Organ Pipe Catus National Monument

We spent three days in Sierra Vista with Steve's daughter and son in law, Beth and Aaron. Aaron is stationed at Ft. Huachuca in Sierra Vista. They have a lovely home, an adorable dog named Dexter and two silly cats. Everyone gets along fine, thankfully, and our dogs were happy to have a yard to walk around in again. As you can see, Ben made himself right at home.

Ben on the beanbag chair

All three days were spent making repairs and monkeying with the solar panel, which Steve finally was able to get working correctly again after several trips back and forth to Harbor Freight. Sierra Vista is about 4,600 ft elevation, but the Huachuca mountains are higher, and were getting snow while it was 61° down in the valley.

Snow on the Huachuca mountains

We departed Sierra Vista on Feb 2 and headed west for OPCNM. This is a little over 200 mile drive mostly through the Tohono O'odham reservation. It is again a beautiful but stark environment. We arrived at the park around 3pm and got all set up.

This park is the northern range for Organ pipe cactus. They do not tolerate cold well at all, so you are pretty much guaranteed to not have any freezing temps here in winter. Winter is one of the two rainy seasons at the park, but we did not experience any rain during our visit. It has been sunny and warm - 60's to high 70's during the days, 40's at night. Beautiful sunrises and sunsets and the full moon over the mountains is stunning. 

Sunrise

Sunset

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are also lots of Saguaro cactus here, as well as several kinds of mesquite, creosote bush and lots more plant life. It is pretty green for a desert! These yellow flowers are Brittlebush. The plant growing in this mesquite is mesquite mistletoe, and man does it smell good!

Organ Pipe cactus

Saguaro forest

 

Ocotillo starting to flower

 

 

 

 

 

Brittlebush in flower

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Palo Verde, state tree of AZ

Mesquite Mistletoe in flower

 

We took a couple of hikes, one day to an old ranch and one day to an old mine. There was gold and silver mining in these hills. There's a HUGE gold mine pit in the nearby town of Ajo. Mine closed in the 1980's but it is still a big mess. Not much going on in Ajo these days.

Their view!

History of the area

Ranch building built of adobe brick

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mine building built of stone

Mine shafts. Don't fall in!

 

 

 

 

 

 

We thought about driving to Puerto Penasco, at the northern edge of the Sea of Cortez but it is a 75 mile drive each way and that is too long to leave the dogs alone in the camper. We did head into Mexico today, just to say we did. Drove around a little and came right back to the good old US.

 

Full moon rising over mountains

Our campsite

A very green desert

Structure of buckhorn cholla

Hedgehog cactus

Barrel cactus

    

Saguaro spines!

Buckhorn Cholla. looks fuzzy but not

Organ pipe and Saguaro nursery

Interior of Saguaro - cellulose!

 

Cactus Wren singing

Today is our last day here. We drove out to Quitobiquito, one of the only natural springs in the whole Sonoran desert. Beautiful oasis. There is two endangered species there, a pupfish (little bigger than a guppy) and a mud turtle. We did see the pupfish! If you expand this photo you should be able to see them.

Endangered Dessert Pupfish

The drive to the spring runs right along The Wall. The border of the park is The Border, and there is a Mexican highway just the other side of it. I guess it would have been easy enough to walk over before the wall, but then you had miles and miles of Sonoran desert to walk through first....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stats for those interested: $10/night with Golden Age pass. Unheated bathrooms, solar hot water showers only, no hot water in sinks. Solar showers not so hot in the morning....and gets used up quickly in the afternoon. Works maybe in theory but not so much in practice. 

I have to say, these national parks do not make it easy. You have to be prepared to camp here with all the boondocking gadgets - solar panels, propane heaters, generator, etc. I can't see families doing this and there are no families here. So they have to stay in the more expensive RV parks in the areas if they want to visit. I know the NPS is woefully behind in their maintenance - but this seems more of a structural issue to me. Was there ever electric and water at national parks and they have been let go? Or is it now too expensive to add that infrastructure in? Or maybe they keep it this way on purpose so that only those prepared for these conditions camp here?  Not sure, but either way it is a more difficult camping experience. I am sure some prefer this, but I for one do not mind my creature comforts of water and electricity. 

Tomorrow we head back to Sierra Vista and Beth and Aaron's for a week of hiking and biking around the area.  Thanks for traveling with us!

City of Rocks State Park, and a respite

 After a very cold night in the Van Horn, TX RV park (24°), we drove about 3 hours to City of Rocks State Park near Deming, NM. Super cool state park. We met our artist friends Nard Claar and Sheary Clough Suitor there. These are the friends we purchased Bubbles from. They live in Colorado Springs, and now have a Dodge camper van that they travel around in. It was SOOOO good to see them and hang out with them even if it was only for a short day and a half. Thanks Nard and Sheary!

 

Our campsite up against the big rocks.

View out over the prairie, gold grasses

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These amazing Live Oaks live in the rock

Steve, Nard and Sheary in the rocks

Mini slot canyon

How many pictures of rocks can you take?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Super cool bright green lichen on the shady sides

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is such an interesting environment. Geologic explanation:

The rocks forming City of Rocks are predominantly ash-flow tuffs or ignimbrites that formed by a violent volcanic eruption of pumice, volcanic ash, gas, and coarser material. The ash-flow tuff at City of Rocks is part of the Kneeling Nun Tuff, which erupted 34.9 million years ago from the Emory caldera (McIntosh et al., 1991). The Emory caldera forms much of the southern Black Range east of the park. The volcanic ash was still hot and nearly molten when it was compacted and consolidated, forming a horizontal continuous layer of hot pumice and ash. In many areas, the ash fragments in the layer were hot enough to compact and weld together, forming the solid lava-like rock exposed at the park. Cooling and contraction of the tuff formed a pattern of vertical cracks called columnar jointing.

Kokopelli

Kokopelli hidden behind a shield

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Big head monster

 The campsites are spread in and around these giant rocks, and you can hike all around in them. Super fun, and the four of us went tromping around in them for half a day. There are also 5 petroglyphs in the park that are sort of hidden, its like a treasure hunt finding them.

 Now we are in Sierra Vista at Steve's daughter and son in law's house. We are doing the repairs we needed and recouping some energy. We were able to get a new propane/CO2 detector and replace the non functioning one. And Steve and Aaron, his son in law, are wresting with the solar panel issue. 

Later in the week we will head to Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, another location where we will most likely be off grid for a few days.

It's been very sunny since we left the gulf coast, no rain of course. Temps have been decent, high 40's to 60's, and some days very windy. Nights have been in the high 20's to mid 30's for the most part. But, we are at elevation, as much as 5,000 feet and currently at about 4,500 in the high desert of Sierra Vista. The temp drops a bit at night, but recovers nicely in the sun.

 

Sierra Vista, 80 miles SE of Tucson

Stats: At City of Rocks we had one cell service bar but were able to use the internet. There is only one potable water source in the park, so you need to be prepared to haul water. Toilets are composting with no running water. There are showers at the visitor center and 10 sites with electricity only. I think it was around $25/night for our no hook ups site. NM also has an annual park pass but we did not get it as that was our only stay in the state. We have driven a total of just over 4,000 miles so far, that includes side trip ans such without the trailer.

 

 

 

 

It's all GOOD

Reclining in rock

 

Big Bend National Park

We spent the week at Big Bend. There are no hook ups at national parks- meaning no electric, no water. What is called dry camping or boondocking. We were prepared with our 90 watt solar panel and our generator, just in case. There is spotty wifi at some of the visitor centers, but not where we were camping. So we have been internet free for a week. Which is good, and bad. For example, we noticed the flags in the park at half staff….but we have no idea what happened to make them so.

This park is quite something.  Beautiful in a stark and desolate sort of way. Although we have been traveling along the Rio Grande since we left the gulf coast, we have not gotten even a glimpse of the river at all…until we got here. The campground we are at (there are 4 in the Park) is a stone’s throw from the river. You can almost wade across it. Mexican artists ride their horses across the river every day into the park to sell beaded trinkets, carved walking sticks, all sorts of items. 

Trinkets for sale

Cowboy artist

And then they ride back across at the end of the day. I’m sort of surprised the Park puts up with this but we see these cowboys every day.

 

River Cane

You can get rowed across into Mexico for $5 each at the Boquillos crossing, ride a burro or horse the 1/2 mile to the town of Boquillos de Carmen, and have lunch and go souvenir shopping. There’s a pink butte or mesa called the Sierra del Carmen that overlooks the town and the river. These enterprising folk make a decent living off us gringos from the park taking a day trip into Mexico. We had a decent lunch at Jose’ Falcone’s and bought a couple things from the towns people selling their handicrafts.  Our guide, a young man named Angel, led our horses there and back, waited while we ate and took us in the “tour” loop around town. He pointed out the church, school, his mother and wife’s craft booth, and his home to us. There’s also a decent sized solar array in the town. I can’t imagine them doing this in the 120 degree summers but I bet they do. 

Your rowboat to Mexico

 

Welcome to Boquillos del Carmen

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The ride from the boat to the town, and back

My handsome honey

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sierra del Carmen, above the town

Jose' Falcon's, where we had lunch

When you get back to the US side of the river, the same customs agent you spoke to on the way over looks at your passport (or in our case our NY enhanced driver’s licenses), like he didn’t see you less than 2 hours ago, and you zoom with an agent located in El Paso to make sure you are the same person you were when you crossed into Mexico…and then you are free to go. Pretty low key border crossing, that’s for sure.

 

In the center section of the park are located the Chisos mountains, an extinct volcano caldera with a basin in the the center and a ring wall of stone all around it. There’s a campground there also, but the drive in is not for the faint of heart… it’s also 3,000 feet higher elevation than where we are along the river, so where we had 60 and 70 degree days, they have 50’s. Where we had 30-40 degree nights, they have 20’s. We did take a hike there to The Window, a slot in the stone ring wall that you have an incredible view from. The wind was fierce, blowing into the slot so that it almost blew you over. It is also a water course in rainy season to the rock is slick and smooth. Needless to say we didn’t get too close to the edge. 

Road into Chisos basin

This photo does not really do the view justice, 

nor the screaming wind in my face.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The closest town to the park is called Terlingua. It’s a 60 mile drive 1 way from our campground. It used to be a big cinnabar mining town, from which you make mercury. There’s still ruins of the miner’s stone and adobe huts, a gift shop, couple restaurants and a bar. If you ever wanted to disappear, Terlingua  would be a good place to disappear into. There’s a cemetery there that’s on the National Historic register. Amazing place. Some photos below. 

Cemetery entrance

Simple cairn marker, wooden cross

Fancier. Each shrine has candles, gifts etc

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 As with any trip, unexpected things happen. The first night it got cold, we set up our propane heater which immediately set off the propane monitor alarm…which then proceeded to go off every minute until Steve pulled the fuse. And when we put the fuse back in the next day with nothing running….it did the same thing. Yes, these sensors fail but it resulted in somewhat of a sleepless night. Also, we had an issue with the solar panel not charging our battery. We can charge the battery with the generator, which we did…and then tried to determine the issue with the panels. A nice young man camping across from us happens to be an electrician, and came over and assisted with the diagnostics. All the things Steve did were correct and it is charging, just not at full power. Issue tbd yet….but at least it is working. This young couple live in a converted Uhaul box truck. They are from Alberta and have been full time in their rig for 3 years, having left home just after Covid hit. He’s a day trader, she practices astrology and they cruise the country working from their camper. With their cat.  Kittykittybangbang.net

For those interested, no cell service, spotty wifi in the park.  Restrooms have cold water only but are heated. No showers. Showers can be purchased at the camp stores, $2 for 5 minutes.  I washed my hair in a bucket with water heated in the Casita. Camping fees are minimal. I think it was $40 for our 6 nights with the Golden age pass (50% discount on camping), which also gets you into every national park for free. Very much worth the $80 it costs.  You must be over 62 to purchase one of these passes.  

Now you are caught up. Today we departed Big Bend, and are continued west. We are in Van Horn, TX, just east of El Paso.  This will be our last night in Texas. We cross into New Mexico tomorrow. If you have gotten this far, thanks for reading.

From the road

 Here we are in the middle of nowhere, Texas, on the road to Big Bend National Park today.

There is not much green here, but there is plenty of plant life and much of it is prickly! We can only walk the dogs on the road because of the sand spurs. Don't want those in any doggy feet.

Couple of observations of travel in this country. There are a LOT of us doing this. This place where we slept last night is literally in the middle of no where. There are 30 first come/first served sites here, and about half of them were full. It is $6 night/$3 for senior rate. Very inexpensive. There are composting toilets and covered picnic tables. There is NO water so you have to bring in your own. But there are people here who stay the full 14 day limit. There are always families around. I guess they home-school from their camper or tent. In the RV park we just left, there were several families living at the park. Better than being homeless...

Just like everywhere, this is a big wealth disparity. Huge homes with fenced and gated yards next to trailers and small run down homes. I commented on the poverty to Steve, but really that same disparity is on display in Ithaca, and everywhere else in the country. 

The other thing we are finding is the lack of a decent grocery store in many places. Not where we just were, but in many places the only things are mini-marts and the ubiquitous Dollar General. Yes, food deserts are real. 

Today we move on to Big Bend, where we stay for 5 or 6 nights. We just read an article about how crowded that national park is year round so it will be interesting to see.

One exciting (or not) thing that happened was that the lower hinge on our Casita refrigerator broke.  This is a not too uncommon issue with these camper fridges. Luckily I had already purchased the fix for it and Steve was able to borrow some tools and jury rig the fix permanently. I need to purchase the same fix for the top hinge. What would have been a trip ending issue turned into an easy morning of work. Thanks to Steve, my hero!

Amazing desert sunsets.

Jan Pedro CG, Amistat Nat'l Rec Area, Del Rio

Site at the RV park in Palmview, TX

 

Left the Gulf coast for the Lower Rio Grande Valley

 On Sunday,  we departed Mustang Island state park and the Gulf Coast and headed south to the Lower Rio Grande River Valley. This is the area of Mission or McAllen, TX. We are about 3 miles from the border. That blue squiggly line is the river/border.

 There is quite a bit of birding here, and butterflies as well. We are staying at our first (and one of only a very few) RV Parks as there are no good state or county parks in the area. The RV Park is called Americana Birding RV park and it is in Palm View TX. There are a LOT of RV parks in the area - lots of "winter Texans" as they call themselves. 

 The National Butterfly Center is just down the road,  and we were there for a bit today and will likely go back tomorrow. Right near the Bentsen RGV state park which we will also visit tomorrow.

Here are a few pictures from our last day at the Gulf and some from today. For those keeping track, we drove just under 200 miles on Sunday, into a strong headwind so were getting under 10mpg. First time for that. But gas here is $2.79 gallon so not as bad as it could be. The RV park here is $45/night (ouch!) for full hook ups. Bathroom is OK, water pressure is poor though. Cell service is good. There's a lot of Mexican food here, no surprise and most signs are in Spanish and English. Our next two camping places are primitive or dry camping meaning no hook ups at all -  no water, no electric. It will be the first use of our solar panel and we will have to get used to conserving power and water. 

 

Surfy Gulf

Ship leaving Port Aransas

Pelicans and other water birds at Leonabelle Turnbull Sanctuary

All White pelicans in back, all Dunlin in front. Great birding spot.

 

Big A** cactus! Mission, TX

Bouganvillia

The "We build the wall" illegal wall outside the National Butterfly center

 

Queen Butterfly

Altamira Oriole

Great Kiskadee

Green Jay