Tortilla Creek and Hewitt Canyon Riparian Photopoint

A friend and I drove out to Tortilla Flat last week to hike up Tortilla Creek and take photos to support a volunteer project.  The project involves taking photos of the creek and surrounding riparian area at fixed points that can be compared year after year.  The photos are shared with the Forest Service for their use in observing the changes due to erosion, overgrazing or fires in the watershed.  This year's emphasis is on creeks in the watershed effected by the 2019 Woodbury Fire in the Superstition Mountains.  You should be able to find Tortilla Flat on the map below. All of the blue points represent a photopoint site.




The following are photos from Tortilla photopoint #1:

The next photos are from Tortilla #2:

Hiking up the streambed and hoping from rock to rock to cross the creek was tough at some points but it was nice cool day and a pleasure to be out.

Update:
The next week, we drove to Queen Creek and Hewitt Canyon to continue collecting photos of the riparian areas. We first drove out Hewitt Station Road on Forest Service Road (FSR) 357 to the turnoff to Hewitt Canyon and the Queen Creek crossing of FSR 172.  We had two sites on Queen Creek: one at the road crossing and another a few hundred feet upstream where Hewitt Creek entered Queen Creek.

Queen Creek at Road Crossing

Queen Creek at Confluence with Hewitt Creek

We continued up Hewitt Canyon Road (FSR 172) and took photos at 3 sites along Hewitt Creek.  The road was unpaved and rough in spots but was easily traveled with a high clearance pickup truck. We found the first two sites relatively easy but the directions to the third were a bit confusing. Once we found the third spot, its location was obvious due to the stone enclosure clearly seen from the road.

First Site on Hewitt Creek 

Second Site on Hewitt Creek

Third Site on Hewitt Creek

Landmark for Third Site

We got the photos at the right time. The temperatures the next were in the 90's and a brush fire near Hewitt Canyon had limited access to the area.

That may finish the photopoints for 2020 unless Apache Trail opens up beyond Fish Creek Canyon. I have the documents for Fish Creek and Lewis & Pranty Creek but the sites are relatively inaccessible until the road opens.

Adios

Some Botanical Notes

This winter I've developed an interest in Sonoran Desert plants that thrive in cool wet weather. These plants include ferns, spike-mosses, mosses and liverworts. We've had some cool wet weather this month and these plants seem to be doing well. They are generally found in small niche communities on north facing slopes or cliffs. Many of the plants prefer sheltered clefts in rocks and I've come across them on the bluffs east of Butcher Jones Beach near Saguaro Lake and in canyons on the north side of Usery Mountain.  Mosses are bright green and abundant on boulders on the north side of Coon Bluff.

Parry's Lip Fern - Canyon on north side of Usery Mountain

Star Cloak Fern - Bluff east of Butcher Jones Beach

Wright's Lip Fern - Bluff east of Butcher Jones Beach

The spike-mosses are creeping plants that can form dense patches in wet areas. The leaves are only green during wet periods but curl inward and become dormant during dry periods.

Spike-Moss - Bluff east of Butcher Jones Beach

Another cool weather, shade loving plant is the liverwort. Liverworts are unusual due their lack of leaves and vascular system. The plant consists of a flattened multi-celled structure containing green photosynthetic material (chloroplasts) and a single-celled rhizome for an anchor. The plants can form large mats in wet, shady areas but completely dry out in arid periods.

Liverwort - Canyon north of Usery Mountain

Liverwort - Bluff east of Butcher Jones Beach

The cool, wet weather has also refreshed the moss communities. The following photos were taken along some boulders on the north face of Coon Bluff near Phon D. Sutton Recreation Area.

I'll be out looking for more over the next couple of months.

Adios