Phoenix Sonoran Preserve – A City Escape

Posted on January 24, 2014 by Roads Less Traveled

Apache Wash trailhead at the Sonoran Desert Preserve

Phoenix, Arizona, is a huge sprawling city that seems to creep further out into the desert with every passing day.

Each time we return to our old stomping grounds, we are surprised anew at all the changes.

Every saguaro cactus has its own personality

Roads we used to know like the backs of our hands now leave us utterly lost because we can’t find any of the old familiar landmarks.

With that kind of growth, and with new construction gobbling up the precious Sonoran desert at a scary-fast pace, it often seems that there can’t possibly be any open space left for the leisurely enjoyment of nature.

We didn’t get far before we stopped to take some photos

Everything within many miles of Phoenix has become either a master-planned community or a strip mall.

So we were utterly astonished when our friends Charlie and Cathie, who spend every free moment riding their bikes around town or hiking the many nearby mountains, asked us if we’d heard about the new road called Sonoran Desert Drive.

The Sonoran desert is very lush with
rich (and prickly) vegetation

New roads go in all the time, but they seemed truly excited about this one. “It’s eight miles long, has a great bike lane, no traffic, and is surrounded on both sides by open desert as far as you can see.”

In Phoenix? Impossible! We had to go check it out.

Sure enough, this beautiful, brand new parkway runs between Cave Creek Road and Dynamite on its eastern end and Dove Valley Road and North Valley Parkway to the west, without a hint of housing or development or urban living of any kind except at the cluster of homes tucked into its far western end.

A “jumping” or “teddy bear” cholla cactus

For about 8 miles, this parkway bisects a huge, square tract of open desert. Whoever knew that was there? When you are scurrying around the housing-lined city streets, zooming up this road and down that one, there’s no way of knowing what’s in back of it all.

Better yet, right smack in the center of this vast piece of land is the brand new Apache Wash trailhead that is now part of the Sonoran Desert Preserve system.

The sun peaks around a cactus in a starburst

The first time we drove along this parkway and hiked the trail, in December, the trail had been open for just a few weeks.

Groups of people with water bottles, hiking shoes, fanny packs and safari hats stood around in front of the brand new trail maps deciding which of the many choices of routes to try first.

The hummingbirds need those long beaks to drink the nectar without getting spiked!

Near the shade ramadas, a sun dial looking statue turned out to be a pointer system to the mountains in the distance.

This is a very beautiful trail to hike

The McDowells, Four Peaks and other mountains that surround Phoenix at distances of ten to thirty miles could all be spotted by lining up the pointer.

What a cool park! And what luck that we happened to visit just after a big rain. The air was as clear and crisp as could be, and the views to the horizon were haze free.

We set out on one of the trails at random, and of course we didn’t get very far before we had to start taking pictures.

This is a lush part of the Sonoran desert, rich with saguaro cactus, ocotillo and the many scrubby low lying bushes that always blanket the desert in pastel shades of gray and green.

The trail is open to mountain bikers…

Jumping cholla, or “teddy bear” cholla (pronounced “choy-ya”), are the short, cute, pale, fuzzy many-armed cactus that look so cuddly.

But if you get some skin, or clothes, or hiking shoes anywhere near their barbed needles, they will cling to you for all they’re worth. That’s how they got the reputation of jumping!

…and they were all having a blast on the trail!

If you step on one of their little round balls of needles that they shed so freely all around them, you will need a pair of pliers and a lot of patience to get all the needles out of the soles of your shoes!

I looked up when I heard the sound of wheels crunching the dirt, and suddenly saw a mountain biker barreling down towards us.

The trails are open to mountain bikers, and they all seemed to be loving their ride.

A saguaro tells a funny tale to an audience of barrel cactus

Turning 360 degrees at the summit we saw wide open desert in every direction

Horse shoe prints in the hardened mud.

Vast openness…
Ahhh… you can breathe!

The trail snaked around the backside of a hill and made a gradual climb.

As we ascended, I was astonished to look out across the valley and see nothing but desert vegetation.

We were in the middle of pristine Sonoran desert, and there wasn’t a home to be seen except right along the edges of the mountains on the horizon.

I heard a bird singing the most beautiful song.

He was just chirping away in the warm morning sun. I finally spotted him sitting in the branches of a Palo Verde tree on the hillside.

A horseback rider comes past.

It wasn’t a song I recognized, and I switched lenses really fast hoping to get his picture.

But my rustling around frightened him and he flew off. Or maybe it wasn’t the noise I was making…maybe it was the noise of the horses coming down the path!

We had seen horse hoof footprints in the hardened mud, and we had seen horse trailers down in the parking lot, but it was still pretty exciting when they came walking down the trail and passed us.

What a classic western image it made when they walked along the trail and off into the distance!

How beautiful to watch the horses walk off the “movie set” scene into the distance!

A cholla flower

As we took a different route back and wound our way down the mountain towards the parking lot, I kept thinking how wonderful it is that a place like this has been built.

Reflections on a beautiful walk in the desert…

Later, a little online research revealed that this trailhead was funded in part by the neighborhoods that abut the land, and that the Sonoran Desert Preserve is still expanding. Just a week prior to our first hike there, another 600+ acres had been set aside.

The Sonoran desert is a rare treasure that exists only in Arizona and Sonora, Mexico, and my heart breaks every time I see it being bulldozed for housing.

Bravo to the city planners that decided to create this park, and even better still, to make it open and available to everyone.

We have been enjoying getting reacquainted with the Phoenix area so much this winter — and we have been blessed with such unseasonably warm and sunny weather — that we’ll be sticking around a while and doing more desert explorations!

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To Catch a Hummingbird (on camera!)

Posted on January 18, 2014 by Roads Less Traveled

Our fifth wheel has a hummingbird window feeder

We love watching the hummingbirds come to our window feeder.

One of my favorite things to do when we set up camp is to put out our hummingbird feeder.

Hummingbird window feeder with suction cup

It’s hung with a suction cup – easy!

Hummingbirds always seem to recognize a feeder when they see one, and within a few hours of putting it out, we invariably have a tiny customer sitting on the perch drinking his fill.

There are lots of different kinds of hummingbird feeders on the market, but the one I like most for an RV mounts on the window with a suction cup.

A hummer visits our feeder at dawn

“Hello!”

We first saw one of these feeders when we spent a happy afternoon with our friends Bob and Donna Lea in their trailer during our first year of full-timing ages ago.

The hummers came by their feeder all afternoon, and the best part was that we could see them up close and at eye level while sitting comfortably on the couch.

This kind of feeder can also be a great way to get hummingbird photos, and the other day, while out in the Arizona desert, we decided to try our hand at being wildlife photographers from inside the comfort of our fifth wheel.

Swooping down for a drink

A simple concoction of 4 parts water to 1 part sugar (stirred up well to get the sugar to dissolve) is all it takes to lure the little guys to the feeder.

But the thing is, hummingbirds dart about erratically and move really fast.

Sometimes they hover for a while and look at you while they weave their wings back and forth in a figure eight pattern, as if they’re treading water. But then, suddenly, they turn and disappear in a flash.

Catching one on camera is not such an easy task!

He kindly hummed a little higher to give us a blue sky backdrop

Just as you get the bird in your viewfinder and have lined up the shot the way you want it and are ready to click the shutter — he’s gone.

Plus, the lighting can be tricky. Hummingbirds have irridescent feathers that light up like neon when the sun hits them in a certain way. But at other times their feathers look dull and dark.

Our feeder is often backlit by the sun, since we like to point our wall of windows to the south in the wintertime. This makes the hummers look like silhouettes, and frequently the lighting is such that their feathers don’t glow. at all

Hummingbird's feathers are dark in this light

Hummingbird feathers appear dark when they aren’t lit up by the sun.

The way we have our trailer oriented right now, though, the hummer looked truly stunning at the feeder when we stood in one particular spot during the early afternoon.

The only hard part was that in this light the hummer had a pretty good view into the trailer from his perch, and our movements inside made him nervous. So, he wouldn’t stick around, especially when we were aiming a big black thing at him through the window.

To circumvent this, we set up a tripod at that spot with a remote shutter trigger.

Hovering

Our thinking was that we’d preset the focus to the perch area and then stand away from the window and click the shutter whenever the hummer turned up. A foolproof method, for sure.

The hummer made his appearance on queue and put on a great performance.

He hovered on the other side of the window, peered in at us, decided it was safe, sipped daintily while hovering, settled on the perch to drink a little more deeply, and then took off.

We happily clicked away on the shutter. How perfect!! These would be awesome photos!

Getting his balance on the perch…

But when we ran through the pics on the back of the camera, it was a disaster! Every single shot was hopelessly blurry.

Arghh! The 1/125 shutter speed was waaaay too slow.

So we set up at a faster speed, 1/2000, and waited. And waited and waited. We could see him flitting about in the trees, but he was being coy and wouldn’t come anywhere near the feeder.

Mark got bored and sat down to read a book. “That’s why I like landscape photography,” He said.

But I held out. For a while. I fidgeted. I yawned. And after a while I turned and opened the fridge, figuring I’d pass the time by munching on something.

He gives us a big wave!

Just as I got my hands on a snack, I heard Mark mutter, “Your little buddy’s back!”

Oh no! I dropped everything and dove for the camera remote.

I clicked it just in time to get a shot of the tip of the bird’s tail and his feet as he took off — and totally missed the wonderful images of him hovering just outside of the field of view of the camera.

Darn!

Well, one thing was clear. The tripod and the remote were awkward to maneuver and were too rigidly fixed to capture this speedy, darting bird.

The wings beat so very fast…

So I put the camera on a monopod with the idea that this time I’d be able to swing the camera around more freely and focus on him wherever he was rather than pre-focusing and hoping he hung out where the camera was focused. And then I waited, And waited and waited.

Mark chuckled at me over his book while I stood there. “Looks like you’ve got it all set up…” He said.

“Yeah. All I need is a bird!”

But the hummer was playing hard to get. My feet got tired. My knees got tired. I rested my chin on the camera and groaned. Where was that bird?

Those little wings keep them suspended and stationary in the air

Then he suddenly appeared, and I flew into action.

I’d chosen 3D focus tracking to try to keep the little guy in focus as he moved around. It was a mode someone had recommended online for bird photography.

As I pressed the shutter button partway down, little focus dots lit up all over the hummer while he was moving about.

It drove me crazy as it focused on his head, his feet, his tail, and his wings, constantly shifting from one part of his body to another.

It was totally distracting, and the result was random body parts being in focus. Ugh! This technique might work for some people, but it definitely wasn’t working for me!

The colors on his head and neck changed with every move he made.

I’d read that the best animal shots have the eyes in perfect focus. What good was it if the feathers on the bird’s round little belly were in focus but you couldn’t see his face clearly?

My little visitor disappeared again, and I was disappointed in my photos again.

Besides having great focus on everything but his face, in this group of pictures the dimming afternoon light mixed with the dimming afternoon light had made the ISO climb sky high, so the images were coming out rather grainy.

So it was back to the waiting game with a few more adjustments. “It will be another 10 or 15 minutes,” Mark said. “He got a really long drink that time!”

Another wave… I like this guy!

Man! I don’t know how wildlife photographers do it. Here I was in the comfort of my own home, yet I was impatient and bored and uncomfortable standing around waiting.

Imagine being holed up before dawn in some blind you’d built out in the wilds of Africa! Could any animal shot be worth that kind of effort?

Well, at least I had nothing else really pressing going on. We could hear the little hummber out in the branches of the trees making his funny little clicking noises.

While waiting for the hummer, I spotted a Gambel’s quail sauntering by.

Suddenly a Gambel’s quail caught my eye. He strutted past the window on a mission, his little top-knot feather bouncing up and down as he walked.

I love these little birds too, and I lifted the camera to my face, monopod and all, and stood on my tiptoes to get a shot of him running by.

Just then, the hummingbird was back at the feeder. And I was out of position!

Mark laughed out loud as I tried to get lined up and refocused while muttering something unintelligible under my breath.

Eating on the fly!

I jammed the shutter button down for a rapid-fire series of shots.

This time I’d nailed it. I knew it! And sure enough, when I looked at the photos a few minutes later the results were terrific and I was triumphant.

I gloated quite a bit as I showed a few of the images to Mark.

Now he was intrigued. I sat down, my own little mission accomplished, and watched him set up shop.

Picture perfect!

A hummingbird peers in our trailer window

What a handsome little guy!

Ditching the monopod, he placed a tripod on the table and switched out the long 70-200 mm lens I had been using for a fixed length 85 mm.

He was bound and determined to make that remote shutter button work. I shook my head and said there was no way… but then, after a few attempts, he got some really spectacular shots!

Lately, our little bird friend has been hanging out with a buddy, and they seem to be taking our presence in stride.

I want to take this whole operation outside to get some images of them in the trees, and I had hoped to end this post with an awesome photo from the palo verde tree that’s just outside our trailer.

But our hummer and his friend have been keeping a low profile this afternoon. So, we’ll just have to wait and see if we can catch them tomorrow!

Love birds and animals? You might enjoy some of these other posts where we communed with animals during our travels:

Arizona, Here We Come – Space Aliens of All Kinds!

Posted on January 12, 2014 by Roads Less Traveled

Arizona’s beautiful scenery beckons us

December, 2013 – After saying goodbye to our sailboat Groovy in San Diego, we pointed our truck towards Phoenix, Arizona. The truck bed was piled high with all of our stuff, and a new life waited for us down the road in our trailer.

We decided to take it slow on our way there.

We were both quiet and lost in thought as we began to climb through the hilly area that separates the moist and green San Diego coast from the flat, brown, dry deserts to the east.

Strange alien spaceships and motorhomes on I-8

It’s a region of towering hills made of huge boulders that look like a giant bulldozer just dropped its load of rocks.

Yup, that’s an alien in there!

We had driven through this area many times, and every time we noticed a very strange collection of aliens, spacecraft and RVs parked off the side of the road.

This time, rather than keep going as usual, Mark decided to pull off the highway.

“I’ve always wondered about this place.” He said as he parked and reached in the back seat for his camera. We both hopped out and began to roam around.

Aliens in a motorhome too…

This funny place is a classic little piece of roadside Americana.

Someone has put alien figures inside of spaceships, motorhomes and assorted chairs and cars all along a frontage road.

They’re the kind of aliens that have the slanted, almond eyes and small mouths set in lightbulb shaped heads. So strange!

We wandered among these weird creatures, mystified. Who put this here? And why? It’s crazy, but it’s fun!

And there are some aliens sitting around in chairs!

There’s a tower at the top of the hill that appears to be a museum, but there was a sign saying “Sorry, we’re closed today.” Oh well, next time!

When we got to Phoenix, we went straight to the storage facility where our fifth wheel had been patiently waiting for us for over a year.

I think it was very excited to see us, but when it saw the load in the back of the truck, its knees appeared to buckle a little.

Our buggy has waited patiently in storage

It was already a fully outfitted home, and now we were bringing endless boxes of stuff back to it that had absolutely nowhere to go.

Yet it was all great stuff that we couldn’t bear to part with. Ugh!

How do you combine two households into one, especially when the one you’re moving into is 350 square feet? You’ve gotta make some tough choices.

The buggy gets a bath

And so it was. This spatula or that spatula? This set of socket wrenches or that one?

And what to do with all those awesome but unused stainless steel fasteners and spare parts we’d bought for the boat? They might prove useful out on some remote road someday.

We made many trips to Goodwill!

And all that clothing. Oh my goodness! We could have dressed an army — in bathing suits and tank tops!

Over the ensuing weeks we became regulars at the Goodwill drop-off center, and slowly our mountain of bins in the back of the truck dwindled to the point where we could actually find homes for everything inside the trailer.

A Mercury bared its teeth at us!

This isn’t the kind of project that makes either of us leap out of bed in the morning with excitement.

So we took our time as the holidays approached and did lots of other things.

While out driving around in Cave Creek one day, we bumped into a car show.

Smooth ride…

Mark can never pass up a chance to mingle with muscle cars, so we stopped to have a look.

Arizona is a mecca for car enthusiasts, whether they are buying new exotics from the row of Maserati, Lotus, Ferarri and other dealerships in Scottsdale, or primping their old cars for shows like this.

There were hot rods and rat rods and souped up cars of all kinds from yesteryear.

There were even some unusual motorcycles, including a few trikes that rumbled down the road.

A dirt biker does acrobatics over the crowd

What really caught our attention, however, was the dirt bike jumping show.

As the announcer began his patter on the microphone, we looked up to see a dirt bike flying high above the crowd.

Wow! Those guys are crazy!! They were all young boys in their late teens — one was only 16 — and with every jump, they soared higher and higher, doing wild and daring tricks in the air.

I was awestruck. We’ve seen this kind of stuff on TV, of course, but it was different to be standing so close that when they landed we could reach out and touch them.

These daredevils were amazing

At the end they all did wheelies past the crowd.

A more peaceful way to take to the skies around Phoenix is to go up in a balloon, and every morning the horizon was filled with them.

Balloons soaring…no acrobatics!

With a pretty cactus

Sometimes we could hear the roar of their flame heaters before we saw them.

The balloons make beautiful patterns in the sky

The balloons made wonderful, everchanging patterns in the air. Floating around in slow motion, they’d move up and down and drift past each other.

We were both so happy to be back in the desert. There is something about the Sonoran desert that is really appealing.

We just love the Sonoran desert

The cactus are so stately, and the sunsets are so colorful and varied.

Our son went tent camping at Cave Creek Recreational Area campground, and we spent a few hours with him at his campsite.

The campground was filled with RVs, and they all looked so snug and homey. Many of them had Christmas lights on.

We hung around the campfire, relishing the smell of mesquite wood that filled the air.

Even a brief downpour didn’t dampen our spirits, although we scampered off into the truck for the worst of it.

Cave Creek campground was full of RVs — and they looked so cozy and inviting!

And what a great campfire too…

We suddenly had such a longing to get back into our fifth wheel. “Soon, soon!” we told ourselves.

The little fake fireplace set just the right mood next to the tree…

Santa brought joy to everyone

In the meantime, though, the holidays were here and were wonderful. This was the first Christmas we had spent with our family in five years, and the coziness around the little fake fireplace in the living room was just as intimate and heartwarming as the real thing outdoors.

Santa came with a bountiful array of gifts for everyone, and we spent a marvelous holiday season immersed in the world of our young granddaughters, where innocence, iPod games, Wii dancing, pizza and Barbie rule. Whew!!

Our urge to set up housekeeping in our beloved buggy couldn’t be put off any longer, though, and the arrival of the new year saw us squeezing ourselves into the trailer alongside the last few boxes of unsorted stuff for an overnight, even though it was still parked in storage with no room to open the slides.

Our buggy was glowing when it found out we were going out adventuring together.

…and we were glowing too.

Within a few days we were out on our own again, the slides pushed out, the last boxes of things sorted and stored, and our spirits sky high.

We grabbed our bikes, suited up in our new Mexican “Bi-Zihuanas” cycling jerseys — gifts from our friend Alejandro who owns the very cool Bi-Zihuanas bike shop in Zihuatanejo (story here about 1/2 way down the page) — and we set out to ride the fabulous bike lanes of greater Phoenix into the far reaches of the desert.

It was our first real bike ride in ages, and it felt so good.

The wind was at our backs, the sun was on our faces, and we were so thrilled be alive and so excited to be looking down the road towards the fun of travel and exploration once again.

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Phoenix Parks – Saguaros and Sisters

Posted on November 27, 2009 by Roads Less Traveled

Our saguaro friends say "hi."

Holding the moon close.

Wearing a halo.

An early Cardinal travel trailer.

1940's vintage

Another vintage Cardinal.

Saguaro holding pen.

First glimpse of Bartlett Lake.

These saguars have looked down this hillside for

more than a hundred years.

View of Bartlett Lake.

Pretty roads wind through the park.

From high on a ridge.

Cholla cactus catches the rays.

Lakeside Camping

Yellow Cliffs

Every saguaro has its own

personality.

Campground Full.

Not !!!!

Stray kitty says hello.

She'll be the new station cat for the

hot-shot firefighting crew.

Bartlett Dam.

North end of the lake.

Another great kayak ride.

A blue heron stalks the

shore.

The Bicycle Haus team takes a break in their 85 mile ride.

Dirt roads wander through the desert.

Hallelulia

Swoopy saguaro

Warm (prickly)

embrace.

After old age.

White Tanks & Bartlett Lake, Arizona

Early November, 2009 - We left Havasu Springs Resort ready for an exciting

change of pace: White Tanks Regional Park on the west side of Phoenix. This is a

pretty park and campground set smack in the middle of some of the nicest Sonoran Desert

there is. We couldn't help but smile as the saguaro cactuses greeted us with arms held high.

The overall climate in central Arizona's Sonoran Desert

doesn't feel much different than the Mojave Desert of

Nevada, California and northwestern Arizona, but what a difference in vegetation. It is lush

and vibrant, filled with unusual plant life, singing birds and hopping bunnies.

The central figure in this desert is the saguaro cactus, and they give the area its charm. Each

one is unique, striking a pose with arms raised that suggests an almost reverent spirit. These

precious and protected plants define the landscape, and as we drove into the park we felt like

we were coming home.

We woke up the next morning to find that one

section of the campground had been taken over

by a raft of tiny, ancient trailers. Their owners, all

women, were gathered around a campfire,

and we learned that this was a rally of the

group "Sisters on the Fly."

Priscilla, one of the first members of the

group, invited me into her 1948 Pleasure

Craft trailer (unfortunately I never got a

photo). The woodwork was beautiful,

but it was the antique refrigerator with

its heavy external latch that caught my

eye. "That's what sold me on this

trailer," she said. "That and this stove

here." Both appliances were original,

and Priscilla was too. What a great

gathering of ladies and buggies.

With their sporty air of independence,

laced with a touch of sass, these gals

seemed to have a great weekend

together. I later checked out their

website, www.sistersonthefly.com, and thoroughly enjoyed their "Caravan Trailers"

link. It is a gallery of photos of their members' fantastic vintage trailers, many featuring

wonderful and humorous paint jobs. Started ten years by two sisters, the club has

grown to over 1000 members. What fun.

We left White Tanks to spend a little time at Bartlett Lake. On the

way out we passed the sad sight of what happens to saguaro

cactuses when developers do their thing. In order to build a new

library, something that will enhance the human community

immensely, the lovely Sonoran Desert abutting the park must be

cleared. In the process, the cholla cactus, mesquite, and creosote

bushes get mowed down without a thought. The saguaros,

however, are protected and endangered, so they get moved to a

holding pen for later transplanting. Seeing all these fun little

personalities standing in a jail cell, arms up, awaiting an unknown

fate, always makes my heart ache. It happens all over central

Arizona all the time, but that doesn't make it any easier to witness.

It is unfortunate that the most lush and gorgeous of our American

deserts has also turned out to be such a popular place to live. There are thousands of square miles of barren Mojave desert, but

the beautiful Sonoran desert that is unique to Arizona and northern Mexico has been systematically dismantled in Arizona for the

last century in order to make way for the urban sprawl of Phoenix and Tucson. If only those cities had been founded in a place that

didn't lose its unique beauty when bulldozed.

The road to Bartlett Lake is one of the area's most scenic. The

lake pops into view as you round a bend, and grows larger and

larger as you descend towards it.

Taking many bike rides along the roads that wind through this

part of the Tonto National Forest over the next few days, I kept

holding us both up by stopping to get photos.

This rich desert landscape is

otherworldly, although it is alive with

animal activity. The prickly plants of

all shapes and sizes ring out with the

unique calls and rustlings of the

Gambel's quails, curve-billed

thrashers, cactus wrens and gila

woodpeckers.

Teddy bear chollas look so cuddly I

always find myself stomping into the desert to get a closer

look, only to find myself sitting with a pair of pliers later,

yanking their long thick thorns out of the soles of my shoes.

There is dispersed camping along the lake's shores, and

because the lake was being drained to an unusually low

level during our visit, to allow for dam repairs, the choice of

campsites was immense.

We rode down to the Yellow

Cliffs and circled back to our

campsite. This area is layered in

memories for us, as we used to

ride our bikes out here

frequently to "get in some miles" and get away from the city, Mark

used to bring his kids here to swim, and we spent some happy

nights here in our popup as well.

Shortly after we pulled into our

campsite, we heard an incessant

meowing. A little black and white kitty

suddenly came over to us and started

rubbing herself on our legs. Where did

she come from? The nearest house is in a huge masterplanned

community of mansions 14 miles away. There was no way this

little cat had come that far. Her coat was still clean and she was

perfect coyote snacking size. We guessed she had been

abandoned or had snuck out of someone's car during a visit to

the lake in the last day or two.

We gave her some tuna,

and watched her lustily

chow down and lick the can

clean. She promptly

adopted our top front step

as her own and spent the

afternoon watching the

world through half-closed

eyes from that vantage

point. We couldn't keep her

and kept racking our brains

to come up with a friend in the area who might need

a cat these days. None came to mind.

But at that moment a US Forest Service truck pulled

up and two young fellows jumped out. They were

on the hot-shot forest fire crew for Tonto National

Forest and were busy trimming trees while waiting

for the next forest fire to break out. They took one

look at the little kitten and fell in love too. "Our

station cat was really old and he just died," one of

them said. "We need a new station cat!" How cool

is that. The guys said they still had a stack of cat

food back at the station too. The kitty hung out in

the shade near the fire fighters for the rest of the

day, and they whisked her off to the station once

their shift ended. Truly one of the best stray cat

stories I've ever seen.

We've been to Bartlett Lake

countless times but had never

explored its back roads that wind

behind the dam. After a steep

climb we got a great view of the

lake and then descended to the

river beyond the dam where there

are small campsites.

We even got out on the kayak and had

a chance to get up close and personal,

checking out the exposed shoreline. A blue heron was patiently

fishing nearby.

One Saturday morning we got a glimpse of our old lives as the

Bicycle Haus bike team arrived from Scottsdale, flying down the

final screaming descent towards the lake. We rode with

them back up to the ranger's station, some 14 miles from

the lake, and were glad we didn't have another 30 miles to

go after that to get to the starting point like they did.

Instead, we wandered along the roads at a slow pace, taking

leisurely photos of our dear friends, the saguaros.

In the backs of our minds we were mulling over what to do once

the winter weather started to arrive. We didn't know just yet, but

new and different kinds of adventures were in store for us on the

Caribbean island of Grenada.

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Roosevelt Lake, AZ – Desert Oasis

Posted on April 15, 2009 by Roads Less Traveled

Roosevelt Lake Arizona Tonto National Forest Campgrounds

Roosevelt Lake Arizona Tonto National Forest Campgrounds wildflowers

Roosevelt Lake Arizona bridge to Tortilla Flats Arizona

Roosevelt Lake, Arizona

April 5-18, 2009 - We left Chanute, Kansas in a blast of cold headwinds.

Those miserable winds pummeled us all the way across Oklahoma, Texas

and New Mexico. We were totally windblown by the time we arrived in

Arizona, and we were utterly fed up with fighting it every time we set foot

outside the trailer. Our usual mileage of 10 mpg while towing dropped as

low as 7.7 through parts of Oklahoma, and for the entire trip across

country our average was a dismal 8.5.

The truck and

trailer looked

like heck when

we got to

Arizona, and

we did too. So

it was with great excitement that I

opened our door and looked out

at the lake on our second

morning and felt not just warm

sun on my skin but the sweetest

of gentle breezes on my face.

This is one of those areas that is

a little jewel on our planet.

Coming into Windy Hill Recreation

Area there is a fantastic curvy

road, and I spent several happy

hours on two different days

running up and down the road

getting pictures of RVs as they

drove past.

Roosevelt Lake was dammed in 1911, and at the time was the largest

man-made lake in the world. We had lived in Phoenix, next door to this

little piece of heaven, for years, yet we had never been there. I couldn't

believe how beautiful it was. If we had known about it, we would have

camped there every spring and fall weekend in our popup tent trailer.

The lake is open to boaters of all kinds, and a marina sits next to the

visitors center. There are lots of houseboats at the marina. What a fun

place to roost for a while.

We had ridden our bikes on just about every road in the area with

various organized bike rides over the years, but the one spectacular

road that runs alongside the lake was a whole new discovery for us.

Everything

seemed to be

in bloom when

we arrived, and

the high winds

had blown

every bit of dust

and pollution to

kingdom come,

so the air was

crisp and clear.

The lake was

full to

overflowing,

and the views

in every

direction were

filled with the

promise of

spring.

We were blessed with a full moon

during our stay, and a group of birds

swooped back and forth in front of

the moon as it rose one evening.

The entire lake is smack in the

middle of Tonto National Forest, so

there is virtually no development

anywhere other than the slightly

developed campgrounds and an

Indian cliff dwelling site nearby. I

was amazed by how many

campgrounds there are, and how

many campsites within each

campground. The USFS has closed

several campgrounds and closed

many loops within the open

campgrounds, probably because

they just don't get enough

business to make it worthwhile to

maintain it all.

The campgrounds are set along little peninsulas, and many campsites

have a waterfront view. Whoever designed the campgrounds along this

lake did an outstanding job. There is boondocking too, but the

campgrounds are so spacious and pretty that we opted for a waterfront

site at the end of a peninsula instead.

Throughout our visit the cameras just kept clicking. In every direction

we turned there seemed to be another lovely shot. Friends of ours

were camped nearby, and each evening the discussion always seemed

to wander back to the various photos all of us had taken during the day.

One evening I

came back from a

bike ride to hear

an excited

discussion around

the campfire

about a clump of

clover and a bee.

This little bee had

unknowingly

become a

supermodel for the afternoon, and we

had fun comparing all the different

photos of him.

The Sonoran Desert is one of my

favorite places. It extends from

Arizona into Sonora, Mexico, and is

extremely lush, filled with a wide

variety of flowers, birds and cactus. It

is the only place in the world where

the wise old saguaro cactus chooses

to live, and they rule the landscape

with a myriad of personalities, all

seeming to wave a greeting to their fellow cactus.

The saguaros that have a cluster of arms are often 150 years old or

more. Those cactus grew up in a very different world -- one with a

small river instead of a lake, for starters.

The main road hugs the lake for many miles, and on a few

days we ventured out to Tonto Basin, a small community at

the far north end of the lake. On those morning drives the

hillsides were alive with bright yellow flowers and towering

cactus, looking down at the lake. In the distance we could see

Four Peaks, an aptly named mountain range that makes a distinct

landmark on the horizon when looking east from Phoenix. Here we got

to see its back

side.

A bridge spans

the river just

before the

dam, and every

time you drive

by it begs you

to take a

picture.

On several days we went out in the

kayak and pedaled and paddled

around. The wind resumed its howling

every few days, so we had some

sloppy times on the water with the

spray flying. But there were some

really calm days too. Those were

times of heavenly relaxation and

serenity.

The lake is an interesting habitat because it is in the

middle of the richest Sonoran Desert land, but

because the body of water is so large, ducks, grebes and even seagulls set up

housekeeping here too. Whenever we would go out in the kayak we were always

amazed to see hundreds of grebes swimming around. They would alert each other to

our presence with frantic calls, and as we approached, one by one they would dive

underwater. At the same time we could also hear the calls of the Gambel quail from

their perches in the desert scrub along the shore.

The fishermen complained

that the fishing wasn't too

good. That surprised us,

because we saw all kinds of huge fish leaping out of the water as we

paddled. Maybe their noisy powerboats were scaring off their catch.

The cycling in this area is spectacular as well.

There are a lot of organized rides sponsored by

the Arizona bike clubs that travel many of the

roads in this part of the state, however I know of

none that go along the lakeside road (route

188). It would be the perfect location for an

organized ride: stunning scenery, challenging

climbs, screaming descents, and lots of picnic

areas for rest stops.

Roosevelt Lake is a gorgeous place, and we

felt blessed to be able to spend a good bit of

time there.

A little cardinal sang his heart out on one of our last mornings.

He seemed so happy to be alive. Roosevelt Lake makes you feel

that way. Sadly, we eventually had to pack up and go. We drove

the beautiful lakeside road one last time and then turned west

once again to journey on to California.

Fiery Sunsets and Interesting Folks in the Arizona Desert

Posted on January 15, 2009 by Roads Less Traveled

Groups mark their territories and gather in the desert

in Quartzsite.

Whiling away the morning making music in the desert.

"Rowdy" of Cutler's Bull & Donkey Show

Quartzsite welcomes

characters of all kinds....

....no dress code required.

People come from all over, any way they can.

I heard a noise and looked out the window to see this

plane land a few feet from our trailer!

The desert pilots fly all manner of craft, but they have

nothing on the natural airborne essence of the

hummingbirds.

Sunrise

Sunset

Classic Sonoran Desert scenery at the White Tanks

mountains west of Phoenix.

The small cholla cactus applaud the silent, serene

performance of the Saguaros.

Water !!

And here it is, about 200 yards from the rock sign that the

ancients carved.

Arizona Deserts

December, 2008 and January 2009 - After Yuma, we stopped in Quartzsite en route to Phoenix for the holidays. This became the

first of a delightful string of reunions with friends and family that filled our winter months, and we returned again in January. As we

first settled into the strange desert living that characterizes boondocking in the Quartzsite BLM land, winter arrived with a

vengeance. The land is ideal for RVs - flat, level, and hard-packed, as if it were paved. But it is very exposed, with only some low

desert scrub brush and the rare saguaro cactus and hummingbird as company. When the wind decides to blow the trailer rocks!

We camped next to our friends Bob & Donna Lea whose 20 years of

experience with winter camping in Arizona's deserts was invaluable as we

tackled the project of installing a new heater. Their warm company made

the chilly, grey days pass very quickly, and we had a chance to compare

our solar setups (see notes at bottom of that page).

Each January, when it plays host to a series of gem shows and the

annual RV show, Quartzsite swells from a truck stop with a few homes

and small

stores to a 120

square mile

parking lot

filled with

retired RVers

from the north

country. RVers gather in groups of all kinds, marking their territory with

signs. "Loners on Wheels," "The Gadabouts," "Escapees Boondockers,"

and manufacturers' rallies fill the desert for miles in every direction. A

paper plate with a couple's names on it and an arrow is enough to signal

friends to a gathering location. There is no reservation system and no

management of these crazed senior citizens, so if you arrive and your

favorite spot is taken, you find another spot.

This year the Montana Owners' rally was the most impressive, even

though they took our friends' preferred spot by their favorite saguaro. The

group drew an enormous circle in the desert floor, and as each rig arrived

it was carefully parked in a spoke pattern around the circle. Some 50

Montana fifth wheels showed up, and

they formed a perfect circle around their

mammoth campfire.

Quartzsite is filled with unusual

characters. As we walked one morning

we passed a couple making music

outside a rig. He had been a

professional musician in his day, and

she was enjoying his pointers and

accompaniment. Another day we were greeted by a

couple that puts on an animal show with their farm

animals in nearby Bouse. They were doing rig-to-rig

advertising as they drove their animals through the

desert and invited people to their show.

Sightings of "rare birds" is common in Quartzsite, and

people watching is great entertainment for everyone.

We visited Paul's Oassis Books

bookstore again, and he was

dressed in his holiday finest.

Seeing Quartzsite out of

season makes you wonder

what would ever draw anyone

to visit this desolate, dusty,

shabby town. But in January

people arrive

from all over,

and the town

comes alive.

We are accustomed to seeing hummingbirds at our trailer window's

feeder, but where else would you peek out your window to see a small

plane land just a few feet away? We got a wave from the pilot when he

took off again!

Not just

Quartzsite's

culture but its

skies come alive

morning and

evening as well.

We were

blessed with

several stunning

sunrises and

sunsets.

I loved the way

the whole desert

sunset scene

would be

reflected in the

rear window of

our trailer.

Between visits

to Quartzsite,

we stopped in

Phoenix for

Christmas. We

took several

wonderful hikes

in the White

Tank mountains

west of the city.

One hike goes to a waterfall that runs

only after a torrential downpour. We were lucky and got a downpour and the waterfall was still

running when we hiked in. I was fascinated to see a rock covered with petroglyphs showing

squiggly horizontal lines. Clearly, the people who lived there a thousand or more years ago

noted the occasional presence of water by pecking out the universally recognized symbol of

water on the rock face.

After the holidays we

snuck back to San Diego

for the January sailboat

show.

Other blog posts from our RV travels to Quartzsite:

Quartzsite Lite (2022) 03/26/22
What’s It Like to RV in Quartzsite AZ? Anything Goes! 02/02/16
Quartzsite RV Show – RV Stuff and So Much More! 01/30/16
Quartzsite, Arizona – The RV Gathering Place 01/26/16
The RV Show in Quartzsite AZ – More Than Just RVs! 02/07/15
Sunset over RVs in Quartzsite AZ 01/24/15
Quartzsite Arizona – RV Madness in the Desert! 01/21/15
Fiery Sunsets and Interesting Folks in the Arizona Desert 01/15/09
Quartzsite, AZ – Snowbird Roost 12/05/07

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