Cabeza Prieta Natural History Association
Ajo, Arizona

Volume 1, Number 4, May 2009. Editing, design and layout: Katarina and Peter Altshul Editorial Board: Lance Bell, Lynn Cooper, Helen Matthews Cabeza Calling is published by the Cabeza Prieta Natural History Association 1611 North Second Avenue, Ajo, Arizona 85321 info@cabezaprieta.org kat.altshul@yahoo.com

Letter from the President

Springtime Reflections
It has been a busy winter for the new president. Of course I mean me, not the other new President, although I expect he has been busy too. For the past three months, in order to really know what our association does, and to get a sense of how well we do it, I have tried to be involved in every program and event we carried out. That was probably not a good thing to have done because it gives an incorrect impression of how the president should work. No one should try to volunteer in the desert, be at nearly every event, take the lead at public presentations, lobby Congressmen, lead hikes, and Childs Mountain tours, plan a fair, edit a website, and begin several new association projects. In fact it wasn’t possible to be at all the activities. Able representatives from the Executive Board filled in and their support is appreciated. By trying to do it all I did get to sample almost every activity we do, I discovered some new things we should be doing, and found there are others we could do much better. In the upcoming fall newsletter an annual report will make clear what a dramatic and positive impact we have on the Sonoran Desert, its residents and visitors.

Probably the best part of this winter has been all the great people I have met and come to know better. Your current officers and Executive Board, some former officers including some of the association founders, our members and friends, have all been part of this group as have all the employees of the Refuge, numerous organizations in town, business people and the many individuals who volunteered to speak, write, plan or just plain work with us.

In November my email contact list was perhaps 30 people, mostly relatives Pam might need to contact if anything untoward should happen to me. Now I have almost half that many categories of email contacts and my total list has grown well beyond 200. My life is much richer for my involvement.

One responsibility of the officers and executive board of our organization is to plan our future. On April 9th the board met to review what we accomplished this year, evaluate how well we got our work done, and set new directions and priorities for the future. There are exciting things in the works which will be presented in future issues of Cabeza Calling. They involve new member options and benefits, projects in the Cabeza Refuge, better communication with you as members and volunteers, new and better sites near Ajo to see wildlife and learn about the Sonoran Desert, expanded resources for visitors to our area, involvement for the youth of our town, and new and strengthened partnerships for our association.

For you, the inevitable is sure to happen: your email or phone will let you know you are needed to give a little or a lot of time and expertise to make these things happen. By giving you will get back much more. Please don’t wait to have your talents and skills discovered, respond to a request or just let one of the board members know you are willing. Your life will be richer too.
- Yr fthfl srvnt Ralph Hudson, President

Letter from the Editors

Summer beckons…
Welcome to the final issue of our first season! It has been a great pleasure to put out Cabeza Calling and to see it develop from Nina’s initial idea to four issues, which we hope you have found both informative and entertaining. We would like to thank everyone who has contributed in any way to getting the newsletter published, and in particular all those who have written the great articles which it has been our pleasure to publish. We also have to thank the people who put time and energy into getting the newsletter out through email, online and in print – Lynn and John Cooper for their proofing skills and mastery of the intricacies of bulk emailing, our indefatigable President Ralph Hudson for his proofing, promotion and tireless dedication to all things Cabeza, Margot (of course), without whom the world (or at least this small corner of it) would undoubtedly collapse, who made print copies of Cabeza Calling available at the refuge office, Tom Powell for posting Cabeza Calling on the Association website, and Refuge Manager Curt McCasland for his regular contributions and his support for the newsletter.

In this issue Jim Atkinson follows up his excellent presentation with some more information about everybody’s favorite desert fauna (snakes, of course), and Tim Tibbits follows up his excellent presentation with an article on Cool Birds. Student Conservation Association (SCA) interns Stephanie Doerries and Kirsten Wert write about the bird surveys they have worked on this winter, Arizona Game and Fish Pronghorn specialist Sean Knapp tells us about pronghorn preschool, and intrepid hiker Dennis Lettenmaier gives a thorough account of what it’s like to hike across the Cabeza. We hope it makes for enjoyable reading in the summer months, and look forward to seeing you all in the fall!

News from the Refuge

A Letter from the Refuge Manager
Before I began working at the Cabeza Prieta NWR, springtime was my favorite time of year. The sounds of birds singing and the bud and bloom bursts of deciduous trees after long cold winters meant baseball, fishing, and long hikes would soon be in my future. This was the time of year to think about all of the possibilities of the spring and summer months. Now, I view this time of year as autumn and bittersweet. Even though the birds are singing, the saguaros flower buds are appearing, and baseball will occupy lots of my time, the hiking is almost over and most of my friends will soon be leaving. I also seem to think less about the possibilities of the next few months but reflect on the activities occurring over the last few months. All of our accomplishments would never be complete without the dedication and hard work of the volunteers and members of the Cabeza Prieta Natural History Association. Many of the projects we set out to complete this year are in full swing. By the time many of you arrive next year, we hope to have a renovated visitor center, an interpretive trail near Little Tule Well, a refuge visitor map, and several photography blinds and a wildlife viewing area centered around the pupfish pond. In addition, we will be utilizing the capture pens at the Sonoran pronghorn captive rearing pen at the end of November. None of these activities would be likely to happen without the generous support and efforts of our volunteers and members of the CPNHA. I am proud of our accomplishments and look forward to working with you on even more projects next year. Many of you have never observed what it is like around the beginning of May. Refuge staff can be seen quietly walking around mumbling to themselves. We are tired and ready for a rest after a long productive winter, but we share stories about the past few months, discuss what we need to do better next year, and begin to work on the projects that need to be completed during the summer. We also seem to look like my family after a long visit from our family and close friends, we look at each other and realize we miss them already and wish they haven’t left. It really isn’t that hard to understand why the refuge staff feels this way, you are part of our family. This is why I feel bittersweet this time of year, having to say goodbye to all of the many volunteers and CPNHA members who are much more than folks we work with; you are valued friends and family. I wish you all a safe journey north and will be counting the days until we can see you again next year.
- Curt McCasland

Surveying for Birds on the Cabeza
The Cabeza protects a large expanse of relatively undisturbed Sonoran Desert, serving as a haven for aridland birds and a plethora of migrants. Even species that are commonly seen on the refuge, such as black-throated sparrows, verdins, gilded flickers, and Costa’s hummingbirds, are or will be affected by large-scale project developments, urban sprawl, and climate change. Collaborative surveys allow us to collect data on a species’ range, population size, and habitat use, providing essential information that enables us to better protect and manage for species of conservation concern. As interns, we have been fortunate enough to conduct a variety of such surveys on the refuge, working in tandem with numerous partners to more fully understand the importance of the refuge’s resources for avian species.

This year’s surveys began in January with the cactus ferruginous pygmy-owl (CFPO) (Glaucidium brasilianum cactorum). CFPOs are small, adorable balls of fluff with sharp beaks and talons known to take down prey larger than themselves, including mourning doves! They weigh only 2.5 oz and have a wingspan of 1 ft. Their distinguishing features include the eponymous reddish-brown coloring, brown streaks down a cream-colored breast and belly, a crown streaked with white, and yellow eyes. CFPOs also differ from most owls in that they are diurnal to crepuscular rather than nocturnal. With the help of a BMGR wildlife biologist and intern, we conducted surveys around Papago Well, where two CFPOs were found in 2001, as well as in Childs Valley along Charlie Bell Pass Road, Daniels Arroyo, and Chico Shunie Arroyo. Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument allowed us to survey in known CFPO habitat to familiarize ourselves with their response to survey methods. Unfortunately, no CFPOs were detected on the refuge, probably due to lack of suitable habitat. Pygmy owls prefer large, dense scrubby washes with plenty of vegetation cover, something that doesn’t really occur naturally on the Cabeza.

Surveys for LeConte’s thrasher (Toxostoma lecontei) made their way into our schedule mid February. Relatively secretive birds, LeConte’s thrashers tend to prefer creosote flats with sandy substrate and some level of vegetation complexity, including bursage and several taller creosotes, palo verdes, mesquites, or crucifixion thorns scattered here and there. The Arizona Game and Fish Department (AGFD) and BMGR trained us to correctly identify individuals and conduct effective call playback surveys. The collected data will not only provide information about population size and species distribution, but it will be used by the Sonoran Audubon Society to designate Important Bird Areas, which serve as foci for avian conservation and management efforts.

Beginning in May, we will be participating in Arizona’s first year in the Nightjar Survey Network, a nation-wide effort to collect long-term data on nightjar populations. Nightjars are nocturnal, insectivorous birds. Here we have two species: the common poorwill (Phalaenoptilus nuttallii) and the lesser nighthawk (Chordeiles acutipennis). You can hear the small poorwill singing “Oh – poor – will” at night, especially before dawn. The larger lesser nighthawk is mainly crepuscular, making a low whistled trill on one pitch.

As much surveying as we have been able to do this year, we hope next year, with new staff members, interns, and volunteers, will incorporate more species under refuge auspices. Arizona Partners in Flight, now the Arizona Bird Conservation Initiative, and the first-ever U.S. State of the Birds report list additional species of concern that make the Cabeza their home. We lack adequate estimates of population abundance and knowledge of habitat use for Costa’s hummingbird, Lucy’s warbler, Bendire’s thrasher, gilded flicker, loggerhead shrike, and elf owl. Consequently, managing for the conservation of these species is very difficult. By collecting data on avian species of concern on the refuge, we contribute to the preservation of birds everywhere in the Sonoran Desert.
- SCA interns Stephanie Doerries and Kirsten Wert

Flora and Fauna

Jim Atkinson displays a chocolate-striped Rosy Boa
Photo: R. Hudson

Snakes of Ajo, Arizona and Vicinity
People of nearly every background are attracted to southern Arizona for a variety of reasons. Many seek refuge from the effects of harsh winter weather further north and choose to maintain a winter season residency here. A few however look forward to and favor the southern Arizona warm season, particularly the summer monsoons and the associated seasonal activity peak of the most diverse reptile species assemblage found within the United States. Herpetologists, those with either avocational or professional interests in the pursuit of or study of reptiles and amphibians, have been attracted to southern Arizona in ever increasing numbers since 1957 when Carl Kauffeld published his now iconic book “Snakes and Snake Hunting”. Kauffeld captured the thrill and adventure of encounters with snakes in the field as experienced from a naturalist’s point of view during his travels through the states from the 1930s through the 1950s. Several chapters resulted from Kauffeld’s travels in southern Arizona, including “The Ajo Road”, an account of snakes and other reptile discoveries along what is now Highway 86 from the west side of Tucson to the eastern boundary of what is now the Tohono O’odham Reservation.

Kauffeld probably did not invest any time hunting snakes in the vicinity of Ajo, as there were more accessible locales and perhaps populations containing more intriguing species in his opinion elsewhere within the region. Even so, at least 22 snake species can be found within a 10 mile radius of Ajo, which is still well above the national average for a specific locale. Typically, the diversity and density of snakes inhabiting a specific locale or region is defined by favorable climate conditions, degree of adaptation to those conditions, diversity of habitat types and food availability.

Like other reptiles, snakes are dependent upon and highly responsive to the influence of solar warming. Desert dwelling snakes are typically most active both early and late in the day during March and April. As day-time temperatures routinely climb into the 90s and beyond, a number of species including the common kingsnake and the western diamondback rattlesnake shift from primarily day active to night active with an activity peak within the first hour or two after sunset. A larger number of desert snake species including shovel-nosed snakes, leaf-nosed snakes, lyresnakes, sidewinders and long-nosed snakes are primarily night active. A select few species are exclusively day active including coachwhips or red racers, whipsnakes and patch-nosed snakes.

Typically, only a few snake species occur in any one specific location or habitat type. Within a 10 mile radius of Ajo however, a variety of habitats exist ranging from sandy washes and expansive valleys dominated by creosote to rocky bajadas and isolated mountain ranges that support a variety of plant types including the columnar cacti. The Ajo area supports a few habitat generalists, most notably the Sonoran gopher snake which occurs nearly everywhere. Another suite of species is found primarily in or near mountain ranges and associated rock outcrops including rosy boas, tiger rattlesnakes, black-tailed rattlesnakes and lyresnakes. Expansive valley habitats typically contain fine substrates such as silt and sand deposits which are the preferred habitats of sidewinders, shovel-nosed snakes, sand snakes and glossy snakes. Other species range more broadly in transitional habitats including Mohave rattlesnakes, western diamondback rattlesnakes, long-nosed snakes, nightsnakes and patch-nosed snakes.

Desert snakes are generally not food (prey) generalists. The most opportunistic among snakes in or near Ajo is the common kingsnake which will devour nearly any suitably sized prey that it encounters including other snakes. Coachwhips and whipsnakes are also prey generalists that will take advantage of almost any feeding opportunity. A number of desert snake species prefer lizards and/or their eggs, including patch-nosed snakes and long-nosed snakes. The Sonoran coral snake feeds nearly exclusively on other small snake species. The most specialized diets among Ajo area snakes belong to the spotted and saddled leaf-nosed snakes (two distinct species) that are reputed to feed only on the eggs of lizards and snakes. Smaller snake species including the shovel-nosed snakes, sandsnakes and nightsnakes consume a variety of insects and other invertebrates. A large number of desert snakes prefer small mammals (primarily rodents) and birds including all of the rattlesnakes, gopher snakes and rosy boas.

Most desert snakes contain colors and patterns that closely resemble the colors and textures of the specific habitats where they most commonly occur. These “cryptic” patterns afford those species with “stealth” capabilities for both ambushing prey and avoiding potential predators. Noteworthy exceptions to this include the brightly color banded and potently venomous Sonoran coral snake and a handful of harmless species that mimic their coloration and pattern. Coral snake mimics near Ajo include the harmless shovel-nosed snakes and to a lesser degree long-nosed snakes. Of the two latter species, long-nosed snakes are commonly found within Ajo. In the Ajo area, long-nosed snakes typically have an alternating pattern of black and white (ringlike) crossbands from neck to tail. The white crossbands on many individuals contain rosy or reddish highlights. The sharply distinct white or yellowish bands on a coral snake bracket equally distinct red bands. In some individuals, the red bands contain degrees of black mottling. The correct identification of these and other snake species is all about attention to the details of pattern and color.

To a large degree, snakes of all kinds are feared, disliked and/or widely persecuted throughout the world for a variety of reasons. The realities are that snakes are uniquely adapted and very efficient predators that use a variety of means to secure prey including some species that produce and use highly potent venoms. Like many other areas throughout southern Arizona, rattlesnakes such as the western diamondback and the Mohave are very abundant in and near Ajo and may be the most frequently encountered snakes in the area during the warm season months when they are most active. These large populations subsist on high density and diverse rodent populations, many of which find favorable living conditions in or near any human development. The Sonoran desert is reputed to contain a vast seed bank, many kinds of which remain viable for periods approaching 60 years. All of those seeds support robust rodent populations which in turn support robust predator populations including a number of desert snake species that favor them as prey.
- Jim Atkinson, CPNWR Staff Biologist

Cool Birds
You’ve got to love spring in the Sonoran Desert; chilly mornings, warm afternoons. The temperature might be in the mid-40s at dawn, and pushing 80 in the afternoon, a span of 35 degrees or more. That Gambel’s quail sitting on your fence at dawn is puffed up as big and round as a cantaloupe. In the afternoon when it runs across your yard, it is as slender and streamlined as a porpoise.

The difference in the quail’s appearance is easy to understand. Birds can puff up their feathers, or slick them down. When they are cold, they erect their feathers to puff them up, trapping lots of air against their skin and between their feathers - perfect insulation. They wrap themselves in a thick down jacket. When it is warmer, they lay their feathers down more flat, reducing the insulation effect. When it is really hot, they slick them down tight over their skin.

Maybe that’s the real question: It isn’t hard to see how animals covered in feathers can handle cold weather, since they carry their own down jacket with them. But how are they able to handle the extreme heat and dry desert environment?

For starters, feathers are almost as good at keeping heat out as they are at keeping it in. Feathers are made of keratin, the same substance that makes up fingernails. Feathers are mostly nonliving tissue, with no blood circulation in them. Birds can slick them down into a protective shell over their body. The sun can beat on the feathers, but the skin underneath remains shaded.

Birds also cool off somewhat like a dog. They don’t have sweat glands, but they cool off by evaporating water from their respiratory system. You might say they are panting, but it is different. Birds do what is called “gular flutter,” referring to flapping membranes in the back of their mouth and upper throat. They also evaporate water from their lungs. Birds are unique in having flow-through lungs, instead of the dead-end air sacs we and other mammals have. As a result, their lungs are more efficient at exchanges gasses, and evaporating water. On a hot afternoon, watch that cactus wren in the shade of your back porch; its beak will be slightly open, it’s throat “panting.”

One of the most effective methods birds have for dealing with the desert is really an adaptation for flight. Birds’ kidneys are super-efficient at eliminating waste products. They need far less water to eliminate waste, producing their famous white paste instead of liquid urine. This ability helps them avoid carrying the weight of a lot of water in their bodies, and that assists them in achieving flight. Their water-efficiency certainly helps birds survive in the desert, needing far less for their bodies than mammals.

Finally, birds’ mobility helps them cope with desert extremes. Their ability to fly lets them take advantage of many kinds of microclimates where it is slightly cooler. In the midday heat, birds can move into the shade in a tree, or on your back porch. Simply getting up and above the brutal heat at ground level is a strategy open to birds. They can move up high in a tree, or into a cavity of a saguaro cactus, and ride out the afternoon heat. Or like a turkey vulture or red-tailed hawk, they can soar hundreds of feet above the ground, enjoying the view and the slightly cooler temperature.
– Tim Tibbits, Wild Life Biologist & Endangered Species Coordinator, Organ Pipe Cactus Natl. Monument

Desert Adventure

For a year or so my Pacific Northwest climbing partner Bruce Davis had been encouraging me to come along on a cross-Cabeza Prieta Wilderness transect hike he’s been doing the last few winters with Cabeza Manager Curt McCasland. Bruce and I have been whittling away at the 100 highest peaks in Washington in the summers, but he and wife Kathy are smart enough to head south in the fall when the weather goes bad. A few of us in our 60s still do work though, so extracting myself completely from the winter rains hasn’t been an option, although I’ve been finding my way south a couple of times a winter to do some hiking in the sun, much of it in the Cabeza. This year we got beyond the talk stage, and Bruce and Curt were good enough to schedule the trip for late January and early February, a bit later than they’ve done it in the past. The cross-Cabeza trip does have a purpose other than alleviating vitamin D deficiencies in waterlogged northwesterners. Most of the Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge’s 803,000 acres (over 90 percent) are federal wilderness area, meaning that motorized and certain other mechanized vehicles are, in theory, prohibited. Unfortunately, there are military and Border Patrol exemptions, not to speak of major crossing routes for undocumented aliens (UDAs) and drug runners entering the U.S. from Mexico. Documenting the extent of these (mis)uses and their impact on the wilderness on an annual basis is the motivation for the transects. The route, from the west wilderness boundary to its eastern boundary near Temporal Pass (about 71 miles) is repeated each year. All evidence of human use of the wilderness (e.g., tire tracks, garbage, evidence of foot traffic, military detritus) is logged, and entered into a Geographic Information System (GIS), which allows evaluation of trends in human impacts on a year-on-year basis. I was officially deputized as a government volunteer, presumably to offer support where and if needed. Mostly though, it was an opportunity for me to see parts of the Cabeza that are far from the nearest (authorized) road, and more generally, a part of the northern Sonora that is free of the most obvious human impacts.

In preparation for the trip, I drove to Ajo from Seattle over the New Year’s holiday, and left my hiking gear behind. My gear and provisions were reasonably organized when Bruce picked me up at the Phoenix airport the afternoon of January 28th, requiring only a grocery store stop on the drive to Ajo for a few provisions. Knowing that the trip would be all about water management, I had broken with tradition and decided to use freeze dried meals, primarily because no water would be required for cleanup. Bruce had informed me that we’d be starting with 14 liters (about 28 pounds) of water, which would last us to a water cache on the 3rd day at Monreal Well. A smaller cache had been left a few miles from the Cabeza boundary, which we might or might not need.

At 4:30 AM on the 29th, Bruce was pounding on my door, and by 5 AM, we were on the road. Fred Goodsell was good enough to make the long drive to Yuma, and then back 25 miles or so to the starting point at the western Cabeza boundary where he dropped us off. Shortly after 8 am, we were on our way. The weather forecast was perfect – no chance of rain for the 5 day trip, with afternoon temperatures in the 70s and brisk but not unreasonably cold nights. The only concern was how much the unseasonably warm weather would increase our water consumption. Given the weather forecast, the decision was made to leave our tents behind – tarps would be sufficient. While this helped with weight, my pack still felt heavy. The consolation was, it would get progressively lighter, at least for the next couple of days.

Although our start was a bit later than it would be the next few days, we made good time, even accounting for lots of stops in the first 5 miles or so to log vehicle tracks. (Eventually the decision was made only to log tracks where the tread was still visible – probably meaning the tracks had been made subsequent to the last major rain.) Even so, there were lots of loggings, which progressively declined as we got farther from the boundary. The route was typical of each of the first 4 days – a long hike across flat bottomland with first a barely perceptible downslope, crossing of the main wash, and then a barely perceptible upgradient to a gap or pass, then an exit to another wide valley bottom repeating the cycle. Mile 17 found us at the wash draining the valley between the Cabeza Prieta and Sierra Pinta Mountains, with the sun fading. Curt, despite fighting a bout of the flu and bad feet, was keen on continuing another 4 miles or so to Bean Pass, but the 60-year old contingent vetoed that plan. I was feeling a bit of jet lag after a flight from Europe the previous day, and dinner was sounding good.

By 7 pm it was pretty much pitch black. I read with my head lamp for another hour or so, and then was dead to the world. The desert at night is great – completely clear, no signs whatever of lights, and at least this time of year, completely quiet aside from the wind. By 7 AM there was a slight tinge of light, and Bruce was up and rummaging around. Breaking camp without a tent to pack didn’t take long, and the pack did in fact feel lighter. As with each of the next three mornings, this one started with gloves, hat and jacket, which lasted until about 10 minutes after the sun founds its way over the hill. About half an hour after that, it was time for the shorts. We made good time to Bean Pass (really just a gap – probably no more than a couple hundred vertical feet of rise from the valley bottom). The change of scenery was nice though – the greasewood in the valley bottoms gets pretty monotonous, and the slight change in elevation and soils dictates a much different biome. Exiting the other side, we could see our next landmark – a point 12 miles or so in the distance at the south end of the Mohawk Mountains. Crossing this valley reminded me of sailing in Puget Sound – you keep looking at a point in the distance, and wonder if it is getting any closer at all. Including a stop for lunch, the valley crossing took all day. We finally rounded the first obvious point, and continued down valley for another couple of miles, by which time the sun was setting. Again, we found a slight wash to get us out of the wind.

The next morning it was a short mile or so to the water cache at Monreal Well, which is an abandoned ranch – the remnants of a corral, a trailer that served as the “ranch house”, and a pile of junk. How hot it must have been in the summers I can only imagine. After locating the water, we were back to 14 liters of water each, and the packs weren’t feeling so light any more. The next objective was appropriately named Saguaro Pass, again prominent in the distance. By this point Curt was having a relapse of the flu, and his feet weren’t getting any better. Bruce and I took an extended lunch under a Palo Verde tree, and eventually Curt hobbled along. Since leaving Monreal Well, there hadn’t been too many tracks, although we were buzzed that morning by a Border Patrol helicopter, which didn’t seem interested in us. As we opened into the next valley, we started seeing lots of tow darts, once used for training purposes by the Air Force. These things look like a giant badminton birdies, with white fins, and a nose weight that causes them to be buried fins up when the tow cable is eventually shot through. At first they were amusing – something other than the landmark miles away to focus on in the long grind across the flat. But as we saw more and more of them I became irritated with finding them in a national wilderness area.

We’d hoped to make it to Red Tail Tank that night, but it was clear we were going to come up a bit short. That was probably just as well – this valley had lots of Border Patrol activity, and I hate being woken up with a flashlight in my eyes. Unfortunately a lot of this valley was a playa, with no obvious washes, so we ended up using a fairly sad excuse for a row of trees as a wind break, and this was probably our coldest night. The next morning we did the three miles or so to Red Tail Tank fairly quickly. This is an old watering hole, which now has an emergency water tank, and a prominent flag that was visible from a couple of miles away. I’d drink the emergency water if I was dying, but probably not otherwise – who knows what’s growing in that stuff.

From Red Tail Tank, the route made a slight jog en route to Temporal Pass. This is the only real pass along the route, and although the elevation gain probably wasn’t more than 500 feet, it did involve some huffing and puffing. The route here is littered with stuff jettisoned by UDAs – water bottles, but also lots of clothes. Recent traffic wasn’t as evident as I’d expected based on Curt’s and Bruce’s comments about years past – apparently the Border Patrol presence has forced traffic elsewhere. We did however observe two Border Patrol helicopters, and vehicle traffic, connected with an ongoing UDA bust just before we started up the pass.

Temporal Pass marks the end of the wilderness area, although the Cabeza Prieta Wildlife Refuge continues for a few more miles. We stopped to take a breather, then pushed onward the last eight miles or so to the Cabeza boundary, with Ajo Peak as our landmark. This area was the old Chico Shunie Ranch. In contrast to the many miles of lowlands we’d crossed, this is an upland landscape that has been badly trashed by surface erosion resulting from cattle (over)grazing in decades past. We eventually made it out to the ranch, which is only half a mile or so from the Cabeza gate. I marveled here as well at how anyone could exist in a “ranch house” that consisted of little more than a couple of pieces of corrugated roofing and what passed for walls. At least in the PNW, we have rain, and this stuff eventually rots away and/or grows over. It looked to me as though Chico Shunie’s remnant ranch will live on for a long time in this climate.

We reached the Cabeza gate, and decided that we’d gone far enough. This had been a 20 mile day, our longest, and we were a little over 70 miles from the starting point. There was a great wash within a hundred yards or so of the gate, and we were early enough to relax in the last half hour or so of sunlight. We’d stopped a few miles back at the second cache to supplement our water – in retrospect we could have made it out without, but only barely. I took my daily bath, and allowed myself the luxury of a full liter of water in doing so, rather than the half liter I’d been using. With a good night’s sleep, we were up a little earlier the next AM, and despite some minor route finding, after doing what turned out to be only six miles or so from the Cabeza boundary we were sipping coffee at Bruce’s place in Ajo by 9 AM.
- Dennis Lettenmaier

Dennis cresting Temporal Pass on day four
Photo: B. Davis

“What draws us into the desert is the search for something intimate in the remote.” - Edward Abbey

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