Cell Phone Service !
Portal (but not Cave Creek Ranch) now has Cell Phone Service! A tower went into operation on Wednesday, just north of Rodeo, and the signal reaches Portal and a short distance into the canyon. It does NOT reach the Ranch, but a five minute walk out the back driveway and up to the paved road will put you in a spot with reception.
Much else has been happening — we had rain and then snow last week, the better part of an inch! It
has melted here (temperatures are back in the 60’s during the day), but the cliffs and peaks around us still have snow. That brought in the Yellow-eyed Juncos to the feeders, normally a higher elevation bird. The Scott’s Oriole and Painted Redstart continue, as do two Fox Sparrows and a White-throated Sparrow, and an Arizona Woodpecker. All the other birds normally here are abundant, and the javelinas have been coming in far too often, sometimes multiple times a day, keeping the many deer at a distance. A Varied Thrush is being seen at the South Fork bridge, having moved downstream from some Madrone trees a mile upstream where it and several dozen Hermit Thrushes had been feeding in the past few weeks.
Reservations have been coming in at a surprising pace for the spring. If there’s a specific time you would like to be here, please call soon! We have plenty of room still, but it’s starting to fill up.