Ash Spring Trail - April 2, 2021

Portal, Arizona - Ash Spring Trail - April 2, 2021

Coco’s first hike!  We met up with our friend, Annie, her dog, Nala, and her friend, Mike, in Portal for a hike in the Cave Creek area of the Chiricahua National Forest.  We drove to Herb Martyr Campground and Parking Lot and hiked to Ash Spring from the lower parking area along the Basin Trail.  Ash Spring is a natural spring that has two man-made pools created to provide protection for the Chiricahua leopard frog as a part of conservation efforts. 

Coco was eager to follow in Nala’s foot steps and Nala was wonderfully patient in her efforts to mentor this overly enthusiastic puppy.  At one point we crossed Cima Creek and Nala showed her how to lay down in a flowing creek to cool down ... and Coco decided to play in Cima Creek chasing sycamore leaves and floating twigs.  

 

Ash Spring was 1.25 miles into the trail ... we got a picture of her successfully making it to Ash Spring, then returned the same way we came rather than making a longer loop trail via the Greenhouse Trail ... we were banking on success.

Every good hike deserves a reward ... We went to the Portal Store and Grill for a cold beer and hamburger to celebrate our achievement ... tasty burger, cold beer ... friendly waiter (Victor) ... outdoor patio seating with the dogs ... and entertaining conversations punctuated by various birds coming to the feeders surrounding the patio.

Back to Bambi, a short nap, then to Rusty’s RV Resort Clubhouse to watch the Final Four match-up between University of Arizona (3) and University of Connecticut (1) with various other fans of University of Arizona’s women’s basketball team.  The women all knew each other and were camping together but graciously wrapped us into the group, provided the popcorn and M & Ms to fortify the fans.  We were delirious with excitement as the U of A led for the entire game ... the closest that the University of Connecticut got was within 5 points ... we won by 10 points, 69 to 59.  It was incredibly exciting ... and so normalizing ... a group of strangers, all together, no masks, indoors, enthusiastically cheering on our team (they all had been vaccinated and were 2 weeks beyond last shot).  Can’t wait for the game on Sunday ... against Stanford ... all PAC-12 final!  Go west!  Go Cats!

Hard to fall asleep ... amazing stars out again ... both astrophysical stars and high energy basketball stars!