Day 14: 'Pantagonia Lake State Park'


This park is very popular amongst birders and I knew that they gave out “Recent Bird Sightings” flyers upon request at the main gate, so I eagerly got my own copy.  It was a list of 110 birds!  (Now I just had to find the trail that led me past all of them.)  

Rick and I started out pretty early in the morning since we were woken up by the chattering of the Grackles at crack of dawn and finally found a bench in front of at least 6 full bird feeders, with tons of birds hopping and flying around.  





A little farther down the path was a barbed wire fence and weird type of man sized gate that led to the hiking path.  

It was instantly evident why the gate was needed, we were in a part of the park where the hiking trails shared the land with grazing cattle.






We hiked for quite a ways, the trail following alongside a river, so it was very scenic and yes, there were a lot of birds.  A few cows and deer along the way as well.  We happened to see our friends starting down the trail as we were leaving, so we hiked it again with them.  

Later in the day, they wanted to go on another hike through a very barren, rocky & cactus ridden area of the park, which was scenic in a totally different way than the morning hike.  By the time we got back from that hike, Rick and I were definitely feeling the miles and miles of walking we had done over the past few days.





I finally got to see a roadrunner!  Wow – do they run fast and the way they run is really a sight to see.  

A nearby camper had one coming right up to their picnic table (feeding it pancakes) so I got some great pictures.




A complete surprise came today when Cole sent us some Snapchat messages, showing that he was actually touching the Mexican border.  

We figured he must be in Nogales, which was only about 20 minutes from where our campground was!  

So on their way home, Cole and his friends stopped by the campground to say a quick hi and final goodbye.






 



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