camping and travel – Page 3

Lost Dutchman SP, Apache Junction AZ

The park gets its name from the legendary Lost Dutchman Gold Mine. Jacob Waltz, a German immigrant, is purported to have found a rich gold mine in the late 1800’s. On his deathbed he gave a cryptic description of its location in the Superstition Mountains near Apache Junction. Prospectors are still searching for it in the hope of “striking it rich”.

Site 106 at the base of the Superstition Mts

The park is a popular weekend destination for hikers. To avoid the crowds on the trail we did a scenic drive to the Salt River Canyon with a stop in Globe.

The Salt River divides the San Carlos Apache and Salt River Apache reservations. The Apache leader Geronimo once called this area home.

In 1875 silver was discovered on the San Carlos Reservation. The mining camp then relocated to what is now Globe Arizona which was incorporated in 1876. In 1880 copper mining took off and Globe grew along with it.

Besh-Ba-Gowan is an ancient 200 room pueblo of the Salado people who resided there between AD 1250 and 1450. It is located in a city park in Globe.

The site was excavated and reconstructed in the late 1930’s and was funded by the government Works Projects Administration.

The excavations uncovered a wealth of prehistoric artifacts. We particularly enjoyed seeing the Gila Polychrome pottery.

The mountain biking is limited so we spent more time hiking the trails leading up to the mountains.

Limited riding but some fabulous scenery

The Siphon Draw Trail is a magnet for hikers. This strenuous hike takes you up into the Superstitions with an option to go beyond the Draw to the top of the Flatiron.

We were able to work in another concert at the Musical Instrument Museum. The Kenny Barron Trio with Kiyoshi Kitagawa on bass and Johnathan Blake on drums provided an hour and half of inspired playing.

On our last day in camp we decided to make our way into town for a meal and a visit to the Phoenix Art Museum.

We primarily came to see an exhibit of post war Japanese photography

Mass (Colder Darker Matter) by Cornelia Parker

Wall Drawing #1146 c
A sphere lit from the top
by Sol LeWitt

“Become one with eternity. Obliterate your personality. Our earth is only one polka dot among the million stars in the cosmos.”-Yayoi Kusama

We stopped in to eat at Glai Baan which specializes in Thai street food. We highly recommend this restaurant, some of the best Thai food we’ve ever had the pleasure of eating. We then wandered down 24th street to sample the offerings at Wren House Brewing. This brewery is highly rated for good reason.

Our week went by quickly as it always seems to when your enjoying yourself. There is more to explore in the area so we will be back.

Usery Mountain Regional Park, Phoenix AZ

We left the west valley of Phoenix and traveled 52 miles across the valley to Usery Mt. on the valley’s east side. The trip, mostly on expressway took 1 1/2 hours. The valley is included in Maricopa County which is home to over 4.7 million residents. That’s 65% of Arizona’s population. No wonder it took so long to cross the valley.

The desert on this side of the valley is greener with a greater abundance of flora. Why? This side of the valley is in the rain shadow of the Goldfield Mountains and gets more precipitation as a result.

We’ve camped here before but came back for the hiking and biking. While the trails aren’t as challenging as those in White Tank they are fun to ride.

Those are the Superstition Mountains in the distance

Large Chain Fruit Cholla cacti line the Chainfruit Trail

The Pass Mountain Trail is considered a Black Diamond trail and that’s well above our mountain biking skills. We left our bikes at camp and hiked the trail. The hike offers some great views of the surrounding mountains and desert.

The trail off the mountain takes you through an area thick with saguaro cactus.

On our last day in the park the temperature dropped and it rained most of the day. A good time to go to the laundromat.

The rain let up and we walked out into the desert. The birds were happily singing and the desert smelled incredible.

While it was cloudy and rainy on our last day we did get to experience a lot of sunny days with amazing sunrises and sunsets.

Tucson/ Desert Trails Edition 1

When we travel in the Tincan we gravitate toward National, State or County parks. These parks offer great amenities as well as amazing scenery. The downside is you can only stay for a maximum of two weeks. Currently there are a lot more people on the road looking to camp making these parks harder to get into. This year we decided to try a private park for an extended stay.

Site W9 next to the TV Lounge on a rare cloudy day

We woke up to this on our first morning in the park.

The park’s location puts us close to Tucson galleries, restaurants and breweries. Every place we want to go is about a 25 minute drive. The real attraction however is the extensive system of mountain bike trails accessible from the park.

The beginning of another great Arizona sunset

The Saguaro National Park-West is a short drive from Desert Trails RV. The Park offers the Bajada Scenic Loop drive and numerous hiking trails as well as thousands of Saguaro. It takes 70 years before the Saguaro sprout branches or arms. They reach their full height of 40 to 50 feet after about 150 years.

The Signal Hill Trail is a short hike to a number of petroglyphs made by the Hohokam people between 450 and 1450 CE.

We always enjoy wandering and biking through the Sonoran Desert. There’s no telling what you might see.

A rare crested Fishhook Barrel Cactus; the first we’ve seen

A rare crested Saguaro Cactus; the second one we’ve seen

Sunsets in the Sonoran Desert are a special event. We worry about boring people with endless photos of sunsets but sometimes we can’t help ourselves.