Thinking Outside: The Box

May 28, 2019

When an event took us to Clifton for the evening, we ended up camping at Owl Creek Campground in the Gila Box Riparian National Conservation Area. We woke up to a spectular display of wildflowers.

The evening primroses hadn't quite closed up shop for the day.

There were tackstem aplenty ...

... desert dandelions ...

... lots of Mexican poppies ...

... and owl clover, too.

We wandered over to the edge for a view of the Gila River and noticed the campground is actually situated on a peninsula between the Gila and a spectacular side canyon.

There must be a way down there ...

We inched our way into the canyon and were rewarded with a lovely, shady slot with a nice gravel bottom.

This handsome horned lizard met us on the way down.

There were tons of wildflowers in the slot, including this spray of blue phacelia, Mexican poppies and tackstem.

Here's one I'd never seen before, a brown-eyed evening primrose.

Blue phacelia and possibly blackfoot daisies.

The drive home was lovely, with fields of wildflowers and snow-capped Mount Graham looming in the background.

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