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| Reef Townsite Campground, AZ | |
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| | Reef Townsite Campground, AZ | | | |
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Reef Townsite Campground, AZ
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| Car Camping | 1.50 Miles |
500 AEG |
| | Car Camping | 1.50 Miles | 2 Days | | |
| 500 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | With another blast of excessive heat occurring at home, I decided to bail and camp two nights at Reef Townsite. Got there around noon Sunday and left around 9 AM Tuesday. Stayed right around camp the whole time. No big hikes (I don't do many of them anymore), just relaxing and enjoying what nature provided for entertainment. Make no mistake, it was very warm even there at 7300 feet: high of 85 Sunday and 87 Monday. Monday was pretty brutal for that location, with no clouds until about 2 in the afternoon.  There was no rain Sunday night, so the overnight low was pretty warm at 64 degrees. However, storms rolled through Monday evening, providing a nice cooling 0.25 inch rain in the 9 PM to 1 AM time period. Low Tuesday morning was 57 degrees. 
[ youtube video ]
I was somewhat surprised to see how dry things looked when I got there. Usually by this far into the monsoon, there is a lot of wet ground and more vibrant plant action. But the rains have been deficient so far in Southeast Arizona, so that combined with the above normal temperatures have things stressed out. There was the usual flower display, but the plants were stunted and sparser than usual. Just not a good year (with deficient snowfall this past winter not helping). I noticed the same thing in the Chiricahua Mountains a couple weeks ago.
Sunday night there were two other sites occupied, but Monday night I had the place to myself. Lots of birders roaming around (I would say probably the majority were out of state folks based on license plates) all three days, with van loads of them Sunday and Monday. I saw the usual birds I see when there, in fact birds, squirrels, and a couple of deer were about it as far as wildlife goes. Seems like there is a lot less animal action there than in the past.
Back to Tucson Tuesday to endure one more day of the heat wave, which fortunately is now over thanks to a good soaking 0.49 inch rain Tuesday evening! 
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Wildflowers Observation Moderate
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