Jeep ride to Sonoita, Arizona

Wednesday, March 15, 2017

My location:  Las Cienegas NCA near Sonoita, Arizona

This morning, I awoke to  more clouds than usual, but still quite sunny.  While on our walk this morning, I was able to get photos of two little song birds in the trees nearby.  They look very similar.

Had a very leisurely breakfast this morning, drinking coffee, reading blogs and eating little white donuts.  I love my morning time.  Thank goodness, I get up at 7:30 or I wouldn’t get out of here before noon.

Around 10:30, Yuma and I decided we would take a Jeep drive and see what the town of Sonoita looks like.  My fourth day here and haven’t been out of the area.

Instead of driving out the way we came in to hwy 82, we took the back roads South to hwy 83. Didn’t see any sheep or antelope, but Yuma wanted me to stop so he could play with this little guy.

After reading this informational sign, I am certain the Black-tailed prairie dog lives in all the burrows I see around here.  They just hide good.

There are a lot of horses in this area.  I see trailers everywhere.

After about ten miles of backroads, we came out on hwy 83, a couple miles to the East of town.  Looking East towards the Whetstone Mountains.

Sonoita is very small, maybe three hundred residents.  Most of them probably live in ranches around the area.  They do have a neat “Welcome to Sonoita” sign.  Those are the Santa Rita Mountains to the West of town.

The town is actually just some buildings and a gas station at the intersection of hwy 82 and hwy 83. 

Putting a new roof on the Sonoita Inn.

Got photos of three of the signs for both highways going through town.  All are different.

   

Saw a road heading into the Santa Rita Mountains, so off we went.

This is as close as we got.  The road was terrible.  Wash board most of the way for the ten miles we traveled.  Finally, just turned around and went back.

Looking back towards the East, I could see the Whetstone Mountains on the left and the Mustang Mountains on the right.

We got back home around 1 o’clock and did some resting.  Around 3 o’clock we decided to try and find Cienegas Ranch.   There is a spot on the map, giving its location, so we headed out.  It’s not far from here.

We drove all around the back roads and the only Cienegas we found was the creek.

I told Yuma that if he jumped in, he was getting another bath.  So, he just got a drink making sure he didn’t even get his feet wet.  What a good boy!

Just as we were pulling into Oak Canyon Road, I saw this bird of prey floating along looking for his prey.  I think it is a Northern Harrier based on my brief Internet study on the subject.  Kind of grainy because he was pretty far away and had to zoom fast.  The Cottonwood trees in the gulch we walked and Santa Rita Mountains are the backdrop.

With the clouds, the sunset is awesome over the Santa Rita Mountains!

Time for Survivor!  Dolly was kind enough to let me bring in the Tucson local stations for the evening.

See you later.