On the second day of our trip, we went to the Old Safford Bridge in the Gila Box Riparian National Conservation Area. Old Safford Bridge is one lane over the Gila River, and serves a dirt road called the Black Hills Back Country Byway. It was built in 1918. It was about a 50 minute drive from the hotel.
We weren’t sure what to expect, but it turns out we were glad we went. It’s a really nice spot. The river was flowing strong, and there were a lot of trails. We spent most of our time on the south side of the river. The most common bird we saw there was the Vermilion Flycatcher. We saw three active Vermilion nests.
We ate lunch at the picnic area at the bridge, which is on the north side of the river. Then we drove to Mt. Graham. Mt. Graham is a ‘sky island’, which means its mountain ecosystem is isolated by the surrounding desert. The elevation at the peak is 10,724 ft. The road to the top is still closed for the winter season (it opens on April 15; the snow was gone when we were there), but you can still drive quite a ways up. We stopped at a couple of spots, and went as far as the Arcadia Campground (elevation is 6700 ft), which is in the pines.
We left for home at about 3:00, and got a low tire indication on the Forester. We had it checked out in Safford, and it took two hours to patch the hole in the tire (they were swamped, plus they had to replace one of the wheel mounting studs), so we got home later than we planned.
It was a great trip to SE Arizona!
2 Comments
Great pictures Joe!
Thanks!