good-times-rollin: desert flora

Sunday, April 21, 2024

Yavapai Point and Montezuma Well National Monument

Distant Drums RV Resort

Camp Verde, AZ

April 21, 2024

Our last two days at LDSP were spent staying put and just enjoying doing nothing...well unless you call walking, sitting, grilling and taking in the beauty something to do. Late afternoon walks to capture the sunsetting is magical at LDSP. The well known Superstition Mountains that grace the park all day turn from a dull brown/gray color to a beautiful orange/red color right before you eyes.

Morning walks with Sally...

Late afternoon magic...

Thursday was travel day.

Sally settled in under my foot stool...

I enjoyed watching the beautiful scenery...

and Joe did his thing managing the ups and downs, twists and turns of the highway.

We are now all settled in at Distant Drums with a nice pull-in site. We face west...I am happy !

And Sally is happy...she has grass.

The down side...the afternoon breeze has blown the Cottonwood tree's fluffy white seeds everywhere. The tree is huge and about three sites down from us.

It looks like it is snowing. The seeds stick to our clothes and in our...well, my hair and Sally's nose and the AC intake.

It's very much worth the mess.

So, what have we done the past couple of days. Friday was errands to restock veggies and dairy products, but not without a stop for maps at the Ranger Station/Visitor Center and a fun stop at Son-Silver first...both located on State Route 179. Even though we have visited Camp Verde several times during the past years, we have not stopped by the VC since April 2014...our first visit to the area. We took a few minutes to study the exhibits.

This was my favorite display.

It began with the footprints of a tiny field mouse and ended with these of the bear. When you flip the card there is lots of info about the animal. And yes, that is the bear's poop!

A favorite scenic drive is Red Rock Scenic Byway...also known as State Route 179. This byway is less than 8 miles from the interstate and ends within the Sedona city limits. There are many hiking/biking trails and parking areas along the road. There are also beautiful up close and personal red rocks.

Bell Rock and The Courthouse

Son-Silver is just fun and I can not imagine coming here and not going there.

Saturday was hiking day. Our choice for parking was Yavapai Point. We combined the Yavapai Vista, Basalt, and Slim Shady Trails for a nice 2.5 miles.

Lots of big views to take in along the trail...

And lots of little things too.

The creamy color of cliff rose...

Blue/gray Juniper berries...

Red and green Manzanita bushes

And dainty little daisies that put a smile on my face.

On the way home we made a stop at Montezuma Well National Monument. It's a new stop for us and just like Montezuma Castle, which we visited for the first time in the fall of 2022, we were glad we did.

The first POI is the ruins of a pithouse that was discovered here in 1958. It took three weeks to excavate this site.

The two larger holes in the middle of the dirt floor held the main roof support timbers and the smaller holes around the edge reveal the outline of the house where the wall posts were placed in the ground. The entry is the small extended section on the right.

The pithouse was built around 1050 AD by farming families who used the resources on hand for either a multi family home or a community structure.

Montezuma Well is really not a well and Montezuma was never here so why it is called Montezuma Well is a mystery to me. None the less, it is an amazing piece of history from years gone by. It's a nice paved walk up to the well. As with he castle we did not know what to expect and were quite surprised. The "well" is a limestone sinkhole that is continuously fed with water from an underground spring.

The "well" measures 386 feet in diameter from rim to rim and measures 55 feet deep. More than a million gallons of water a day flow into the well. To date, the source of the water has not been discovered. The "well" with its unique geology and primordial origins provides refuge to species of animals and plants found nowhere else in the world.

Near the top of the ridge is a cliff dwelling...

A downhill spur trail close by has two POIs.

The water in the "well" exits thru an underground side cave. First, you can see the spring that flows from the well. The water from the well that exits here has been used for many, many years by the people who lived here for irrigation and is still used for that today.

A few more steps down the second POI is another dwelling site.

The graffiti you see in the photo was by a photographer who left his advertisement for business there in 1818. He was a photographer...go figure!

The graffiti in the photo was left in 1896 by Duke Heflin...

Further along the main trail is one more spur trail that goes to the creek, the outlet, and the canal used for irrigation by the early inhabitants who lived here.

The narrow walk that hugged the cliff made it difficult to get a photo of the creek, but the sound of the running water was music to my ears.

Wet Beaver Creek is a tributary of the Verde River.

The outlet flows into Wet Beaver Creek.

The man-made canal for irrigating.

The up shot by the creek...

The down shot by the small canal...

Today was a stay at home with Sally day, reading, napping, and blogging kind of a day.

Hope you have a great week. Until next time,

Yavapai Vista Trail

One of the spur trails at Montezuma Well

HAPPY TRAILS!

Friday, May 5, 2023

Garwood Trail - Cholla

Corona de Tucson

May 5, 2023

I read that Saguaros are 35+ years old when they bloom.

During the raising children and working stage of our life, we took the usual vacations staying in condos to the Florida gulf and the Smokey Mountains and didn't venture too far from home. In August of 2000 we purchased our first RV. It was a 28' tow behind.

Skidaway Island State Park in Savannah, GA...summer 2003

By that time the kiddos had all flown the coop and Helen (Joe's mom who moved in with us in 1995) was living under our care. We think back on those years and are so grateful for Joe's sister Jo and BIL Chuck who graciously gave up a month of their time every summer to come stay in our home to take care of Helen. We enjoyed many trips with that little tow behind for 10 years. It even made a trip from Georgia to Delaware so we could go to the Monster Mile Nascar race in June of 2003. That was the year I saw Richard Petty and Kyle Petty standing on the corner where we exited the huge field used for parking on race day. No one had even noticed them standing there and I was the first to get an autograph. Getting to Delaware, race day, and coming home from Delaware was such a great trip. We adopted Dover in 2007 and that adventure was the reason Dover is named Dover.

The years flew by, the tow behind was traded for a 5th wheel toy hauler and we retired. Visiting the desert was not in our radar. In fact, exploring anything beyond the Mississippi was not on our radar. It wasn't until we were completely on our own in 2011 that we decided to trade the toy hauler and 2003 pick-up for the MH and said, "Westward Ho !" What a thrill ride that was...here, there and places in between for nine years. No matter what the destination...the desert always called us back.

This week we ventured east again towards the Rincon Mountains. Our choice for desert solitude was Garwood Trail in Saguaro NP-East. It was a perfect morning...blue skies and 68 degrees with a light breeze when we arrived at the trailhead at 8:00 am.

Having done this trail a couple of times before, we knew lots of cholla grew here. The cholla blossoms have been lagging behind the other cacti and we were hoping to see lots of color. It was great timing...

golden orange copper...

crimson red

yellow green...

pink red...

Stands of cholla are called cholla gardens. Individual plants within these colonies often have the same DNA and were "tubercles" from an original plant. It is impossible to capture all the cholla's collective blooming beauty in a single photograph, but here are a few close-ups...

I also think the woody trunks of the cholla trees are camera worthy.

About 1.5 miles into the trail, there is a crested growing on the banks of a dry wash. It is doing well. I love the arms !

The photo below was taken from the trail as we approached the wash.

The Rincon Mountains are a nice backdrop on this trail as it meanders up, down, and around in this tiny little section of the Sonoran Desert. We are happy to call this our backyard...