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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