With all the rain lately along with touches of sunshine it’s no wonder that mushrooms are popping up in the forest.
Now if I just knew what they were.
I thought I was going for a walk on a gated Kaibab National Forest road into Lookout Canyon. But the parking area was full of tall grass that I didn’t want to park my hot truck on top of, and there was no gate. So I drove on.
After two miles of two-track road and 12 miles more to go I feared a closed gate at the far end and pulled into a clearing with an old coral. A good place to park on dirt and go for a little walk.
Looked like the coral hadn’t been used in quite a while.
I found the old fences and loading shoot intriguingly photogenic.
Wandering around I discovered a sign for Riggs Spring. Always nice to know where you are.
Don’t know if there’s a correlation with the name and all the rusty springs as I couldn’t find any information on Riggs Spring. I do know the Kaibab National Forest has allowed cattle grazing for a very long time so can only assume that Mr. Riggs might have been the first to utilize this water supply for his stock.
And maybe there were buildings here at one time.
The spring bubbles up from under ground through a pipe into a water tank.
I was mesmerized for a while watching the bubbles and flow of the clear cold water.
With every step across the meadow grasshoppers filled the air then landed hidden when I stopped. Not easy to photograph.
At 86 degrees, it was too hot to hike for long so I returned home in my air conditioned truck. Sure was a nice ride.
Everyone likes to see wildlife, but be smart about it please. Don’t approach animals; they are wild! If you have to stop along a road pull completely off the road and park on appropriate pavement only. If you park on grass, which can be very dry, it’s possible the heat from under your vehicle could start a fire. Something we’re all very concerned about here in Arizona.
The Beefalo that hang out around the entrance station to Grand Canyon National Park’s North Rim are not native, but still wild. Even though they are a higher percentage of cattle than bison they are not tame or domesticated and can stampede without warning. So take your photos from inside the safety of your vehicle. DO NOT walk towards them!
OK, rant over. It’s just that sometimes I wonder if people just leave their brains home when they go on vacation.
After getting past the beefalo jam along State Route 67, the main road into the the North Rim, and breakfast at Jacob Lake I drove into the Kaibab National Forest on some unexplored gravel roads. Destination Lookout Canyon where I thought I’d take a hike. More about that later as I want to share some of the wildlife I saw during the day first.
Certainly not as big as a beefalo, but the attack was vicious. These little deer flies pack a punch with their sting. Yea, that’s my knee.
Only a little larger but not dangerous this Swallowtail butterfly hung around a spring I stopped to see.
Another bright yellow caught my eye when a Western Tanager flew onto this fence post.
Evidence of not so wild life left behind.
Then later a few acquaintances of the same. OK, so these are not really wild.
Yet as they graze through the forest, are responsible for making a total mess of the natural water holes.
Which should look like Deer Lake, fenced to keep cattle out. Water tanks are provided for livestock, but I guess water is water.
Raven flew over.
Wild turkeys stayed on the ground.
Oh yea, and there was a coyote too quick to get a photo of. What wildlife have you seen lately?
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