A Marshall Gulch Victory Hike up Mount Lemmon

Red-faced Warbler

 

 

Date: April 23, 2022

Place: Marshall Gulch, Mt. Lemmon, Tucson, Arizona

Coordinates: 32.428741, -110.755846

Length: 1.5 miles in and out

Level: moderate (due to rock scrambling and partially eroded trail) 

 

On our last spring break we traveled to Arizona. Usually it's me who's in charge of planning our family's vacation trip but this time it was Pappa Quail who planned it. An avid birder, Pappa Quail wanted to be where we could see the spring migration birds and south Arizona is where many Mexican bird species arrive to spend their summers. Our time there was split between hiking and sitting near bird feeders in various birding hotspots. Pappa Quail and the elder chika were very successful, checking out over 20 'lifers', meaning bird species they saw for the first time ever on this trip. 

The morning of our last full day in Arizona we were at Madera Canyon Recreation Area which is close to the Mexican border, about an hour drive south of Tucson, where my family birders were successful in sighting the last bird on their 'must see' list - the Arizona woodpecker. After our lunch picnic I worked hard to convince Pappa Quail to go to Mount Lemmon, the high peak of the Catalina Mountains north of Tucson. Pappa Quail and the chikas were less enthusiastic about it. It was along drive and there was more to see at Madera Canyon. But I really wanted to see the mountain and the views from the scenic drive leading to it. I argued that it would be a different habitat and they might see completely different birds there. With that argument I managed to tip the scale and we drove off to Mount Lemmon, to the Marshall Gulch Recreation Area at the very end of the scenic drive.

Our hike as captured by my GPS

We got there late in the afternoon with not much time to hike. After chatting with a couple of other hikers there we went hiking along the Marshall Creek, just below the main trail that was higher on the slope.

The path we walked on was well trodden but for sure it wasn't the established trail. There were many fallen logs to go over, under or around, and also some boulder scrambling. Is usual, I fell back and took pleasure in seeing the wildflowers, which were indeed much different than what we've seen at the lower elevation. One of them was very familiar to me - the valerian. And it was blooming in large numbers, like little white clouds along the creek.

Sitka Valerian, Valeriana sitchensis

There was something off with my camera on that hike and it didn't do very well in the low lighting of the forest floor in the late afternoon. I was very pleased to see that the elder chika had taken a photo of the valerian as well. It looks much nicer than mine.

Sitka Valerian, Valeriana sitchensis

After a somewhat challenging part of of the path we reached a flat and easy stretch of trail which allowed me to catch up with my family. There was also more sunshine coming down to the forest floor.

The elder chika found a spotted towhee, a bird we're much familiar with from California. She was still grumbling about me dragging us all across the desert to the top of the mountain. She has seen so many 'lifers' by then that she had grown complaisant.

Spotted Towhee

Once again we were hopping over rocky terrain and crossing the little creek back and forth. The water looked clear and clean but the stream was thin. I don't know if that's normal there for this time of year.

Pappa Quail and the elder chika spotted a yellow-eyed junco, a relative of the west coast's dark-eyed junco. It was one of the first 'lifers' they'd seen on this trip, at the Cave Creek area in the Chiricahua Mountains, so they were much less enthusiastic about it now. Still, they got some very nice  photos of this cute and hyperactive little bird.

Yellow-eyed Junco

I found a yellow flower of a kind I've never seen before. A lifer for me, I guess, although I don't really keep tabs. As of now I wasn't successful in identifying this wildflower.

I had now problems identifying this one however, although maybe not to the species level.

Strawberry, Fragaria sp.

There were also many little violets along the trail, growing in small aggregates underneath the conifer trees.

The hikers at the trailhead had told us that a fire consumed the upper portions of this trail and indeed after less than a mile we reached the burnt area. Pappa Quail looked around some, but didn't see anything that held his interest. It was getting late and he wanted to turn around at that spot. I didn't argue, I was glad that we were there at all and I knew that we still had a long drive down the mountain and back to Tucson where we stayed.

We turned around and started back down toward the staging area. Some distance before the little creek path we came up on joined the upper, established trail. On our way down we remained on the upper trail, walking above the creek. 

There were different wildflowers growing at that distance from the water.

Cinquefoil, Potentilla sp.

Part of the way back we were still close to the water, and while my family birders were busy searching the canopies I was chasing the younger chika who decided to get ahead and opened a large distance from the rest of us.

It was a good chance for me to appreciate some of the cuter spots of the creek. On a hotter day and with more time I think we would have enjoyed staying by one of these water holes.

At one of these spots near the water Pappa Quail and the elder chika found a hermit thrush. When they caught up with me and told me I commended them and got a remark about 'that bird that visits us in our backyard'. I think it's cute.

Hermit Thrush

I saw violets of a different kind growing higher up the slope. These violets actually were violet, but very lightly colored.

Violet, Viola sp.

A side creek cut down the slope on its way to the main creek below. The side creek was dry but in its path grew monkeyflowers of the type seen in wetland places.

Monkeyflower, Erythranthe sp.

Further down the trail I found the younger chika sitting on a rock by the trail side, waiting for us. Pappa Quail and the elder chika remained behind because they've seen some yellow birds up the trees. Above where my young chika was sitting grew some pea plants. They displayed some bloom, but not much.

We waited for Pappa Quail and the elder chika for a relatively long time. The younger chika and I chatted to pass the time, said hello to another family of hikers that came by up the trail, and I also scanned the canopies, hoping to find one elusive woodpecker that would be a lifer for my birders if they'd see it.

As it turned out, the yellow birds they had stopped for were Townsend's warblers, cute little birds that we've seen before in places around the Sierra Nevada mountains.

Townsend's Warbler

The broad grins on their faces however, told of a different finding - a lifer. They had seen a red-faced warbler! This bird is a rare sighting because these live in high elevation and hide well in the canopies. They are more often heard rather than seen. Other birders we've met on this trip treated it as a sort of a 'holy grail' of birding, and here my two family birders seen it!

Red-faced Warbler

With renewed energy they passed me and marched on toward the trailhead. The younger chika followed them quickly and I walked slowly behind, stopping for wildflowers along the way.

Lupine, Lupinus sp.

 And not only for wildflowers. A fern-covered slope was also a good reason to stop. By the time I made it out of the trail they were all waiting for me inside the car. The elder chika was so happy about the red-faced warbler that she even conceded that my idea of going up to Mount Lemmon was actually a good one, and that the hike she grumbled over was in fact, worth her time and energy.

A win-win hike indeed. It was also the last one we did on our recent Arizona visit. Perhaps next time we will explore that area some more.