Catalina State Park

We’re still in Tucson but moved to the state park. We’ve been hearing a lot of coyote packs at night time. But here in the park we heard a pack right beside our RV. The howling was quite a thing to wake you up! The next day we saw a coyote while on a hike.

The RV park we were in last week had lots of hikes within the desert. Catalina State Park has more varied hikes. Some are along a creek (or would be if there was any water). There was more color here. 

Thought these were century plants, but these stems are from the yucca plants.

The Romero Canyon hike is very difficult and steep. I underestimated how much water we needed for this hike! The good news is that we talked to more people along this path since we all had to sit and rest. BTW, we saw red-tailed hawks sailing through the canyon along with a road runner.

Other hikes have more cactus, particularly the saguaro. The saguaro get more moisture here so many have lots of arms on them.

The park has lots of free classes. One was on the saguaro. This is a boot. It’s where a bird makes a nest inside the cactus. The cactus secretes a substance to coat the hole. Years later when the cactus dies, the boot can be found within the decomposed cactus. Native Americans used it to hold water.

Arizona Cactus

Ocotillo

In the last post I mentioned that a cactus jumped out and got me while biking. Apparently bikers here bring a hair pick along with them to remove the cactus pieces from their legs. Then they have a small pair of needle nose pliers to remove the spines. Doesn’t that make you want to ride a bike here?

The following are different types of cactus here in our ‘backyard’.

Cholla (buckhorn?)

Fishhook cactus

Hedgehog cactus

Prickly pear

Saguaro

Teddy bear cholla

Morning Walk in the Desert

I love taking a morning walk by myself and enjoy a desert walk. In the desert, the air is crisp. The colors are brighter and more golden in the morning versus the glare of the day. I can see animals such as rabbits along with lots of birds. I can think through the issues of the day or the meaning of life. While all that is wonderful, this morning was more exciting. As I was walking a path, I suddenly heard a whole pack of coyote less than 100 yards from me. I figured they don’t attack adults, but then I realized I’m about the height of a child so I grabbed a stick just in case. I hurried past the pack as quick as I could and there was no problem but it did get my heart beating!

Rocks and Deserts

We stayed a few days in Deming New Mexico. Nearby is Rockhound State Park. This is one of the few parks where you are encouraged to search and keep rocks. We just spent a couple of hours but found some nice rocks.

Rest areas can be very picturesque in this area.

We’re staying near Tucson Arizona for a couple of weeks. We visited a postal museum in town. Volunteers take donated stamps and use them for school lessons as well as sell some for funds.

The best part of the RV park where we are staying are the paths that run behind the park. The land connects to Tucson Mountain Park with acres of paths.

I would mention that the cactus can be extremely painful. The paths are advertised as both hiking and biking. The problem is that the cactus grows over the paths at times. It’s hard to both navigate swells and curves without hitting cactus. Ouch!!!

The desert is gorgeous with all types of cactus along with hills to climb.

I found small surface mines on the side of some of the hills. One had several leftover old style tin cans spread around that I assume were used by the miners.

Three Rivers Petroglyph Site

The bad news of our visit was that it was cold and windy. The good news was the surreal beauty of the setting with these varnished rocks set on a small hill on the plains with a mountain background. It really is in the middle of nowhere.

The site has over 21,000 recorded petroglyphs (wow!) made from 1000-1400 CE. We’ve seen a lot of petroglyphs before but many of these seemed more ornate or complicated.This bighorn sheep has 3 arrows piercing it's body.

Or some seemed just fanciful and would fit on a cartoon.

Visitors are allowed to crawl over the rocks on or off the path. We’ve been to sites that required binoculars to see the petroglyphs, so this was nice to be up close and personal. A bald eagle on the left?

Of course, no one really knows what the purpose of these glyphs really is or what some of them are supposed to show.  I think this was is a hand grabbing a snake. BTW, there are all kinds of warnings about snakes being among the rocks but given the cold temperatures we didn’t see any.

In honor of Christmas, I think this is a reindeer.

And this is someone trimming a Christmas tree.

 On the way back to the campground we had to stop at the world’s largest pistachio and buy some nuts.

Alamogordo

Today was still windy. We could see the sand storms over at White Sands. The funny part was that we went to see Fantastic Beasts. In it there is a beast that is a dark amorphous wind. When we stepped outside the cinema, the skies were dark and swirling with high winds. Scary!

The Museum of Space History is in town. There is a lot of local history in rocketry and space with the White Sands Missile Range nearby. We had fun crashing the shuttle and experiencing the sound and vibrations of take-off in simulations. Even the elevator is cool!

The museum has a moon rock, the gravesite of Ham the 1^st astrochimp, and cans from Skylab. BTW, John worked at Central States Can when they made the EZ-Open lids used in space.

Gene Roddenberry was in the most recent International Space Hall of Fame class. There is a major section on Star Trek.

White Sands

We were at White Sands Monument before, but I forget how annoying the sand can be. The last time it was windy, but this time it seemed more. You could see a cloud of sand rising from the ground for miles. It was like walking in a blizzard at times with sand blowing into your eyes. After our visit, we had to empty shoes, pockets, and brush down all our clothes.

I tried walking barefoot on the boardwalk again and had fun getting zapped with static electricity plus being embarrassing (no one else was barefoot).

Many people buy a sled to use on the dunes.

We just climbed the hills and experienced the wind.

And a sand angel!