Traversing Central Arizona

So far in Arizona, we've explored the west side and the east side of the state, but the one route we haven’t done so far is right up through the middle of the state. The only logistical issue here is trying to avoid Phoenix (referred to as the blob that ate Arizona). Our route took us through Tucson and north, then slightly east. We ended up going past Lake Roosevelt, which is apparently one of the reservoirs that supplies Phoenix. This turned out to be a National Recreation Area with free campgrounds, solar-heated showers, nice views and easy access to Tonto National Monument where there are some cliff-dwelling ruins to see. We also had a continuation of the sunny weather we’d been having for the past 2 weeks, so it was a great place to spend a night.

The next day, we pretty much finished off the trip north through AZ. Along the way, we went through some really nice scenery and great areas that will warrant future visits. One notable area was Oak Canyon, between Sedona and Flagstaff. Quite spectacular but apparently somewhat overshadowed by the nearby Grand Canyon.

North of Flagstaff was a volcanic area that we wandered around and another set of native ruins, which were quite nice. Then it was further north to the Colorado River, which we crossed at Navajo Bridge, downstream from Page and the Grand Canyon Dam there. We ended up, sort of by accident, at Lees Ferry, the location of one of the first crossings of the Colorado, at a very scenic area on the Colorado. We spent the next morning wandering around the area and one of our views is in this post's photo. We also saw 3 California Condors, perched on rocks below the bridge.

A couple of more hours of driving got us to Zion National Park, our last place to visit before the long drive straight home.

Chiricahua National Monument – Revisited

We visited this little spot in southeastern Arizona a couple of years ago and liked it then, so here we are again. It’s one of Arizona’s “Islands in the Sky” – mountains that pop up out of the desert here and there. This particular one has quite unusual rock formations and a few very nice trails that wander down through the canyons around these rock formations. As an added bonus, the Park has a shuttle van service. They will pick you up at 8:30 in the morning, drive you the several miles to the top of the mountain from where you can spend part of the day hiking back down to the valley bottom along the trails.

We were the only people to take the shuttle service today and met no other hikers on the trail we selected. Just under 5 hours to hike about 16 km. We saw one Arizona Woodpecker, a new one for us, and otherwise had a scenic, quiet hike.

The trail we hiked was constructed in the 1930s by the Civilian Conservation Corps (the CCC). This was a project designed to help the unemployed and destitute during the Great Depression (part of the "New Deal") . About 3.5 million people were signed up during the time of the project, from 1931 to 1942. They were used for road and trail construction, fire fighting, and many other works. During our travels in the USA, we've seen many examples of their work. Certainly a lasting legacy for a cost of 2 to 3 billion dollars at that time.

Texas and the Big Bend

It’s a fairly long way to Big Bend, so named because the Park occupies the piece of Texas at the south end where the Rio Grande River makes a big bend to the north-east before resuming it’s direction southeast to the Gulf of Mexico. We picked up supplies in the small town of Alpine and really enjoyed the hour or so drive south to the park. A very scenic road that winds it’s way through hills and interesting rock outcroppings. The terrain becomes increasingly arid once in the Park, though. Very arid.

The main Visitor Information location for the Park is at Panther Junction and we stopped there briefly before heading down to the Rio Grande at the aptly named Rio Grande Village. This was the largest campground but was only partly full. It was only a short walk to the River. My biggest surprise was how small the Rio Grande is. It’s a long river, but here and a few other places where we saw it, you could probably wade the 20 or 30 feet across. Then, of course, you would be in Mexico and coming back into the USA would mean you had entered the country illegally…..

We also visited the Chisos Basin area of the Park – a really neat area right in the Chisos Mountains. Nice campground and excellent walks heading out into the Mountains. We hiked a long loop up and around Emory Peak, the highest peak in the Park, with great views from the South Rim. We also hiked the Window Trail and part of the Lost Mine Trail.

After 3 nights in Chisos Basin, we moved over to the Cottonwood Campground, further west and also along the Rio Grande. There was a short hike there into Santa Elena Canyon, through which the River flows. This campground was much smaller and very quiet.

As we left the next day, we hiked part of the Mule Spring Trail in the early morning. It was an excellent temperature for a morning desert walk.

In general, Big Bend was an interesting place, especially the Chisos Basin area and the road down to the Cottonwoods area. One note: Park visitors can only stay 14 days at a time and 28 days maximum in one year. We also understand that only about 200,000 people visit this park each year, making it the least visited park in the USA National Park system.

Following the Mexican Border

From the time we left Alpine, TX and headed to the Rio Grande, we were often within a stone’s throw of Mexico. Our trip from Big Bend west was along the Rio Grande and west of Las Cruces and El Paso we were often within sight of the border. In this picture, for example, the river is the Rio Grande and on the left side of the river is Mexico. This was in Big Bend Ranch State Park (in Texas), just west of Big Bend National Park.

It was somewhat interesting to see how many US Border Patrol vehicles and checkpoints there were along the way. We passed several and had to stop at a couple more. We were asked to produce our passports at one stop but the person questioning us was friendly and the stop was only a minute or less. We saw many Border Patrol vehicles roaming the roads and parked here and there along the way. I recall someone I know commenting about the "hassle" of all the checkpoints, but our experience wasn't bad at all. We read in the Travel Guide that some 60K illegals were arrested during a one month period in an area around a town in Arizona, just south of where we camped in Chiricahua National Monument, our destination for the day.

The Highest Peak in Texas

Our first full day in Guadalupe National Park presented us with the opportunity to hike to the highest point in Texas. This involved about a 15 km hike on a quite decent trail and about 1000 m of elevation gain. The views were quite impressive from the top of the Guadalupe Mountains. We had sunshine and nice, cool hiking weather. The return was fast enough that we had time to check e-mail at the Visitor Centre and wander about looking for birds.

Speaking of birds, we found the best place in the Park for seeing birds was in the "campground", where a water tap had created a bit of a puddle. First thing in the morning, everything we wanted to see was there and we could sit on the median in the parking lot and watch them.

We decided to spend a second full day in Guadalupe National Park and explore McKittrick canyon just a bit to the north. The canyon was originally privately owned, fortunately by people who believed the area needed to be preserved.

It was a warm, windy day, and the canyon was a good place to be. There was intermittent running water in the streambed and a surprising variety of tree and other plant species. Odd to be just a few miles from the creosote bush desert, hiking instead in a forest of oaks, maples, pines, large juniper trees and the like. It was very pleasant, even though many trees were without leaves, given the season. One can easily imagine the shaded oasis in this canyon once all the tree’s leaves are out.

Tomorrow we’re moving on to the Big Bend area of Texas.

Entering the Bowels of the Earth

Having left the valley of science, military, past atomic testing, and the like, our route took us over a range of mountains to the east and then south, towards the Texas border. Today we spent a few hours hiking down and around some of Carlsbad Caverns. These are truly immense caverns deep in the limestone of the Guadalupe Mountains. None of what we saw inspired me to take up spelunking, but I have to admit it was quite neat.

We were able to hike down into the caverns, about a 3 km walk on a constantly descending paved walkway, until we arrived in the Big Room, apparently the size of 14 football fields (probably American football fields…). Here we walked along a continuous array of limestone concretions: popcorn, stalactites, stalagmites, curtains, pillars and the like. At one point, I believe the ceiling was over 140 ft high, much like being in a British cathedral. Quite awesome.

Unfortunately, they wouldn’t let us hike back out because we were past their cutoff time for that option, so we had to take the elevator back to the surface along with all the other ordinary walkers. Boooooo.

By the way, between March and October, the natural entrance to the caverns is used as an exit by roosting Free-Tail Bats, which head out for their evening foraging at dark each night.

After seeing some of what Carlsbad had to offer, it was on to Guadalupe National Park where there is more desert, canyons and the highest point in Texas.

Days of Sunshine

A few short hours south and east of Albuquerque is the small city of Alamogordo, home to the Air Weapons Missile Testing Range, White Sands National Monument, a landing strip for the Space Shuttle (used once in 1982), and the center for the first atomic test back in 1945. The actual location of that test, by the way, was at the “Trinity Site”, about 60 miles to the northwest. That first atomic bomb was brought by vehicle from Los Alamos (north of Santa Fe). We didn't visit the actual site; it’s only open to the public on the first Saturdays of April and October, should you wish to make that pilgrimage.

So why, given what’s here, did we make this part of our tour of the Southwest? The answer is: White Sands National Monument. It was really quite neat and unique. We spent a couple of hours hiking around the white dunes. We understand that the main highway to Los Cruces and the National Monument itself are closed every so often for a few hours when missile testing is under way. The military-industrial complex at work, I guess.

We also visited the New Mexico National Space Museum and took in an IMAX show on the Hubble Space Telescope. So much of this space stuff was part of my teen-age years. I remember being quite enthralled by it all at the time, and I guess this interest has lasted all my life.

We stayed a couple of nights at a New Mexico State Park south of town where we had a nice 8 km hike up into a canyon with the cactus and ocotilla plants. It was cool, but still warm enough that I was able to hike in my T-shirt.

Tomorrow we’re up and over a mountain range en route to Carlsbad and then Texas.

Crossing the Great Divide - Repeatedly

This might look like a desperate dash for sun and heat, and perhaps it is...., but we left our snowy home late last week with sights set on West Texas - Big Bend, specifically. So far, we haven't gained anything in the way of heat.... In fact, I think it's been colder everywhere than it was at home. Ahhh, c'est la vie. This may be a case of short term pain for long term gain, we hope.

To get this far (northern New Mexico), we have crossed the Continental Divide several times: from northern Idaho into Montana, back across again between Montana and southern Idaho again, once again somewhere west and south of Salt Lake City and then again somewhere south of that - I'm losing track. So far, all that's meant is more cold and at least some snow.

Finally, somewhere west of Albuquerque, the snow disappeared, at least from the roadsides. We understand it might only be -5C tonight, which will be an improvement, believe me. Tomorrow, we head further south and maybe, just maybe, we'll find some warmer weather.

I console myself with the thought that my Prairie friends are suffering in sub-minus 20C and that if I continue further south it will warm up eventually, surely.... I know it's January.... I'm only complaining a little bit....really.

Albuquerque – Out of the Snow

Finally, we seem to have traveled far enough south to escape the snow, if not the cool weather. Somewhere between Gallup and Albuquerque on the I-40, the snow disappeared. The daytime highs are still cool, chilly even, but although it is dipping below freezing at night, it’s not all that bad. As an ex-inhabitant of the Canadian Prairies, I can still say that, I think!

Albuquerque is a city of 600K, spread out in a broad valley along the Rio Grande, a river we will see in a few days, further south. The only part of Albuquerque we really explored was the Old Town and a couple of plazas in among the old buildings. That part was similar to Santa Fe, although I think Santa Fe has more nice old buildings.

We visited with a couple of friends from a Section Mountaineering Camp two years ago and, after a night’s sleep and a needed shower, we headed south, still looking for warmer weather.

Sunshine But No Heat

For our third night, we made it as far as Moab, UT. Even here, there was snow and cold, although it was better than what we had left at home. It was nearly dark by the time we approached Moab but we knew of a good camping place along the Colorado River just outside town, so that’s where we headed for the night.

In the morning, we drove a bit further down along the Colorado, had breakfast in a sunny picnic spot on the river and had a nice hike up to a couple of arches (BowTie and Corona) that we hadn’t hiked to before. After some time visiting Moab, doing some e-mail and trying in vain to find a good place to go out for lunch (January really is the off season in Moab), we headed south as far as Bluff, right on the southern border of Utah. We had heard of a BLM campsite on the San Juan River, not far from Monument Valley where we decided to spend the night. It was another cool one, but slowly we are getting warmer temperatures. There is still snow on the ground in most places and the air is still chilly but we usually get sunny skies each day now.