Desert Plants

The temperature was in the 90's today (Saturday). We started the day with a self-guided walking tour of Boyce Thompson Arboretum which features desert plants from around the world. I was mostly interested in identifying the ones that are native to Arizona and New Mexico.  

OUCH!!! Don't touch the Cholla!

Blooming Saguaro

From there we headed south to Saguaro (West) National Park. Since we were going right past Casa Grande Ruins National Park, we decided to stop there on the way. Casa Grande ("Great House") is the largest known structure (4 stories high and 60 feet long) built by the Ancestral People of the Sonoran Desert. We were able to walk around it, but not allowed to enter it.

The roof has been built over Casa Grande to protect the ruins.

 

After a quick stop to see Casa Grande, we continued on to Saguaro National Park, watched the movie at the Visitor Center, drove the loop, and walked a few short trails. (It was too hot for the longer ones.) I am intrigued by the Saguaros and their various personalities and the odd postures they assume. They grow very, very slowly but can live to be 175 to 200 years old and up to 50 ft tall!

Dirt road through the park.

Forest of Saguaros

The sun was very hot.

Barrel cactus

Prickly Pear

 

On our way out of the park there was a bad accident with several police cars, two fire trucks and two ambulances blocking the way. We were stopped on the side of the road for about a half hour before we could get by and head to our campground for the night, Tucson Mountain Campground. There was a beautiful sunset and a full moon. We used our outside shower for the second time this trip:)

Desert sunset

 

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What ARE those tall cactus called?

We drove the Apache Trail today. Stopped at the Theodore Roosevelt Dam and Lake as well as Apache Lake and Canyon Lake. It's very strange to see cactus growing along the rocky shores of these beautiful reservoirs where boaters and fisherman are out enjoying the water.

Theodore Roosevelt Dam

Mark loves the water . . .

 

We crept along the 22 mile unpaved stretch of the Apache Trail that begins at the Roosevelt Dam and has beautiful views of the tranquil water as well as some pretty rough road conditions. At Fish Creek Hill the mostly one-lane road clings to the mountainside with a steep drop off on the outside edge in some places. The view was worth it though!

Look closely and you can see the road we were on.

 

After braving the long dirt road we celebrated hitting the pavement again with an ice cream cone at Tortilla Flat which was once a stagecoach stop and is now a resurrected ghost town. The walls and ceiling of the shop where we bought our ice cream was literally papered with thousands of dollars worth of real dollar bills and some foreign currency. Apparently tourists have attached the money to the walls over the years for good luck.

 

We happened upon another resurrected ghost town partway between Tortilla Flat and Apache Junction. We enjoyed taking a stroll through Goldfield, an old mining town turned tourist attraction.

 

I was so excited to see our first saguaro cactus today! They are soooooo cool! I don't know why, but I always thought of deserts as hot, dry, dusty, barren, boring and flat . . . But I am finding that desert terrain is varied and beautiful. There are desert mountains and hills, vividly colored rocks and sand, majestic formations, and intriguing plants. Hot? Yes, but it has been cooling off wonderfully at night. Dry and dusty? Yes, but there are warnings everywhere to beware of dangerous flash floods. I have been fascinated by the various desert plants. We are going to the Boyce Thompson Arboretum State Park tomorrow. I am hoping to learn the names of some of the cool plants we have been seeing. I ran into one today that was just plain vicious! She got her needle sharp barbs into me and didn't want to let go. She was happy to draw blood.

Saguaro!

Ocotillo

The culprit! (Cholla)

 

Well, I have been sitting here in the camper on Friday night at the Oak Flat National Forest campground typing today's events. The windows have been open all evening and there has been no propane gas smell today . . . But now the propane/carbon monoxide alarm has begun shrieking and starts up again every time we reset it. It never sounded when we smelled gas, but NOW it won't shut up?! What's up with that? 

(For about an hour we tried everything we could think of to remedy the problem. Finally Mark disengaged the battery, shutting off all power in the camper briefly, and that effectively reset the alarm . . . No more beeping tonight . . . )

 

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A Little of This and a Little of That

Thursday, September 27th, we did a little of this and a little of that. 

We were thinking about taking the 4-hour Verde Canyon Railroad WildernessTrain ride but it was all sold out for today, so we headed to Jerome, AZ. At one time a booming copper mining town, it became a ghost town when the mine was depleted, but now is home to about 500 residents. Perched on the side of a mountain with switchbacking streets, some of the homes look a little precarious with the steeply sloping hillside for a backyard. We walked downtown, and we also learned some Jerome history at the museum in the Douglas Mansion which is part of Jerome State Historic Park.

Douglas Mansion (museum)

We stopped at a cute 50's style diner in Clarkdale for lunch and checked out Larry's " two acre's of antiques" next door.

From there we headed to Montezuma Castle National Monument on Beaver Creek near the town of Camp Verde. Montezuma Castle is a five-story, 20-room dwelling built by the Sinagua in a cliff recess about 100 feet above the valley floor.

Tonto Natural Bridge State Park was our next stop. We drove down a winding mountain road with a 14% grade to reach this very pretty spot in a small green valley surrounded with pine trees. We found that the park closes at 5pm. Since we arrived at 4pm, we didn't have much time to explore before the gates would be locked. We checked out the four viewing spots of what is "believed to be the largest natural travertine bridge in the world". I would have liked to linger, but it appeared that the rangers were anxious to get home on time:)

Too bad the park didn't include a campground!

We are spending the night in the Payson Walmart parking lot:) G'Night!

Update: Well, it's Friday morning and we did NOT have an uneventful night. I woke up during the night (about 12:30am) and smelled propane gas. We have been having problems for several days. It started out with an occasional elusive whiff of what we thought might be gas and turned into a definite smell of gas a couple of times upon entering the camper. We eliminated the hot water heater and the furnace by not using them at all, so that left the stove and rerigerator as possible culprits. A few days ago Mark took the top off the stove and thought he fixed the problem. A connection was loose. He couldn't tighten it enough with the tools he had, so we also stuffed a wad of tin foil under the pipe to keep it stationary. It seemed to fix the problem for a couple of days and then we noticed a few whiffs again. Mark turned off the gas at the tank and tried to run the refrigerator on the battery alone, but when we went to bed last night, the refrigerator started beeping and turned off. Mark turned the gas back on and we didn't smell anything so we went to sleep. Well, as I said, a few hours later I awoke to a strong smell of gas. We opened all the windows, got dressed, turned off the gas, and Mark disassembled the stovetop again. He needed a longer screw driver to finish the job properly so fortunately we could just walk into the Walmart in the middle of the night to buy one! Mark tightened up everything he could tighten and we went back to bed with all the windows open --just in case. This morning we used the stove to heat water to wash dishes and everything seems fine . . . So hopefully it's fixed and we won't get asphixiated or go up in a fireball. . . That would be bad.

We're heading down the Apache Trail today and a stretch of 22 miles, sometimes one-lane, dirt mountain road -- We'll let you know how THAT goes . . .

 

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Sedona

On Wednesday morning (9/26), we left The Grand Canyon behind. We were planning on stopping in Flagstaff to ride the scenic ski lift at The Snowbowl and also tour the Riordan Mansion, but we found both were closed on Wednesdays, so we continued south and took Rte. 89A through the beautiful Oak Creek Canyon. On the winding descent into the forested canyon, we passed a couple lovely acres blanketed with yellow wildflowers. I would have loved to stop and take a picture, but there wasn't any safe place to pull off the road.

Slide Rock State Park was a fun place to stop! There on the red sandstone by the water's edge visitors can sun themselves or be entertained by the adventuresome crazies who brave the frigid, ice cold water of Oak Creek as it rushes through a slippery natural slide before tumbling over some short rocky waterfalls. You might recognize one of the 'crazies' below . . .

Sedona is an attractive town reveling in sunshine and artistic displays -- sculptures and statues throughout the town and impressive red rock formations surrounding it. We strolled briefly through town and then drove to some nearby lookouts to enjoy the scenery. We also hiked up the curving drive 500 feet to the Chapel of the Holy Cross to gaze out over the town and surrounding Red Rock Country.

Chapel of the Holy Cross

Southwest of Sedona we camped for the night at Dead Horse Ranch State Park where we enjoyed water and electrical hook ups as well as shower facilities. Two showers in two days -- that's quite a luxury!

 

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