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Apr 29 2014

What a glorious day!!

Which is why I'm back at Pedernales State Park tonight. It got up to the 70's today and is heading for the low 40's tonight. The forecast for the next several days is for more of the same and this could very well be the last really comfortable camping weather around here until fall.

Since I can, I took off this morning to take advantage of the opportunity.

Dinner guest, or dinner??

Apr 30 2014

I left the van sitting in the campsite this morning and headed out with my pack on my back. After some serious bushwhacking up a ridgeline to the west I intersected a horse trail I knew was up there and turned north to follow it towards that end of the park. It seems a bit early for school to be out but for a Tuesday night the campground had quite a few 'family units' in it last night and I like the equestrian trails at times like these because people on foot seem to avoid them and there really are few if any riders out on weekdays.

 

This is what's left when all the soft parts of a prickly pear pad

decay away. Pretty cool isn't it? I can just imagine shrinking

down and playing 'fort' in this maze!

 

The owners of the ranch that became the state park built this pond in the mid 1900's, called the duck pond, to create habitat for migrating waterfowl. On my way there I had in mind sitting around and doing some bird watching of my own, but when I got there this didn't look too promising. Of course the area has a drought classification of extreme right now so it wasn't all that surprising to find the pond in this condition.

 

 
 
 

But I hiked on around the corner and found this little surprise at the base of the dike that forms the pond. When I first stumbled on it there was a turkey at the edge of the water but he took off running then flew on over the trees before I could get my camera on him. This shot here, which I really like with the foreground in sharp focus and the pond and trees in the background fuzzy, (Photographers like to call that soft focus but it's still fuzzy.) was supposed to have a purple finch sitting on the spindly plant in the left foreground, but he pulled his cloak of invisibility on (OK, maybe he just flew away.) just as I clicked the shot.

 

 

 

But this little gem of a spot wasn't done with my yet! Soon I spotted a herd of feral hogs wandering into the area as they fed. It's very unusual to see these creatures out in full daylight like this! Fortunately they stayed towards the far side of the little meadow there in front of me as these things can put the hurt on a person! I couldn't spot any boars, which isn't unusual as the females usually want a man around the house only for as long as it takes to - well - you know, then they kick him to the curb again. It's difficult to see them because of the height of the grasses, but there was a whole mess of brown little ones mixed in there with the bigger ones.

 

 

I don't know if these big ants, about a quarter inch long, create circular hard-pan areas with their activity, and boy are they active, or if they are drawn to places like this that already exist, but I saw quite a number of colonies during my hike.

This was as close as I came to seeing a horse all day.

The northern limits of the park are defined by the Pedernales River and I eventually ran into it, but don't let the photos fool you, it was quite a climb to get down this close to the river!

And on the way down you have to do battle with these little guys. They look so sweet and delicate with their tiny quarter-inch leaves.

 

But like so many things out here they have their dark side too. And it's always the dark side that gets you!

 Over time the flood waters of the river (Seems kind of surreal to think about floods in this currently parched landscape but I personally witnessed one of these floods many years ago and it was impressive to say the least!) have carved the occasional cave into the limestone. As I came up on this one I caught a glimpse of a bird that flew inside. Thinking there might be a nest in there I sat down with my camera (On a not too comfortable rock I might add.) and waited, and waited, and waited.

Eventually I got impatient (And my butt hurt.) and I very cautiously stuck my head into the cave, only to discover that it was only 5 or 6 feet long with an opening on both ends. . .

I eventually made it to the feature for which the park is named.

The 'falls', created by giant slabs of inclined sandstone interspersed with marble, might not look like much right now but when the water is higher they are scary.

 

It can be a sunny day like this, but if it rains over to the west on this hard landscape the water can rise 20 feet in 5 minutes. No rain forecast, anywhere around here, for the next 8 days but I'm keeping a close eye on the water level anyway! 

 These ripples in the sky reminded me that gas and fluid, air and water, have very similar flow characteristics.

 On my way back south towards the campground I make a stop at the coral right next to the bird blind and spot these guys doing spring stuff. Or rather he's doing the spring stuff, she's just sitting there.

These brown-headed cow birds are not the most beloved of birds around here. Like the cuckoo, they lay their eggs in other bird's nests and the large hatchlings throw the smaller 'native' nestlings out while the confused parents work their beaks to the bone trying to keep the large chicks fed. The endangered Golden Cheeked Warbler, which will only build nests with the shredded bark of the particular juniper that grows around here, is often the victim of this game of duck, duck goose.

Nope, not a Golden Cheeked Warbler, but rather a female Painted Bunting. Oddly enough, the garishly colored male is spotted more often than the completely differently costumed female.

A female Black Chinned Hummingbird coming in for a landing on one of the feeders at the bird-blind. Obviously the bees also like this particular spot but in this case the birds and bees seem to cohabitate well.

After some more cross-country bush-whacking, this time across flatter, savanna type terrain which was easier to negotiate than the steep, heavily wooded bush-whacking I did first thing this morning (But the trade off is there's far more prickly and stickery things out on the savanna than on the rocky sides of the ridge.) I eventually end up back at the campground for some rest and relaxation.

Today's hike. About 8.5 miles.





 

Arizona vacation with Mom: Mt. Lemmon

Apr 4 2013

 

The Coronado National Forest is one of Tucson’s gems. Drive to the northeast corner of the city on Catalina Highway and you run right into the mouth of Solder Canyon. Here the road changes name and starts switch-backing up the mountain range. The road ends some 30 miles later at a locked gate giving access to some transmission towers near the peak of Mt. Lemmon, having climbed from about 6500 ft. at the city’s edge to about 9000 ft at the gate. The journey involves leaving the Saguaro desert behind and traveling through several different habitats; first through oak forests which give way to pine forests which give way to fir forests.

And that’s exactly what we did.

We are still low enough to be in the desert but the
view of Tucson in great.

There’s plenty of turnouts along the way for taking in the view and getting a close look at the changing vegetation; and campgrounds too if you’re looking for a place to stay.

At about the 25 mile mark, if you take a side road down to the small community of Summerhaven and drive all the way to the end of the road, there’s a small park down there right alongside a stream in the bottom of Marshal Gulch. One of Mom’s wish list items for this trip was sitting beside a running stream. My daughter’s intimate knowledge of the area led us straight here.

Now we're starting to see some habitat changes as we
climb higher.

A bit further up the mountain the road passes under the Mt. Lemmon ski hill then finally peters out at that locked gate.



And along the way we're being watched over by the hoodoos.

The classic mountain view.

You can't see it because it's not my place to plaster her face
on the internet, but this is my favorite photo of the whole trip.
A face-on headshot of Mom as she comes back to the picnic
table after sitting alongside Marshal Creek for a while. She's
grinning from ear to ear between the dark green brim of her
Tilly hat (Which is a lot cleaner than mine!) and the fluffy
purple collar of her jacket with several out-of-focus fir
trees in the background framing everything.



Strolling in Marshal Gulch

The slopes of the Mt. Lemmon ski hill still have some
remnants of snow clinging to them.





And then it was time for the long glide back down the mountain.

There are numerous hiking opportunities all along the way but I think we used up a couple days of Mom’s hiking ration yesterday so we didn’t try any of them out this trip. Instead we coasted back down the mountain, grabbed some dinner and called it a day.

Arizona vacation with Mom: Tucson and memories

Apr 3 2013 Tucson

Picked Mom up this morning from the friends she spent the night with and we headed on down to Tucson.



Our timing was good and the desert was blooming

When planning this trip Mom had a few items on her wish list. Visiting some old haunts, driving up a mountain and sitting beside a stream were some of the items on that list and we’d be able to do all three in and around Tucson.

as we drove the winding Kinney Road through Saguaro National monument,
making plenty of stops along the way



The first thing we did was drive Kinney road through the Tucson Mountain district of the Saguaro National park. Mom and Dad drove this twisting and scenic route many times and we took our time, stopping often as she went back through old memories and breathed in the air.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A peek of the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum visitor center
from inside the vast grounds

 

From there we made a stop at the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum. This is a great place and big! A person could easily spend days exploring the many habitats here.

The obligatory photo

A well camouflaged resident 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But, not wanting to kill Mom our first day out, we did a slow and abbreviated tour of the museum grounds before heading a couple miles down the road to a campground within walking distance of Old Tucson that she and Dad spent quite a bit of time in over the years. Stopping at the headquarters to get permission, we slowly drove every loop and revived many memories.

The afternoon was getting on by now so we went exploring for a place to eat. It was a surprisingly difficult hunt which eventually took us down East Broadway in Tucson where we also made note of several hotel possibilities for Mom.

While eating we decided to get me set up in a campground I’d stayed at before when in town for my daughter’s graduation from the master’s program at the University of Arizona, then we’d work on finding a place for Mom to stay. That turned out to be a fortuitous decision.

The Far Horizons Tucson Village is a 55+, combination long-term/permanent park model community and campground. It’s right in town within walking distance of shopping (They even have a pedestrian gate in the southwest corner that goes to a Home Depot.) The park is extremely well kept, hosts tons of activities during the season, has a clubhouse that includes meeting rooms, library, laundry, mail room, showers and spa, pool, sewing room, art room, bocce ball court and just about anything else you can think of. There’s even a woodworking shop over in one corner of the park, and they have their own traffic light making getting out onto the street in either direction a breeze, yet the park is set back in behind some apartments so there’s no street noise. http://www.tucsonvillage.com/welcome.htm

While inside the gatehouse checking in I asked about local hotels. After I explained what we were doing the woman behind the desk said, “She can stay right here in one of our rentals if she’d like to.

Are your kidding me?!!

Turns out they have several rental units there in the park, bedding and utensils included, and will even rent them by the night! So tonight Mom, making an early night of it after an adventurous day, is just a few sites down from me in a 400 sq. ft. one bedroom park model that costs about the same as a decent hotel room. How great did that work out?!!

Arizona vacation with Mom: Phoenix and Mom's arival

Apr 1 2013: Phoenix (No really, no joke!)

Mom is scheduled to fly into Phoenix tomorrow so I headed in that direction this morning.

But not before taking a quick peek into the exhibits at the Picacho Peek State Park visitor center and driving to the end of the road at the Sunset Vista trailhead. This park looks like a place worth a longer stop some day with some easy as well as more difficult trails to try out. Of course I couldn't resist trying out at least one, which turned into two and - well -  my 'quick peek' ended up taking pretty much all morning.

Between Casa Grande and Phoenix I10 crosses the Gila River Indian reservation. Maybe it’s my imagination but I10 was a smooth, well maintained road right up to the border of the reservation where it degraded significantly until exiting the northern edge of the reservation just before entering metro Phoenix where it got nice and smooth and fresh again. I don’t know who’s responsible for the road maintenance through the reservation there but they aren’t doing a very good job. Maybe the difference between federal oversight within the reservation and state oversight outside the borders. But the rest areas, both north and southbound, within the borders of the reservation are very nice indeed and lots of native artisans are displaying their work there.

My first job upon reaching Phoenix, besides negotiating the traffic, was to head for the airport where I located the terminal Mom would be arriving at as well as the cell-phone lot where I could wait for her arrival. My second job was to locate the home of a family friend where Mom would be spending her first night.

This home was over in Gilbert on the southeast side of the city and after I found my way there and marked it on my map so I could get back, I located a nearby campground, the Hacienda Solano Park, which is more like a mobile home park but has a few spots for campers and a reasonable bathhouse. Turns out the people manning the front office are from Michigan (Where our family is from and most still live.) and one of the residents of the park used to own a well known apple orchard not far from our house.

 

 

Apr 2 2013

 

Vacation with Mom starts today. Yay!??

All went well at the airport today and we spent the evening visiting with the friends Mom is staying with tonight.

I’m back in my campsite for the night and we have a plan for tomorrow.

I can’t believe I’m on vacation with my Mom!!!

 

 

Arizona vacation with Mom: Made it to Arizona

Mar 31 2013: On to Arizona

This morning I got back on I10 and continued west.

 

As you cross New Mexico on I10 you make a gradual but noticeable climb to the continental divide near Lordsburg. From there you drop down on the west side of the divide and cross some flats where you can see dust plume 10's of miles away, too far away to tell if they are from vehicles or other such activity, or if the winds the signs along the road warn about are raising the dust.

 

Near the New Mexico/Arizona border you're climbing again, right up between Stern's Mountain to the north and Attorney Mountain to the south. (I wish maps included little explanations about how a place got named. . . That one might have an interesting story!)

 

A Google-eye view of the abandoned S curves along the Union Pacific
railroad just east of the Arizona/New Mexico border

The Union Pacific railroad roughly parallels I10 along here and at exit 3, not much more than a railroad siding called Stern's, I got off to do a little exploring. My map showed a foot trail of some sort along the flank of Stern's mountain and a close inspection of Google Earth reveals what looks like some really cool looking S curves that the tracks used to follow at one point, the usual reason being to flatten out the climb and/or reduce the amount of fills and cuts needed to get through an area, but have obviously been abandoned now, probably when the track was double-tracked through here at some point and either more powerful engines of the day could handle the steeper grade or more modern construction equipment and methods made creating fills and cuts more economical. (Curves create friction which results in more wear on rails and wheels and uses more fuel, so straight track is better if you can get it.)

 

Unfortunately I couldn't find a way to get close enough to the abandoned tracks to get a real look at them, nor was I able to find a foot trail, but I did spend a pleasant couple of hours away from the hustle of I10 exploring some rarely used roads along the Peloncillo Mountains.

 

Just on the Arizona side of the border I10 starts a long downhill slide towards Tucson through Texas Canyon which has all sorts of cool rock formations. The rest-area at mile marker 389 westbound, or 388 eastbound, is a convenient spot to stop and get a closer look. If you're not careful, while you're sitting at a one of the picnic tables with your back to the freeway you'll start daydreaming and just might start seeing ghosts of the Apache tribe members that inhabited this almost un-inhabitable area up there in the rocks. If you're even luckier you'll catch an eastbound freight grinding up the grade on the north side of the freeway.

When I got to Tucson I still had plenty of day left so stopped at the Saguaro National Park East Unit to renew my federal parks pass since I knew we would be stopping at several federal parks this trip. I had completely forgotten that this was Easter day so was lucky to get one of the few parking spots available at the park headquarters.

Since we’ll be back here in a few days I didn’t join the crowds entering the park after I renewed my pass as I had originally planned, but rather went off to explore a couple campgrounds in the area. I already had one in mind that I’ve stayed at before but wanted to make sure there wasn’t something better. There wasn’t.

Snaking my way across Tucson on surface streets (For a city of this size there sure aren’t many freeway options.) I picked up I10 again, but only for a few miles before stopping for the night at the Picacho KOA in the shadow of the Picacho Peak State Park.

 

 

Arizona vacation with Mom: Land of the free???

Mar 30 2013: Ft Stockton TX to Deming NM

This morning I noticed a very concerned camper opening all the compartments on his motor coach and sticking his head into each one. When he saw me he came over and asked if I smelled something burning because he did but couldn’t find what it was. I pointed out that the creosote was in bloom and that’s what he was smelling. I’m sure it was a scary few minutes for him waking up and thinking his coach was on fire!

Today was all about the Chihuahua desert, the city of El Paso, (With no good way to avoid going right through downtown because the Franklin mountains force all roads down to a narrow gap between the southern end of the mountains and the Mexican border.) the dairy operations along the west side of I10 between El Paso and Las Cruses feeding on the hay grown down along the Rio Grande, border patrol and so called ‘interior border control checkpoints’.

This may sound like sour grapes, but as a citizen of this country I really resent being forcibly scanned, sniffed, photographed, computer checked; and then after all that, grilled about where I’m from and where I’m going. I once even had my van searched. All this by armed border patrol officers yet I was doing nothing but traveling entirely within the borders of my own country. Sounds like something you’d expect in Nazi occupied France or from the warlords of Somalia.

As for the time I was removed from my van while it was searched: The Supreme Court has ruled that Border Patrol has the authority to ask questions such as what is your citizenship, where have you been, where are you going, etc., but they have also ruled that, as per the 5^th amendment, anybody already within our borders, citizen or not, has the right to decline to answer.  When asked my citizenship at one of these abominations I will answer but when they ask where I’ve been or where I’m going that’s none of their business and I decline to answer. The Supreme Court has clearly ruled that refusing to answer can not be construed as probable cause and detaining and/or searching a person or their property based  solely on them declining to answer questions is illegal. Apparently the officers dealing with me that day didn’t get that memo, and they didn’t much appreciate me informing them that they were breaking the law either. That whole mess turned into a two hour delay, most of it standing out in the hot sun.

(Since that experience I have wimped out and now I just lie instead of declining to answer, which, unlike declining to answer, is actually a crime! But just like when anybody asks for my mother’s maiden name – which is public record and easy to get so is useless as a security measure anyway – , my birthday – which, along with my name, is all anybody needs to get access to my medical records over the phone –, or asks for my zip code or phone number at a cash register, I give a fake answer. It keeps them happy and I’m not giving up any real information.)

When heading westbound on I10 between Las Cruses and Deming, (or eastbound just west of Sierra Blanca TX, or northbound on US70 or US54 just south of Alamogordo NM or – well, you get the idea.) there’s a mandatory checkpoint with electronic sensors and scanners and drug sniffing dogs and unsmiling armed men in uniforms and you have no choice but to submit to the indignity. It’s bad enough to go through US customs and immigration when re-entering the country (By the way, world travelers will universally tell you that entering the US, citizen or not, is worse than pretty much any other country.) but when I’m simply traveling within the borders??? And to make it worse, they’re using my tax dollars to pay for all this!! And what about all the citizens of this country that live in the no-man's zone within 100 miles of the border where border patrol is allowed to operate these checkpoints? Just taking San Diego, Las Cruses and El Paso alone that's 2 million citizens that not allowed to go anywhere else in their own country without having to submit to one of these checks.  Does that sound right to you??



This map posted on Wikipedia shows 32 permanent 'internal checkpoints'
along the southwest border as of 2009 that we as citizens of this country have
to submit to. (Today there are 71 of them country wide.)
Notice that Arizona has almost none, that's because they made it illegal to set up
permanent checkpoints within the Tucson sector so border patrol
uses what they call 'tactical' checkpoints instead. Still a checkpoint, but one in a truck
that can be quickly set up and taken down therefor not considered permanent.
 

Anyway – enough ranting – I made it through the checkpoint and ended up in Deming NM for the night in one of the many, many campgrounds available in this little town. (I think they claim something like 27 campgrounds in a town of 15,000 people.)

Arizona vacation with Mom: Reality bites!

Forward: In case you haven't figured it out, I don't post real time on the travel blog. It's a security/paranoia thing. In fact I'm way behind on posting some trips and this one was taken a little more than a year ago now.

Mar 29 2013 Fort Stockton, TX

 

OK, I left the house this morning on my way to Arizona for a vacation with my Mom and as I’m driving along it strikes me; I’m going on vacation with my Mom!  What was I thinking?!!!!

 

It all started innocently around the first of the year when I was on the phone with her. She told me about this trip she was going to take to Arizona in early spring with the senior group. She and Dad used to spend winters camping out west after they retired, much of it in Arizona, and she thought it would be nice to go back and see a few of the old places again. A month or so later she told me that the trip wasn’t going to happen because something came up and her travel partner couldn’t make it. I made the appropriate sounds of regret and we hung up.
 

A couple days later I had this highly questionable good-son moment that just so happened to coincide with a bout of temporary insanity, in other words a brain-fart, and I picked up the phone to call her.  She answered and I blurted out, “Hey Mom, what if you go ahead and fly out to Phoenix anyway and I meet you over there and the two of us can take your trip?”

 

There was this moment of stunned silence, on both our parts, followed by sounds of shocked surprise and delight; on her part.

 

Anyway – that’s how I came to be on the road today headed off for a week-long vacation with my Mom who's old enough to have a child that can draw from their 401k account without incurring any early withdrawal penalties. (I’m certainly not about to give out her actual age here, she still packs a mean punch!, So I'll let you do the math. . .)

 

I try to avoid San Antonio when I can, (For some reason they built the freeway system there with no acceleration/merge ramps. You actually have to come to a stop at the end of these short little angled connectors between the frontage road and the main lanes and then try to jam yourself into highway speed traffic. It's almost like pulling out of your driveway straight onto a freeway. It’s asinine and scary as hell!!) so I headed west through Austin instead.

 

Over the years Austin has seen some tremendous growth and the constant road construction that comes with it. One area of which is the US71 & I35 interchange which has been under construction for about 10 years now and still is. I don’t get over here much but it’s getting better, very slowly. Except that a few miles west of here, where US71 and US290 split and go their separate ways, that intersection is still untouched and still a bad choke-point. I wonder what they’re waiting for??

 

 

Anyway, I had a fairly leisurely drive through Johnson City and Fredericksburg, both interesting places to visit, but not on this trip, before hitting I10 at a no-name spot in the road about 30 miles east of Junction.

 

Starting just east of Junction, and going for quite some way, I got to watch a major new high-voltage power line being built alongside the freeway. There’s not much in the way of population out here so I suspect the power lines are for carrying the wind-generated power of West Texas back to the population centers in Central Texas.

 

Construction was at different stages along the way so I got to see the entire build process compressed into 40 miles or so. Freshly cleared right-of-ways; concrete footings being poured; piles of steel sections that will become massive towers being trucked into place; towers being erected with impossibly tall cranes; massive pulley’s being lifted up to the arms of the towers; cable being laid out and pulled through the pulleys off of giant reels; and the final work of fastening the cables in place with insulators. It was pretty interesting.

 

My destination for the day was just somewhere down the road. Being Easter weekend I was expecting to spend the night in a truck stop somewhere but as I went past the Fort Stockton RV park just east of the town of the same name it looked like they had plenty of room so I went to the next exit, made a U turn and backtracked a few miles.

 

The creosote was blooming and ‘perfuming’ the air heavily and they regretted that the restaurant was closed because the cook was off for Easter weekend, but there were plenty of sites available.