Reflections of Sierra Ancha and the Habitat Trail
Posted: Thu Nov 20, 2014 3:04 am
Now that I am firmly settled back in London, I thought I would offer a personal view of my second habitat experience. Much respect to Ron for all his efforts in making this day the success it was.
We left early as planned, and by 7.30 am we were well on our way. Ron came and collected me at my hotel. Leaving Mesa, we turned eastwards, and eventually joined the freeway passing through smaller towns including the amusingly titled Miami. As I imagined it, we needed two hours of regular driving before we were ready to attempt the habitat approach. I played safe, and was prepared for much colder weather than we had had for the last few days, even though the sun was present and suggested otherwise.
On the way, and even before we were close to Sierra Ancha, I was struck by the sheer beauty of the mountains, with its red and orange sandstone formations, interspersed with natural evergreen plants. Soon we were off the 203, and started the tortuous climb along the dirt track road, punctuated with stones and rubble of varying sizes. By this time I realized what Greg Star had hinted about Ron’s driving. His philosophy seem to be ‘Speed is of the essence’. The quicker we go, the more time we have at our disposal to use later. He makes no concession to uneven dirt track roads. Half way up, I requested a stop. Ron appeared puzzled, and stated there are no agaves here. ‘Yes I know’, I said. ‘ I just want to take some photos, a tourist stop’.
Back in the jeep, we continued the climb, till the Agave chrysantha habitat came into view. This was the start of my second habitat trail, a truly exciting time for me. By the end of the day, I would have visited a diverse collection of sites containing four more agaves; A delamateri, A murphy, A parryi, and A toumeyana bella. Wherever I went, though, there was no escaping the ever engaging, and somewhat flirtatious Agave chrysantha, which seem to turn up everywhere. Even in its many disguises, it has become a true favourite of mine. Jkw
We left early as planned, and by 7.30 am we were well on our way. Ron came and collected me at my hotel. Leaving Mesa, we turned eastwards, and eventually joined the freeway passing through smaller towns including the amusingly titled Miami. As I imagined it, we needed two hours of regular driving before we were ready to attempt the habitat approach. I played safe, and was prepared for much colder weather than we had had for the last few days, even though the sun was present and suggested otherwise.
On the way, and even before we were close to Sierra Ancha, I was struck by the sheer beauty of the mountains, with its red and orange sandstone formations, interspersed with natural evergreen plants. Soon we were off the 203, and started the tortuous climb along the dirt track road, punctuated with stones and rubble of varying sizes. By this time I realized what Greg Star had hinted about Ron’s driving. His philosophy seem to be ‘Speed is of the essence’. The quicker we go, the more time we have at our disposal to use later. He makes no concession to uneven dirt track roads. Half way up, I requested a stop. Ron appeared puzzled, and stated there are no agaves here. ‘Yes I know’, I said. ‘ I just want to take some photos, a tourist stop’.
Back in the jeep, we continued the climb, till the Agave chrysantha habitat came into view. This was the start of my second habitat trail, a truly exciting time for me. By the end of the day, I would have visited a diverse collection of sites containing four more agaves; A delamateri, A murphy, A parryi, and A toumeyana bella. Wherever I went, though, there was no escaping the ever engaging, and somewhat flirtatious Agave chrysantha, which seem to turn up everywhere. Even in its many disguises, it has become a true favourite of mine. Jkw