Although the temperatures are forecast to 70 degrees, it’s a cloudy day – one of the few we’ve seen while in this park. It’s Friday, and many of the campers who we’ve seen this week are pulling out today and new ones pulling in. We also see some families with school-aged children and some grandparents with their grandchildren.
One of our neighbors walk by and they stopped to chat a bit. They are from Arizona that’s been trying for months to get a site here, but only could get 1 night reserved for today. She was surprised that we had gotten 6 nights since we were from out of state. I think we got lucky in reservations for any Arizona State or County Parks, as they are some of the bests we’ve seen and with the locals and all the snowbirds who fly to this state for the winter, they are reservations are full for the winter/early spring months.
Ron read some stats on the increase in the number of RVer’s since Covid. There are over 400,000 who are full-timers out of 11.2 million households owning RV’s – an increase of 62% from 2021. It’s a booming industry but unfortunately the number of campsites hasn’t kept pace with it, making it increasingly difficult to secure campsites. The stats also reflect this trend is going to continue as Millennials and Gen Zer’s are becoming RVers for life with an impressive 84% of the 18- to 34-year-olds planning to buy another RV in the next 5 years.
Ron went for an extended bike ride today, but the trail was rugged and made it difficult to traverse. He managed to get a photo of a new bird, an American Kestrel! It was quite a distance away, but we were able to identify it. The American Kestrel is the smallest falcon in the US and is roughly the size of an American Robin but don’t let their tiny stature fool you, though, because this raptor is an accomplished hunter. Sometimes they go by the name, Sparrow Hawk because they will take sparrows and other birds of that size right out of the air. Their numbers are declining, and as they are comfortable around humans, they will nest in human-made boxes and any help we give them is beneficial.
A Canyon Towhee visited our campsite but did not have our camera out then, so Ron decided to get the camera out and it was a good thing, because the Greater Roadrunner paid our site a visit! He was thrilled to capture some great photos of this unique bird. These birds are uncommon to see but I think this one may make McDowell Mountain Campgrounds and site #56 his home. These birds are a huge, ground-dwelling cuckoo, streaky brown overall with a very long tail and short, shaggy crest. They are surprisingly iridescent in good light, with purple and green tones on wings and tail. They are usually seen on the ground in dry desert habitats with patches of thick vegetation. A bit later a Western Bluebird also paid us a visit and we captured some photos of this beautiful bird, too.
Later, we took Justice for a walk around the campgrounds where he met another Golden Retreiver. She was a young female who according to her owner, very active and she asked when Justice calmed down. It kind of shocked her when I said 4 years old!
Tomorrow, we head out to the Lost Dutchman State Park. This is a destination park for many and also difficult to get reservations. I kept checking into their website when suddenly a site opened up for 12 nights and I secured it immediately. Many reviews say it’s the best campground in the state and we are excited to check it out.
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