Folks have a few more days of climbing opportunities before Prescott National Forest officials implement restrictions on climbing and other activities on the cliff faces of both Granite Mountain and Thumb Butte on Friday, February 1, 2008. 

For Granite Mountain, the closure will be the same as it has been for the past thirteen years.  It is prohibited to be upon any part of the Granite Mountain rock cliff face or the rim above the rock face and extending 100 feet back from the edge of the cliff face by rock climbing or any other means of access.  Trail 261 will remain open.  Maps of the closed areas will be posted throughout the Granite Basin Recreation Area.

On Thumb Butte, both the north and south climbing faces, the top of Thumb Butte, and the areas at the base of the climbing faces will be closed to entry.  Trail 33 will remain open for hiking.  For the past six years, this closure has provided the protection peregrines need to produce young birds from their nest on Thumb Butte.  Maps of the closed area will be posted around the Thumb Butte Area.

The closures will begin February 1st and last until July 15th to provide peregrines the quiet environment needed for successfully nesting and raising young birds.

If you have any questions about the peregrines and their management on Bradshaw District, please feel free to call Noel Fletcher on the Bradshaw Ranger District, (928) 443-8020 or Larry Bright at the Prescott National Forest (928) 567-1170.

The couple hundred of us who showed up recently for the Civilian Marksmanship Program Western Games rifle matches at the Ben Avery Shooting Facility near Phoenix discovered a new wind doping indicator: portable johns. The 50mph dawn winds had knocked them all over; the direction they lay clearly indicated the winds coming from 12 o’clock – straight from the targets. We set ‘em back upright, but the wind soon had them prostrate again.

“Ya think they’ll cancel the match?” a guy from California asked me.

“Yeah – it’s supposed to get windy later,” I said helpfully.