Patagonia Lake State Park

I’m a minority. At least at Patagonia Lake State Park I am a minority in that I’m a hiker and not a birder. In the morning I see dozens of people out with notebooks, binoculars, and cameras to see the birds. Apparently, this park has many bird species that winter here along with several rare types of birds that are found in this limited area. There are guided bird hikes (3 hours long) and bird boat tours. Instead, I hike. Though…here are the sounds in the morning. The birds can be quite loud.

Unfortunately the hiking trails are limited. The first morning I thought I’d head along the lake toward the dam. I found out there aren’t really trails, just a weak path that got weaker the farther I traveled. At some point with the coves in the lakes, I got turned around so I thought I’d head for a nearby peak. It took some bushwhacking, but eventually I found a road to get back to the park. I did get to see deer in the hills though no pictures due to the distance.

For some reason this part of the park has lots of cattle, so you really have to watch out for cow piles. They are EVERYWHERE. I heard a story where a bull charged a hiker but I just got some stares from them.

The very cool part was that I saw a coatimundi (the thing with eyes between the trees). I don’t think I’ve ever heard of this animal before. First I saw the long tail sticking out of the bushes. The coatimundi looked at me for some time. But like Bigfoot, my pictures are blurry and from a distance. It is real!

The next morning I thought I’d climb a peak. I could not find a trail, so I just climbed. I’m glad it was cool since climbing in rocks is not something that you really want to do in an area with rattlers. Luckily, no sighting of any snakes.

You know those movies where the hero is running down a hallway and the end of the hallway seems to keep moving away? That’s what it seemed like while climbing this hill. The top seemed like it was always out of reach. Then when I finally climbing the hill, I realized there was another peak behind just a bit higher. And another behind it that was higher. I finally did climb that peak where the views were amazing.

The park really doesn’t have trails as much as it has cow paths. I’ve done more bushwhacking this week than I’ve done in a months. It’s too bad because the views are great when you can get there. It’s just that you have to fight so hard to get there!

On one of my hikes I ended up following a trail that disappeared and sometimes reappeared so I had to bushwhack through major portions. Pushing through bushes isn’t a major thing in the East. Doing that in Arizona with all the thorns and spikes is something else. Torn up my clothes a bit. The good part is being short so I could stoop under some of the thorns. Really good exercise since it felt I was doing an obstacle course!