Respite in Portal, Arizona

We had a respite last weekend in the Chiricahua Mountains.  We spend two full days with our friends Barbara and Ron in their home in Portal, Arizona.  Portal sits right on the edge of the Chiricahua Mountains on the far eastern side, just a few miles from the New Mexico border. It is the nearest town to Cave Creek Canyon.  Cave Creek runs through Portal.  I was incredibly surprised by the lush canyon and the resources the small town has in human and social capital and community spirit.  We arrived just at dusk last Friday and settled into dinner and our visit.  One of the things we learned the first night was that the area around Portal and the peaks just outside our friends kitchen windows were common routes for drug smugglers to use.  According to our hosts, it was common knowledge that the narcos post sentries in the mountains to watch the area for safe passage for their mules.  Barbara and Ron have suffered two burglaries in recent years and have taken to improving their security measures.  Mike tried to spot the spotters with his binoculars that weekend but saw no signs.  The Border Patrol was holding a community meeting the day we left to update the residents about recent events and to stay in communication.

Barbara and I visited some of the highlights of the area on Saturday.  I was totally delighted to go to the "town center" of about 3 buildings and to visit the library and the post office.  The library is open 6 mornings a week, usually the same time the post office is open so people can get their mail and visit the library in one errand.  Both were charming.  The library is housed in the former one room school house.

Portal Library

One of the many charming things I found in this library was the mural in the children's area, hand painted by a local artist.  I wanted to share the overall mural and a close-up of the little owl peeping our of a hole in the sycamore tree.

 

What a welcoming space for all ages!  I love libraries and have been driving on this trip with my I Love My Library bumper sticker on my car!  I was so pleased to find this library tucked away in a remote area of Arizona!

Barbara and I also visited the Chiricahua Desert Museum and gift store, a funky consignment store withe great bargains and an artist's cooperative gallery in Rodeo NM, just a whisper away from Portal!  We also drove to the National Forest Service Visitors Center for Cave Creek Canyon and the surrounding areas and had a preview of what we would see the following day.

Pictures do not do justice to the lush canyon lands that make up the North and South Fork of Cave Creek.  I will share a couple but your imagination will have to fill in the gaps.  These canyons are where Cochise and Geronimo, leaders of the bands within the Chiricahua Apache people roamed and sought refuge.  It was easy to see the Apaches finding safety and abundant food in these canyons.

Cathedral Rock

Rocks viewed across the canyon from Cathedral Rock.

Looking up the canyon

Barbara, Mike and I drove up to Rustler Park, a high country campground in the Coronado National Forest.  The area had been devastated by fire in 2012.  Barbara said that it was renowned for its beauty and that many who came every year to relax and enjoy that beauty would not see it recovered in their lifetimes.  The forest takes its time.  We walked around and then hiked up a ridge to look out over the western side of the sky island that the Chiricahua Mountains are.  It was a windy, brisk and sunny day.  We were the only visitors to the campground when we were there.

Mike and Barbara descending through the burn zone.

It was bright!

Looking up near the crest.

Mike's comment:
I wonder what they did up here?

Barbara was an able guide, driving us in her all wheel drive around numerous switchbacks and over creeks up and down the mountainside.  We stopped at the Southwestern Research Station run by the American Museum of Natural History where she and Ron both worked and where Barbara first came from NY as a student and then later to do her PhD research.  It was an amazing place.  Ron and Barbara were married on the grounds of the station.  Clearly, this area is home for them, personally and professionally and we are grateful that they shared it with us.

Our hosts in front of Haystack Heights, their beautiful straw bale home.

I was really pleased that a quilt I made for their house, originally thought to be a table runner, they decided to hang on the wall.

Ron wrote me this week to say the quilt is now hanging on the wall.  Always a compliment to the maker!

We spent Sunday evening watching the penultimate episode of Downton Abbey with our friends and set off the next morning for Tucson, grateful for the time away from the city and rented rooms, refreshed and ready for more great learning experiences.

It is good to start to catch up on my journey.  Next time I will share some of what I learned in Tucson.

Thanks for reading.