My good friend Kim and I headed out in search of cooler places, less dry than southeast Arizona. As of July 9^th, Tucson, my hometown, is nearing the end of its longest period without any trace of rain, now at 100 days plus. It just set a record for the most consecutive days of 105 degrees or hotter, that ended on July fourth, the day we returned to town. For the first time in months, we saw rain. While smoke from dozens of forest fires clouded the skies throughout most of our trip; on three occasions, the clouds carried rain. And we enjoyed the rain showers.

Though we saw many birds and butterflies, I would not characterize this as a birding trip. It was simply a trip to relax and explore some new parts of the country, the beauty, the culture, and the wildlife. No day started with a ringing alarm.

The dozens of forest fires altered our original plans to spend time in both Southwest Colorado and the White Mountains. A huge fire in the area caused road closures and forest closures in the White Mountains. The road closures forced us to re-route our path to southwest Colorado through Sedona and Flagstaff with our first’s night stay in Winslow. By the start of our trip, severe drought and forest fires forced the closure of every National Forest in Arizona, south of the Grand Canyon.

While in Winslow, we enjoyed a late lunch at La Posada Inn, a refurbished train station and designated historical site. Paintings of the owner, in which each one includes a playing card, decorate the walls of The Inn. Upon leaving The Inn, we noticed the bird list from a May first bird walk included a Cerulean Warbler.

The next day we continued our journey to Mesa Verde via route 666, through some beautiful country in northeastern New Mexico and southwestern Colorado. Much of the land we traveled was inside Indian Reservations. Once in Mesa Verde National Park, we set up our campsite. Soon we headed out to the visitor center to investigate ranger lead tours to the Indian cliff dwellings. We selected two tours, one to Cliff House, the other to Long House to take the following day.

As the day drew to a close, Kim cooked us a dinner of hot dogs and beans. We enjoyed watching Green-tailed Towhees, Spotted Towhees, Chipping Sparrows, Black-headed Grosbeaks, Hermit Thrush, and Mountain Bluebirds from our campsite. From the southwest, a storm front blew in, and soon it filled the sky with heat lighting. We watched the show for several hours as it moved across the sky to the southeast. It continued into the night, even after we went to bed, and we fell asleep listening to Common Poorwills.

Our first full day in Mesa Verde National Park, we devoted to exploring the Park. We headed out well before our 10:00 a.m. tour of the Cliff House, stopping at the highest point in the park where there is a fire lookout station. Here we saw several Broad-tailed Hummingbirds feeding on flowers. The Cliff House tour fascinated us as it presented the mysteries of the Indian Cliff dwellers, who lived for less than 100 years in their spectacular cliff abodes. It’s still unknown exactly why the Indians left their dwellings, though drought is a popular reason given for their exodus.

Late in the day, we visited Long House on another Ranger lead walk. At $2.25, these tours are a bargain. This is the largest of the more than 600 cliff dwellings contained in Mesa Verde. And by far, it was the favorite dwelling that Kim and I visited. The Indians built this dwelling in a large cliff alcove. Late in the day, the alcove was entirely in the shade. The view was quite stunning and it felt so peaceful. A spring ran in the alcove and continues to run today. During our tour we watched Chipping Sparrows and House Finches drink from the spring. Several Common Ravens nested in the alcove and acted as guards. In the trees nearby we saw Black-headed Grosbeaks and Western Tanagers. This dwelling contained a large area set aside for ceremonial dances, the only such area in all the cliff dwellings.

The next day Kim and I left The Park to explore the San Juan Mountains by driving north on road 45. We stopped at a trailhead, about half way between

Cortez and the mountain pass to check out birds and butterflies. Soon after we crossed the creek and headed up the trail, we found a patch of flowers blooming. In this one area, Kim and I saw more species of butterflies than she or I had seen in months. As we watched Field Crescent, Aphrodite and Atlantis Fritillary, Swainson’s Thrush serenaded us, and a Spotted Sandpiper worked the creek.

We stopped for lunch in Telluride, a town that supports the economies of many of the surrounding communities. It’s a high-class, and yes, expensive mountain resort town.

Our return trip to Mesa Verde National Park took us on a loop that crossed the San Juan Mountains and headed south on 550 toward Durango. This is truly a stunning drive of beautiful mountain passes and river gorges. Just before entering Durango, we saw one of two large fires burning in Colorado at the time of our visit. The fire had burned both sides of the road and fire fighters were continuing to do helicopter water drops on one side of the road. In Durango, we saw a very large fire fighter camp in the center of town. Business signs throughout the town offered gratitude to the fire fighters for their efforts.

Out of Durango, and heading west toward The Park, Kim’s says "I just saw a Blue Grouse at the side of the road." So of course, we turn the truck around to get a better look. Standing at the side of a busy, 65 mile-an-hour road is a female Blue Grouse, checking traffic so she could cross the road. While we watched, 3 very small babies joined her. She immediately shoed them back into the nearby bushes. I was afraid to watch the family cross the street, so we left at my request. The next day, when we drove through the same area, I was relieved to see the road free of feathers.

We left Mesa Verde National Park the next day and retraced our route up 500 to the north. The day we left Mesa Verde, they closed The Park, due to extreme fire danger. On our drive north, we made a stopped mid-morning at the town of Silvertown for coffee and pastries. We were headed for Ouray, where we planned to bird and butterfly, and ultimately Montrose, to stay the night with a former boss of mine from my Mattel who retired to Colorado.

Ouray is a high altitude community, located between high mountains. It’s called the Switzerland of Colorado. We took a steep dirt road, Camp Bird Road (CR-361) to even higher elevations. Barely a mile or two on the road, we found it lined with wild flowers and butterflies. We butterflied at our first stop for close to an hour, enjoying the checkerspots, crescents, and fritillaries. Below us, in a fast flowing spring, I spotted an American Dipper. Further up the road at various seeps and flower patches, we continued to find new butterfly species, including Coral Hairstreak, Ruddy Copper, and Arctic Blue. We reluctantly left the area, to allow enough time to reach Montrose before dinnertime.

The drive to our night’s stay took us several miles off the main highway down a dirt road through juniper oak habitat. Jim and his wife Carolyn welcomed us to their home, which sits on a rise, with a meadow one direction, junipers everywhere, and mountains in the distance, blurred with the ever-present smoke. Jim gave Kim and I a tour of his home and property. Jim’s many interests are seen throughout the property, his fly fishing, his target shooting, his wood working and his new interest of restoring classic sports cars.

Following the tour, happy hour started with margaritas, chips and salsa that we enjoyed while sitting on their deck overlooking the meadow. Carolyn prepared a tasty dinner of Mexican chicken casserole. During dinner we chatted away, and also enjoyed the wildlife that visited the many feeders in their yard. White-breasted Nuthatch and Juniper Titmouse are regular at the bird feeders. As dusk approached, Common Nighthawks soared overhead and over the nearby meadow.

The next morning, Kim and I departed for the Black Canyon of the Gunnison. At Jim’s suggestion, we first stopped at the Ute Indian Museum in Montrose. The Museum just received on loan, an exhibit of Edward Curtis Indian photographs. His work is spectacular. He traveled around the United States in the late1800's and early 1900's photographing 80 different Indian tribes. JP Morgan eventually financed his work and Curtis published several volumes of his photographs. The UTE Indian artifacts in the museum are stunning, and are on their own, worth a visit to the museum.

Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park is located north east of Montrose Colorado. It is the deepest canyon in the United States as compared to its width. The overlooks take you right up to the sides of the canyon that descend straight down to the Gunnison River, well over one thousand feet. Kim remarked that she has never visited another spot that allows the visitor to get so close to the edge. While standing at one of the overlooks, a Golden Eagle appeared and flew down the canyon below us and around a bend in the river out of our sight. It’s one of those moments that Kim and I will not forget.

After exploring the various overlooks in The Park, Kim and I took a steep road down to the Gunnison River. On our way down, we stopped at several patches of wild flowers that lined the road and spent quite a bit of time butterflying. Some of our finds included: Behr’s Hairstreak, Tailed Copper, Nokomis Fritillary, and Orange-headed Roadside Skipper. When I took a break from butterflying to make a sandwich, Kim watched a Peregrine Falcon fly through chasing a flock of Rock Doves. Wow! I’ve since learned that this stretch of road is a favorite on the Wings Southwest Colorado Birds and Butterfly trip.

From the Black Canyon of the Gunnison, we headed east toward the town of Gunnison, looking for a campground to stay the night. We found one we liked about 10 miles north of Gunnison along the Taylor River, near the town of Altmont. After an early dinner, we headed southwest of Gunnison, down a dirt road described in the ABA "Lane Guide" to birding in Colorado, as a possible spot to see Gunnison Sage Grouse. We hit pay dirt, as we saw well over 30 grouse, about 6 females, most with 5 to 7 young. Along this same road, we saw several Pronghorn, and Sage Thrasher.

A quick stop for groceries on the way back to the campground gave us an unpleasant surprise. When going to put the groceries in the back of the truck, Kim discovered that the shell glass door had come apart. After a few futile attempts to repair the door ourselves, we opted to drive carefully back to our campsite and find someone in town to repair the door the next morning.

In the morning, Kim stopped at a place she had seen the previous night, that looked like it serviced 4 X 4 vehicles. After a chat with one of the workers, and showing him the problem, he offered to have it fixed within the hour. Meanwhile, Kim and I headed to a bakery we had spotted across the street from the repair shop. At the bakery, I discovered baguettes cooking in the oven, which would be a perfect addition to our planned dinner. Within the hour, the truck was fixed. Kim and I had coffee and some tasty treats for breakfast, and we had fresh baked baguettes. And after a stop of the fruit stand, next to the repair shop, we were ready to hit the road.

Kim and I crossed the Rockies on highway 50. We drove through several high mountain meadows, lined with mountain ridges. On the other side of the Rockies, we made our turn south, to start our return trip to Arizona. At Monte Vista, when we reached road 160, we headed west up yet another mountain pass. Clouds covered the mountains and soon the temperature dropped into the fifties and it began to rain. A bit further up the road we encountered a blasting delay, which made for a perfect opportunity to snack on the fresh baked rosemary baguettes, and the juiciest, tastiest, peaches I’ve had in years. Just beyond the blasting sight, was the turn off to our campground. We arrived and selected a secluded sight to camp for the night.

Once settled, we took a walk around the campground, enjoying the singing Lincoln’s Sparrows, Western Tanagers, Pine Siskin and Gray-headed Juncos. Our campground, called Big Meadows, was at 9300 feet in a beautiful conifer forest. A small reservoir, popular with the fisherman, was at the base of the campground, and fed the creek that runs along the drive into the area. While walking toward the reservoir, Kim spotted a Brown Pelican, soaring above, circling for a landing in the water.

We hurried to the reservoir, to confirm what we thought we had seen. While we suspected Brown Pelican to be a pretty unusual sighting, I later learned, that if accepted, our sighting will be the tenth ever record for Colorado. At the reservoir, we found the Brown Pelican, sitting alone on the water. We saw it several times that day sitting on the water, but were unable to relocate the bird the following day. In the small falls, just below the reservoir dam, we found a young American Dipper. It’s always a treat for me to see a Dipper.

The next morning we crossed through yet another mountain pass further west on 160, and then turned our direction once again to the south and into New Mexico. Our lunch stop, was at a spot where Georgia O’Keefe painted many of her New Mexico landscapes. Just south of Sante Fe, we encountered our first cloud burst of the trip, and of the summer. It’s such a joy to experience the rains returning to the desert.

For our final night of the trip we stayed in Socorro and planned to visit the Bosque del Apache Wildlife Refuge. We visited the Refuge both late in the day and early the next morning. Here we added several birds to our trip list including American Avocet and Neotropical Cormorant.

On July fourth, we returned to Tucson, with fond memories of the places we had seen, people with whom we visited, and all the interesting animal sightings. Both of us definitely plan to return to Colorado, preferably in a drought-free year, to spend more time enjoying the birds and butterflies, scenery and culture.