Southern Arizona - New Years 2019

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Part Four of Our Winter Break Trip

Cold

"I didn't come this far to have it this damn cold!"

I had set the gentleman off by simply offering a well intentioned, "Good morning."

"Where you from?" I asked, trying to make amends.

"Montana," was his quick reply as he took off on a run to his WalMart.

The morning temperature was 29°, probably a bit unexpected for snowbirds wintering in Gila Bend, Arizona. The posted signs put up by the staff at this newish KOA campground read, "Hard freeze warning." I watched the gentleman's life saving dash to safety and then turned and entered the restroom the man had just exited. The warmth almost knocked me over. "By god," I said out loud. "This bathroom is heated. What luxury!"

This stay in an RV campground was prompted by the Lady's desire to do laundry after a week on the road. I offered, since we'd be looking for a Friday night campsite anyway, why don't we look for a developed campsite with laundry, showers, and such. We could kill three or four birds with one stone. The place was wonderfully quiet overnight, a benefit of freezing temperatures and the boxes plugged into shore power, no need for the noise of generators.

We wanted to reach my cousin's new place in Green Valley, Arizona - south of Tucson - by early afternoon. That gave us enough time for a leisurely drive south to Ajo and then east past Kitt Peak, a route that assured us little traffic.

The Big Guy and his wife's place is comfortable and nice. It has an additional casita for guests like us. They had things to take care of on Sunday and suggested that we explore Madera Canyon.

This is a very popular recreation area, especially on a weekend. There was added incentives for the locals to get out this Sunday - snow play. Yes, a few inches of snow in the mountains near Tucson. The last mile up the canyon was packed snow and ice. After I began the climb in our truck, it occurred to me that the locals - most likely - have little experience with winter conditions. This could get exciting.

The parking area was packed and loud with people of all sorts. Looking at the road and trails we realized we had an ace in the hole to leave people behind - our usual cold weather gear and microspikes.

We started up the trail and entered the Mount Wrightson Wilderness.

We were amazed at the higher elevation of the life zones here in the southern latitudes of Arizona. We hiked up in the oak woodland zone as high as 7000 feet. The ponderosa pines began at 7000 feet. Here at home ponderosas end around 6000 feet and the Jefferies and Lodgepoles take over. So much for judging our elevation near the border with Mexico.

We hiked as far as Josephine Saddle. Here there was a memorial to an unfortunate tragedy with unprepared young boy scouts.

There is a book available detailing the sad story - Death Clouds on Old Baldy: Tucson's Lost Tragedy

The hike up to Mount Wrightson looked like a nice little ascent but we did not have the time this day.

Views were hard to come by through the canopy of oaks but we did get glimpses of the summit ridge and wondered how often there was rime ice in the ponderosas. I do not believe the temperature ever got above the mid thirties on our walk.

On our return we stopped at one of the trailheads for the Juan Bautista de Anza Trail.

A cold hard wind blew New Years Eve. Clouds raced across the sky. Even with the rough weather, we made the decision to visit Patagonia, Arizona.

It is a colorful small town along with nearby natural areas.

We made a quick tour of the small town as the Big Guy worked on recalling where he had bought the best cookies on a prior visit. The third stop was the charm - The Gathering Grounds.

It was off to wander the natural areas. It was awful conditions with the cold wind for birding but it was good to walk and explore. Julie really wanted to see javelinas.The Big Guy remarked we might have better luck on the golf course near their place.

Most of our walk was in the bosque de mesquite.

No luck for the Lady with seeing javelinas.

The first day of 2019 came with a couple inches of snow south of Tucson.

It was even colder than the previous day but we still wanted to explore. The Big Guy suggested Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge near Arivaca.

We spent a few cold hours in the Arivaca Cienegas wetlands area.

A white tailed deer stayed still in the mesquite as we passed.

A raven and a Northern Harrier shared the top of an old cottonwood.

We enjoyed our cold wander through this area.

We enjoyed a wonderful New Year's holiday with our cousins Keith & Kathleen. It was great to remember and retell old family stories and catch up. We thank them for their love and gracious hospitality.

We awoke on the second day of 2019 to a few new inches of snow. Hard freeze warnings and snow advisories were across the area. We were prepared with t-shirts and shorts for our visit to Southern Arizona in winter. They remained at the bottom of our duffels.

We said our goodbyes and loaded up into the truck to begin our journey home. Where would we end up after this day's drive?

Our adventure continues, please click here for - Part Five

Kofa National Wildlife Refuge - December 2018

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Part Three of Our Winter Break Trip

I need to say we live a sheltered life. It would be more accurate to say we choose to live a sheltered life. One aspect of this became apparent as we drove through Henderson, Nevada after driving the Northshore Road along Mead Reservoir. This aspect was traffic. We do not deal much with traffic.  We find it downright annoying and unnerving. We were in traffic now and this experience reminded us of the beginning of mosquito season before we become, somewhat, accustomed to the constant buzzing and biting.

The character of traffic changed as we drove south on U.S. 95 toward Searchlight and Needles. Besides the line of semis and the darting about of cars - piloted by aspiring Indy car drivers with a death wish - we found ourselves in the annual migration of snowbirds.

It was a wondrous collection of boxes moving south. It affected our vocabulary. The huge motorhomes and fifth wheel trailers that are measured in acreage instead of feet - the big boxes - we called "WalMarts". The medium sized boxes became "K-Marts". The small rigs like our tiny speck of real estate were "Mom & Pops".

The stress of dealing with traffic was lifted by our new entertainment. We were stuck in a caravan of migrants. We might as well enjoy the humor of it all. The names displayed on these rolling castles gave the best laughs. On huge beasts painted up in eye catching colors was "Stealth". Really? Who thought up that one? Appearing over and over in this endless column was "Solitude". My personal favorite was "Montana". Yes, why get a Mom & Pop when you can take a whole state with you? And every Cruise America RV we saw we were sure had extraterrestrials aboard. 

Where it the world was this invasion of fiberglass and sheet metal heading? We found out - Quartzsite, Arizona. We moved over to Arizona State Route 95 and approached from the north. WalMarts, K-Marts, and the occasional Mom & Pop were spread across the landscape, not hundreds, but thousands upon thousands of them. An RV crust covered the earth. Initially I was repulsed. I saw Quartzsite as the sacrificial lamb of the desert. No longer. I have wised up and seen the light. Quartzsite is RV heaven. Go to Quartzsite. Everybody go to Quartzsite. You cannot go wrong. It is THE place to park your box for the winter. With everything you need, it is nothing short of perfection. Burn all your guidebooks. Think of no other place to go. Quartzsite is the ultimate oasis. On top of all this, I've heard the X-Trees serve great kool-aid out of their Cruise America RV's.

It took every ounce of will power we had to not stop, pop up the camper top, set out our chairs, drink kool-aid, and never move again - except for quick trips up to the mother ship for tests. Against our better judgment we continued south to Kofa National Wildlife Refuge. Was it a mistake?

The RV crust spread far south of Quartzsite. We worried we would never be rid of the mess. Encampments still littered the BLM Land up to the refuge boundary. Perhaps we had really made a mistake?

We stopped and read the rules. Camp a minimum of a quarter mile from water and only vehicles licensed and insured for highway use could enter the refuge. There is a god up there somewhere. We continued to our intersection, switched into 4x4 low, and climbed into the lonely desert expanse we had come to explore. The late afternoon light was sweet.

With camp set up, we explored. This was our first time in the Sonoran Desert.

So many things here were new to us. The saguaros were a standout. We were up before dawn to take part in the day's beginning.

Saguaros, cholla, ocotillo - how could we not love this place?

We returned to camp for breakfast before heading off on the day's hike.

There were several possible shelter sites high on the hillsides above. Our steep climbs were rewarded.

Signs of ancient human habitation stood out.

Most of the petroglyphs were geometrical or abstract except for this one we found that looks to us like a wolf.

Many of the morteros - grinding mortars - were over a foot deep into the welded volcanic tuff.

We imagined hearing people sing as they worked. We could feel their presence. This had been a hub of activity so long ago.

We continued on to explore an area known as Horse Tanks.

Water brought flowers.

We climbed back out of this canyon and moved on to our next destination.

A distant hilltop had another shelter site to investigate.

It also was a workstation with an amazing view.

Our topo map indicated an area called Gray Tanks. We worked out a route to reach them.

The Gray Tanks were our favorite water feature we visited in Kofa.

Thus far our day had been amazing. We climbed up to another shelter for a long lunch break with a view.

Our map indicated "Arch Tank" two drainages over to the south. The easiest route was back out to the flats and circle around the mountains and come up the drainage that held Arch Tank. It would be a bit of a walk but we were happy to explore as much of this area as possible.

The canyon was steeper walled and a challenge to move through.

The wash itself was impassable due to thick vegetation, but there were still special things to discover around each bend.

The rugged canyon sides required careful maneuvering through and around cholla and ocotillo. It called for careful foot work with no slipping.

This area, at least this route, showed little evidence of travel with no old pathways or game trails. The clouds built quickly as we stopped to confirm our location on our map.

The wind increased and it spit rain. It was time to turn around. The clouds remained over the mountains as we exited the canyon and looped back around to our campsite arriving around 4 pm - time to take off the boots and sit a spell.

The clouds moved out as quickly as they came but the temperature had dropped over 10° just in time for our outdoor showers. Very cold air now covered Arizona.

We cannot sit for long and spotted additional possible shelter sites we could climb to. The slanting afternoon light and mountain ridge shadows worked across the landscape.

The sun was gone as we dropped down from the ridge top.

We walked down the wash. Where there was bedrock there were morteros. Voices in song and people happy in their work stirred our dreams this night.

We woke Friday morning to below freezing temperatures. We climbed to the top of a hill to the south to watch the sunrise.

We found Kofa National Wildlife Refuge an enchanting place, so much so that we would return in less than a week.

It was time to head toward Green Valley, Arizona to spend New Years with my cousin, The Big Guy and his wife.

Our story continues, please click here for - Part Four