Tag Archives: Arizona

Mar19

Desert Botanical Garden

Posted on March 19, 2016 by Blaize Sun

The Desert Botanical Garden is located at 1201 N Galvin Pkwy, Phoenix, AZ. According to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desert_Botanical_Garden, it

is a 140 acres…botanical garden located in Papago Park…

Founded by the Arizona Cactus and Native Flora Society in 1937^[1] and established at this site in 1939, the garden now has more than 21,000 plants, in more than 4000 taxa, one-third of which are native to the area, including 139 species which are rare, threatened or endangered.

…It focuses on plants adapted to desert conditions, including an Australian collection, a Baja California collection and a South American collection. Several ecosystems are represented: a mesquite bosque, semidesert grassland, and upland chaparral.

This 20 foot tall saguaro sculpture on display at the Desert Botanical Garden was created by Jeff Hebets in honor of his cousin, Phil. The saguaro is made from pick heads used to salvage native plants.

Admission to the Desert Botanical Garden is a bit pricey: $22 for adults 18-59, with only a $2 discount to seniors. I am fortunate to have a friend with a membership to the Garden. Not only does she get in for free, but one guest can get in for free with her. My friend treated me to a morning in the Garden.

There are five trails in the Garden: the Desert Discovery Loop Trail, the Plants & People of the Sonoran Desert Loop Trail, the Sonoran Desert Nature Loop Trail, the Center for Desert Living Trail, and the Harriet K. Maxwell Desert Wildflower Loop Trail.

My friend and I were only at the Botanical Garden for a couple of hours, so by no means did we see it all. My favorite part of the visit was seeing cacti that were new to me, ones that I hadn’t already seen hundreds of times in far south Arizona.

The cactus on the far left of this photo is an old man of the Andes (scientific name: Oreocereus celsianus).

One new variety I saw was the Old Man of the Andes (scientific name: Oreocereus celsianus). According to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oreocereus_celsianus,

Oreocereus celsianus, or the “old man of the mountain” is a member of the family Cactaceae native to the high lands of the Andes in South America, and is named for its fluffy white hair, which may protect it from intense sunlight and extreme temperatures.

The Learn 2 Grow website says,

Old Man of the Andes is a striking cylindrical cactus due to its coat of dirty blond coarse hairs that covers its entire length. These hairs help protect and shade its green skin from both intense high altitude sunlight and the occasional cold snap. The species is native to Bolivia, Peru and northern Argentina where it is found on rocky cliffs at high elevations of the Andes and other mountain ranges.

While the Old Man of the Andes looks rather fluffy and huggable (at least to me), Learn 2 Grow warns,

This cactus is well armed. Spines are stout, thick, and dirty yellow to reddish brown in color. They occur in groups from one to four heavier spines surrounded by 7 to 9 very sharp radial spines. These sit nestled deeply into the hairy cloak.

No hugs for you, Old Man!

Another new variety I saw was the Bishop’s Hat (scientific name: Astrophytum myriostigma). This cactus looks as if it were made from cloth!

This photo shows a Bishop’s Hat cactus (scientific name: Astrophytum myriostigma).

According to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astrophytum_myriostigma,

Astrophytum myriostigma (common names: Bishop’s Cap Cactus, Bishop’s Hat or Bishop’s Miter Cactus) is a species of cactus native to the highlands of northeastern and central Mexico.

The Plants Rescue website says,

More Bishop’s Hat cacti.

The basically green stem has no spine but is covered with tiny tufts of silvery hair (appearing like scales or spots). These give the plant a greyish cast.

It wasn’t quite spring when I went on this visit, so there weren’t many cacti in bloom. The few early bloomers I did see were quite lovely.

I bet hummingbirds are attracted to these vivid purple flowers.

I had a nice time at the Desert Botanical Garden. Since my friend and I went early in the day, we didn’t have to fight any crowds. Thankfully, there were no groups of screaming school kids. Being near these various plants seemed very tranquil to me. However, as I write this post, I realize I didn’t take nearly enough photos. (What about the boojum trees? Why didn’t I get any pictures of the boojum trees?) Maybe my friend will treat me to another visit.

I took all of the photographs in this post.

Mar18

Red Tanks Tinaja Hike

Posted on March 18, 2016 by Blaize Sun

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As soon as I found the Ajo Plaza, I went into the thrift store on the corner. I shop primarily at thrift stores, and even if I don’t buy anything, I like to see what different stores have for sell. I hadn’t been there very long when I started chatting with the two women in the store. They were talking about Hatch, New Mexico, and I told them what I knew about the area. When it was determined that I was visiting Ajo, one of the women told me I needed to visit Quitobaquito.

She said Quitobaquito was in the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. She said it was an oasis in the desert, but warned me not take the route given on the tourist information. She said that was the long way around, then gave me some quick directions I didn’t understand, referring to roads I’d never heard of. I assured her I’d make it there if I could. I meant it too, because the place sounded interesting and exotic.

When I asked my friend Coyote Sue–who lives down the road in Why, AZ–about Quitobaquito, she said she’d never heard of it, so she wasn’t able to give me directions.

While planning my visit to the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, I found the following listing under ranger programs (http://www.nps.gov/orpi/planyourvisit/ranger-programs.htm):

Location Talk- Quitobaquito Spring: Monday, Wednesday, Friday at 10:30am
Join a ranger at this gorgeous desert oasis and learn about the animals and its rich cultural history. Meet the ranger at Quitobaquito or contact the visitor center to reserve a spot on the van.

I asked Miss M if she wanted to attend this talk. She said yes. Good ol’ Miss M, she’s up for most anything. So I called the visitor center and signed us up for the van ride. (There was no extra charge for the van ride and talk. All of the ranger programs are included in the $12-per-car, good-for-seven-days, admission to the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. Because Miss M had the federal land pass for seniors, neither of us had to pay a dime.)

On the morning of the tour, we hit the road plenty early to get to the pick-up spot at the visitor center in time, but when we got out to the highway, we saw a state police roadblock. Oh no.

A female officer approached Miss M’s car. She told us the border was closed. When Miss M asked why the border was closed, she said they had no information. Miss M told her we weren’t planning to cross the border or even go near it. When Miss M said we were headed to the National Monument, the officer said no problem, and the cops let us through. At that point, both Miss M and I knew we probably weren’t going to be able to visit Quitobaquito that day.

See, Quitobaquito is close the the Mexican border…really close. According to https://organpipehistory.com/orpi-a-z/quitobaquito-springs-2/, Quitobaquito Springs is located

a mere two hundred yards from the U.S.-Mexican border.

No way was the National Park Service going to let a small group of tourists traipse around so close to the border while some sort of incident was occurring.

When we arrived at the visitor center and told the ranger about the roadblock and the closed border, he told us he hadn’t heard anything about it. However, over the next half hour, the ranger got word that the border was closed, it had been closed by Mexico, and there would be no location talk at Quitobaquito that day. He offered instead to lead a short hike (about a mile and half round trip) to the Red Tanks Tinaja.

I was disappointed. I’d been really excited to see Quitobaquito. But I knew Miss M wasn’t going to drive out there while an international incident was possibly in progress, and I wasn’t going to go get my van to drive out there on my own, so Red Tanks Tinaja it was.

(I wasn’t the only one disappointed by the cancellation of the Quitobaquito location talk. When the ranger stopped the van at the campground to pick up the other folks who’d signed up for the ride and talk, one woman was obviously angry. Because Miss M and I were in the van with all of the doors and windows closed, we couldn’t hear anything she said, but her body language announced her displeasure.)

This is what Trails.com (https://www.trails.com/tcatalog_trail.aspx?trailid=HGS226-086) says about the Red Tanks Tinaja hike:

The trail begins as a narrow footpath, but soon merges with an old two-rut wagon trail. The wagon road runs southwest across desert flats studded with tall saguaros. Far to the east, the Ajo Range towers beyond the lesser crags of the Diablo Mountains. The cloud-rending spire of Pinkley Peak crowns conical hills to the north, while the crest of Twin Peaks rises above foothills to the south.

This is the trail after it merged with the old two-rut wagon road. Several saguaros as well as teddy bear cholla are visible on either side of the trail. The short bushes with green leaves are creosote bushes. I have no idea what direction I was facing when I took this photo.

Never heard of a tinaja? I hadn’t either until I went on this hike. According to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tinaja

Tinaja is a term originating in the American Southwest for surface pockets (depressions) formed in bedrock that occur below waterfalls, are carved out by spring flow or seepage,^[1] or are caused by sand and gravel scouring in intermittent streams (arroyos).^[2]^[3] Tinajas are an important source of surface water storage in arid environments.^[2]^[4] These relatively rare landforms are important ecologically because they support unique plant communities and provide important services to terrestrial wildlife.

This is the tinaja we hiked to. Our ranger guide was pleased to see the water in the tinaja.

While I was sorry to have missed out on Quitobaquito, I did enjoy this hike very much. Again, the ranger was knowledgeable and informative. I would have enjoyed being out in the desert and seeing new places and plant life, but I found it much better to make the journey with an experienced guide who could explain what I was seeing.

I took all of the photos in this post.

Mar17

Ajo Mountain Tour

Posted on March 17, 2016 by Blaize Sun

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When I was doing my research about the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument (OPCNM), I found a list of ranger programs at http://www.nps.gov/orpi/planyourvisit/ranger-programs.htm. One that looked promising (and fit into my schedule and that of the Divine Miss M) was

Ajo Mountain Van Tours
Take the opportunity to spend 3 hours with a ranger on a drive through one of the monument’s most beautiful areas.

During the time we visited, the tour went out every day at 9am and space was limited to 10 people. Since reservations were needed, I called the Kris Eggle Visitor Center and got Miss M and myself on the list.

On the appointed day, at the appointed time, Miss M and I met our driver, Ranger Anna (the young woman who cleared up the mystery of 4th graders for me; read about that here: http://www.rubbertrampartist.com/2016/02/16/i-have-a-4th-grader/), and Ranger Mark, the actual guide who did the talking. After a brief stop at the campground to pick up the other folks who were going on the tour, we were on our way.

This is organ pipe cactus as seen on the Ajo Mountain van tour.

The OPCNM website (http://www.nps.gov/orpi/planyourvisit/driving-and-biking.htm) describes the Ajo Mountain Drive as

the most popular scenic drive in the monument. It is a 21 mile, mostly gravel road usually passable by normal passenger car. RVs over 24 feet are prohibited, due to the twisting and dipping nature of the road.

The American Southwest website (http://www.americansouthwest.net/arizona/organ_pipe/ajo-mountain-drive.html) gives a great description of this drive and of the road itself, and I will quote extensively from that page.

…the main backcountry scenic route in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument is..the Ajo Mountain Drive, a mostly unpaved loop that heads towards the foothills of the Ajo Range, the high, rocky ridge which forms the eastern boundary of the preserve. Although only 21 miles in length the drive still takes around 90 minutes (without stops) since the road is often narrow and very bumpy – so is not recommended for RVs…, but the scenery is magnificent, comprising extensive cactus plains separated by imposing volcanic mountains also covered with many and varied desert plants, all with no sign of civilisation. Two trails start along the way; the Bull Pasture/Estes Canyon loop, perhaps the best hike in the national monument, and a one mile path up a short side canyon to a natural arch.

This photo shows a prickly pear cactus, and Arch Canyon in the distance.

The drive starts along AZ 85 opposite the [Kris Eggle] visitor center, and is two-way for a few miles then narrows and changes to one-way (clockwise) at the start of the loop section. The surface is bumpy but not too bad at first, as the road crosses a flat plain filled with countless saguaro and rather fewer organ pipes. It climbs gradually towards Diablo Canyon at the edge of the Diablo Mountains, and becomes paved for a couple of miles to ease passage over a series of short, steep, up-and-down sections across dry washes. There is one picnic area in the mountains, and another a couple of miles further at the mouth of Arch Canyon, from where begins the short path to the eponymous arch. The Ajo Mountains approach to the east as the road turns due south, passes over a low ridge and reaches a third picnic area, next to Estes Canyon. The excellent loop path up to Bull Pasture begins opposite, while the remainder of the Ajo Mountain Drive follows the widening canyon further south, curves round the southern edge of the Diablo Mountains and traverses a vast plain (Sonoyta Valley) back to the start of the two-way section. This part of the route is rather rougher and more bumpy than the first half, despite being mainly straight and relatively level. The desert plain is covered by

This photo shows saguaro cacti growing near Estes Canyon picnic area.

densely-growing saguaro, some particularly large, and the road has excellent views south for many miles, as far as the Cubabi Mountains in Mexico.

I learned a lot on this van tour, such as the difference between an organ pipe cactus and a senita cactus, the role of nurse plants, and the proper pronunciation of “saguaro” [Sa – WAH – ro]. I would have enjoyed myself had I just driven around in the desert alone or with Miss M, but having a knowledgeable guide really made the drive much more interesting, educational, and entertaining.

I would absolutely recommend this tour for anyone visiting the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. There is no additional cost for the tour; it is included with the $12 pass which allows access to the OPCNM for seven days.

If I am ever back in the area, I might make the Ajo Mountain Drive on my own with the Ajo Mountain Road Guidebook (available free in the Kris Eggle Visitor Center, according to http://www.nps.gov/orpi/planyourvisit/driving-and-biking.htm) by my side. I think the van would make it just fine if I took the drive slow and easy.

I would like to hike up to the arch in Arch Canyon and spend time looking more closely at the plants and landscape and taking more photos. But if I never get back to the Ajo Mountain Drive, I won’t be disappointed, because the tour I went on was so good.

I took all of the photos in this post.

Mar16

Today is National Panda Day

Posted on March 16, 2016 by Blaize Sun

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According to http://nationalpandaday.blogspot.com/, today is National Panda Day. And that, friends, is just about all the website says.

(Apparently International Red Panda Day is in September. I think today must be about regular black and white pandas.)

In honor of National Panda Day, I am sharing with you photos I took of a bronze statue in Phoenix, AZ called Maternal Love. According to http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WMNDD5_Maternal_Love_Phoenix_AZ, the statue

was presented in September 1996 from Chendgu Municipal Government, P.R. China, and Mayor Wang Rong Xuan to the city of Phoenix, Arizona.

I hope your National Panda Day is a great one!

Mar14

Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument

Posted on March 14, 2016 by Blaize Sun

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Note: To make my writing life a little easier, I will sometimes refer to the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument as the OPCNM. This photo shows the Kris Eggle Visitor Center with the monument’s namesake growing in front.

It’s thirty-three miles from the Ajo Plaza to the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument’s Kris Eggle Visitor Center. That’s why Ajo is sometimes referred to as “the gateway to Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument.” Visiting the National Monument was definitely on my list of things I wanted to do while I was in the area.

This is one of the organ pipe cacti that give the national monument its name.

According to http://www.nps.gov/orpi/learn/historyculture/index.htm,

…President Franklin D. Roosevelt created Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument on April 13, 1937. Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument was created as a way to preserve a representative area of the Sonoran Desert. The new monument was part of a movement in the National Parks to protect not just scenic wonders but also the ecological wonders of the country.

The entrance fee to the OPCNM is $12, but that includes all occupants of a vehicle, and is good for seven days. I was quite fortunate to be in Ajo at the same time as the Divine Miss M. She has the federal land pass for seniors and was gracious enough to offer that we take her vehicle. I didn’t have to pay an admission fee! Thanks, Miss M!

One could easily visit the OPCNM seven days in a row.

There’s lots to do before leaving the Kris Eggle Visitor Center. According to the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument Cactus Chronicle (http://www.nps.gov/orpi/learn/upload/2016-web-version.pdf),

The Kris Eggle Visitor Center is open 8:00 am – 5:00 pm. Stop by for an informative slide presentation, a 1/10 mile stroll on the handicapped-accessible nature trail, the nature and museum exhibit room, bookstore, and answers from a park ranger or volunteer at the information counter.

The slide presentation is informative. Miss M and I caught it at the end of our second visit. It’s basically an overview of the weather patterns and the plant and animal life in the OPCNM, so I would recommend watching it before you go out on a hike or a ranger-led tour.

The visitor center is also your best bet for using the restroom and filling your water bottle before heading off into the wilderness.

If one likes educational programs or guided tours, there are many available in the monument. Any of these programs are included in the monument admission fee. According to http://www.nps.gov/orpi/planyourvisit/ranger-programs.htm, 15 minute “patio talks” are given three times a day (at 11am, 2pm, and 3pm) on the back patio of the Kris Eggle Visitor Center. In addition, there are a variety of ranger-led tours and hikes held throughout the week, including

Desert View Hike (Explore the desert ecosystem and see desert plants up close. A 1.5 mile easy loop trail with great views awaits.)

Ajo Mountain Van Tours (Take the opportunity to spend 3 hours with a ranger on a drive through one of the monument’s most beautiful areas.)

Location Talk- Quitobaquito Spring (Join a ranger at this gorgeous desert oasis and learn about the animals and its rich cultural history.)

Location Talk- Gachado Line Camp (Join a ranger at this historic cowboy line camp and explore the hard work it took to ranch the Sonoran Desert.)

This photo shows saguaro cacti and the rugged mountains of the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument.

Miss M and I went on a van tour and a hike; I’ll devote individual posts to those adventures.

For folks who’d rather go it alone, there are several scenic drives to take. (Find the drives listed here: http://www.nps.gov/orpi/planyourvisit/driving-and-biking.htm). Also,

bikes are allowed on all roads open to vehicle traffic.

Of course, there’s plenty of hiking in OPCNM for folks who are into that sort of thing. According to http://www.nps.gov/orpi/planyourvisit/hiking.htm,

There are miles and miles of trails laced around Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. Some are easy, others are strenuous, most of them fall somewhere in between. Some of the best hiking is off the beaten trails and out in the canyons with a map and compass to guide you.

The above mentioned webpage lists over a dozen hikes and which drive to take to get to them.

I had a great time at the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. Two visits was not nearly enough to see everything there is to see and do everything there is to do.

I took all of the photos in this post.

Mar13

The New Cornelia Mine (Ajo, AZ)

Posted on March 13, 2016 by Blaize Sun

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Ajo is a town because of mining. According the the Ajo Chamber of Commerce website’s history page (http://www.ajochamber.com/explore/history-of-ajo/),

On the way to silver mines near Magdalena, Sonora, Tom Childs, Sr. and his party chanced upon the Ajo area in 1847 and stopped to mine the ore they found. Soon the Arizona Mining & Trading Company, formed by Peter M. Brady, a friend of Childs, worked the rich surface ores, shipping loads around Cape Horn [and] smelting in Swansea, Wales, in the mid 1850s. The mine closed when a ship sank off coast of Patagonia. Childs and other prospectors worked claims here; long supply lines and the lack of water discouraged large mining companies…

A wily promoter, A.J. Shotwell, enticed John Boddie of Missouri to help set up the St. Louis Copper Company in 1890s. Shotwell organized the rescue [of] Copper Company when bankruptcy threatened. This became the Cornelia, then the New Cornelia, named after Boddie’s first wife.

“Professor” F.L McGahan and Shotwell introduced the so-called vacuum smelter that supposedly channeled each type of molten ore to different spigots and ran perpetually on the initial fuel. Mcgahan [sic] conveniently slipped away from the demonstration model in Los Angeles –it exploded when been [sic] tested.

The first to develop the Ajo area profitable [sic] was John Campbell Greenway…He became general manager of the Calumet and the Arizona Mining Company. Dr. L.D. Ricketts and Greenway developed a leaching method to process the carbonate ore overburden. Greenway also located the well that still provides water to Ajo and directed the construction of the Plaza, the community’s focal point. Calumet and Phelps Dodge merged in 1931 and the mine became the new Cornelia Branch of Phelps Dodge, managed by Michael Curley…

Ajo continued as the quintessential southwestern mining town, with occasional strikes and shutdowns, until 1983. The strike that began in July that year crippled the community with acrimony on both sides. Though the mine struggled on with non-union labor, copper prices plummeted and so did Ajo. Mining stopped in 1985. P[helps] D[odge] remained a presence in the community but sold much of its holdings, including the Plaza and the company housing. The remaining mines [sic] property is now owned by Freeport-McMoran [sic] Gold and Silver, Inc., which merged with Phelps Dodge in 2007.

According to http://www.mindat.org/loc-3370.html, the New Cornelia

is a huge open pit operation (about 3,000 feet long and nearly 2,000 feet wide) at 750 feet deep. Haulage was by internal railroad installed in the pit. Total production from 1917 through 1972 amounts to some 350,000,000 tons of ore…Higher grade ore was mined in the early years and lower grade ore in more recent years.

I picked up a sheet of “Mine Facts” at the Ajo visitor center. The question and answer format gives a lot of information about the mine.

Tell us about the open pit?

First, three green hills were leveled from 1916 to 1930. Each bench of the pit is forty feet deep. In all, it is 1 1/2 miles wide and 1 1/4 miles across. Currently it is 1100 feet deep.

And what about the lake at the bottom?

The water, about 90 to 100 feet deep in places, is spring fed…The color is from the copper sulfite.

How does this mine compare with others?

At one time the New Cornelia was the largest producer of copper in Arizona. In 1959 it was the third largest open-pit mine in the United States and the second largest copper producer in Arizonza.

There is a mine lookout and visitor center (open October through May) on Indian Village Road. I went out there early one morning before it got too hot. There was an elderly man standing outside the visitor center. When I asked him if the lookout was open, he told me it was. He told me a lot about himself and the mine.

He first came to Ajo with his father in 1949. He worked at the mine in the maintenance department for over 32 years. He told me that when he worked in the mine, equipment was expensive and men were cheap. He said that’s how thing are in China now, which is why there’s more mining going on in China than the U.S. He said there’s still copper in the mine, but it’s low grade, and right now it’s not profitable for Freeport-McMoRan to extract it. However, Freeport-McMoRan gets tax breaks on the mine, so it’s in the company’s best interest to hang on to the mine until it is again profitable to extract the copper.

Here’s more from the “Mine Facts” sheet:

Is the mine closed?

Yes, mining operations shut down in 1984 and the smelter closed in 1985. At its peak about 3000 were employed.

Did the mine close because of labor unrest?

No. The mine continued operating during and after the strike of 1983. Falling copper prices resulted in the closure of many Arizona mines in 1985.

Can the mine ever be re-opened?

A large quantity of low-grade ore remains. It depends upon the demand for copper and the plans of the owner. When the mine closed it was capable of producing 40,000 tons of copper annually.

The open pit mine is massive. It’s one of those things that is so big, my brain has trouble processing it. (Mine brain seems to have particular trouble with gigantic things made by people. I can look at a mountain or a giant sequoia and think, that’s HUGE, and my brain grasps it, understands it. But when I look at, say, the enormous football stadium at UT Austin or the New Cornelia Mine, I can feel my brain struggling to comprehend how such a thing could possibly exist.)

The wall of each terrace is 40 feet tall. Each “bench” (the flat part of the terraces) is 40 feet wide. When the mine was open, trains chugged around on those terraces.

(From the “Mine Facts” sheet:

How was the ore hauled up?

Tracks were laid down on the terraces, and then ore cars were loaded by steam shovels.)

I cannot put into words how big this mine is. Unfortunately, my photos don’t do justice to massiveness of the open pit. Trust me, it’s fantastic, in an Oh, no, what have we done? sort of way.

I took all of the photos in this post.

Mar11

Ajo Scenic Loop and BLM Land

Posted on March 11, 2016 by Blaize Sun

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Afternoon sunlight on the Ajo Scenic Loop

When Coyote Sue told me about Ajo, I was excited to hear there was plenty of free camping on BLM land right outside of town. Between what Sue told me about Darby Well Road and the brief write up on the Free Campsites website, I found the BLM land with little problem.

Beyond these two saguaros, one can see the giant wall of earth. Beyond the wall of earth is the New Cornelia Mine.

“Property of Freeport Minerals Corporation–No Trespassing”

Freeport-McMoRan owns the land across from the BLM land. Freeport-McMoRan’s land is fenced off, with “no trespassing” signs affixed to the fence. Beyond the fence, are massive walls of earth. Beyond the walls of earth is the New Cornelia Mine.

Later, when I read the brochure for the Ajo Scenic Loop, I realized that Darby Well Road is part of that picturesque 10 mile drive.

This photo shows the view I had when I opened the side doors of the van.

The first couple of nights I stayed in the area, I kept my camp fairly close to Highway 85. On the third day, I drove the whole Scenic Loop and saw how much public land was available for camping. From that night on, I parked the van in a spot where I was surrounded by nature.

At the intersection of Darby Well Road and Scenic Loop Road is a sign warning people that smuggling and illegal immigration may happen in the area. I didn’t see anything that even vaguely resembled smuggling or illegal immigration, although I did see Border Patrol trucks zooming way too fast down Darby Well Road. The only other people I saw were boondocking on the BLM land.

Like on most BLM land, there is a 14 day camping limit here. However, there was no camp host in the area, and no permit was required for camping. I did not see any BLM employee during the time I spent in there.

Camping in the Darby Well/Scenic Loop area is definitely primitive. There’s no running water, no drinking water, no picnic tables, no shade structures, no trash cans, no dumpsters, no showers, and no pit toilets. Nothing is provided and anything packed-in certainly needs to be packed-out.

This was the view from the other side of my van.

What I liked best about camping on this BLM land is that even though Ajo is just a couple of miles away, I couldn’t hear the low roar of vehicular traffic in the distance. I couldn’t see the lights of the town. The only signs of civilization I saw were the RVs belonging to the other folks camping out and the occasional automobile tooling along Scenic Loop Road.

This organ pipe cactus is visible from the Ajo Scenic Loop.

There is a lot of organ pipe cactus, as well as other varieties of cacti on the Ajo Scenic Loop. A brochure from the Ajo Historical Society Museum states,

Essentially all Sonoran Desert plants, for this elevation, are readily spotted on this easy self guided tour. Many say there are more Organ Pipe Cacti here than in the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. Saguaro, Organ Pipe, Hedgehog, Barrel, Prickly Pear and Cholla Cacti, Ocotillo and Jojoba, Mesquite, Iron Wood, Palo Verde and Elephant Trees, Fairy Duster and Brittlebush all are well represented or in abundance as are many more desert varieties.

[The overzealous capitalization in the above quote is thanks to the writer of the brochure and not to me.]

Cholla–pronounced \ˈchȯi-yə\–cactus.

Saguaro in the afternoon light.

The BLM land on the Ajo Scenic Loop is definitely one of my favorite places to boondock. It’s quiet, it’s dark at night, and the scenery is fantastic!

Mar10

Ajo, Arizona

Posted on March 10, 2016 by Blaize Sun

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This “Welcome to Ajo” tile mosaic is on Highway 85, just south of the Olsens Market Place grocery/hardware combo store. I don’t know who created this mosaic, but I like it a lot.

My friend Coyote Sue spends part of her year in Arizona, around the towns of Ajo and Why. She invited me to visit the next time I was in the area. When I left the 2016 RTR (the Rubber Tramp Rendezvous–read more about it here: http://www.rubbertrampartist.com/2016/01/23/report-on-the-2016-rubber-tramp-rendezvous/), I decided to drive down to Ajo to visit Coyote Sue and do a bit of exploring.

This is “A” Mountain–official name, Camelback Mountain–in Ajo, AZ. The elevation of this mountain is 2,573 feet. I believe I was on Indian Village Road when I took this photo. I was definitely on my way to the history museum when I took it.

According to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ajo,_Arizona, Ajo

…is a census-designated place (CDP) in Pima County, Arizona… The population was 3,705 at the 2000 census. Ajo is located on State Route 85 just 43 miles (69 km) from the Mexican border. It is the closest community to Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument.

If you thought, as I did, that Ajo was named for the Spanish word for garlic, you would be, as I was, wrong. Although the DesertUSA website (http://www.desertusa.com/cities/az/ajo.html)–which doesn’t site any sources–says,

In Spanish, ajo means “garlic.” Wild garlic plants (the Ajo lily or desert lily – an onion-like plant) that grew in the surrounding hills were responsible for the naming of the community…

I’m more inclined to believe the explanation on the Ajo Chamber of Commerce history webpage (http://www.ajochamber.com/explore/history-of-ajo/).

Before the community of Ajo was settled, the Tohono O’odham [the local indigenous people] used water from a series of potholes in the area they called Mu’i Wawhia or Moivavi (many wells). Mexican miners later called the site Ajo, perhaps influenced by another O’odham name for the area –-au-auho—for the pigment they obtained from the ore-rich rocks.

Ajo exists because of mining. The aforementioned Chamber of Commerce history webpage details the history of Ajo and mining. I’ll cover that information when I write about my visit to the New Cornelia Open Pit Mine Lookout.

Ajo has a lovely town plaza.

According to http://www.ajochamber.com/attractions/local-attractions/, the plaza

This photo shows the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church, which is west of the Ajo plaza.

This photo shows the Ajo Federated Church, which is west of the Ajo plaza.

was built in 1917 under the direction of John Greenway’s wife Isabella. The Spanish Colonial Revival style town square features a center park surrounded by retail shops, a post office and restaurants accented with two mission-style churches. The [Immaculate Conception] Catholic Church was built in 1924 and the Federated Church in 1926…The plaza was purchased by the International Sonoran Desert Alliance in 2008 and is in the midst of a multi-year process of restoration and revitalization.

This photo shows Immaculate Conception Catholic Church and mountains. I appreciate the crisp whiteness of the churches against the starkness of the mountains.

According to http://www.desertusa.com/cities/az/ajo.html, the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church

was designed by George Washington Smith, a Santa Barbara, California architect…The Protestant church [the Ajo Federated Church] was built in 1927 and influenced by the same architect. He died however before it was built and does not get full credit for it.

The Curley School is another historic building in Ajo. The Ajo Chamber of Commerce (http://www.ajochamber.com/attractions/local-attractions/) has the following to say about the Curley School:

Easily visible from the town plaza, Ajo’s Curley School is an architectural masterpiece of Spanish Colonial Revival style that harmonizes seamlessly with the rest of the historic downtown. The main building on the seven acre campus was built in 1919 with additional buildings added in 1926 and 1937. The Curley School has been renovated by the International Sonoran Desert Alliance into 30 affordable live/work rentals for artists…

This is the Curley School, named, according to http://www.cunews.info/curley.html, for Michael (“Mike”) Curley, first mine manager of the New Cornelia mine in Ajo. Mike Curley died in 1945.

A good place to start a visit to Ajo is the visitor center in the Ajo train depot, on the plaza. I found information about the New Cornelia mine and the Ajo Scenic Loop, as well as a map for a self-guided walking tour, all in that one spot.

This photo shows the building housing the Ajo Historical Society Museum. The building was originally St. Catherine’s Indian Mission.

Another place to learn about Ajo’s past is the Ajo Historical Society Museum, housed in the former St. Catherine’s Indian Mission. According to http://www.ajochamber.com/attractions/local-attractions/,

the museum houses many artifacts and mementos from Ajo’s past. The displays include a complete blacksmith shop, a dentist’s office and an early print shop.

I visited the Ajo Historical Society museum. No admission fee is charged, but donations are accepted. The first few displays, including the print shop, the dentist’s office, and blacksmith shop, are well organized and clearly labeled. However, the further back I went in the museum, the more the displays took on an elementary school social studies fair feel. Many of the displays seemed cluttered with items that were certainly old (by the standards of the Southwest) but didn’t seem necessarily significant.

Overall, I enjoyed my time in Ajo and would be pleased to visit again in the winter, when the weather in the desert is perfect.

I took all of the photos in this post.

Mar8

More Love Locks

Posted on March 8, 2016 by Blaize Sun

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These love locks hang on a heart sculpture on North Fourth Avenue in Tucson, AZ.

In a previous post (http://www.rubbertrampartist.com/2016/03/07/love-locks/), I wrote about love locks I’ve seen in a couple of locations in California; at the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge in Taos County, NM; and on North Fourth Avenue in Tucson, AZ. In this post I want to share more of the photos I took of love locks in various locations.

This lock was at South Creek Falls in California.

This love lock was at South Creek Falls in California.

Most of the locks I saw at South Creek Falls were rather plain and didn’t excited me enough to take a photo. (It was also a cloudy day, so the light was uninspiring.) The only lock that caught my eye was one with an allover coat of pink paint and bright blue the writing.

This love lock was on the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge in the fall of 2015.

When I walked across the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge–for the first time in over a year–in the fall of 2015 , I saw more love locks than I had ever seen before. I guess love locks are a thing now. I wonder if the NMDOT (New Mexico Department of Transportation, the government organization which maintains the Gorge Bridge) comes along periodically and removes the locks.

This love lock, seen on the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge in the fall of 2015, is unusual because it has no names on it.

This lock (seen at the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge in the fall of 2015 ) is so sweet. I hope Nolan and Anita love each other forever.

These love locks were attached to a heart sculpture on North Fourth Avenue in Tucson, AZ. The old-school locks made me really happy.

A twenty year anniversary love lock seen in Tucson, AZ.

More love locks seen on North Fourth Avenue in Tucson, AZ.

I saw so many love locks on the heart sculptures in Tucson! I took a lot of photos of love locks there. It’s difficult to pick out just a few photos to share.

Where have you seen love locks? Please leave a comment telling about your love locks sightings. Have you and your sweetie ever left a love lock somewhere? When? Where? Why? Please share those stories too.

I think it’s a little weird to use a “Master” lock for anything other than a BDSM relationship where there really is a master involved, but I do like the sentiment of “a love that will last for always.” Heck, for all I know, this love lock represents a loving master/slave relationship which will last for always. It’s none of my business what consenting adults do behind closed doors. In any case, this love lock was seen on North Fourth Avenue in Tucson.

All photos in this post were taken by me.

Mar5

Saddle Mountain

Posted on March 5, 2016 by Blaize Sun

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I first heard about the Saddle Mountain BLM (Bureau of Land Management) land at the 2015 Rubber Tramp Rendezvous. I ran into a guy I’d previously met in New Mexico, and he told me about the BLM land surrounding Saddle Mountain, but I didn’t make it out there before I set out for my summer job. In early winter 2016, my friend Coyote Sue took a trip to the area, and I decided I REALLY wanted to go there.

One reason I hadn’t gone sooner was because I didn’t have very good directions. The guy who first told me about the place pointed to it on an old Arizona map, but he wasn’t able to tell me what roads to take. I was a little worried about going out there and getting myself lost. Before I set out on my trip, I did some research by searching “saddle mountain free camping Arizona” on Google. I got a hit on the Free Campsites website.

On Free Campsties I found the GPS coordinates (33.458626, -113.055023) and plugged those right into Google maps. (Thanks Google!)

I’ll just go ahead and give directions so nobody has to do all that work him/her self.

From Interstate 10 in Arizona, take exit 94 toward Tonapah. Turn left onto 411th Avenue. Keep going south for almost three miles, passing Osborn Road and the Saddle Mountain RV Park. You’ll get to a T in the road. Turn right onto West Salome Highway. (If you go left, you will end up in Buckeye, AZ.) Drive for 5.2 miles, then turn left onto Courthouse Road. Both West Salome Highway and West Courthouse Road are paved and both have official street signs. After 1.8 miles on West Courthouse Road, turn left onto the Saddle Mountain BLM land.

Like a dumbass, I had not written down the distances I was supposed to go on each road. I found Salome Highway easy enough (411th Avenue ends, go left or right, no big deal), but I’d gotten a little worried after a couple of miles that Courthouse Road wasn’t signed, and I’d missed it. I kept going, then saw the sign for Courthouse Road and breathed a sigh of relief. I wasn’t lost. However, because I didn’t know how far I was supposed to go on that road and my last direction was simply “turn left,” I didn’t know where to turn onto BLM land.

I drove slowly and kept an eye to the left, hoping to see a sign. I didn’t see a sign, but I did see a kiosk. Although I couldn’t read the words Saddle Mountain on the top of the kiosk, I suspected I was in the right place and turned down the road. When I got closer and read the words up there, I knew I’d made it.

The kiosk didn’t have any information on it, other than one sign saying this is a pack-in/pack out area. (There are no amenities in this area, not even a trash can or a pit toilet.)

I drove south on the road, which I later found out is Route 8211. This road is not paved, but is what I would describe as a “good” dirt road. My conversion van had no trouble getting down it.

As I drove down Route 8211, I saw one RV, an older, medium size motor home which was about to pull out of its spot. The people in it waved to me as I drove by. During the time I was there (Wednesday afternoon to Saturday morning), I didn’t see any other folks camping in the area.

As I was trying to find a spot, I realized I could see bits of civilization to the north. Sure, I wasn’t looking at a metro area, but I could see vehicles (including many 18-wheelers) driving past on I-10. I could also see a couple of large industrial operations between my location and the interstate. I decided to park the van so my side doors opened to the south, which offered a view of mountains and cacti, not the trappings of humanity.

Once the sun went down, I could see a good number of ligths to the north and the northeast, which also detracted from the sense of being alone in the wilderness. Sure, Saddle Mountain is well out of the city, but I didn’t feel as if I were in the middle of nowhere.

That situation might have been remedied if I had driven farther down Route 8211. On Friday evening, I went for a walk to the south on that road and found many other places where folks had obviously boondocked before. There were plenty of flat spots to park a rig, and I saw fire rings made from rocks obviously gathered in the area. I didn’t move the van; I was much too lazy for that. However, next time I stay there, I will drive to the end of the road and try to find a place where I can’t see one bit of civilization.

Although I could see vehicles on the interstate, thankfully, I couldn’t hear them. I didn’t hear much human noise out there. The sound of a car engine passing on the road in front of the van did wake me up on Wednesday night. When I looked at my watch, I saw it was 11:30. I thought it was a weird time to go exploring, but whatever. I heard the car pass by again, headed to the main road, before too long. On Thursday morning, a couple and their dogs walked on the road in front of the van; the woman and I waved at each other. Several hours later, they walked past again, going back to their vehicle, I assume. On Friday the sound of a man and a little boy walking by caught my attention, but other than those situations, maybe two other cars driving on Route 8211, and a few aircraft flying overhead, I only heard the sounds of nature.

I absolutely enjoyed my time in the Saddle Mountain area, and hope to stay there again.

I took all of the photos in this post. They were all taken in the area around where I camped near Saddle Mountain.

Rubber Tramp Artist

One woman's stories, rants, and observations

Tag Archives: Arizona

Desert Botanical Garden

Red Tanks Tinaja Hike

Ajo Mountain Tour

Today is National Panda Day

Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument

The New Cornelia Mine (Ajo, AZ)

Ajo Scenic Loop and BLM Land

Ajo, Arizona

More Love Locks

Saddle Mountain