Wupatki and Sunset Crater Volcano and MNA

Yesterday we drove back into Flagstaff and then north to two National Monuments - Wupatki and Sunset Crater Volcano.  Wupatki Pueblo was started about 1090 Ce and at the height if it's life, over 2000 people lived there.  There were over 100 rooms, ball courts, kivas, that were excavated and now preserved under the National Park System.  What is truly amazing is how did they live in the harsh environment and survive under the dry desert heat and winds?  By 1400 all the inhabitants have left and the pueblo fell into ruins from the forces of nature.  From a distance standing at this pueblo, you can see two other ruins, not open to the public.  This pueblo is located on the Little Colorado River and between this river and the small caches of water pockets, these Hopi Indians eked out a life.  We had to drive through Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument to get to Wupatki, see the mountains that define this Flagstaff area and also from a distance you could see the Painted Dessert.

After walking around the ruins and learning about Wupatki, we drove back into Sunset Crater and stopped and hiked along the lava fields.  Scientists believe that this Volcano erupted about 1000 years ago, a middle-of-the-road in terms of explosiveness and eruption.  Based on dating of downed trees, they believe Sunset erupted numerous times over a period of 150 years - from about 1050 to 1200 Ce.  The lava fields are amazing to see, and with the eruptions also came earth quakes, which had to affect Wupatki and neighboring pueblos.  To see how life has began again, and wild Apache plume - a beautiful pink flowering bush living in the middle of the cinder flow and pine trees growing in the middle of the lava field - amazing.

We drove back into Flagstaff and went to the Museum of Northern Arizona which explained how the ancient peoples lived, who they were (Zuni, Hopi, Navajo) and their life history was quite informative. This museum is a privately funded establishment and I was thinking when I got into their gift shop - to maybe get a piece of turquoise jewelry - well, not.  Cheapest piece was $1200. Pretty, but don't need it.

Tuesday we pack up and head north, driving around the eastern side of the Grand Canyon to a town called Glendale, Utah.  We will be centrally located to Zion National Park, Bryce Canyon National Park, the north rim of the Grand Canyon, and also be near Cedar Breaks National Monument.

Grand Canyon NP

Yesterday morning we drove to the south rim of the Grand Canyon National Park, about 51 miles north of Williams.  After viewing two different movies about the history and formation at the visitor's center, we started our 'look see' at Mather Point.  Then decided to continue walking the rim westbound towards Grand Canyon Village which is about a 2 mile walk from Mather.  We had been to this park in 1986 for the first time, then again in 1991 - and now it was 21 years since being here.  Has it changed?  No, the look and views are the same which is breath taking and awesome and beautiful.  What has changed is what we knew as Babbitt's General Store is now called the Market Plaza and there is a lot more interactive things along the trail. There were so many people there but we did not feel overwhelmed - the trail is nice and leaves you with the feeling you are along. The bottom picture shows the Bright Angel Trail which switches back and forth to the bottom of the canyon which drops over a mile in depth.  The rangers say you need a gallon of water to take on this hike and it's only for those who are experienced hikers.  Needless to say, we will not be going down this trail.  However the third picture down shows the nice paved trail that encompasses the south rim for a length of 17 miles.  We only did 2 miles of this, and today we are pooped!  The second picture down shows a tagged California condor - endangered - and it was sunning itself while we were at El Tovar lodge - tag # 22.
The top picture - if you zoom in - you can see the Colorado River and if we stood long enough and stared, could see white water rafters going by.  Pretty cool.  A good day, our next move north will be near the North Rim which we have not visited.  And we will be near Zion National Park and Bryce Canyon National Park.

And We Are Off!

Yesterday was go!  We had half packed the RV Sunday night, then a little more on Monday, and yesterday we spent 2 more hours packing in food and the remainder of our clothes and toiletries and left Picacho at 8:45am.  We have totally changed our plans - we were going up the eastern side of Arizona, into New Mexico and then the lower portion of Colorado with the thought that we would then move westerly into Utah.  The wildfires had changed all that.  We were going to be into the main path of the fires, so we opted to go through Phoenix and head north on I17 through the Black Canyon and past Sedona.  We drove into Flagstaff and then headed west on I40 towards Las Vegas.  We are 30 miles west of Flagstaff, but 30 degrees cooler - daytime high of 81, nights down to 50!  How nice.  We were suffering from the heat at Picacho - during the day it was 105 to 107 and the nights at 75.  Stuck inside - too hot to do anything.

The town we are in is called Williams and it's the gateway to the Grand Canyon.  We will stay here for a week, planning on visiting the Grand Canyon. We need to get used to the RV again which is why we are staying put for a week. From here we will back track into Flagstaff then head north around the Grand Canyon and then into Utah.  Our goal this summer is to spend a lot of time in Montana.  With luck we will be back to Picacho sometime the beginning of November.  This will give us a good 4 1/2 months to see the world.

Waiting

We brought the RV out of storage and parked beside the park model, and cleaned the inside really good.  We had the outside washed as well as the truck by a company that specializes in washing RVs.  We had planned to head out on the 1st of June to Pinetop-Lakeside in the White Mountains which is north and east of Phoenix.  Temps there are also about 30 degrees cooler.  Our plans were to chill out, getting used to the RV living again, then head north - with our next stop at Navajo Valley National Monument.  And now we wait. There are wild fires in the mountains that we are watching and obviously we don't want to get caught in that.  There has been no rain since January - everything is in a severe drought and extreme conditions regarding fire hazards.  What I am surprised about is that trees are still green, the cactus are blooming, life is lush - in terms of dessert conditions.

Last week Dave started to feel pretty punky and ended up Thursday at our doctor's urgent care and he was diagnosed with sinus infection and bronchitis.  Medicine abounded.  Sunday he was not getting better, he was worse with pains in his leg, and, I was beginning to feel punky.  Yesterday morning we trekked back to the urgent care and now I have the sinus infection with bronchitis and he has an added diagnose of shingles.  Are we a mess or what?  So we sit tight, resting, drinking and eating our shlop for medicines.  And comfortable in the park model.  We still have about 2 days of packing the RV up, getting the fridge going so we can put food in it and then we can go.  Maybe, if we are well enough, we will be out by this Sunday.  The full-time residents here are sad we are sick but glad we are here.  They are all saying - why not stay all summer?  They don't want us to go.The doctor said she wasn't surprised that we have bronchial problems - too much smoke and dirt in the air.

Yesterday morning we captured and killed a diamond back rattlesnake, just looping across the roadway down two spots from us.  So, that makes 3 killed that we know of since May.  Great.  We need to get out of here!

Too hot! Nice Sunsets

We have been experience way above normal temps - was 108 yesterday, and only down to 72 at night.  This is about 15 degrees above the normal.  Has been to 113 last week, no relief in sight.  Still no rain, but high winds in the afternoon are the norm.  The winds are so strong that dust storms (looks like a dust tornado) kick up and swirl around.  Good thing we have a/c - yesterday I was only outside for a whopping 1/2 hour.  Just too darn hot.  Have had the pleasure of driving in a habood - that's the term for a sandstorm - saw only about 500 yards in front of me due to lousy visibility.  And of course, there is increase activity as to rattlesnakes (two more killed in the park) and lots of scorpions are around.  Have to be very very careful - no flip-flops and definitely you look down at where you are going.  No surprises.  Can't wait to get out of this heat!

We are beginning our countdown to travel north, watching and updating every day about the 4 wild fires raging in Arizona.  One of them, the Sunflower, is about 35 miles from where we want to make our first stop when we head out.  As of this morning, the reports is that this fire is 95% contained.  Good thing. The really cool thing about the fires is it is creating the prettiest sunsets - the smoke just lingers in the air and what you are really looking at - not clouds - but smoke. They say that in Phoenix proper you can smell the smoke too.  Glad we are this far south!  These sunsets with the colors reminds us of Santa Fe's skies at night.

We think we will leave the 1st of June, we have made many lists of things to get done - like dentist appointments, doctor visits to refill prescriptions, purchasing non-perishable stuff like TP, paper towels, soaps, etc.  Still have lots to do.  We have been sitting tight for 5 months and will be really weird to be in the truck pulling the 5ver again.  And even more weird and sad - we won't have Chip to sing to us.  We think Grace might take over where Chip left off - we had her to the vet for her checkup and she sang to us for the first ten minutes.  Speaking of Grace - she is beginning to do some things that Chip did, like sit at the door and be there waiting when we get back, follows me everywhere - if I get up to go potty during the night - she is sitting on the edge of the bed watching to see where I go.  We do miss Chip.  Our baby.

Tubac Presidio SHP and Tumacacori NHP

Since people have expressed an interest in visiting us this coming winter, we are starting to branch out and look at possible places to take them to.  A National Historical Park Tumacacori, is located about 40 miles south of Tucson.  Sunday we drove the hour and 20 minute drive to Tumacacori, which is a mission established by Jesuit monks back in 1690's.  Father Kino's 1691 landmark visit to an O'odham village transformed the lives and culture of these native Indians.  He established many missions in the course of his life among the Indians between Mexico and California.  After the monks were expelled back to Spain, Franciscan monks came and took over the teachings and helping with the day to day existence of the native people.  Was very impressed with this national park, described very well, displays very explicit in what it was being depicted.  The mission (church) is no longer active, and with only private donations does the restoration continue.  A little sad that it isn't more restored. Definitely will bring folks here, lots of historical significance to this mission.

From there we drove the 4 miles back towards Tucson and stopped at Tubac which is a very trendy artsy town, catering to everyone who wants some piece of Mexico.  Established in 1752 as a presidio (fortress or garrison) by the Spanish, largely to support and protect Mission Tumacacori, Tubac was one of the many stops along the Camino Real (Royal Road) which lead from Mexico to California.  Tubac's most famous Spanish resident was Juan Bautista de Anza who eventually lead an expedition and found San Francisco. Apaches attacked the town repeatedly and by the 1840's the town residents were forced to flee.  By 1880 copper was discovered in the area and town again saw a booming life.   Shops galore, places to eat, very pleasant and very accessible place to get around.  Tubac Presidio State Historical Park has the distinction of being Arizona's first state park. The state has done a great job in describing how the people lived and farmed, how the children went to a one-room schoolhouse which was in use until the late 1940's, how the impact of the monks in the area changed the people's lives.

As we were reading about the one room schoolhouse, one sign told of the different styles of desks used.  Some were made in Cincinnati Ohio!  Seems no matter where we go, we find some reference to Ohio.  Factoid:  did you know that "Arizona" is not an old Indian based name - it is Basque (Spanish) which means - the good oak tree.  Huh.

Rose Canyon Lake

While getting acclimated to this increasing hot weather, we decided to head back up into Mount Lemmon for a last hurrah before we begin to get ready for our summer trip to Montana.  I had visited Rose Canyon Lake with my sister back about 2 weeks ago, was a lovely 72 degrees at the top of the mountain while a balmy 99 at the bottom in Tucson.  When Dave and I went up to the top back in January, many of the campgrounds were closed due to snow and having the water pipes freeze.  Most of the campgrounds were now open, opening from April 15 to October 15 each year.  Sine Rose Canyon Lake would be closed again when we get back late this fall, this was an opportunity we wanted to take.

We started the day early, leaving the base of Tucson in 95 degrees at 9am.  We steadily climbed in the car on the Skyway Scenic Drive up to the top of the mountain to a small village called Summerhaven, 22 miles later but in the time we climbed to the top - it was equivalent to driving from Mexico to Alberta crossing the United States in altitude.  In 2005 there was a fire that wiped out all the homes and small businesses in the town and you can still see the effects of the fire and even smell the fire after all this time.  Still, was a beautiful day and we began our treks by climbing even higher to the very top of the mountain where Arizona State University has it's observatory.  Two weeks ago when I brought my sister up to the top, there was still snow along the roadway but it had all melted.  We passed areas on the upper road that had shown signs of wash out due to the melt.  We took in the sights and then drove back down to 9100 feet altitude to Summerhaven and hiked a little of the Marshall Gulch trail - the top picture above.  Very pretty, very rugged.  After an hour or so we decided to go to Rose Canyon Lake and hike around the lake for awhile.  The temperature was 74, absolutely lovely.  Hiked to the other side where the dam is and then hiked back.  Sad part about this day, we won't be able to bring guests here during the winter months because this area is closed off due to snow.  By comparing this lake to Bear Lake in the Rocky Mountain National Park, Bear Lake by far was the best.  However, this little lake is serene, peaceful and you could hear the birds chirping, wind rusting the trees - just lovely. By the time we got back down the mountain and headed for home, the temp was 104.  What we have found is that we are becoming acclimated to the heat and 105 doesn't seem so bad, and 90 at night is a nice night!  Wow - are we Arizonians or what?

Now we begin the countdown to packing up the RV and heading north for the summer.  We aren't sure when we are leaving - there are 5 major fires burning north west and north east of Phoenix and we wanted to stop about 2 hours north east in a town called PineTop in an area called the Mongolian Rim of the White Mountains but aren't sure if that's feasible.  Most of the campgrounds are full, either by people who have left their homes and waiting out the fires, or, by firefighters who are camping there while they fight the fires.  We don't want to travel too far the first night out in case we forgot something, can head back and pick it up.