There was a lot
going on this weekend, in Fountain Hills
and beyond. It was rather hard to choose what to attend. Fountain Hills used to have an annual hot air balloon classic but doesn't any longer. We'd wake up to balloons almost on our roof, listening to heavy breathing as if a dragon was bearing down on us. Now
Gilbert offers the classic. We didn't make it there, but I love the photos -- one at sunrise, one after sunset.
We missed the Fountain Hills
Stroll in the Glow last weekend, but we can drive it and still ooh and aaah.
Tempe had their
Fantasy of Lights Boat Parade.
We had planned on going to that but found something that trumped it -- read on (or skip to the end).
Another weekend, another hike. This time we hooked up with Ranger Amy again and followed her to the Dixie Mine and beyond to some petroglyphs. This wasn't an overly long or strenuous hike, 5 1/4 miles roundtrip, but we would have missed just about everything if we'd been on our own the first time.
We had a good group of people, none of them from Fountain Hills (it's not easy to make local friends that way). I give these folks credit for spending their vacations hiking in such an out-of-the-way place.
As usual, Amy was full of info and held everyone enrapt.
At one point, Michael and I were in the front. When we turned around, we saw Amy pointing out something in the jumping cholla behind us -- a cactus wren's nest. We would never had known it had been there if Amy hadn't stopped us.
Off in the distance, we could see the tailings from the now defunct mine. Miners had hoped to pull copper, silver, and gold from the mine, but in its years of operation, it probably generated about a $20,000 profit. Investors made more selling the land than mining it.
We plowed on and then walked right past the turn-off to the mine before Amy once again redirected us. Oddly, there's great signage all over the preserve, but here you get to look for a ribbon dangling from a bush.
You go through some rare shade,
and then there it is. Can you see it? Can you see Ranger Amy?
Us either, so we would have kept right on walking past it too. Here's what you get to see.
You can no longer go in since fools always manage to hurt themselves, but it was still interesting enough. Most people then turn around here and head home, but if you keep on going, you eventually see petroglyphs thought to be left over from the Hohokam Indians. The Hohokam were gone from the area by the 1500s, so if these markings are from them, they're quite old. Here's the first batch of markings. Unlike
on St. Kitts, where the Carib Indian markings have been outlined in chalk or paint to make them easier to see, these blend into the environment pretty well. You have to know where to look because there are plenty of rocks without the writing.
Also around this area are a few caves. Let's follow Michael for a moment.
There were a number of these shallow exploratory holes. Of course, we checked them all out. You never know what you might find! If you continue on, you get to even more petroglyphs. Some are drawn/scraped onto the rocks.
Some are etched in. And no, no one knows what they mean. I think they're directions.
The canyon itself is beautiful to walk around.
We had a nice brisk walk back the way we came, and then we got ready for a
surprise...
That morning, I had seen a post on the McDowell Mountain Park
Facebook page that they were going to have a rare opportunity to release a rehabilitated great horned owl at 5:15pm at Nursery Tank Pond --- a different part of the park. Any earlier and other birds would have came after the owl before he'd had a chance to get his bearings; any later and we wouldn't have been able to take pictures. Good thinking.
Michael & I were giddy the rest of the afternoon, looking forward to our close encounter with such a cool creature. It got even better when it turned out they were releasing
two owls, a male and female. They had been brought in as juveniles a few months ago unable to fend for themselves, and a mature owl at
Liberty Wildlife fostered them until they were ready to fly off on their own. The hope is that the two will mate for life and live happily ever after.
The owls were named for the season, Nick & Holly. I was surprised at how small they were (only about 2 lbs each; the females are a little bigger). Here's a taste of the event.
Nick was ready to go asap. Ranger Amy held him a bit though and gave us some insight into an owl's life. I (and several other people) video'd the whole thing in case you're interested (mine's edited, badly, and no that's not me talking in the background).
Keven Buettner took some fantastic photos. Here's
Nick:
Holly was not only noisier, see if you can hear her beak clicking and even a chirp or two, but she was also more cautious. She gave Amy a loooong stare (glare?) before flying off. Uh oh.
Here's their new home.
Sigh.
