Raptor Ranch
Blog 382: Raptor Ranch Rumble
Raptor Ranch
In my last blog, I stated that we traveled to Prescott Valley to avoid the heat. That strategy helped, but we still had several days in the low 90s so we again broke camp and headed north to the Raptor Ranch RV Park at the tiny spot in the road named Valle.
The RV park is well laid out and easy to maneuver. They have a wide variety of supplies in their store, and their kitchen serves basic but tasty food. Yet, this is a quirky place. It has kind of a Flintstone’s Yabba-Dabba-Do flavor.
The back part of the park has some funky statues and games and exhibits geared for tykes, and just about every day they put on Raptor shows. This was well done. I took some photos of a Harris’s hawk up close as it zipped through an audience of mainly young observers.
I also attempted to track a peregrine falcon in flight at full speed but was not so successful. He had to be going at least Mach III.
Finally, here is a shot of Jan and Toby relaxing by the coach.
Red Mountain Trail
Pre-dawn one morning we traveled the easy 19 miles south and east to arrive at the Red Mountain Trailhead at 5:30 a.m. just as the sun was rising. The mountain is in the San Francisco Volcanic Field inside the Coconino National Forest.
With the rising sun at our back, it did not take long to understand the name of Red Mountain.
This very pretty, easy/moderate hike was a mile-and-a-half up, and then a mile-and-a-half down. We started at an elevation of 6,810 feet and then added 800 more feet to reach the end.
We saw lots of elk droppings and tracks as we trekked along admiring the views, some strange and some commanding. Lava flow created some unique and interesting formations
As always, our Pups seemed to enjoy every step, every view, and every sniff.
Grand Canyon
Along with the cooling effect of our elevation, another benefit of our Raptor Ranch reservation was our closeness (30 minutes) to the Grand Canyon. Two mornings we arrived at the South Rim before dawn in time to get in location to enjoy sunrises.
Our first morning we did what the majority of visitors do, we parked near the Visitor Center and made the short walk along the rim to Mather Point, the most popular spot in the entire South Rim. In fact, the word is that between 75% and 90% of all Grand Canyon visitors only see the canyon from this one location!—amazing. There was a pretty good-sized crowd there waiting for sunrise.
However, just walking several hundred yards past Mather Point to the west yielded some very nice rewards. We saw close-up and personal several baby bighorn sheep grazing along the rim.
Continuing on, we were rewarded with some nice dawn-breaking light.
And here is the sunrise from Yavapai Point.
Further to the west, we started seeing all the smoke from the several wildfires in the area.
Here is a much less-crowded spot than Mather Point. I’m sure it has a formal name, but as we viewed it all I could think of was this must be “Yikes! Point.” You couldn’t get me down there with a pitchfork and a crowbar.
Also, we ran across this bird which I thought was a mountain bluebird. However, after conferring with my birder friends, they confirmed it was a Woodhouse’s scrub Jay. Not as elegant a name, but a beautiful bird, nonetheless.
As we headed back toward our car, Jan and I commented on what a wonderful morning it had been. Getting close to the parking lot, Jan said, “Look!” There was the rare California condor resting on a rock formation. Neither of us had ever seen one before. Not sure I’d call him “handsome” but he sure is “stately.”
I like the photo above, but I prefer this one as it captures the massive perspective of the canyon.
All this seen and absorbed yet it was not quite 7:00 a.m. Hence, we got in our Jeep and slowly drove Desert View Drive all the way down to the Watchtower, stopping and taking in more vistas along this 22-mile trip.
Wonderful trip.
In my last blog, I stated that we traveled to Prescott Valley to avoid the heat. That strategy helped, but we still had several days in the low 90s so we again broke camp and headed north to the Raptor Ranch RV Park at the tiny spot in the road named Valle.
The RV park is well laid out and easy to maneuver. They have a wide variety of supplies in their store, and their kitchen serves basic but tasty food. Yet, this is a quirky place. It has kind of a Flintstone’s Yabba-Dabba-Do flavor.
The back part of the park has some funky statues and games and exhibits geared for tykes, and just about every day they put on Raptor shows. This was well done. I took some photos of a Harris’s hawk up close as it zipped through an audience of mainly young observers.
I also attempted to track a peregrine falcon in flight at full speed but was not so successful. He had to be going at least Mach III.
Finally, here is a shot of Jan and Toby relaxing by the coach.
Red Mountain Trail
Pre-dawn one morning we traveled the easy 19 miles south and east to arrive at the Red Mountain Trailhead at 5:30 a.m. just as the sun was rising. The mountain is in the San Francisco Volcanic Field inside the Coconino National Forest.
With the rising sun at our back, it did not take long to understand the name of Red Mountain.
This very pretty, easy/moderate hike was a mile-and-a-half up, and then a mile-and-a-half down. We started at an elevation of 6,810 feet and then added 800 more feet to reach the end.
We saw lots of elk droppings and tracks as we trekked along admiring the views, some strange and some commanding. Lava flow created some unique and interesting formations
As always, our Pups seemed to enjoy every step, every view, and every sniff.
Grand Canyon
Along with the cooling effect of our elevation, another benefit of our Raptor Ranch reservation was our closeness (30 minutes) to the Grand Canyon. Two mornings we arrived at the South Rim before dawn in time to get in location to enjoy sunrises.
Our first morning we did what the majority of visitors do, we parked near the Visitor Center and made the short walk along the rim to Mather Point, the most popular spot in the entire South Rim. In fact, the word is that between 75% and 90% of all Grand Canyon visitors only see the canyon from this one location!—amazing. There was a pretty good-sized crowd there waiting for sunrise.
However, just walking several hundred yards past Mather Point to the west yielded some very nice rewards. We saw close-up and personal several baby bighorn sheep grazing along the rim.
Continuing on, we were rewarded with some nice dawn-breaking light.
And here is the sunrise from Yavapai Point.
Further to the west, we started seeing all the smoke from the several wildfires in the area.
Here is a much less-crowded spot than Mather Point. I’m sure it has a formal name, but as we viewed it all I could think of was this must be “Yikes! Point.” You couldn’t get me down there with a pitchfork and a crowbar.
Also, we ran across this bird which I thought was a mountain bluebird. However, after conferring with my birder friends, they confirmed it was a Woodhouse’s scrub Jay. Not as elegant a name, but a beautiful bird, nonetheless.
As we headed back toward our car, Jan and I commented on what a wonderful morning it had been. Getting close to the parking lot, Jan said, “Look!” There was the rare California condor resting on a rock formation. Neither of us had ever seen one before. Not sure I’d call him “handsome” but he sure is “stately.”
I like the photo above, but I prefer this one as it captures the massive perspective of the canyon.
All this seen and absorbed yet it was not quite 7:00 a.m. Hence, we got in our Jeep and slowly drove Desert View Drive all the way down to the Watchtower, stopping and taking in more vistas along this 22-mile trip.
Wonderful trip.