Painted Rocks

 We moved today about 100 miles north to Painted Rocks, a real interesting spot west of Gila Bend. Also in the middle of nowhere this small (maybe 15 foot high) pile of granite rocks that have the 'desert varnish' aging on them have been decorated by natives for several thousands of years and are covered with symbols and art. We will camp here tonight but while the pile of rocks is fascinating, it is less than a scenic campground. Will move back west of Tucson tomorrow.

Christmas Hikes

The day before Christmas we hiked a few miles into Alamo Canyon and saw this sign and metal tower with a strobe light and antenna on top in the middle of nowhere. I like it. I want it. I need one outside my front door, so that every time life stresses me out and I feel like zombie-guy on the right I can just push the button and everything will be just fine.
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The rest of the hike was beautiful up the canyon to where a creek flowed over ground for just a short while and an old homestead was slowly decaying in the desert sun. Very peaceful and no one around but us.We had a quick lunch and spent a lot of time thinking about what it must have been like to be so isolated.

On Christmas day we hiked the other direction to the old Victoria Mine. That was a lot of up and down into washes and over ridges and the 5 miles felt much longer. Plus the Border Patrol showed up just before we got to the mine to see who we were. Very weird. Here we are hiking in the hot sun in the middle of nowhere and these guys show up on a tiny little washed out road in their big 4WD. They were very polite as we were obviously 2 older senior citizen types of white bread variety so not what they were looking for. Kinda creeped us out and we decided that we had enough.

Holiday Greetings

Merry Christmas to everyone. We have stocked up and have a small pre-stuffed Costco turkey roast and veggies in the freezer for dinner and sausage, panettone, and fresh raspberries for breakfast and are ready to mark the day. While we miss everyone and the holiday festivities we are happy to be trying something new. Now that Roger is on the mend we have left our holding spot near the Tucson airport and have moved southwest to Organ Pipe National Monument just 3 miles from the Mexican border between Yuma and Tucson. We have gone as far south as we can to try to get some warmth. Days are not too bad but the last few weeks have been down to freezing or below at night. We looked at the jet stream and you Washington folks with your 'driest December on record' are hogging the high pressure and sending cold air over the top of you where it picks up more arctic cold and and then blasts down through Montana and Utah to us, or it is sending Pacific storms under you and directly at us for some heavy rains and windy days. This has got to stop! We hear that our turn will come this next week so you guys will be back to normal and we may have our warm winter fantasy returned to a possibility.

In the meantime this place is really a green desert, if that is possible. Actual grass coming up in tiny little shoots under the cactus. We thought the Organ Pipe Cactus was named for their spires coming out of the ground kinda clumped up looking like pipes out of an organ but we were wrong. It is actually because their spines and shape cause the wind to whistle over them and make noise. Sounds a little like someone blowing over the top of a pop bottle, or over the tops of many pop bottles in a little chorus. Since it has been windy the last 36 hours it has been really interesting to be out walking around.

On the bad side we are just miles from the Mexican border and can see "The Wall" and have been advised to stick to trails and be aware of our surroundings and not go into 'closed' areas. It is a little like a police state  here with huge presence of Border Patrol SUV's racing around and pulling people over and armed guards at random highway check points. Last week they spotted a guy on one of the hilltops just above the Visitor Center who was acting as a lookout for smugglers/illeagals. They brought in a helicopter and personnel and all means of nasty ways to capture him. We have seen the high tech balloons with radar hanging overhead, helicopters, and massive installations of cameras and infra red devices pointed at the open desert crossings. It is hard to believe that this is such a problem in this scenic place, but we are being cautious and even though it is beautiful and and not a lot of folks in the campground we will probably not stay long. We have a few more trails we want to hike and then we will move back north just to get away from all this aggressive war zone mentality.

We hope that all of you are having a good holiday season. We plan on meeting some folks we ran into earlier on our journey at Tucson Mountain Park for New Years Eve and then must make some decisions about our next move(s).  Best Wishes to All of You ......

Tucson Mountain Park

We didn't find anything too exciting in the Yuma area. Campgrounds were scarce unless we were to go a long ways off the main roads. We started in to one that was 18 miles of dirt road but the washboards were so bad that we could only do 8 mph .... was going to take forever to get there .... and then back out.We spent a night camping for free and decided to move on to Tucson. We spent a couple of days north of the city in mall-urbia. Actually our campground in the Catalina Mountains was really beautiful but the area is growing up around with every store you could think of. Some of that was good as we spent a day or two finishing some Christmas shopping and getting some gifts shipped and got to re-stock at Costco and Trader Joe's.

Cheap gas down here at $2.95/gal. Very cold at Catalina .... was 23 when we got up and the water to our van was frozen. We were fine ... it was their faucet. We had electricity plug in so had our little space heater quietly purring away. We got up early and saw the eclipse as the moon was setting. Then the cold weather broke and we got 2 days of rain. They say it was a record breaker for Tucson with 1-1/2 inches in 24 hours. We didn't think it was that bad ... but we did find some indoor activities for the day. At least it was not as cold at night. So we are at one of our favorite places west of Tucson in a county campground right next to Suguaro National Park. Fog in the desert this morning was a pretty eerie sight ....
quite beautiful. It burned off early and we hiked some on the desert floor and then read in the sun for the afternoon. We love the new access to library books on our kindles! We are starting to think about where we want to spend Christmas and are looking at Organ Pipe Cactus National Park. Then maybe back here for New Years Eve. Still thinking about maybe heading a little farther east, but not sure. We are moving pretty slow and enjoying the dry climate.

COLD!

Big winter storm blasting the area. Mostly North Central Arizona and New Mexico getting hit with snow but our nights are down to freezing and sunny days are barely into 50's with a pretty stiff breeze blowing down the basin from Utah.... we are back into our coats.  We have been in the Parker area where we can hook up to electricity and keep the heater on at night. 

We went up to Lake Havasu and back one day and saw the London Bridge. Pretty weird that this thing got moved to the desert. Amazing what a guy with too much money can conjure up and make happen. Got caught up in 800+ bikers doing their Santa Toy Run.

We spent a few hours in the Bill Williams National Wildlife Refuge

Don't think we will go any farther north for now, high elevations make it too cold. Tomorrow we head south again to Yuma area. Still will be cold there but a little better than where we are. Will wait for the storm to move on and then decide if we are interested in going any farther.

Moved East & North

We are still trying to out run storms but not having complete success. A beautiful sunrise in Borrego Springs and an early morning walk to an oasis to look for the mountain sheep was rewarded with them high on a hill, but the photo shows only more dirt colored specks on the hillside so we won't bother.

We decided to head out before the high winds and moved past the Salton Sea. We were curious about it and while there were lots of birds we quickly found out why. We did not realize that the Salton Sea was a 'mistake' that was made when digging irrigation canals in the early 1900's and then some unfortunate flooding that year broke through and the entire Colorado River ended up emptying into this basin. It took them several years to 'fix' this mistake and route the river back into its normal path. In the meantime .... there is a huge an inland lake that has turned incredibly salty because of the soil and evaporation. It will be a long time before this ever gets fixed. Kind of a stinky place so we move on.

We had intended to go to Palm Springs to

see the famous mid-century architecture but we got within 50 miles of it and stopped dead in our tracks. Malls, gated communities, famous golf courses, BMW's, heavy traffic, full blown suburbia at it's worst. It was as close as we cared to get. We spent two windy nights (no rain) at a county campground outside Indio, re-supplied during the day and went to the famous Shields Date Gardens (since 1924) where we had lots of free samples and our first 'date shake'. It was delicious but nearly put us both into a diabetic coma from the sugar load.

Winds calmed down and we headed east into Arizona and Quartzsite. We had heard this place was famous for free camping in the desert and lots of gems and minerals. We are not impressed. Mostly flea market stalls selling all kind of trinkets and trash and the place is full of ATV's racing around the desert. And this is where all the really old RV's go to die. We spent the night a ways out of town but it was COLD. Got down into the 30's.

Have moved up the Colorado River above Parker and drove some of the back roads exploring the area. Lots of wild donkeys roaming the area.









We are in our cozy campsite at a place called River Island on the Colorado River this late afternoon with a beautiful view out the window. Wishing for a little warmer nights.

Our New Campsite

 

We planned on leaving Sunday but moved here instead. Great little campsite with shade and a fireplace. Grilled some steaks for dinner last night and then sat by the fire until well after dark and then out to view the stars. We thought we were spoiled at home with our dark night sky but this is 3 times better. Very few lights as this tiny community has fully shielded what few lights they have and the mountains on three sides keep other light out. Also the lack of moisture makes the night sky very clear. This place has been listed as one of the top International Stargazing locations. Next morning a beautiful desert sunrise. In the 80's again today. We are in no hurry to leave.

Art in the Desert

These freestanding life size sculptures of prehistoric creatures are based on fossils found in the Anza Borrego Desert. They are created in great detail by Ricardo Breceda with wire and metal welded and fastened together. They are a gift from a local benefactor and he has installed them around the tonw on his private property that he has opened to the public. There are dozens of them over a several mile area. They have just recently added some field workers and this fantastic dragon that stretches across a road.

Hike to Palm Canyon Oasis-Anza Borrego