One of my favorite day trips is to Muleshoe Ranch in the Galiuro Mountains, near Willcox, Arizona. Muleshoe Ranch is a cooperative wilderness area jointly owned by Muleshoe Ranch, the Nature Conservancy, and the BLM. There is 30 miles of gravel road to get to the small visitor's center and then 14 more miles (four wheel drive only) to get to Jackson's Cabin. This 14 mile stretch for which you must sign in and out to enter is as rough as any back road you might ever encounter. The payoff is beautiful mountains, valleys, and canyons with bighorn sheep, black bear, mountain lions, and lots else. I should add that I rarely ever see any human beings whether I am hiking in this area or even driving up to the cabin. What I have found and photographed are bobcats, javelinas, mule deer, white tail deer, gila monsters, hooded skunk, stripped skunk, antelope jackrabbits, lots of birds, lots of butterflies, and my favorite: the coatimundi -- or, coati for short. Coatis are playful and curious little animals a little bigger than a raccoon. Story One: I was hiking along hot springs wash checking out the cottonwood groves on either side of the wash. The coatis can be in the trees or scrounging around the ground for ants or insects. Eventually I reached a grove where I had seen coatis before. Not seeing any, I thought this would make a lovely place for my lunch, anyway. So, I am sitting on a log eating a sandwich when I hear some noise behind me. I turn around and 15 feet from me is the coati as he is in the above photo. I never knew whether he was in the tree and was coming down -- or, he was just arriving and wanted to go up the tree. None the less, he and I looked at each other for a couple of minutes after which he decided to depart. It's one of my favorite photos.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Coatimundi at Muleshoe Ranch, Arizona
One of my favorite day trips is to Muleshoe Ranch in the Galiuro Mountains, near Willcox, Arizona. Muleshoe Ranch is a cooperative wilderness area jointly owned by Muleshoe Ranch, the Nature Conservancy, and the BLM. There is 30 miles of gravel road to get to the small visitor's center and then 14 more miles (four wheel drive only) to get to Jackson's Cabin. This 14 mile stretch for which you must sign in and out to enter is as rough as any back road you might ever encounter. The payoff is beautiful mountains, valleys, and canyons with bighorn sheep, black bear, mountain lions, and lots else. I should add that I rarely ever see any human beings whether I am hiking in this area or even driving up to the cabin. What I have found and photographed are bobcats, javelinas, mule deer, white tail deer, gila monsters, hooded skunk, stripped skunk, antelope jackrabbits, lots of birds, lots of butterflies, and my favorite: the coatimundi -- or, coati for short. Coatis are playful and curious little animals a little bigger than a raccoon. Story One: I was hiking along hot springs wash checking out the cottonwood groves on either side of the wash. The coatis can be in the trees or scrounging around the ground for ants or insects. Eventually I reached a grove where I had seen coatis before. Not seeing any, I thought this would make a lovely place for my lunch, anyway. So, I am sitting on a log eating a sandwich when I hear some noise behind me. I turn around and 15 feet from me is the coati as he is in the above photo. I never knew whether he was in the tree and was coming down -- or, he was just arriving and wanted to go up the tree. None the less, he and I looked at each other for a couple of minutes after which he decided to depart. It's one of my favorite photos.
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