Page 68 - Walks In The Black Range, Vol. 4

I now began hiking back to my vehicle. Squirrel-sized lizards ran out of nooks in the crumbling chalk-like rock beside the road, and then seeing me, ran back in. I looked over to the rock bluffs of Haystack Mountain and down the bleached bedrock of the lower reaches of Silver Creek. I enjoyed long distance views to all of the western lands of the Gila. There were a few isolated thunderstorms well off in the distance, but just scattered, fast moving clouds and blue sky over my head.
On my drive back. I saw a cinnamon colored bear right along the Royal John Mine Road. It didn't really register with me at first that I was seeing a bear. The way he stared at me for a few moments was more like something a big goofy dog might do. I was wondering if the elk hunters a
hundred yards behind him (but facing the wrong direction) were going to notice our encounter, when he ran off.
As I continued to drive down and down on the narrow and winding, but well maintained road, the rolling hills of green grass, with oak, piñon and juniper in the folds along the lower reaches of Cold Springs Canyon warmed my heart the way only a Gila landscape can.