The George Walker House offers lodging 5.5 miles from Portal and Cave Creek in the Chiricahua Mountains of Southeastern Arizona. The George Walker House is a 100-year-old house that boasts two comfortable bedrooms, a dining room, a living room with a constantly-growing library of regional books, videotapes, field guides, and maps, a bathroom with shower and tub, a well-equipped kitchen stocked with coffee, tea, breakfast cereal, muffins, and juice, and a laundry room with washer and dryer. There is also a screened-in front porch and a shady patio area with a picnic table and a barbecue grill. The yard is completely fenced. We are nearby in a separate house.

Paradise is a tiny (twelve year-round residents) former mining town surrounded by National Forest land. During its short but lively heyday, the town boasted bars, a barber shop, mercantile stores, hotels, a jail, and a red-light district. Almost everyone left when the mines failed, pulling down their homes and businesses and taking the lumber with them. Our guest house, built by George and Lula Walker at the turn of the century, is one of the few original structures still standing. One local story has it that the Walkers named Paradise while honeymooning here. The Paradise Cemetery, one mile from the George Walker House, is a wonderful walking destination for the history buff, genealogist, and birder alike.

The location also allows guests to bird the South Fork of Cave Creek, lunch at the Portal Store and Cafe, and shop at the Chiricahua Gallery one day, explore Chiricahua National Monument the next, and still have time to enjoy the ever-changing view of Silver Peak from their own front door. We can guarantee some wonderful close-up looks at the thirteen-plus species of hummingbirds who pass through Paradise each year. For those interested in Butterflying, 140 of the approximately 180 species of butterflies found in the Chiricahuas can be seen within a 1-mile radius of Paradise. The Chiricahua region is home to a variety of amphibians, lizards, snakes, and yes, even turtles!

Portal is a tiny community on the eastern slope of the Chiracahuas and is a very popular birding area. In fact, there are places of lodging that cater specifically to the needs and interests of birders.