Bisbee & Portal, AZ (2/19/2020)

While chatting with the manager of my RV park, he asked if I had been to Portal.  I told him I had only read about a scenic drive there and put it on my list of future adventures.  He piqued my interest by telling me it's the most beautiful place he's ever been.  I went there the following day.

Portal is a small community in the extreme southeast corner of Arizona, population 759 (359 men, 400 women).  It is situated at the mouth of Cave Creek Canyon on the east side of the Chiricahua Mountains, where marauding Apaches once lived.  More than 100 miles from Sierra Vista, Portal is so remote you have to enter New Mexico and then head west back into Arizona.

My route passed through the town of Bisbee, an historic mining town similar to Tombstone although copper was its primary product, rather than silver.  Turquoise, a byproduct of copper mining, and silver were secondary products.  The Queen Mine was all underground and still gives tours today with former miners as tour guides.  Later, open pit copper mining was employed to meet the demands of World War I.  A huge pit is still present in town with parking for visitors to view the gigantic hole in the ground.  The town itself is very interesting as it sits in a series of canyons and is home to a community of aging hippies and an active arts and cultural society.  Losing population in recent years, the town now has just over 5000 people.

 Also on the way to Portal stands a marker commemorating the location where Geronimo finally surrendered to the U.S. Army in 1886.  He had surrendered several times before, but escaped each time.  He eventually died at Fort Sill, OK in 1909.

The Portal Store and Lodge is a center of community life in Portal, along with the library and Post Office.

Given the nature of Cave Creek Canyon, stone is a very common building material.  

Private land is co-mingled with the Coronado National Forest run by the U.S. Forest Service.  In addition to an Info Center, the USFS maintains a two-room cabin available for rent.  The cabin was built in 1933 by the Civilian Conservation Corps.

There are two main attractions to this area.  First is the scenery provided by the mountains, the canyon and Cave Creek.  The mountains were formed by volcanic tuff that accumulated miles deep, its own weight compacting and forming rock that has been eroding ever since.  It's a shame my day there was totally overcast, thereby limiting the color that shows in the photos.  The light improved a little in the afternoon, so the rock color is a little more evident.

 I learned that this area is one of the premier birding spots in the country with over 400 bird species having been seen here, many of which are endemic to Mexico.  The season for birds seems to be April through October, so I saw only a few at this time.  Several B & Bs in Portal provide feeders so birders can access a number of birds conveniently.  My plan is to return at some point in the RV and stay a couple weeks during peak birding season.  While USFS campgrounds are lovely, they have no hook-ups, so I'll be staying at a nearby RV park in NM.