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Please click here for Part Five
The Geminid Meteor Shower Gathering
&
The Last People on Earth
We found the group gathered in a campsite a short way in the Horse Tanks Road.
Three friends had joined up to view the annual Geminid meteor shower. When we heard about it we asked if we could join them for a night or two. The answer was a very kind yes. This was our first time meeting Frank (aka dr.tucson) and his friend John. Frank is a quiet fellow who does not make a big deal about his advanced doctorate degree. One thing we learned is that he does have a ph.d in being a good guy. Frank has been buddies with John from back in their Army days at the Presidio in San Francisco. John is also a good guy and an expert on the night sky - the stars, constellations, their names, and the myths and legends connected with the names. This was our third time meeting Russell (aka LAWNMOWERMAN). Russell is a good guy, energetic, and an excellent mechanic. We first met Russell in November 2011 at Saline Valley Hot Springs.The second meeting was in July 2019 at a gathering of Wander the West members in the Sierra Nevada.
Here’s the gang.
Frank (dr.tucson), Julie (the Lady), John (Mr. Night Sky), and Russell (LAWNMOWERMAN). John is from San Diego and Frank and Russell are both local boys, long time residents of Tucson.
The Lady and I did a quick exploration of the area after we raised the camper top and set up our humble home. We came upon a magnificent insight into life and death.
Evening light led us toward the rise of the twins above the eastern horizon and our anticipation of the coming Geminid meteor shower.
Ah, the Geminids. John was wonderful with his stories about the stars as night settled around us. Antares was red, he said, “The eye of the bull.” He gently corrected several of our errors about the stars above. We thought the planet following Gemini in its rise was Mars, just like last year. “No,” John said, “That’s Jupiter.” We were surprised Orion was not Irish, as we’d believed for years. At least at this location and our short viewing time - early to bedders have a hard time staying up - the meteor shower was a bust. But the company, stories, and lessons were grand.
Coffee was ready and we watched the sunlight move across the landscape as we walked the next morning. Note: the desert pavement in Kofa is magnificent.
We found a shelter site. Above it was a stacked rock hunting blind.
We turned east and climbed all the highpoints on that side of camp. The sun was now fully up.
The Lady and I spent the day hiking, starting from camp. Days without driving are so nice. With the recent rains, the Lady wanted to see water at the tanks (tinajas) to the south. We started with Horse Tanks.
USF&W has established a refugia at Horse Tanks for Tarahumara frogs.
We circled the high tanks and then worked our way back out of the canyon.
We hiked over to Gray Tanks - these are natural, unimproved tinajas.
In a nearby drainage are bedrock mortars, cupules, and rock art.
For a return route back to camp we hiked along the mountain front, in and out of canyons, and looked for ancient shelter sites. Our discoveries thrilled us.
Russell had explained to us that the fire ring was the official Arizona State Rock Alignment. We found several.
But desert plants remained the stars of the show all around us.
Every possible shelter site had to be looked at.
After another wonderful evening under the stars with our companions, the next morning we thanked everyone for allowing us to join them and the Lady and I headed deeper into Kofa. Driving we encountered a large (15 to 20) group of USF&W and Arizona Game & Fish vehicles. We chatted with one seasoned gentleman, a real character, with Arizona Game & Fish in a pickup towing a small stout horse trailer. He filled us in. They had finished a round up of Sonoran Pronghorn - an endangered species - and had six bucks ready for relocation to another area in Arizona. “Boy, you think these roads are rough,” he explained. “Do it towing this trailer!”
We returned to a campsite we’d used before. We’d stay here a few days at this remote, seldom visited area and continue our explorations here. We were excited to be back and headed out immediately after camp was set up.
We’d found these fascinating petroglyph panels last year.
This time, around a corner, we discovered this panel.
There was a startling occurrence during our long walk in the night. We’d turned around and were starting back toward camp. A blinding flash of white light completely lit up the eastern sky above the horizon. It stopped us both in our tracks. “Did you see that!” we both immediately asked. There was no noise. The night was silent. We returned to camp and climbed “two bar hill” to send a couple friends a text message. The question was simple. “Is anybody alive out there or are we the only two people left on earth?” Myself, that was a question I would have taken my time responding to but our friends were much kinder than me and quickly replied. Yes, everyone was still around. The world had not come to an end. We never saw any reports of others witnessing this blinding flash.
The next morning - still very much alive - we were treated to another astounding sunrise. This never gets old.
The saguaro remained irresistible.
To the east of our camp, around two miles away, is an outcrop of rugged hills.
Our maps indicated that there are no roads into the area. Intrigued by these hills, today was the day we’d hike out and explore.
Along the north base of the hills we found an old trail and followed it.
We found interesting items on the ground, an exploded fuse from an artillery shell and a piece of quartz.
Best of all was another belly flower for the Lady - Trailing Windmills.
This outcrop had a lot of potential for rock art and shelter sites. We separated to cover more ground but after a good search, we found nothing.
Out on the desert pavement as we circled around the southeast corner of the hills, we came upon an old rock circle.
The large rocks were very much out of place here.
We finished up in the late afternoon along the south base of the hills. This circle around and into the hills was between eight to nine miles.
Relaxing for a bit back at camp, we again set out in the late afternoon light to further explore a hard to reach shelter site we located last year.
The floor of the shelter had four mortars grouped close together and filled with debris. It took a sharp eye to spot them.
The Lady was most interested in the pictographs we discovered and worked to get into good positions to photograph.
Again, DStretch helps in bringing the faded pigments back to life.
It was golden light with the earth’s shadow on the horizon as we climbed back down to our camp knowing we’d be content if we were the last people on earth.
Our adventure continues in the upcoming Part Seven
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