Enchantment Times Two

As colder temperatures descended upon Colorado in November, I began to get restless.  It felt unnatural to stay in one place as the season changed after years of full-time RVing had taught me to migrate to warmer weather like the birds.

My mind drifted back to my happy place-- Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge in New Mexico, the Land of Enchantment.  I missed the sights and sounds of those magnificent sandhill cranes, and missed my volunteer and staff friends there.

On to Bryce via Colorado

Continuing my westward July travels, after a couple more "Camp Wally" overnight stops at the Scottsbluff, NE and Laramie, WY Wal-Mart stores,  I decided to bypass Denver's traffic and head to the central Colorado mountains via 2-lane mountain roads from Wyoming instead.

Along the way just so happened to be another National Wildlife Refuge, so of course, I had to stop!  Arapaho NWR sits in the North Park basin west of Rocky Mountain National Park and east of Steamboat Springs.  The auto tour loop was easy to scope out before driving it, so I knew I'd be o.k. driving it with the RV/toad.

There were a few ponds of migratory ducks, geese, and this cute little pied-billed grebe--

Scenic Byways of Iowa and Nebraska

With every cross-country crossing, I'm always eager to find new routes to explore.  In early July on my way towards Colorado, I decided to bypass the familiar I-80 route from Chicago and explore U.S. Highway 20 across northern Iowa, and the Scenic Byways of northern Nebraska.

It was a beautiful summer day in Chicago, so I took time out before getting on the road to give the Winnie its first wash.  She cleaned up so good, I made this my new blog header photo!

Crane Vacation to Wisconsin

When I needed to vacate my favorite Chicago campground in mid-June for a week (in between my two 14-day stays), I decided to head north to the Dells region of central Wisconsin.  My goal was to try and see an endangered Whooping Crane in the wild, and that's an area where they nest in the summer.

I rolled into Juneau county's Castle Rock Park (not to be confused with Adams county's park by the same name on the other side of Castle Rock Lake!) and had my pick of a few dozen campsites on a Thursday evening-- for the bargain price of just $17/night!

Giant T@B Cache in Southern IL

Here it is the end of August, and I'm still trying to finish my blog posts of my springtime travels....eee gads!  Well, I've been wildly busy this summer working as a volunteer interpretive ranger at Bryce Canyon NP, and the connectivity here (and spare time) have been pretty minimal.  So, I'll try to mash together multiple posts into one today, and move the backlog along a bit!

My final week in southern Illinois this past April was spent doing the 2 big things I'd come to the area to do: attend the Midwest T@B Rally at Giant City State Park, and finally (FINALLY) paddle and explore the Cache river basin-- the northernmost cypress tupelo swamp in North America.

Surprising Southern Illinois

You'd think after being a resident of Illinois for 40-some years, I would have discovered southern Illinois far sooner.  But it always seemed to be "pass-thru" territory as I criss-crossed the region to get to somewhere else.

That was finally remedied this past April when southern Illinois became my home for 2 weeks.  My dear old T@B camping friends were holding a rally near Carbondale, so that became the destination to my 2,000-mile journey back to the Midwest.

Arriving to Carbondale about a week before the rally, I decided to check out Crab Orchard National Wildlife Refuge-- one of the very few NWRs that offers public RV camping with hookups inside its borders.

I arrived just ahead of the weekend warriors and snagged this gorgeous lakefront site for a week.  Just love "first come, first served" campgrounds!

Missouri's Magnificent Mingo NWR

My early April travels along Highway 60 from Enid, OK to southeastern Missouri were fairly uneventful.  The gentle, rolling prairies and oil/gas fields of northeast Oklahoma gave way to southern Missouri's Ozark mountains-- tree-covered hills of blooming dogwood and rosebuds.

I arrived to Lake Wappapello State Park north of Poplar Bluff, MO the day before a spring storm was to pass through.  Nestled in the forest with a distant view of the lake, my rolling home had found safe shelter, and at only $12/night for an electric site, quite a bargain to extend my stay a week and explore the area.  Number One on the list would be a visit to Mingo National Wildlife Refuge.

OOOOk-lahoma!!!

Am I the only one who likes to crank up and sing along to old Rodgers & Hammerstein show tunes when crossing the Great Plains? (perhaps this explains why no brave man has settled into my RV's co-pilot seat!)

But who could resist belting out a few bars of "Oooook-la-homa" when seeing such bright yellow fields of canola (after so many months of just looking at desert brown)?

My April journey from the southwest to Chicago took me across the Sooner state on a couple of warm and sunny days-- carefully planned to avoid their notorious springtime thunderstorms and tornadoes.  On the agenda: a visit to a National Wildlife Refuge and a re-visit to a town closely tied to my family history.

Little Tracker's Big Day & a Yuma Reunion

On my last day in Ajo, I decide to take the little yellow Tracker for another off-pavement jaunt into the Arizona desert.  This time, it's to a new-to-me National Wildlife Refuge west of town.

Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge, at 860,000 acres, is the third largest NWR in the lower 48 states.  Most of it is complete wilderness, but a couple 4-wheel-drive roads exist along the edges of the park.  I decide to give the Charlie Bell Road access point a try just west of Ajo.

The entrance sign is pretty sun-baked.  Not much rain ever gets to these parts of southern Arizona.

Bidding Farewell to Bosque

Fellow volunteer friends reported last week that the cranes have now left Bosque del Apache for the season to head north.  What a great winter we had together!

Hidden Secrets of the Bosque

Drive around the tour loops at Bosque del Apache NWR (or any National Wildlife Refuge for that matter) and you're likely see a few side roads with little blue and white "Area Closed" signs.  What's being hidden back there?  Well, come along and find out!

Bosque's Winter Birds

One of my major duties at Bosque del Apache NWR this winter season was to drive a tour van for the 4 free Refuge tours each weekend.  Surprisingly, not a single one of them was dedicated to the Sandhill Cranes that most visitors come wanting to see.

As magnificent and thrilling as the cranes are, let’s face it, they’re big and rather slow-moving, predictable birds.  Pretty easy to spot, sit and watch for hours at a time—no binoculars or bird guide books required!  So, the tours aimed to focus on all the other birds of the Refuge.  The ones that might take a bit more help to spot and identify.

White Christmases

After returning from my quick trip to Florida in mid-December to become a Floridian, I headed up to Colorado for an early Christmas with my brother and his family in the Vail valley.  As I approached the New Mexico/Colorado border, I caught a glimpse of my first snowy peak:

Have You Hugged a Wildlife Refuge Lately?

My January volunteering adventures at Bosque del Apache NWR have been filled with lots of new and exciting things (such as seeing the Refuge covered by snow for the first time!)...

But it has also been a bit unnerving to be living on a National Wildlife Refuge as we watch and wait for the armed occupation at Malheur NWR to end as soon as possible.  Some of the volunteers and staff here have served and/or visited Malheur-- they have friends there, and know the potential impact this interruption is having on that Refuge's important work, and the migratory wildlife who rely on it.

As I perform my daily duties here at Bosque, a few questions lurk quietly in the back of my mind-- could a Malheur situation happen at another Refuge?  Could it happen here at Bosque?

Festival of the Cranes

Whew!  What a week it’s been!  Over 6,000 visitors, 15,000 birds, and dozens of tired staff members and volunteers who are now thankful for a mini-Thanksgiving break.  But, oh what a fun time we all had at the 28th Annual Festival of the Cranes!

Busy Days on the Refuge & a New Job

Since the 18 new volunteers arrived 2 weeks ago, it’s been a flurry of activity here at Bosque del Apache NWR.  Between training sessions, pot lucks, and preparing for the big Festival of the Cranes (that starts this Tuesday), it’s been an exceptionally busy time.  Add to that, a new job for me here on the Refuge, lots of new major personal legal/financial changes to plan (as a result of the new 2016 ACA Healthcare plans), and a little episode of nearly burning down my RV last week….and I’ve felt rather scattered in 101 directions this month!

Sorta like these snow geese.  One day they’re enjoying a nice relaxing sunny afternoon resting in one of the ponds…

and the next day they’re buzzing over the tourists’ cars fleeing for their lives!

The Masses Are Arriving…with 1 Rare Bird

It’s been a busy week at Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge in central New Mexico!  Not only have our first big flocks of Greater Sandhill Cranes arrived, but a full crop of volunteers rolled into the RV village this week too!

As the first flock of 400 Sandhills rested off the Flight Deck during their first afternoon here, we quickly spotted one bird that had become the “Rock Star of the Refuge” last winter.  Can you spot “Lucy”?

Feathers, Foliage, Pies & Skies

That about sums up my first month here at Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge in central New Mexico.  When I arrived in late September, the sunflowers were still in bloom as daytime highs still hovered around 90 degrees.  One month later, Autumn is now in full swing as we begin to welcome back our famous winter residents.

Back to Bosque via Great Sand Dunes

I decided to spend my last night and morning in Colorado at a place I’ve wanted to see for a long time but had never managed to get to—Great Sand Dunes National Park near Alamosa.  As I descended down from Poncha Springs into the vast San Luis Valley, the storm clouds started building.

MO Refuges & a Secret Highway

I was born in Missouri, and went to college there too.  Growing up, we had countless family trips to the “Show Me” state to visit my grandparents.  So, I’ve always felt like I’ve had a pretty good familiarity with the state.  But there was still a large swath of northern Missouri I’d never explored, so I took the opportunity with my end of April trip to quickly do so.

Passing through St. Joseph, MO with the highway towering over the Missouri river to the left and historic downtown to the right, I really wished I had allocated more time to explore this storied city, once the last bastion of civilization before pioneer wagon trains and Pony Express riders headed out into the great Wild West. 

But the focus of today’s trip was to check out 2 of Missouri’s National Wildlife Refuges – Squaw Creek and Swan Lake.  So, St. Joe had to settle for a few quick “windshield shots” and a promise that I’ll explore it more next time.