Desert Delight

We’re on the road now heading toward Michigan.  Weather looks favorable, and we hope to be back in Ypsilanti later this week.

I wanted to add one more blog post to this year’s trip – just for the record.  Our last week in the desert with Annie and her 10-month-old pup, Louise, is worth noting.  They joined us at Patagonia Lake, AZ, after a 15-hour drive from Petaluma, CA.  Annie’s little orange Prius C carried them through torrential Los Angeles area rains and nearby landslides to arrive safely Saturday evening at Site #88.  The rainy cool weather that followed her there helped her decide to not set up her tent, but to join us in the Pickle Bus.  That was cozy!!! (2 people and a dog on the bed, one person and a dog on the couch. Perfect!)

With her people-only, who-cares-about-dogs, throw-me-the-ball disposition, Nina didn’t exactly greet Louise with an open door welcome. However, she was VERY excited to see Annie, and, within 15 or 20 minutes, she was willing to tolerate Louise, too.  After a couple of days, Nina and Louise were sharing food, water, and toys, even those beloved round objects.

On Annie’s 4^th day at Lake Patagonia, when our 2 weeks were up, we moved 3 ½ hours west to Organ Pipe National Monument. We love the Sonoran Desert! It was looking lusher than ever this year after the extra rain southern Arizona has been getting.  Ocotillos were fully green with red buds opening.

We only had  two full days at Organ Pipe and enjoyed every bit of them. The five of us hiked the Desert View and Alamo Canyon trails, drove through Ajo Canyon and picnicked at Interpretive Stop #11, caught sun rises and sunsets, and sat outside in the evening to gaze at Venus, Mars and the stars against the dark sky.

Saturday morning Annie left for home and so did we. I think Nina misses Louise.

Scrambled Rocks

 Today Annie and I hiked the Cottonwood Trail at the Sanoita Creek Natural Area just up the road from Patagonia Lake State Park. It was a fantastic morning for a trek on the rocky path that winds down hills, over boulders, through mesquite woods into the canyon where Sanoita Creek runs. We stopped by the stream's edge to rest and eat our snacks hoping to get a chance sighting of a green kingfisher. We didn't, but we were ready for the hot walk up and out (it was 1:00 by then) and back to the car.

A few days ago, Michael and I did the Petroglyph Hike from the campground visitor's center. It was led by Ranger Pat. We walked the birding trail, crossed the stream, and continued walking to the opposite side of Lake Patagonia to the base of a big hill. We had hiked that trail 3 years ago - you know the time Michael slipped on rocks when we were almost back to the base of the hill and pulled a few muscles as he created a small landslide of rocks.
It's a rocky watch-your-feet kind of walk and this time we hiked right up to the top of the hill to a big pile of large red rocks. That's where the petroglyphs are. On the rocks. Tumbled every which way. These petroglyphs - "images created by removing part of a rock surface by incising, picking, carving, or abrading" - were created up to 2000 years ago. In order to see the petroglyphs up close, one must scramble around on the big red rocks. That's what we did - on all fours, inching down the rock faces and climbing over them.

                                                                                

Rock Scrambling - The art of climbing over large rocks in such a way as to not fall off a mountain.

Catching Up

 We're camped at Patagonia Lake State Park in southern Arizona now. We've done a few bird walks on the birding trail, a full moon hike up the road at Sonoita Creek Natural Area, and a birding pontoon boat tour around Patagonia Lake. Afternoon outdoor sitting and sunset watching are two other main activities.
  It's cloudy today! I thought this would be a good time to add a catch-up page to the blog.

     Out in the middle of nowhere, not too far west of Marfa, Texas, along state highway 90, there is a small Prada store. The large glass storefront windows and door beckon you to stop. Fancy women's shoes and handbags line the shelves inside.
                                             Really?? No.

 The whole thing is an art project. Built in 2005 by the Art Production Fund, a nonprofit, created by artists Elmgreen & Dragset.
Beside the boutique-that-never-changes someone has added a LOVE sign to the telephone pole, and behind the shop, to the fence, visitors have clipped different kinds of padlocks, some with inscriptions of love, some with notes containing names and addresses.
  It's all very surreal, as was the intent, I guess. We stopped there the day we drove from Davis Mountain State Park north of Big Bend, Texas, west to New Mexico, through El Paso.
  

After spending that night at Pancho Villa State Park in Columbus, N. Mexico, we drove into Arizona and stopped at Whitewater Draw near  McNeal to see the wintering sand hill cranes. We've stopped there before - every time we're in the area, as a matter of fact. It's always surprising and inspiring to experience thousands of tall feathered friends at once!

Coronado National Forest

 Wow! Just wow! We drove the 29.6 miles south from Sanoita, AZ, on a curvy, up-and-down, narrow, sometimes rough (but PAVED!) road to this - - our campsite overlooking Parker Canyon Lake in the Coronado National Forest in the Huachuca Mountains.  The golden grass-covered hills are dotted with live oak trees and alligator-skinned junipers, and as you get deeper into the forest, the number of trees increases until the hills look green from a distance instead of golden.

We're at 5400 ft. elevation.  The air is clear and fresh. The sky is blue and the sun shines.  It was cold this morning, but there was no frost. How cold was it, you ask? Not sure. Without cell service, I can't check my weather app.

This morning we walked down to the lake. There's a marina there with kayaks, canoes and paddle boats for rent. A couple of people were fishing from the fishing deck.  The marina store was not open. It's closed on Mondays and Tuesdays.  That may be one reason it is so quiet here.  I suppose on weekends there is more activity, although the long drive into this place might prevent any old Tom, Dick or Harry from venturing in.

And it's quiet in the campground. There are only 7 or 8 other RVS here in this 31-site loop. After all, there is no electricity, no flush toilets, and one water faucet near the vault toilets (which fortunately are kept very clean.) I'm guessing it's the wandering adventurers, the true quiet seekers and/or the lovers of nature's secrets who spend time here.

On that note, the three solar panels, added to the Pickle's roof shortly before we left Michigan, work beautifully to charge our battery on these sunny no-electricity stop-overs.

Bends in the River

 Big Bend National Park is named for the significant direction change the Rio Grande makes at what is the southwestern "tip" of Texas.  But have you ever looked at a map of the whole southern border of the state? The Rio Grande (Rio Bravo del Norte to Mexicans) is 1255 miles of bends and curves and squiggly switchbacks. Oh, wall builders, you have a challenge!!!

When we left Big Bend National Park after 3 nights of no power, no showers and no cell service, we drove to Davis Mountain State Park north of Fort Davis, Texas.  We "plugged in" to brew coffee in the coffee maker instead of using hot water and the French Press, we "fired up" the laptop to view emails and world news via the hotspot and the booster, and we took long hot showers.  We felt like we were back in the real world, like we'd returned to civilization.  Being hooked in and powered up DOES feel natural to us.  There's a certain inner relaxedness, I guess that I associate with being able to contact others and know that I can be contacted.

But there's also this:
    At Big Bend it's easy to lose track of time.  At Big Bend time loses its meaning.  If one's day is normally structured by morning news, timely phone calls, reminder texts or daily emails, and those markers become unavailable, then, really, one just lives out the day.  And whether it's Wednesday or Thursday, the 2nd or the 3rd, is irrelevant.  At Big Bend, the only imposed time structure is remembering what day you need to leave your campsite, and THAT you wrote down on a tag when you arrived and you hung the tag on the post at the edge of the driveway.
    
My iPhone and me.  We are, oh, so used to getting through our days together.  And I know I will go right back to depending on news stories and emails and texts and phone calls to give structure and meaning to my day-to-day existence.  But this spaciousness, this open state of accepting presentness and nothing more here at Big Bend ...... needs to be remembered from time to time.

The natural walls of Santa Elena Canyon

4 Days of Falcon

vegetation at Falcon State Park

Falcon State Park --- a few miles west of Roma, Texas --- a nice place to spend a few days. We stayed 4 nights. The campground is built on a vegetation covered bluff above the Rio Grande. The river is wide there, as in reservoir, due to a dam built across the river in the '50s. A local road to Mexico runs across the dam with an inconspicuous, little-used border crossing.  Roads within the campground lead down to the water, to a boat ramp and to a day-use picnic area.  Birding/hiking/biking trails run around the park's perimeter and a small herd (5, I think) of javelinas roam the campground looking for snacks.

Falcon is one of the few state parks in Texas that doesn't enforce the 14-day camping limit, so 2-month stays are common. That makes for a little different friendliness amongst RVs. Some of them have been spending winters together for years. The coffee pot is always full at the little community building, a couple of jigsaw puzzles are usually going, and everyone is encouraged to attend the Thursday night potlucks. The night we went, a 50th wedding anniversary was being celebrated with cake and ice cream for dessert.

The nearby town of Roma was founded by Spaniards in about 1767. Some interesting old buildings stand around the town square. I especially liked views of the gorgeous Rio Grande winding its way through town.

And also worth mentioning is the ever present blimp-like surveillance-system aerostat. It's tethered just east of Roma and floats 2500 feet above as the wind prevails. It was always in sight during our 4 days at Falcon Park.

javelinas outside the Pickle

Old doorway in Roma

Rio Grande in Roma

More Refuge

The day we left North Padre Island, we drove south on 77 to McAllen and then east to the little town of Rio Hondo. Its houses line the Arroyo Colorado, a manmade canal, that's quite picturesque. It sees a lot of local fishing activity as well as barge traffic. The county operates a park on the canal's bank and that's where we spent one night. Only one other camp site was occupied, but there was lots of fishing activity down at the boat ramp till  dark, and until midnight, fishing was allowed from the fishing docks.

Arroyo Colorado, Rio Hondo

The Pickle on the Arroyo

 The next day we drove to Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge. It sits on the mainland side of Laguna Madre. That's the water between South Padre Island and Texas. It sounds like a quick trip since we were just on North Padre and our campsite at Rio Hondo was really just over the Refuge's western boundary. But you know those refuge centers ..... miles of driving. This time on really bad roads. And a long detour. When we finally arrived at the Visitor's Center, it was closed. However, a friendly volunteer was waiting outside to help us with anything we needed to know. Which was: what are the chances of seeing an Aplomado Falcon, an endangered bird I had never heard of until our daughter Annie, texted us the list of birds seen at the Refuge a couple days before. The falcon was on it, and it caught my interest.
So we took the driving tour and scanned the sky for the sought-after bird. We didn't spot it, but we did see two Crested Cara Caras, green jays, and two javelinas (not birds.)

Green Jays

Yes, ocelots have a den in the refuge.

Javelinas

Taking Refuge

 Talk about a wild goose chase! Or what we do on a wildly windy day when camped on the North Padre Island beach.  We chase cranes – whooping cranes that is.

Sunday, January 22, our 3^rd day camped on the island.  It was sunny and clear, but oh, that onshore wind gusted upwards of 40 mph.  It was definitely not a good day for beach bike riding, which we tried, or any beach activity, really.

Aransas National Wildlife Refuge became our destination, in the Mini. The hundreds of designated Aransas Refuge acres provide foraging for the Whooping Cranes wintering in the area. We drove north on Mustang Island and caught the car ferry at Port Aransas – one of several ferries operating simultaneously across the channel to the mainland.  Continuing north we drove through Rockport and Fulton and then out to the Refuge. You know those crazy Wildlife Refuges --- They’re always out in the middle of nowhere.

We drove miles past flat tilled fields waiting to be planted with cotton on a carless country road to get to the road leading to the Aransas NWR Visitor’s Center. We checked in.

At one stop on the car tour through the Refuge, we saw 2 lazy alligators resting on the bank of a pond.

At another stop, from the top of a 40 ft. observation tower, looking out toward the Gulf, way off in the distance, standing in long grass (this is the build-up, folks!) we spotted what we came for. And when we could hold our binoculars steady in that blow-me-down kind of wind, we gazed upon 3 whooping cranes. Too far away to take an iPhone photograph, you'll have to use your imaginations.   

Mission accomplished!

                                                        Ferry crossing

Zoom in to see the alligator!

Sunrise on North Padre