Sunday, March 9, 2008

Ramsey Canyon

Today we took a short, but rather tough hike up Ramsey Canyon in the Huachuca (wha-choo-ka) Mountains of Southeastern Arizona. Most of the trail is part of the Ramsey Canyon Preserve and owned by The Nature Conservancy. It starts at the visitor center at 5500' and follows Ramsey Creek for 1/2 mile. Then the next 1/2 mile climbs steeply uphill, ending at an overlook at 6200'.


Here is Ron walking by the gorgeous white-barked Arizona Sycamores that line the creek.




From the late 1880's to the late 1920's the canyon was home to almost 100 settlers. Now the cabins they left are home to creatures of the woods.












I was surprised to see a forest with hardwood trees and pines that also contained agave plants like you would see in a more desert-like setting.














This is a blooming manzanita, which has dark red bark. You could say, we saw flora . . .







and fauna. This is a Coues white-tailed deer.




After puffing up the last 1/2 mile, we were rewarded with a view of Ramsey Canyon with the town of Sierra Vista in the background.



Finally we could relax at the top. It's all downhill from here. You have to click on this one to blow it up and get the full effect.

4 comments:

  1. On your way into Ramsey Canyon you passed the Folklore Preserve. Be sure to go to a performance there. We saw Wyatt Earp's life story as told by his great-great nephew. Very good. Are you at the Elk's?

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  2. That sounds like a good idea, but unfortunately we left Sierra Vista today to go back to Tucson for a few days. Yes, we were at the Elks, but there were too many WINs there and Doc arranged with the Kmart to let the overflow park there. She must be very persuasive.

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  3. Pretty flowers, I've never seen those. How come I have to sign it to leave a comment. I don't have a gmail account, but mara does (for flickr), so I'll just sign in as her.

    -corrie

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  4. Corrie, I'm glad you mentioned that. I think I fixed it now.

    Thanks for your comments.

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