Oracle State Park, AZ

Dave volunteers for Picacho Peak State Park and one of the perks he gets is a yearly pass to any state park in Arizona.  We had never visited Oracle, so we went yesterday.  The state park is nestled in the north western base of the Catalina Mountains which has Mount Lemmon as its tallest peak at over 10,000 feet and we can see it from our place in Picacho.  We were about 4500 feet in elevation, versus 1800 at Picacho.  It is also located north and west of Tucson.  Only a 30 minute drive from our place, a doable visit.

A typical scene around here - watch for cattle on roadways

View of Kannally Ranch House from parking lot, looks small

4 levels of rooms, a huge ranch house 

We had forgotten that the park was higher elevation, we had a difference of 15 degrees.  A brr 62 for us (we don't like the cold) and windy.  We toured the Kannally Ranch House, one of the earliest cattle ranching families in the Oracle area. The Kannally's came to Oracle back in 1902 and prospered. The house is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, constructed between 1929 and 1933, the adobe house has four levels built on a hillside.  From the patio you can view the granite boulder outcrops and the San Pedro River Valley and the Galiuro Mountain range.  Weddings, parties, special events are often seen at the Kannally Ranch where you can rent out the facility for a special function.

Moorish interior flavor, sibling Lucille did all the painting and woodwork

Lee Kannally took up painting as therapy after returning from
World War I with nerve damage due to gas poisoning.
He painted while kneeling next to bed with canvas laid
flat on bed.  Remarkable painter!!

Gardens were quite extensive, wrapping around ranch house

Sleeping cottages behind ranch house

We toured the inside of the ranch, quite impressive.  Learned about the Kannally siblings who moved to the Oracle area from Illinois back in 1902.  After the last sibling died in late 1979, the home was transferred to the state for wildlife preservation.  Lovely paintings inside, still original furniture.  Sleeping quarters were outside and back in separate cottages, using the main ranch house for cooking, eating, gathering together, resting, art studios, solarium, etc.

Hiking options

1.9 miles is not far, we can do that!  

Galiuro Mountains in distance

Well traveled

After viewing the ranch house, we opted to walk one of the trails. Very windy, very overcast, but a well used path.  At first we thought, we could easily do this wildlife trail, lets go on and get to the Arizona Trail which is a trail that transverses the state from the Mexican border to Utah.  We could then say we have hiked the trail a little bit.

And on we hiked

Those mountains are a fur piece out there

Yikes - another 1.9 miles to go

Little too early to see any cacti (not many cacti since we were at higher elevation) but there was a variety of bushes and trees.  About another 3 weeks and most will have buds or blooming.  Off we went, got to the Arizona Trail, turned south along another trail, and by the time we got back to the car - we had gone over 5 miles!  My energy level dropped to crawl after the 4th mile. Of course, we had the wind smacking us in the face so we were kinda walking at a lean. Our original thought was to just do the 1 mile loop.  Oops.  Although it took us longer that last mile - walk 30 steps, rest, walk, rest, we did make it back safely.

But a good day regardless. Once we got back to the car and ate our snacks we had brought along and drank water - felt much better.  We knew we would sleep good that night.

Honeybee Trail In Oro Valley

We have been busy this winter doing 'house' stuff - making changes, doing some upgrades, just staying busy.  Can't believe that winter is almost over and we are beginning to plan our summer's trek.  We plan to head east this spring, visiting Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan and then Ohio before swinging back west and south.  Fun planning the time.  But we wanted to get out and walk so off we went to Oro Valley.

Nice city park - trail well maintained and had REAL flush toilets!

We thought - oh no, pretty rocky path - but this was the path down into the wash

More like it. 

Scenery impressive - here is a skeleton of a saguaro with a big'n next to it

Bees everywhere (never lit on us)

Traces of water, then it disappeared

We could hear the bees from quite a distance away

Yesterday we decided to hike a different trail, this one is in the Oro Valley area of Tucson which is nestled right up against the Catalina Mountains and the snow capped Mount Lemmon above.  Trail rated as easy, but it was in area we have not been to.  Tucked into some pretty impressive homes that have terrific views of the mountains, the trail runs along a wash and if you want, walk to the Petroglyphs.  Beautiful day, very sunny, temperature about 62.  Cool enough and warm enough.

First dam we came to - knew we were close to the petroglyphs

Nice to see families hiking together

Not sure how old or what people were here - need to do some checking

Wondered why it was called the Honeybee Trail until we came up to a tree and could hear the bees buzzing in it.  Snow's melt run off trailed along the wash, and sometimes we saw running water and then it disappeared, probably flowing underground.  That's pretty common in the arid desert, a good place to see this was near Death Valley in Nevada.  Some impressive watering oasis areas.

Water bubbling along and then, puff - gone underground

A crested cactus barrel 

Impressive dam - see the snow on Mount Lemmon?

Crazy girls 

I could almost stand up in the tunnel

Vegetation impressive, lots of greenery, a bit too early for the buds of the cacti to be out, but by looking at the tops of the Saguaros you can begin to see the whiting of the tips which is where the huge blossoms come out.  Another month and it would be spectacular.

Foundation of something?

We hiked to the petroglyphs, saw a number of families with small children doing the same.  And if you looked close you could see the very very expensive homes looming above the wash.  After we got back to the main trail where we parked the car, we decided to continue doing the loop trail.

Yep, I could live in that home

We got a big surprise by seeing a man-made dam where in the past the water it collected must have been used for farming or ranching or even a smelter of some sort.  Saw foundations of structures, quite impressed with the dam.  Crawled under and through it to the other side.  Some crazy girls doing rock climbing above us (no safety gear - just raw oomph), just a nice day being outside before the heat of spring comes.

Full Circle - Almost Home

We drove from Chloride, Arizona which is about 18 miles north west of Kingman to the Escapee's North Ranch RV Park in Congress near Wickenburg yesterday.  No problems - or should I say no problems with the RV, Buddy - different story.  He's just too darn smart.  Knew exactly that it was travel day - he hunkered up inside my drawer, fought Dave when we had to get him out, got the medicine into his mouth which he promptly threw up all over the carpet.  Ugh.  But we were hoping enough got down his throat so we did not attempt to try to put another dose in him.  Just took in the slides, secured everything and off we drove, praying that when we got to the next stop I would not find a horrific mess on the floor as well as on him.  Oh - and the night before we left Chloride - dozens of coyotes were screaming their heads off.  Neighbor RVer said they came right by his site and stayed put.

Bye Chloride

Helter skelter mountains

Wide open nothingness

Dave drove Route 93 south, the future Interstate 11, all the way into Wickenburg then turned up north for 8 miles to North Ranch once we got into Congress.  We did not stop,  just drove on for 183 miles.  We could have driven all the way to Picacho but we wanted a couple of days to clean out the RV and package up stuff so our move into the winter home is quick.  And being members of Escapees, the stay here is very inexpensive.

Saguaros - we are definitely back in Arizona

And Joshua Trees

Lots of Joshua Trees

Got into North Ranch by noon and it was 91 and climbing.  By 5pm the inside temperature was 95 and the outside 94.  I hate this warm weather but we need to get acclimated to the heat.  Buddy - also hates the heat and he sleeps in the shower - I think the coolness of the ceramic is soothing.  And guess what?  No accidents or doo-doos.  Can't figure him out.  And - it was 6 months ago exactly to the day that we were here at North Ranch on our way out this past April.  Wow.

We arrived, North Ranch - Escapees

For the next couple of days it will be in the mid to high 90s, then by Sunday starting to get more manageable and be in the mid 80s.  In Picacho it is the same temps so we are dragging our feet.  This summer's trip was amazing.  All told we put 5,150 miles on the RV; 5,150 miles pulling the car and the car having another 3000 miles or more of us just tooling around.  Saw some awesome things and the weather could not have been better.  Only 2 days of rain and those days did not keep us inside.  No breakdowns on the RV, did have 2 little fixings that had to be done and those will be more modified this winter.

This will be the last post of the summer. If we do something or go somewhere new, will post to the blog and alert that an update is available.  What are our plans for next summer?  We are thinking of heading straight up into Montana and then into Alberta/British Columbia.  Tentative.  Banff and Jasper National Parks are calling our names.  We'll see.