Today we leave the AirBnB relatively early as we made the decision to eat nearby in Flagstaff. One of the reasons for the choice was that we found an interestingly named cafe, Toasted Owl Cafe, and we really wanted to see the decor which is very owl-themed.
You can walk around while watching for the food to arrive and watch all the owl themed items and decor we really like the t-shirts and the owl drawings.
The food is good enough but for us the highlight was for certain the decor. Refreshed and full of energy we are ready to explore Flagstaff nwo for a few hours until our parking ticket expires.
We start first by exploring the area near the restaurant as we saw some interesting stores nearby. We are also following an adventure lab that takes us to some historically interesting spots like the lumberjack statue and some large beautiful murals nearby.
Then we cross over the railroad tracks into the historical center. We enter in a few stores and enjoy the historical buildings as we make a circuit back towards our car.
The time passes fast and soon we have to be back in the parking lot to leave before our ticket expires. For today we have planned a hike on the Flagstaff Loop Trail on a section we never visited before, we are not exactly sure if it is finished or not but there are a few caches here that we hope can guide us.
We park right where the pavement ends and a dirt road begins. It is a very busy dirt road with loads of dust stirred up whenever a car passes which makes it a bit unpleasant to walk in parallel as we have to do, as the trail is actually non-existent in this section. However there are at least a few birds like Stellar’s Jay and Acorn woodpeckers to examine while hoping that this section is ending soon.
And it does after about a quarter of a mile where it becomes a proper trai,l yay! Even the ground squirrels seem to be celebrating with us as they watch us from their hiding places.
We really enjoy this section as it also has some shade, it is getting hot outside and the shade really helps. All is forgotten though when we see a beak peek out from a tree hole – it is a house wren chick we find out when the mother is visiting it just a bit later.
Unfortunately the trail has also a lot of exposed sections where we are getting the full heat from the sun, luckily we are prepared with lots of water and get rest in the shade whenever available.
There are surprisingly many birds in this short stretch with even a Plumbeous Vireo joining our bird trip list as we make our way along the trail finding cache after cache.
The funniest wildlife we find on this stretch though is a golden-mantled squirrel that seems to be smelling the flowers even though likely it is eating them. It is really really really cute.
About halfway to our turnaround point we encounter an unexpected trail intersection with both trails going forward as far as we can see. We choose the left branch just because it seems more likely to be the correct one and it is as we soon find out.
Almost immediately we stop again to watch two hiary woodpeckers courting each other. One of them was really requesting food from the other one even though it seemed perfectly able to do the work itself. IT is quite interesting to watch them and they really do not seem to mind us as we sit and look at them for a while.
Our turnaround point is right when the Flagstaff Loop Trail reaches Fort Tuthill. From here we have hiked on the trail previously from Fort Tuthill so it is time to return back to the car. Soon we feel ourselves under observation and then we notice the deer watching us. As soon as we see him he runs away, we are really lucky to have taken a photo in the one second it stood still.
Wildlife continues to be abundant with Grace’s Warbler again making an appearance and some chipmunks making alert noises as we pass by. Surprising how many birds and mammals we can see so close to Flagstaff.
After returning to the car we park a bit further up the road on the pavement to finish all the caches in the area and to say goodbye to the pines. And then it is time to return straight back to Phoenix, it is an uneventful drive and after three hours we are back in the heat oven that is Phoenix in summer after spending a few days enjoying the cooler mountain temperatures.
