Chiricahua Mountains and Biosphere 2

 

Wherein Moominmama explores the Chiricahua Mountains and finds herself unexpectedly impressed by the human invention of "lungs" for Biosphere 2...

The Chiricahua Mountains are in the southeast corner of Arizona, attracting wildlife and birds from the Sonoran desert, Chihuahuan desert and the unusual elevations, called Sky Islands, near the New Mexico and Mexican borders.

The whole area was subject to a major volcanic eruption 27 million years ago that spewed tons of ash across 1,200 square miles, covering this area hundreds of feet deep. Over time, the ash formed rhyolitic rock that eroded in unusual ways. 

Chiricahua National Monument is full of these strange hoo-doos, or "standing rocks" per the Chiricahuan Apache who called this area home for thousands of years. Geronimo is among the most famous of this tribe and one of the last to lead his people's fight for freedom before they were forced by the military onto reservations.

Unlike the sandstone hoo-doos I've seen previously, these have marvelous textures, some like shingles and some like small stacked squares of rock. They also attract a bright green lichen.

The parts where people have walked have worn smooth and there's a Heart of Rocks trail where you can walk through some of the strange formations -- one called Punch and Judy, another called the Kissing Rocks. There are "balanced rocks" where one part of the formation sits precariously on a small point of rock eroded below.

These strange pillars form entire mountainsides. But the area is extremely diverse because of the changes in elevation. There is flat grassland below, where settlers built, farmed and raised livestock.

There's also forested reaches above, with oak and sycamore and even ponderosa pine. Besides the appeal of the National Monument, this area attracts birders in record numbers.

After a day hiking The Big Loop at Chiricahua National Monument, Moominmama spent a day with the birders near Portal, Arizona. This is a very small town that's a haven for birds and birders.

There are birds of all shapes and colors: lots of goldfinches, the red-tinged House finch, pale blue and loud Mexican jays, red-capped Acorn woodpeckers, sparrows, nuthatches, vireos, and the rust-breasted Spotted Towhee with white stripes or the Painted Redstart below, with its pretty song. 

I also saw the Sonoran birds I've become more familiar with: the Gambel's quail, cactus wren and curve-billed thrasher.

One of the attractions in the spring is the visiting birds that come to mate. There's one nicknamed the "butterbutt" because its yellow highlights get brighter during mating season. It's properly called a Yellow-rumped warbler, and they are returning north after a winter migration to Mexico.

Spending a day focused on the birds was the perfect follow-up to the 8.2 mile hike among the rocks. Moominmama has been "dispersed camping" in the Coronado National Forest. It's much cooler than the Phoenix area because of the altitude. It's also a bit strange to be among trees and brush. But all of it is very dry and even though I saw glimpses of snow in the mountains, I'm told the area got very little precipitation this winter.

It's affecting the bird population. One local birder says they are still getting the diversity of bird species but that the Christmas count revealed many fewer in each species. The main creek in the Chiricahua National Monument, Bonita Creek, has not water for two years. And a supposed creekside trail was completely lacking a creek even though the hiking guidebook warned against crossing during high water. 

This area saw a major fire in 2011, and while many areas have recovered, there are still tree trunks covered in black. Moominmama delayed her arrival after the area was identified as high risk for fire due to strong winds. I don't want to be up a rocky forest road if a fire breaks out.

So Moominmama paused for a day in Oracle, Arizona to see the Biosphere 2. Some of you may remember in the early 90s how a group of eight people were ushered into the sealed biosphere to stay for two years. 

They made it only because new oxygen was introduced after levels dropped to dangerous levels. They would later learn this resulted from a failure to calculate the oxygen demands of micro-organisms in the soil. The participants also were unable to grow enough calories in the large greenhouses so they lost a great deal of weight, and organizers smuggled in additional food.

I saw this as a failure, an example of human hubris, even though the Biosphere 2 now serves science in many other ways, with its ability to control micro-environments (including a rainforest and a 750,000 gallon ocean) to test out things like how coral can survive in higher temperatures. The University of Arizona now manages the research facility and provides for the tours. It's a controlled environment but not sealed.

Instead of skepticism, I was blown away by the design of the Biosphere 2 and how much humans did accomplish and learn. I signed up for a special tour of the inner workings (there are 2.5 acres devoted to the machinery that allowed for the 3.5 acres of living quarters and greenhouses.) 

To the left here is a picture of one of two 180-foot diameter lungs connected to the upper levels of the biosphere via tunnels. Because the sun warms the air molecules inside the biosphere, they expand with the heat of the sun and contract in the cool of the night. 

Without a lung, the biosphere's walls would have shattered. Instead the lungs inhale and exhale using special aluminum panels that form that spaceship shape, connected to a black flexible material that raises and lowers the disk as needed. Those legs dangling in the air will touch down on the ground or raise high above our heads during their cycle. In fact, we saw how they moved just by walking into and out of the space via the tunnels. You can even feel the rush of air. These were built for the original biosphere experiment in 1991. There are two of them so one is a backup at all times, and they have worked flawlessly ever since installation, according to our expert guide Orville. 

I asked Orville privately whether Elon Musk had ever expressed interest in the biosphere research given Musk's interest in settling Mars. Was their funding perhaps safe? Orville said no, that Musk trusted only his own team regarding Mars. Now there's some hubris!

Coronado National Forest