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Arizona ~ Old and New Favorite Places

17 Sunday Jun 2018

Posted by Ed and Marti Kirkpatrick in Bushes and Blooms, Travels

≈ 11 Comments

Tags

#Prescott Arizona, Arizona, Bonito Campground, boondocking, Catalina State Park, Flagstaff, Lowell Observatory, Sunset Crater, Tucson, Wupatki

Hi there~ It has been many weeks since our last post but we have excuses 🙂 Our main plan for this summer’s adventure is what I have been calling the “middle bits”.  The areas of southern Utah: Bryce, Grand Staircase – Escalante, Capital Reef, Canyonlands, Arches, Moab and on north somewhere.  WELLLL… even though this post isn’t about any of those places, we have in fact done a bit of the above and there will be a post about that coming soon along with Ed’s wonderful photos.  The excuse for the delay is twofold. First, southern Utah is for all practical purposes off the grid (cell phones included) and we couldn’t do a post. And second, there’s the issue of Ed’s totally unexpected emergency detached retina eye surgery complete with a 2-week restriction on not only travel but reading and using his laptop!  So apologies for the delay and we hope you enjoy the below 🙂  Oh, and yes he’s doing well thank you!                                       *************************************************************

After a quiet night’s sleep at Black Jack Campground we headed on down Rt 78 which for a ways goes through some pretty mountain country

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78 outside of Blackjack and the forest.

but soon opens up and isn’t as nice. We picked up US 191 heading for Safford, (which is sorry to say downright ugly) and then onto Interstate 10.  We had planned to drop south to one of our favorite places, Bisbee, AZ  but when I phoned the campground in town they said they were completely booked.  Soooo we decided to head on to Oro Valley just north of Tucson and one of our other favorite spots, Catalina State Park, but when I phoned they also were full!  Our nonstop good luck seemed to be on hold, (it was Friday night and weekends are often busier) so we headed for Gilbert Ray Campground just west of Tucson where it’s first come first served and we hoped not full.

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Just behind our campsite at Gilbert Ray where it was not full, but in fact almost empty.  Over in front of those mountains is Old Tucson which was built to make movies and has only expanded and grown with many more movies and TV shows. You can take a tour but we didn’t.

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We took a short walk at Gilbert Ray to enjoy the cacti just coming into bloom.  This is a Cholla (choyya) a group of cactus that is perhaps Marti’s favorite.

Every time we’ve been in the Tucson area we’ve planned to go to the Pima Air & Space Museum not for the museum as much as the airplane boneyard.  This time, other than new tennis shoes for me that was the only thing specifically on our MVL (Must Visit List).   We have really been enjoying not planning things out much (or at all) this year but sometimes a little advance research is highly recommended.  Turns out one CAN NOT visit without a 10 BUSINESS DAY ADVANCE REGISTRATION!!!  We have NO IDEA what this is about but find it absolutely ridiculous.  Consequently, it will remain on our MVL for another time.  😦

We ran errands, did some shopping, (did not find my tennis shoes at Fleet Feet but they’re on hold for me in Scottsdale), and had a good steak dinner at The Keg where we always go when in Catalina, where a camping spot had opened up on Saturday 🙂  Interesting side note:  The Keg was the name of a steak restaurant we went to in St. John’s, Newfoundland last summer, so we did some checking.  Not only are they the same, it’s a Canadian company.  The one in Oro Valley is better 🙂

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Other than hiking, our favorite thing to do at Catalina is to watch the stars come out and if we are there at the right time of the month, the moonrise over the Santa Catalina Mountains. For my photographer friends, this is hand-held at 1/10 second ISO 1600, just sayin’. 🙂

Wanting to get on north but also working out a plan to catch up with fellow RV full-timer friend Suzanne (who we last saw in St. John’s) we headed for Prescott another of our favorite places.

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Looking back towards Thumb Butte (on the right) and the Prescott Valley on the left we took a little walk one day.

We did a couple of our usuals, Bill’s Pizza, the Phippen Museum plus a nice visit with Suzanne and then headed for Flagstaff, one of my favorite places.

In Flagstaff, we did a few errands, had lunch at the Bun Huggers which was recommended on roadfood.com… don’t bother, it’s just a very mediocre burger and then went to see the Lowell Observatory.  This place has been on our list each time we’ve visited Flagstaff and since we’ve managed to do a couple of “looking at space” things this trip we made sure to go.  The very wealthy Percival Lowell was awarded a Harvard degree with distinction in mathematics in 1876 and then went on to running a cotton mill for 6 years.  For most of the 1880’s he traveled and lived in the Far East returning to the US in 1893. Fascinated with Mars and wanting to study it extensively, he selected a site (the first time anyone had purposely done so) with elevation, remote and most always clear skies and established his personal observatory at Flagstaff, Arizona Territory in 1894.

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The 13″ Astrograph, a type of telescope used to take pictures only was used to discover Pluto in 1930. Note the wooden film plate at the bottom.

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An 11×14 BW film was used by Clyde Tombaugh in 1930 to make comparative images to note that what turned out to be the object we call Pluto was moving across the star field which does not move.

A note about camping in the Flagstaff area:  The first night we checked a couple boondocking areas.  Probably in response to the fire ban and extreme dry conditions we found that a number of the forest service roads, including FS 6051 were blocked.  We did go out an unmarked FS road (off Snow Bowl Rd) where we saw a couple of folks but it was VERY rough and VERY unlevel.

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We did enjoy the drive up the Snow Bowl road to over 9000 ft. elevation and the ski area where there was not quite enough snow to ski down the mountain.

 

We also checked the boondocking site over by Walnut Canyon and it’s not very level and not pretty, so not for us. We did stay in a spot way out the fairly rough Naval Observatory Road that worked, but I would not take anything much bigger than us past the first section.

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Tucked in the trees off of Naval Observatory road we boondocked overnight and Ed discovered a set of handcuffs burned up in the firepit.  I kid you not!

Next morning we had a check engine light on and very little power but it was Sunday and Mercedes-Benz of Flagstaff was closed. We checked into Greer’s Pine Shadows where we stayed once before.  NEVER stay here!!  They have no dump station, no showers or bathrooms, sites are tight, mostly permanent folks…. we knew all that from before, but we needed a place.  We set up and after a bit Ed went out, raised the hood and checked the oil dip stick and put it back.  He had no tools out anywhere just a rag in his hand as he stood looking at the engine.  A man from the office (across from us) comes blasting out the door screaming at Ed that they don’t allow any mechanical work being done.  Ed say’s “I’m just looking at my engine!”  This jerk yells “Don’t give me no lip, I’m the manager and I’ll throw your ass out of here!”  Ed, pretty sure the guy might slug him next, shuts the hood and comes in the RV.

Next morning first thing, we drove to Mercedes-Benz of Flagstaff, getting there just after they opened. They said they make a point of trying to get travelers in and out fast.  They not only get to us faster than they said they could, they diagnosed the problem, fixed it for cheaper than we expected and sent us on our way.  Good folks!

We stayed the next couple of nights at the NFS Bonito Campground just outside of Sunset Crater.  It is a wonderful, dry, first come first served campground, where there are water spigots, nice bathrooms and very few folks, at least when we were there. 🙂

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Our camping spot next to the lava field at Bonito Campground.  

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That knob on the right between the trees is Sunset Crater in the setting Sun. This short walk is just beyond our campsite.  

We had explored the Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument following the 35-mile loop road around to the far end at Wupatki National Monument back in 2015.  This time we explored the ruins of Wupatki and suggest them, and this whole area, for your MVL.

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The Citadel is the first large ruin one comes to on the loop road from the north entrance. On top of a small hill with a view of the surrounding countryside, 800 years ago the Sinagua culture lived here.

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Looking out from atop the Citadel there are in this photograph ruins of eight other smaller pueblos.  Yes, Marti found them but they are very hard to spot.

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Further down the loop road, Marti walked out to the two dwellings on either side of Box Canyon.  The San Francisco Mountains and Humphrey’s Peak are in the background.

Note: Since we were here and in the last couple of weeks a great deal of Arizona including areas covered in this post are under complete fire bans including camping and hiking due to the extreme drought.




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78 continues beautifully down to the valley and the unfortunately ugly Safford, Arizona.  

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Yet another kind of cholla budding into flower at Gilbert Ray.

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Guess what…?  more Cholla. There are so many different varieties.

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Most plants in the desert can hurt you a little or a lot, but the flowers are magnificent.

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The tall cacti, Suguaro are one our favorites because their expressive arm contortions are so much fun and now they even have flowers.  This is the first time we have seen them in bloom.

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Thumb Butte in the distance west of Prescott, Arizona.

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If you just go for a small walk out of the campground into the forest and the wonderful lava fields at Bonito, particularly as the Sun is setting, you too can revel in the beauty left by the incredible forces of Mother Earth.

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Such peace many centuries after such violence.

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A short hike into the cinders. Life returns via a bazillion pine cones.

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Marti sees creatures everywhere.  Ed, however, being more practical wonders who or what is under that big volcanic rock that fell out of the sky one day about 900 years ago.

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Further beyond the Box Canyon dwellings is the beautiful Lomaki Pueblo.

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Taken from the Wupaki National Monument loop road, the San Francisco Mountains with Flagstaff, Arizona and the Snow Bowl ski area on the other side.

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Wukoki Pueblo. Occupied from between 1120 and 1210 AD this unusual three-story tall pueblo sits atop Moenkopi Sandstone.

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It is hard at first to visually discern where the natural stone outcropping ends and the cut stone masonry begins.  The precision stonework is astonishing.  Perfectly square, plumb corners, built by “primitive” people. They must have had some understanding of basic geometry.

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Pardon Mart’s butt.

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Room interior that shows holes for floor/ceiling joists in the tower room.

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Remaining wood from the poles used as joists.

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Wupatki Pueblo. The largest complex in the area.

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Comprising over 100 rooms, a community room and a ball court, Wupatki is an extremely well preserved and extensive complex.

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We say goodbye for now as Ed enjoys his wine while cooking dinner and watching the Sun set.

Grand Canyon & Glen Canyon ~ Created By or For Water

12 Friday May 2017

Posted by Ed and Marti Kirkpatrick in Travels

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

#Prescott Arizona, boondocking, Glen Canyon Dam, Lake Powell, Navajo Bridge, Navajo Generating Station, North Rim Grand Canyon, Page Arizona, Vermilion Cliffs

We had been to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon back in mid May of 2015 (if you don’t recall a blog post it’s because we didn’t get one done…sorry),  and it had rained, hailed, thundered, sleeted and snowed on us all on the same day!

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Craaaaazzzzzy weather at the South Rim in October 2015.

This being late October (2016), we knew the higher elevation North Rim would be closed up for the season, but Rt. 67, the road in, was still open and the views still there so we headed off.   As expected there were very few people and the views were indeed beautiful.

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Marti in her classic pose at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.

We have been delighted and amazed as we travel around the country how many folks say they grew up, went to school, have immediate family etc. in Maryland, particularly within the Frederick-Baltimore-DC metro-Eastern Shore area.  While we were sitting trapped at the end of a point and waiting for a bunch of 20 somethings to finish their photos/viewing one asked where we were from.  When we said Maryland, he points to a gal and says,  “I think she’s from Maryland.”  Turns out she graduated from the same high school a year after my niece Janetta!

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Anybody who knows me realizes this is a huge accomplishment to stand so near the edge. The very faint mountain peaks in the far distance are the San Francisco mountains at Flagstaff, Arizona 65 miles away as the crow flies.

With everything closed for the season we planned on boondocking (camping not in a designated campground, with no hook ups, often off the grid) somewhere outside the park in the Kaibab National Forest, (boondocking not being allowed in the park).   I’d read that there were good places up FR22 so we headed up this pretty, decent dirt road.  At about 9,000 feet we found a nice almost level spot where we could tuck back into the trees, and settled in.

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Settled in for the night at 9,160 feet elevation in the Kaibab National Forest.

It was windy and high so we knew it was going to be cold but let me tell you the night sky…WOW!!  We watched 6 satellites, one the Space Station, crossing the heavens, and the Milky Way literally stretched from horizon to horizon!  Nice night 🙂

Next morning after a little walk about,

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Just below our campsite for the night, this was our morning walk about.

we drove back out 67 to US89A heading to Page, AZ and Lake Powell.  This beautiful drive past the deep red (iron oxide) Vermilion Cliffs and over the Colorado River’s Marble Canyon (the western boundary of the Navajo Nation) at Navajo Bridge should be on your MVL (Must Visit List).

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Vermilion Cliffs are full of spectacular rock formations which can only be seen by extensive backpacking.

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Dedicated in 1929, the closer bridge is Navajo Bridge spanning the Colorado River .  The farther bridge was opened in 1995.  Navajo Bridge is now for pedestrians only. Vermilion Cliffs are in the distance.

We stayed at Page Lake Powell Campground the best game in town and very convenient to drive over to Glen Canyon Dam where we did the tour with Paul, which was our good fortune.

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Glen Canyon Dam and the Glen Canyon Bridge below.

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Marti listening to Paul, our tour guide in the bowels of the dam.

Seems his dad graduated college and came to the dam construction company town of Page to teach.  Paul, who is a few years younger than us, was born here and as a kid he and his friends played at the dam running all over and through it!  All the workers knew them and sort of kept an eye on them, security not being what it is today. During his senior year of school Lake Powell was finally full (over the years it mostly is not) and he and his buddies challenged a friend to jump in. He did and started swimming to shore.  Everyone piled into their car to go pick him up, but a Park Ranger saw and got to him first.  When Paul and his friends showed up they all claimed they didn’t know the guy and the Ranger didn’t charge anyone.

We went to Antelope Point Marina on Lake Powell and did an hour long boat trip up Antelope Canyon with Jared our guide.

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Jared knows the lake well enough to take his hand off the helm.

He loves the lake and knows it inside out and backwards having been in many of the over 90 side canyons!  He also loves to photograph and showed us some of his work which was quite good.  When we got back to the marina, we had a late lunch of good hamburgers and talked about how much we want to spend a few months or more exploring and living in a houseboat on the lake.

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Entering Antelope Canyon and the Navajo Generating plant is in the distance. 

This will be our last post from 2016. After wintering at home in Maryland house-sitting and “doing the holidays” it’s past time to get you all up to date with where we are and have been since getting back on the road at the end of March.  We thank you so much for riding along with us on our adventures over the next hill 🙂




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South Rim from the Grand Canyon Village.

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Way below Marti is the Bright Angel Trail to the bottom of the Canyon.

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At the North Rim the aspens had already lost their leaves but the oaks still were in full color.

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Looking West from the North Rim.

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Some locals on the road leading out of the North Rim in the Kaibab National Forest.

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Aspens grow in clumps and are a single organism connected together underground.

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Looking across House Rock Valley to the Vermilion Cliffs.

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The new bridge from Navajo Bridge over the Colorado River at Marble Canyon.

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The Colorado River in Marble Canyon.

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California Condor #53.  We saw six that day on the bridge span, all tagged. There are over 400 total in the reintroduction program, up from 22 at the low point.

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The turbine room inside Glen Canyon Dam.

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Scenes from our boat tour of Antelope Canyon on Lake Powell.

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Marti sees faces in everything.

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Stripes and swirls

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Nearing the top of the canyon on the water.

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With the water levels as low as they were we could only go so far without walking.

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A big storm approaches the coal burning Navajo Generating Station which may be closing soon.  

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The next morning after a big thunderstorm the water vapor rises off Vermilion Cliffs.

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From our trip home we end with two photos at Lake Watson in the Dells in Prescott, Arizona. One of our favorite places.

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Hello from Maryland!! 

05 Tuesday Apr 2016

Posted by Ed and Marti Kirkpatrick in Bushes and Blooms, Travels

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

boondocking, California, Culp Valley, Joshua Tree National Park, Jumbo Rocks, Phainopepla, Ryan Ranch

We have obviously covered a great deal of country since our visit to Death Valley.  However, before we knew we had to make this run home, we did get to boondock (camping with no water, electric, sewer hookups) in two places we couldn’t manage last year.  First in the beautiful Culp Valley high above Borrego Springs CA and then Joshua Tree National Park CA. We spent four terrific days at each location and had lots of delightful hikes and gorgeous starry nights.  We recommend both for your MVL (Must Visit List), but stay away on weekends and go preferably in February when both places can be pretty cold at night, but much less crowded.

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Looking back into the Culp Valley campground.

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The ruins of Ryan Ranch (on the left) near the Ryan campground in Joshua Tree National Park.

After Joshua Tree we slipped down to Desert Hot Springs for some laundry chores, our posting of the 2nd Death Valley installment, and a long soak in said hot springs 🙂   It was during this time we received the news that my brother Bruce had passed away from complications of Parkinson’s Disease.   He and his wife Luanne lived in The Villages in Florida, but he was to be buried back home in Darnestown, Maryland and we had four weeks to make the trip home.

So over the course of 3 weeks we worked our way home stopping at a lot of places we have blogged about before; Prescott, Arizona,  Catalina State Park in the Oro Valley outside of Tucson as well as quirky little Bisbee in southeast Arizona. We did a short visit with our dear kids in Austin and Bastrop TX. Then stopped off in New Orleans where we got to watch the anything goes goings-on for St. Patrick’s Day (oh my, those tiny green stars were paint, not pasties!) and on home via Ed’s sister Susan’s in Tucker, GA.

During this drive back east we also received the sad news of the death of our best man (so many, many years ago) Bruce Will, a back home walking friend Leslie Schwartz, and Ed’s Aunt Lois!  An incredible reminder to do all those things you’ve always wanted to but don’t think you have time for, and most importantly, tell those you love “I LOVE YOU” at every opportunity!

We will be hanging around the mid Atlantic for about a month (we’ll do a post I’m sure) and then plan to head towards the Pacific Northwest, via what route we haven’t figured out yet, but you’ll be the first to know! 🙂




 

20160229-A05_Bruce_DeppaWhen I was little of course I knew I had two brothers who were older than me, but what I could not seem to grasp was how to differentiate between the older and the even older, so, to me, Roy was my “little” brother and Bruce was my “big” brother….and OH what a big brother he was!

He could walk on his hands around the yard.

He could crack a bull whip and flip me in the air.

During his college years he’d bring his dates home for Sunday dinner.  It was a heck of a lot cheaper than restaurants and if they’d already met the folks on the first date, well, they sure couldn’t read anything into future visits!  He would always ask me, 10, 11 year old ME, what I thought of the girls he’d brought home!  AND, he REALLY listened to what I had to say!

When I was in high school and shall we say a little much for Mom & Dad to understand (and vice versa), I’d go to Bruce for someone I knew would listen to my frustrations, dreams, raging and mediocre poetry!

He would babysit our very precocious toddler Scott so Ed and I could have a little “us time”… and he must have set a land speed record getting to us when Scott was killed in Iraq.

Bruce always woke with a smile on his face, excited about the new day.

Bruce never met a stranger.

Bruce was kind, understanding, intelligent, interested in everything and everyone.

Bruce was my big brother.




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Clearing storm early one morning at Culp Valley.

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Looking down to Borrego Springs, California from above the Culp Valley.

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Hiking in Culp Valley on a windy day.

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The Cat Claw bush and Ed never did make friends… He has another name for it but this is a family blog.

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A Joshua Tree at Joshua Tree.

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Climbers scaling Headstone Rock at Ryan Ranch.  Joshua Tree is a very popular destination for climbing and bouldering.

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The Joshua trees were just coming into bloom.

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Joshua Tree Panorama.

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Marti left me on a rock pile and went off to look at these rocks.

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While she was away I photographed some of the local flora. It’s called Mickey Mouse Prickly Pear.

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Jumbo Rocks hike.

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Our neighbors, Kimberley and Emily were hiking the California Hiking and Riding Trail.

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Jumbo rocks Campground in Joshua Tree.

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Our new friend a Phainopepla, (FAY no PEP la).

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Mistletoe, the mass of reddish brown on the left is the Phainopepla’s favorite food.  The literature says he will eat 1300 of those berries a day.  We’re not sure… and who counted all those berries anyway.

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Evening light at the end of our hike at Jumbo Rocks.

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More of those Shadow People.

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On the way out of Joshua Tree National Park. What a great name.

#boondocking, #California, #Culp Valley, #Joshua Tree National Park, #Jumbo Rocks, #Phainopepla, #Ryan Ranch

 

3:10 To Yuma ~Desert Figures ~ Mojave

23 Saturday Jan 2016

Posted by Ed and Marti Kirkpatrick in Travels

≈ 14 Comments

Tags

Arizona, Blythe Intaglios, boondocking, California, KOFA Wildlife Refuge, Mojave Preserve, Spiral Labyrinth, Yuma Territorial Prison

Leaving Ajo, Arizona we headed north to Gila Bend and I-8W towards Yuma which is located on the Colorado River in the southwest corner of Arizona.  There’s precious little on this stretch of highway but there is a place named Dateland where surprise! there’s a date grove!  We like dates, and so we stopped, sampled seven kinds (Honey Dates were the best) and bought some of these sweet healthy treats.  We also tried their “world famous” date milkshake…okay dokey, we can scratch that off the list now 🙂

As you’ll note in the title above, we had a mission on this leg of our adventure.  Having been to Bisbee we know the 3:10 to Yuma movie had that location all wrong.  However, since the movie ends with the train just leaving Contention City we wanted to actually see the notorious prison Ben Wade implies he will once again escape from.  The first seven inmates entered the Territorial Prison at Yuma on July 1, 1876 ( five days after Custer had his last stand at Little Big Horn in Montana and the year my grandfather Deppa was born) where they were locked into the cells they had built themselves.

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Cell block walk used to be covered with a second story that was the infirmary and offices.

Over the course of 33 years 3,069 prisoners including 29 women (many incarcerated for adultery) were held here.  Although there were many attempted escapes only 2 from within the prison confines were successful.  While we’re not sure it’s worth a trip to Yuma, do put it on your MVL (Must Visit List) if you’re in the area.

 

While plotting our travels on Google Maps I had noted something marked Spiral Labyrinth outside the Kofa National Wildlife Refuge 6 miles down a dirt road off US Hwy. 95 in Arizona.  I was curious, so I did a little searching and found next to nothing about this, but what I did find was interesting so of course we went looking.  Of unknown origin, but not old, this very carefully built stone labyrinth is amazing and fun.  Someone worked really hard and near as I can find it’s almost a secret.  Put it on your MVL…but….you have to find it yourself 🙂

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Marti went in the entrance and it took her about 20 minutes to hit the center.  Then she turned around and walked back out…  another 20 minutes.

From the labyrinth, we headed for California’s US Hwy 95 and Blythe where we were looking for the very ancient Blythe Intaglios.  I have known of these geoglyphs for most of my life and was very excited to see them.  The road they are off of went quickly from bad to nope, so we only managed to see 3 of them.  They are behind ugly protective fencing (why can’t people behave?) so some of the magic feeling is gone.  Even so, one can’t help but wonder… why?  Put them on your MVL.

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The image is created by scratching away the darker surface stones which reveals the lighter colored soil underneath.  Unlike the labyrinth, there is no ridge of stones because they removed them. 

After spending the night back at Arizona’s Cattail Cove State Park we headed out for our next California destination, dry camping at Hole In The Wall.  Sandwiched between two interstates, 15 & 40, the Mojave National Preserve and indeed the area leading to it, is incredibly vast and empty…and beautiful.  We found a lovely spot in the almost empty campground and settled in for several days.

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Looking down on our home for a few days.  Note the stratification in the mountains across the valley.  It became very, very windy at night with gusts near 50 mph but this stopped after dawn every day. We asked the volunteer camp host if it was always this windy and he said, “No, only when it’s windier.”

There are a couple of stories about how this spot got named Hole in the Wall.  One is because of all the holes in the rock, but my favorite is because a former gun-slinger finally settled down in the area and named it for his former hide out 🙂

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Looking up Banshee Canyon. See the holes?  The holes are in volcanic ash which is softer than other rock and the wind and water erodes the holes.

The first day we hiked all around behind our site enjoying the views and rock formations.   On day two we did the Ring Loop Trail into Banshee Canyon.  It is so named because early settlers said the wind blowing through sounded like a banshee!  It is an incredibly neat place and I highly recommend it go on your MVL.

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From our first night’s walk this scene is just uphill from our campsite.  The yellow lichens are really pretty.

We are currently doing chores in Pahrump NV, not a garden spot but they have real stores, gas stations and a very nice Escapee’s RV park not to mention the Chicken Ranch Brothel just down the road.  It’s Nevada, what can we say?  On Monday we head for Death Valley.  We’ve seen it a bit and WOW…..can’t wait to show & tell you all about it!




 

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This shows a cell with the iron work that surrounded each cell; doors, floors, walls and ceilings.  All the iron work, welding and shaping was done by inmates.  In fact, everything in the prison was made by the inmates.

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This shows two cell doors. 1/4″ thick welded and riveted steel that are connected together to prevent one door breaking without the other.  Note that the locks are a good three feet away from the opening on each side.

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Ahhh… the dark cell.  Solitary confinement in a steel cage.  These cells were hand dug into the caliche hillside.  Caliche is a type of clay/rock that is very, very hard.

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Inside the Dark Cell, only the floor of the cage remains.  There is a ghost story for this cell and while we were in there Marti saw something flit by! She looked again and to her relief it was just bats.

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It’s really magical, especially with the wind blowing.

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About 2/3’s of the way in an optical illusion occurs that makes the ridges turn into waves rolling towards the center. Amazingly cool…!

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Ed at the center of the universe.  I walked in but took the short way out…

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The fence is ugly.  BUT if it was not here ATV tracks would obliterate the figure.  In their defense, these figures are hard to see just walking across the desert.

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People say this is a horse.  They are very hard to photograph from the ground and we took a ladder in.

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Anybody who knows Ed, knows this is a big adventure for him.  These are the first set of rings down to the bottom of Banshee Canyon.

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Marti on the other hand….

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Marti looking up at bat caves, we think, in the bottom of Banshee Canyon.

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We found thousands and thousands of these little bones scattered around this one section of the canyon below what appeared to be bat homes/caves in some of the holes high up.  Note the two femur bones above the quarter.

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and these skulls were there in the bone yard… Birds? Bats? Lizards? Tourists?  We have to do some research.

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From the mouth of Banshee Canyon the valley below.

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This crew joined us for our picnic lunch.  11 horses branded with a W inside a square.  Their meal was not what our horses back home get.

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The astonishing variety of colors in the lichens on the rocks here is beautiful.  Marti counted seven different colors. An artist’s palette.

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Mojave Dawn.  Marti does the before sunrise stuff…

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Barrel and Hedgehog Cactus in morning sun.

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Lovely grasses surround rock and a barrel cactus.

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Hole In The Wall Morning.  

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Directly behind our campsite at Hole In The Wall.

California Here We Are!

19 Sunday Apr 2015

Posted by Ed and Marti Kirkpatrick in Travels

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

boondocking, Borrego Springs, California, dinosaurs, metal sculpture, Ricardo Breceda

Heading to Borrego Springs via RT 78 South we drove through the southern end of the North Algodones Dunes Wilderness near Glamis, California.  Approximately 45 miles long by 6 miles wide the most popular theory of the dune’s origins is sands blown in from the long ago and long gone, very large Lake Cahuilla. Divided into 3 basic areas the part we crossed allows ROV/ OHV (Recreational Off highway Vehicles/ Off Highway Vehicles) access and there were lots of folks racing around these beautiful mountains of sand. Personally I was hoping for Sean Connery galloping down a hill on a beautiful Arab ala The Wind and The Lion….ah well, a gal can dream 🙂

Not Sean Connery, but a full grown man on top of the dune.

Not Sean Connery, but a full grown man on top of the dune.

From the dunes we crossed miles of barren big rolling hilly desert most of which was BLM (Bureau of Land Management) property as well as the Ocotillo Wells State Vehicular Recreational Area. The number of RV’s and campers and people racing about on OHVs was amazing. The sheer size of the amount of desert being rutted and permanently altered by this activity was mind blowing. Even more staggering was the constant dust haze hanging in the air downwind!

Arriving in Borrego Springs which backs right up to the Santa Rosa Mountains we drove up S22 out of town and up into these stark mountains of rock. Steep, twisty and winding with an incredible wind blowing the ride was spectacular and a bit scary.

3000 feet below is Borrego Springs

3000 feet below is Borrego Springs

We were heading for Culp Valley a boon-docking (no electric/water/sewer hookups) area at which we hoped to camp. High up at 4600 ft. and tucked into a kind of small rocky meadow we loved the place. There are only a handful of spots and the only one we could fit into was so out of level we just had to give up. Disappointed we headed back down the mountain to the Anza Borrego State Park Campground. In hindsight it was just as well, the temperature dropped way down and the wind howled all night and while the night sky would have been wonderful, that high up the cold and rockin’ & rollin’ from the winds would have made for a VERY long night!

Scattered about the desert around Borrego Springs on the Galleta Meadows LLC property of philanthropist Dennis Avery (deceased) are 130 metal sculptures by Ricardo Breceda. After a bad accident Breceda could no longer do construction work and started selling exotic boots. Trading a pair of boots for a welding machine he started “playing” with it. At the request of his daughter to make her a life size dinosaur he discovered his hidden talent. Dennis Avery found him and together they have introduced some of the original “livestock” back into what is of course now desert. Lots of fun to see!20150406-_EKP1404

The calm of morning after a night of howling winds at Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. They started back up around mid morning.

The calm of morning after a night of howling winds at Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. They started back up around mid morning.



Camels

A sampling of Breceda’s sculptures in the Borrego Springs Desert.

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Why Not and Beyond

14 Saturday Feb 2015

Posted by Ed and Marti Kirkpatrick in Travels

≈ 15 Comments

Tags

Arizona, Besh Ba Gowah, boondocking, Border Patrol, Box Canyon, Catalina State Park, Globe AZ, Kartchner Caverns, Organ Pipe Cactus, Titan Missles, Why AZ

The beauty and wildness and ever changing landscape in the bit of Arizona we’ve been traveling is wonderful. With elevation changes and just curves in the road, the geology and flora changes, often radically. The minerals in the rock means that color variations can be both subtle and stark, but also beautiful. Those minerals also mean there are mines all over the state and most are huge and very destructive. We know we need the materials, but we also believe our stewardship of this land means we must not take and not repair regardless of inconvenience or cost.

Mining operations and tailings just outside of Globe, Arizona

Mining operations and tailings just outside of Globe, Arizona

So hang onto your hat as we cover a lot of ground and add places to your MVL (MUST VISIT LIST 🙂 )!!

Local Mercantile, gas station, restaurant and Mexican Insurance dealer.

Local Mercantile, gas station, restaurant and Mexican Insurance dealer.

We did our first boondocking outside of Why, AZ, a tiny blink of a town at the “Y” intersections of State Hwy 85 and 86. The USPS being what they are would not let the local folks have the name Y for their town because a town has to have at least 3 letters…go figure …hence…Why. Boondocking mostly on BLM land (Bureau of Land Management), National Forests, State Land Trust lands means 98% of the time, no fees, no hook-ups (water, electric, sewer) and no “real” camping sites. Just pick an obviously used spot (worn, probably with a stone fire ring) and claim it as your own, but not too close to your neighbors if there happens to be some, and at Why there were. We found a nice spot with a tree and heard our first coyotes….all good.

Full Moon, Gunsight Wash, boondocking on BLM land outside of Why, AZ

Full Moon, Gunsight Wash, boondocking on BLM land outside of Why, AZ

By the way, we have been told that the only Kyy-Oh-Tee is the one named Wiley. A hard habit to break, the proper pronunciation is Kyy-Oat.

We visited Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument which shares a long border with Mexico. The Border Patrol are ALL OVER southern Arizona and we often go through their road check points. Here in Organ Pipe we chatted with two officers heading out on horseback to do their thing. These horses are wild mustangs who are naturally strong and “smart” about the desert.   After being caught they are broken & trained by prison inmates and then given to the USBP.

Border Patrol on horseback

Border Patrol on horseback

Smuggling Sign

At the Visitors Center, we had to talk our way into being allowed to take our RV (technically 3 feet too long) onto one of the two loop roads through the park. It’s beautiful and we had a great time. Put on your MUST VISIT LIST. (but only in a car).

Organ Pipe Cristate

Organ Pipe Cactus with cristate growth

Organ Pipe Road

Organ Pipe Cactus loop road

Arch Close up

Two arches

On our way to Painted Rocks we passed through Gila Bend… don’t bother with the town but west of there is the Solana Generating Station and miles and miles of irrigated alfalfa fields that are next to a huge factory dairy cow operation.

Solana Generating Station

Painted Rock

Solana Generating Station and a Painted Rock

Then we reversed directions and went east over RT 238 to Maricopa and eventually to AZ 60 and the Tonto National Forest for the night. Put this National Forest on your MVL!! Just beautiful!! We boondocked at Oak Flat Campground.

Oak Flats Campsite

Oak Flats Campsite

This land is sacred to the Apache and is under direct attack by the mining interests and sneaky political tactics. In fact the evening we were there while out for our walk we passed a young Indian doing some quiet ceremony next to a huge “bowl” in the local landscape. The place just felt special.

We went to Globe for lunch and happened into the Drift Inn, a local saloon that’s been in business since 1902 and is quite colorful.

Also in Globe we went to the Besh Ba Gowah Ruins. This small ancient pueblo and the little museum are excellent and should be on your MVL.

Besh Ba Gowash

Besh Ba Gowash

Being children in the 1950’s/’60’s we know all about “duck and cover” and the next day to our surprise we saw a sign for the Titan Missile Museum. Of course we had to visit. It holds the very last of 54 Titan II Ballistic Missiles in its silo! Yes, not only disarmed but with a hole cut in the cone so the world’s satellites can see that it is! Titan Missle NoseThe installation is exactly as it was when it was operational (minus the bomb and rocket fuel) and part of the tour includes a simulated (to an extent) launching of the missile. The tour guide randomly picks someone to be Commander, one of the two people who had to turn the launch keys. As it turns out the woman who “helped” launch the missile emigrated from the Soviet Union 30 years ago! She admitted to us later she was a little freaked out by the whole launch experience. Put this tour on your MVL, very interesting.

Box Canyon Road (2)

Box Canyon Road

We drove across the Box Canyon Rd Hwy 62 to Sonoita. While in hindsight we know we were foolhardy to have taken this 23 mile narrow, windy, twisty dirt road, the drive was magnificent and we survived! At the top of the canyon at 4000 ft. elevation, the surprise is that there are extensive grass lands and cattle ranches across large rolling hills. It is very pretty and a welcomed change from cactus and barren dust and rock.

High Plains Grassland

High Plains Grassland

The last tour we’ve done was at the Kartchner Caverns State Park, which by the way is a lovely campground. These unknown caverns were discovered in 1974 by two young spelunkers, who not only kept this living cave’s location secret but managed over the course of 14 years to keep their find hidden from the general public. Along with the Kartchner family they persuaded the State to buy the land from the family and with huge expense and creativity to safely open it to the public while preserving its pristine and unique formations. Ed and I both separately and together did some caving in our teens and 20’s we cannot believe the beauty of the place and the vast amount of effort it took to open it to tours while not inhibiting or altering its continued growth! It’s an absolutely fabulous story and an extremely beautiful cave. Put this on your MUST VISIT LIST!!! (sorry, no photos allowed but the web link will show you some)

We are back at Catalina State Park where after the rains of two weeks ago the hills are actually showing some green.  We are here for a few days of R&R and housekeeping chores. We even went to an RV show! We’re loving Arizona and hope you’re enjoying Ed’s photographs.


To replace our much missed plastic yard flamingo, our kids made and gave us these stick-on variety to decorate the RV.  We love them. Kids and flamingos both.

To replace our much missed plastic yard flamingo, our kids made and gave us these stick-on variety to decorate the RV. We love them. Kids and flamingos both.

Interior Besh Ba Gowah

"Sphinx" Rock

Interior Besh Ba Gowah and “Sphinx” Rock in Organ Pipe

Picnic spot at the end of Box Canyon Road

Picnic spot at the end of Box Canyon Road

Chain Fruit Cholla (Choyyah)

Chain Fruit Cholla (Choyyah)

Launch Control

Launch Control

Oak Flats Pond 1

Oak Flats Pond

Rock Strata on Gila River-Panorama web

Gila River Cliffs Rock Strata

Box Canyon Road Panorama

Box Canyon Grasslands

Catalina State Park and The Hike.

31 Saturday Jan 2015

Posted by Ed and Marti Kirkpatrick in Travels

≈ 10 Comments

Tags

Arizona, Biosphere 2, boondocking, Catalina State Park, Chiricahua Desert Museum, rattlesnakes, Romero Canyon, Romero Pools, Tucson

Today in the desert wet wet wet.

Today in the desert wet, wet, wet.

Today, Friday we are just north of Tucson at the Catalina State Park in the Coronado National Forest, which also includes the Pusch Ridge Wilderness Area. We have been here since Monday and keep extending our stay. Weather has been really great for a few days (not to rub it in) but today we are having heavy showers. It rained really hard all night last night too, but we did hear coyotes for the first time. That was really cool!

We were excited to realize that Biosphere 2 which we had heard about when the whole experiment started and “failed” back in the early 1990’s, was just down the road 18 miles. The concept and execution was incredible and its evolution over the years has been remarkable. Our tour guide was very enthusiastic and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. So much so that when we left we were the last car in the lot and the gates were closed! Thank goodness they open out automatically! Put this on your must visit list.

Wednesday, Marti marched us up the Romero Canyon Trail here at the park nearly 3.6 miles (that’s 7.1 miles round trip by our Garmin) with an elevation climb of over 1000 ft. to a place called Romero Pools, elevation 3700ft. 20150128-_EKP0003

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Ed poolside.

These are nice deep pools of cold, cold mountain water draining down from the peaks and we just had to soak our hot, tired feet. There was flotsam in the trees about eight feet up so clearly an incredible amount of water can come crashing down this canyon.   It’s amazing there can be so much water in this dry environment. A local gentleman told us they’ve had so much rain this year they are expecting a wonderful cactus bloom starting next month, we’ll have to come back.

We left the trail head about 10AM and got back around 5PM nearly totally exhausted. This was a hard, hard hike but the landscape and views … just stunning. We also saw a deer, two Golden Eagles soaring, a lizard, two boatmen and assorted little songbirds, (no partridges in a pear tree). We did not see any mountain lions, coyotes or big horn sheep.

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Romero Canyon Pools

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… and this is only half-way to the pools…

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Cute little fern in a crevice. Marti likes them same as kittens…

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Cool side (as in temperature) of the mountains.

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See the moon? It works better in black and white…

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We’ve seen a very pretty plant called Manzanita (Little Apple) which is everywhere, but so far only in bloom at the higher altitudes and covered with honeybees! The fragrant blossoms smell just like honey. In fact, we have seen loads of honeybees here in the desert where there is no one to poison them.

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Manzanita to the right of the trail.

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Marti and Ed wave Hi!

Marti Hiking Romero Pools

Along the trail.

Another day’s outing was the Arizona/Sonora Desert Museum. While slightly interesting the explanation signage gave little actual information. Plus it was very crowded; at least it seemed so after our day in the hills. In general for our $36 we were not impressed, maybe being spoiled by free access to all the Smithsonian museums back home. We do however highly recommend Chiricahua Desert Museum on NM Highway 80. We stopped here a week or so back and it’s well worth the $5 each. Put it on your must visit list.

We are planning to leave here Monday heading out to a BLM (Bureau of Land Management) area near Why, Arizona, to boondock. Boondocking merits its own post but the short of it is camping on public land with no electric, water or sewer hookups, or anything else for that matter.

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