On the second day of our trip to SE Arizona, we went to the Gila Box Riparian National Conservation Area (NCA). The highlight was the Bighorn Sheep! We went to Aravaipa Canyon the first day (see here), and decided to spend another night and explore the area around Safford a little bit the next day. There are a lot of options e.g. Roper Lake and Mt. Graham. But we decided on Gila Box.
Gila Box Riparian NCA is one of two in the United States. It encompasses the Gila River and Bonita Creek, and the canyons they flow through (the ‘box’ part of the name is for the canyons). It’s a huge area, and we just scratched the surface of it.
The Gila River had a high flow due to recent rains. Trails along the river were washed out. We bushwhacked to the river, and we heard rocks falling in the water. We thought it might be kids throwing rocks, or people knocking them in from above the canyon. But we investigated and found seven Bighorn Sheep moving along the canyon wall, grazing. It was a group of ewes (i.e. female sheep). It was really cool to see them walking along the sheer cliff of the canyon wall. They have amazing balance. The ewes stay together in a group, and young rams stay with them for 2 to 4 years. The ram’s horns grow for about 4 years before he’s ready to mate (i.e. battle with other rams), and keep growing longer for about 8 years, after which they get thicker and heavier. It would have been nice to see a ram.
Seeing the Bighorn Sheep was an answered prayer! We were looking for them in Aravaipa, and we said a little prayer to St. Joseph and St. Francis to show us some. It happened the next day. Were we just lucky, or did St. Joseph and St. Francis give us a gift? I’m going with the answered prayer.
I included a few shots of Mt. Graham. Mt. Graham is a ‘sky island’, which is mountain surrounded by desert. It is about 11,000 ft tall. There are three internationally famous telescopes on top of it. When they were building the telescopes, the environmentalists were up in arms due to the impact on the habitat of the Mt. Graham Red Squirrel. It’s been about 25 years since the first telescope was built, and, fortunately, the squirrel is thriving.
