded by houses from all sides it has enough privacy for a good night sleep.
But before sleep we need to have some dinner. There is an interesting Mexican restaurant downtown that we drive to and the food hits the spot – there is enough even for next day breakfast.
And after breakfast it is time for the exploration of Mt Graham. Like other mountain ranges here it is a sky island however the peak is much higher at 10,724 feet (3,269 m) so we hope that on the top the temperatures are reasonable for hiking. But first we have to get there on the winding and always climbing road that is a miracle of engineering at least for us.
We plan to stop at different locations to find caches and also to look for birds and our first stop is at the Noon Creek Picnic area. There is a campground and then another stop that is supposed to be picnic area and where a major trail starts but the trail we find is not looking that maintained. And the picnic benches are quite disaffected too, quite surprising.
We somehow make our way to one cache under the gaggle of the jays who are none too happy about us having intruded in one of the few areas with water around here. We then climb up towards a ridge where the second cache is. There is not rail and the going is difficult with even some blood letting in the yuccas along the way but then we arrive at….some water tanks? How did they get here in the wilderness?
On the trail of course! There is a nice trail here, it seems it was rerouted to go through this area and following it back we notice the new picnic tables and that it actually starts now from the campground. Which is completely empty given that it is still quite hot at this altitude…before a truck enters it. What is the chance for the ranger to check the campground right in the few minutes we are there? Of course there is no issue and we also see some deer fleeing in the forest given the unexpected human activity before we retreat to the air conditioned car and continue upwards.
The seconds top at Upper Arcadia group site is higher up. Here we are already in the pine zone but it is still warm outside even though it is not even noon yet. It likely is not comfortable to camp here which explains that there are only two cars in the whole campground.
We do a cursory check for birds and wildlife and see squirrels and acorn woodpeckers and we enjoy the first smell of pines before returning to the car and continuing up and up.
Right after the last major switchbacks is the first trail that we want to explore more thoroughly. What especially attracted us to this trail, besides the caches, is the fact that it leads to the Ladybug Peak where supposedly ladybugs can always be observed. Is this true? We cannot determine from the internet so we decide to check for ourselves as it is only about 1/2 mi hike. While the distance is short however it is always up so it is good we are here relatively early.
We take frequent breather breaks as we climb and enjoy the great views all around us. This is a benefit of being on a sky island, almost anywhere you go the views are breathtaking.
That is true also when we reach the peak which allows almost 360 degrees views. And to our surprise we also find ladybugs, lots of them in fact, so cool! Quite surprising that they are here for basically decades if not centuries given that the peak is named after them.
Of course we also keep an eye out for birds and butterflies, at the top especially there are a lot of hilltoppers and skippers that we follow trying to take a photo of them.
As we almost arrive back at the car we hear some weird bird vocalizations and as we look around we notice a person with binoculars looking around. We assume he is a birdwatcher but when we ask he says he is looking for butterflies sooo…where is the sound coming from? We get an answer just below the butterflywatcher – it is a band-tailed pigeon that we can see from up close, quite a welcome surprise!
Back in the car we continue on towards our next stop, the upper trailhead of Shake Trail. We have hiked to the middle of the trail from the lower trailhead and today we want to explore a short distance from the top trailhead.
We walk probably a quarter of a mile but it is surprising how many birds we see on this stretch. We cannot find our target bird, the olive warbler but we see a lot of other interesting stuff like red-faced warbler, yellow eyed juncos mature and juvenile and even some gnatcatchers.
The major hike we have planned is the Grant Hill Loop Trail. There are actually multiple loops possible here but we are interested in one that can get us to a cache that hasn’t been visited in a while. Already in the parking lot this area seems an auspicious one with a western tanager pair likely defending a nest that we never see. But their behaviour of sitting in the same tree/area and not fleeing when approached but being aggressive and vocal gives us the impression that we have to avoid the area to not disturb them too much.
This loop trail is actually quite a nice one as it is on mostly flat terrain. It starts through some beautiful pine forest with lots of birds including our first Brown Creepers for the year.
It then enters the burned area, courtesy of the Frye fire ignited by lightning in 2017 which burned for almost 3 months and drove the Mount Graham Red Squirrel, an endemic subspecies, almost to extinction. it is nice to see as we hike that at least the birds have reclaimed the area with the top one being for certain the yellow-eyed junco.
The portion of the loop we are walking on is well maintained with trail maintainers cutting most trees that have fallen over, but not all. This is too much for the only other two people we have seen on the trail. They were on bikes but soon return telling us that the trail is too difficult for them – happily on foot it is much easier.
We see another red-faced warbler on this stretch, this year has been a bumper year for our red-faced warbler sightings.
We also watch a red-tailed hawk doing acrobatics while searching for something to eat as we continue along the trail through the small aspen forest. It must be quite beautiful here in the fall…
The cache is near a beautiful overlook of the valley. We enjoy the view however the cache does not want to be found and we spend at least half hour searching for it without luck.
We then decide to have our snack break here and relax before continuing searching. It is a beautiful site, with hummingbirds visiting the nearby flowers and birds singing around us. Refreshed we renew our search and find the cache, phew. And then it is time to continue on the loop trail back towards the car through the burned forest.
The trail is quite similar on the return loop but it is more wild with some stretches where we have some trouble following it. But we make it through those and otherwise it is quite enjoyable with no big altitude differences.
Soon we arrive at a sign which points that we can either return to the car or continue on a longer loop. Or can we? Because there really is no maintained trail in that direction…So back to the car we go.
And then out of the blue as we reach the pines that are not burned we hear an unknown sound and our app confirms it, it is an Olive Warbler. We look around for a while before we notice it among all the other warblers, what a great way to end our beautiful hike!
We then continue up to the side road that leads to the Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope finding caches along the way. From close to the loop trail till here the road is dirt road and it is worse the farther we go so we decide to return from this spot especially as it is also getting dark.
We skipped a few caches on the way and we pick them up on the return trip. With the darkness falling it is getting cooler out which is quite welcome.
Last cache we do is up towards Heliograph Peak. We have hiked up to the peak before but today we do only one third of the way to a new cache. On this stretch we even hear an owl, how cool!
Returning we enjoy the beautiful dusk and sit there just enjoying the silence punctuated by the owl calling from time to time. And then it is time to return to our accomodation so down and down we go until we are back to the main street and then into Safford.
