Eagle Creek

Two of my brothers and I had planned to do some fishing around here.
But as luck would have it, brother Steve could not break away to
join us. So brother Norm, his dog Bill, my son Blake,
and I spent the day and evening hiking, lounging, fishing...
generally enjoying a beautiful time in an extraordinary space.

The weather was warm, partly cloudy, and periodically breezy.
We were hoping for more in the way of fish, but did manage to bring home
several keeper bluegills and Blake's singular smallmouth bass.
I was disappointed to only find a couple of lizards and no snakes.
I think we had the best place on the creek though,
and was happy we got there first. A few other intrepid fishermen passed by
along the rocky as hell road downstream; glad we didn't have to go there!

Brother Terry, his son, Blake and I took a day-trip down Lower Eagle Creek for some smallmouth and cat fishing.

The road was rocky as we headed downstream, fording the river half a dozen times. Only one ford proved tough but we prevailed and, like sensible old farts, we went no further! Besides, the last crossing gave us access to the best, largest stretch of fishing water we were likely to find!

Fishing was not great but we managed to bring a respectable stringer back, one smallmouth (Blake's), one channel cat (donated by our departing neighbors) and 4-5 small but stout keeper blue gills......lots of fun catching 'em, tho!

We had arrived at 9 AM and departed at 9 PM, a very long day for me, since I had worked until 8 PM, Friday eve!

We all, my dawg, Bill, joined us (and won the "NO! BILL! Prize several times over......he really gets excited over the act of casting and the act of landing a fish!), had a wunnerful time but, getting out, I was dawg tired and had kinda a rough time of the 20 mile trip back to Terry's home in Clifton.

He kept his eye on me until we hit the town of Morenci but, for me, that was the rough part! Night time traffic on narrow, winding roads! And, once he felt I was "still with us", headed on in at his own pace......unfortunately, never having been to their new place after dark, only having been there once at all, I couldn't find the house!

The major landmark, the purple-leaf plums in the front yard, was useless after dark.....I went up and down the street, driving and walking, with my flashlight, probably 10-15 minutes until I saw Teresa and Blake standing on their front porch, looking for me!

On June 27th, 2004, Teresa, Blake and I went to Lower Eagle Creek to check it out...
It was way cool! It is now my favorite riparian habitat! There were long deep pools for Blake to swim in and fish were abundant. The cliffs towering all around us were just an awesome sight, and bighorn sheep could be seen cavorting around on the ledges. It reminds me of a mini-Grand Canyon and/or Aravaipa. This watershed has been historically inhabited by first the Amerinds and then the American settlers.

These pics are the cliffs within the vicinity of "bat cave", one of (if not the) largest colonies of Mexican Freetail Bats in the world.
I like to call the third picture "Eagle Cathedral".

Further downstream Eagle creek meanders through less forbidding landscapes...An ancient Amerind cave dwelling is in the upper right corner of the second pic, also seen is their original trail down to the water.

This landmark is called "Gunsight" and it marks the confluence of Eagle creek with the Gila river.
The Gila flows Southwesterly in the last pic.