Arizona - Thanksgiving 2021 - Part Two

 please remember you can click on a photo to see a larger version & highlighted text are links to additional information

 You can click here for - Part One

 

Thanksgiving!

 

In November 1621, after their first successful corn harvest, the Pilgrims of Plymouth celebrated with a feast of thanksgiving, the beginnings of our annual Thanksgiving holiday in the United States. I'm surprised there was not much mention of this year being the 400th anniversary. Edward Doty was in attendance at the first Thanksgiving. Born on May 14, 1598 in England, he came to the New World abroad the Mayflower. He was listed as a servant to his uncle Stephen Hopkins. Here's a short biography on Doty - Edward Doty. I mention Edward Doty because he is my 9x great grandfather. Thanksgiving is kind of special to me.

 

We arrived at my cousin Keith & Kathleen's wonderful home in Green Valley Wednesday afternoon. It was very kind of them to want to share Thanksgiving with us. Besides the bouquet of flowers, Julie also brought along her sourdough starter and buttermilk. There is nothing like fresh baked cinnamon rolls!

 

 

 

 

 

We had a great time with Keith and Kathleen. We thank them for their generosity and warmth. The dinner and company was grand!

 

We enjoy accompanying Keith on outdoor adventures. On Friday we hiked in the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge near Arivaca.

 

We walked the riparian area along Arivaca Creek.

 

 

 

 

 

We explored the ruins of an old adobe homestead.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We returned down to the creek.

 

 

 

 

 

On Saturday we hiked with Keith in Madera Canyon just to the south of Green Valley.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We said our goodbyes Sunday morning and finished off our stay with a family photo at Kathleen's kind suggestion.

 

 

 

 

 

What was next for us? More cousins!

 

My cousin Sherry and her husband Thom live in Oracle, about an hour and a half drive north from Green Valley. Both sets of cousins relocated to southern Arizona around three years ago.

 

We also had a wonderful time with Sherry and Thom, and are deeply thankful for their gracious and warm welcome.

 

They live just off of North Mt. Lemmon road, a dirt road up the north ridge of Mt. Lemmon. The last four miles of this road is closed during winter. It turns out they had not yet driven the main - two lane paved - road from Tucson to Mt. Lemmon. That made for a great outing on Monday! 

 

 

The lower southern flanks of the Santa Catalina Mountains (Mt. Lemmon is the high point) have magnificent saguaro.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The are several vista points along the road. It was great fun to stop and take in the views as the road climbed.

 

Thom and Sherry look south and down on the vast spread of Tucson. See mores are a must.

 

 

 

 

 

Saguaros gave way to juniper as the cliffs continued to rise. We really enjoyed this outing.

 

 

 

 

 

Many of the hoodoos looked like cartoon characters. Julie asks, "Hoodoo that look like?"

 

 

 

 

 

At one stop the Lady climbed out to the high spot. She just had to.

 

 

 

 

 

Thom and Sherry took in the views from a lower perch.

 

 

 

 

 

Julie bought us cookies and hot chocolate at a small shop in Summerhaven, the small village near the top. Each couple shared a massive $7.00 cookie as we sat outside in the beautiful air. Drive to Summerhaven and have a cookie. Add that to your "to do" list.

 

We took the spur road to the small ski area and took in the view to the north, down toward Oracle.

 

 

 

 

 

Most of the northern Santa Catalina Mountains were burned in last year's Bighorn Fire - another on our long list of wildland fires.

 

We spent Saturday exploring up North Mt. Lemmon Road from their property on "buggies." Our first excursion was up to the top of Peppersause Canyon. They know this area well as they ride their horses throughout it. The road was greatly impacted by last season's monsoons and is very rough. The girls led the way.

 

 

 

 

 

We enjoyed the views east down across the vast San Pedro Valley. See mores were put to use again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I got the group to pose for a photo.

 

 

 

 

 

The sky was glorious.

 

 

 

 

 

Back down on Mt. Lemmon Road, we headed south. Although not as dramatic as the southern slopes of Mt. Lemmon, the north side has its own character. And, it is always fun when geology pokes its head out.

 

 

 

 

 

We were properly dressed and woke masks for the dust.

 

 

 

 

 

We came upon a group of geldings from the Goff Ranch. They were strong, well cared for horses. I stepped out of the buggy for taking photos and Star immediately strolled over to say hello and get some attention.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our stay with Thom and Sherry was wonderful. Thank you two so much!

 

 

Wednesday morning arrived and it was time to turn back toward home. We stocked up with food and supplies at a large market in Casa Grande. Mid afternoon we were set up in a campsite with a view in the KOFA National Wildlife Refuge.

 

 

 

 

 

This can be a busy place for dispersed camping and we were pleased to find a spot a good distance away from others.

 

 

Arizona evening light has a character of its own. We soaked in the grandeur and beautiful light and color.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Deep restful sleep came easy. The morning's beginnings were also excellent.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our objective for this day was to return to the Mojave National Preserve and get camp set up to further explore that fantastic archeology site mentioned in Part One.

 

The adventure continues, please click here for - Part Three.

 

Arizona - Thanksgiving 2021 - Part One

 

please remember you can click on a photo to see a larger version & highlighted text are links to additional information

 

Distractions

 

"It's a text from The Big Guy. They are asking if we'd come to Arizona and spend Thanksgiving with them." The Lady said as she looked up from her phone. "What do you think?"

"Let's go to Arizona for Thanksgiving!" I quickly replied. "We've never done that before for Thanksgiving. Do you want to?"

The Lady quickly replied to the text and our holiday plans were settled.

 

Our plan was to arrive at my cousin's winter home south of Tucson on Wednesday afternoon before Thanksgiving. Leaving Saturday morning allowed for four nights out in the camper enroute. This would make for a relaxing trip. We just did not realize how many distractions lay along the way and how distracted we would get.

 

Our loose plans had us spending our first night somewhere south of Lone Pine. That didn't happen. We got distracted with a minor vehicle issue, turned around and returned home. The problem was easily addressed and we headed out about three hours later. Our other distractions on this trip will all be of a much more upbeat nature. I promise.

 

 

We awoke Sunday morning in a place of perfect solitude in the Volcanic Tablelands north of Bishop. This was our view during breakfast.

 

 

 

 

 

As we drove south on highway 395 along the magnificent Sierra Nevada crest, the Lady was navigator. There are many notes and waypoints on our maps, entered during research on all our varied interests and activities. The Lady was observant. "You have marked a way in to a pictograph site in the Alabama Hills." The Lady said as she perused the map on her lap. 

"I don't remember where that information came from nor do I have additional information, only that possible location," I replied. "Do you want to give it a try?" This was the first distraction of the day.

 

The Lady, now firmly back in her native habitat and released back into the wild, took off first and began our search.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The designs were faded and hard to see.

 

 

 

 

 

The location and designs did not feel right. The site receives partial sun during the day where ancient art work would be quickly lost. The use of DStretch - false color enhancement to bring out faded pictographs - confirmed this was modern graffiti mimicking ancient pictographs.

 

 

 

 

 

The electricity coming from a figure's hand was a dead giveaway that this was a faked site.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

With the mystery solved, we enjoyed the incredible landscape.

 

 

 

 

 

Driving back out from the Alabama Hills we stopped to find another mark on our maps, an ancient habitation site along a creek. Distraction number two.

 

Bedrock mortars, the Alabama Hills, and Mount Whitney.

 

 

 

 

 

It has been years since we had traveled south of Lone Pine on highway 395. And this was a Sunday afternoon and we were in the midst of the migrating hordes heading home to the southern cities. There was a tragic auto accident we crawled past in Olancha. It is amazing how much plastic is used in modern vehicles and how far it flies in a violent collision.

 

We continued south.

"What is this - Perfection - marked off to the east of 395?" the Lady again asked after checking the map.

"That is the ghost town of Perfection, Nevada in California," I answered and asked with a smile, "Want to find it?"

 

"The turn's coming up!" the Lady kept me posted as I drove. The road changed into divided highway and, with disappointment, we saw the turn accessible only by the northbound lanes. Dang it! I saw an opportunity for a crossover up ahead but with the bumper to bumper traffic flying by us in the left lane - I was doing the speed limit - there was no way to get over without cheating death. Double dang it!

 

We promise a future report on Perfection, Nevada.

Distraction number three for the day was a highlight of our trip.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A massive granite boulder was the centerpiece and the pictographs were some of the most beautiful we've seen. This site touched our hearts.

 

 

 

 

 

Outside a large alcove was a granite outcrop with four metates (grinding slicks).

 

 

 

 

 

The artwork inside the alcove was incredible.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The animal with a long tail reminded us of a ring-tailed cat (with a yellow lizard behind).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another alcove was equally exciting to view. This series will be from left to right.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another small alcove held a small panel done with black pigment.

 

 

 

 

 

In regards to time - no way were we making it to the eastern Mojave desert - the distractions had taken a toll - but oh so worth it. We had to search out a plan B for a camp for the night and before it got dark.

 

We arrived at the Rainbow Basin Natural Area north of Barstow before sunset. The associated campground was mostly empty. At three bucks a night for us geezers, this was an easy and comfortable overnight. The next morning we were out with our coffee mugs to walk and watch the sunrise.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We traveled east across the vast Mojave Desert hoping to make it into Arizona's KOFA National Wildlife Refuge for a campsite. Today's distraction eliminated that possibility. Not only did it do that, it also changed our plans for the return trip home from Arizona.

 

"I'd really like to check out this site," I said to the Lady as I put my finger on a point on the map. "It's well over 20 miles into the site on rough roads but I think it will be worth it.

 

We found a safe place to park the truck and set out cross country on foot.

 

 

 

 

We found an area with three massive boulders with smoothed holes - they looked like portals to us - through the rough rock. The petroglyphs were ancient and deeply inscribed. This was a very sacred place.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What we found inside this shelter convinced us we needed to return to spend at least a day here.

 

 

 

 

 

There was another site about a mile away we also hiked to.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This shelter site was incredible.

 

 

 

 

 

If you are curious what we found, and you should be, please wait for the upcoming story on our trip home.

 

It was well into the afternoon when we reached the truck. It would be good to get into Arizona before sunset. We headed east. With billboards proclaiming gas prices in Arizona of $3.43 a gallon for regular unleaded, we just could not bring ourselves to top off the tank at $5.89 in Needles to head south on US 95. Cheaper gas drove us over to Arizona 95 and the dreaded drive through never ending Lake Havasu City. The area to the east off the highway is littered with huge flat boondocking sites infested with semi permanent snowbird RVers. Not our cup of tea. We spotted an opportunity with a dirt road to the east. A couple of huge diesel pushers had made in as far as possible, about a quarter mile. We were able to venture another 3/4 mile and were alone. Timing was excellent as we were set up and comfortable in time to take in the sunset.

 

 

 

 

 

Arizona welcomed us with glorious evening light. We were back into the land of Palo Verde trees.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The next morning we realized it was already Tuesday and we needed to be in place that evening to comfortably reach Green Valley Wednesday.

 

With receiving many recommendations on visiting the Painted Rock Petroglyph Site, we happily arrived mid afternoon (now on Mountain Standard Time) to a large campground with less than a dozen sites occupied. We found the loneliest comfortable site and set up camp.

 

One note about this campground - the staggering lack of outhouses. The day use area has one double holer CXT. It is accessible from the campground. The campground itself, with 60 sites, has one single holer CXT. Standing in line in the morning during a time of need is not my idea of fun. But, as I said, the campground was near empty. This would make for interesting people watching - albeit maybe a bit twisted - during busy times here. One outhouse per 10 sites is a usual minimum rule of thumb in campground layout and planning.

 

We took our time circling the large, fenced petroglyph site. The overcast sky made for less dramatic photographs, but free from harsh shadows.

 

 

 

 

There were several work stations - metates - decorated with rock art.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There were many petroglyphs depicting scorpions, a first for us.

 

 

 

 

Please also notice the horse with rider on the rock above.

 

The petroglyphs varied from ancient, faded, hard to see, and newer brighter appearing glyphs.

 

 

 

 

 

This was indeed a fun place to visit. Each time we wandered by new glyphs would stand out and catch our attention.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We woke refreshed Wednesday morning ready to hit the road. We wanted to arrive at our cousins mid afternoon with a bouquet of flowers in hand and an appearance of being civilized guests. We were leaving the backcountry and entering a populated area, always scary to us. We are at home in rough country. Bears, moose, snakes we are at ease with. Days without seeing other people is heaven. Traffic signal lights scare the hell out of me. Thanksgiving in Arizona here we come!

 

Our adventure continues, please click here for - Part Two.