White Tank Mountain Petroglyphs

 We didn't realize it when we made the reservations for the park, but after we arrived we learned there are several petroglyphs located here. Collecting photos of the rock art is one of our hobbies, so before we left we made time to hike the most target rich trails. 

The glyphs here are the type that are often called entoptic. These are seemingly random "doodles", unrelated images that are inspired by visions, or meditations, of the person who was responsible for the petroglyph. They are thought to be related in many cases to the coming of age tradition of a "vision quest". In many tribes an individual set out alone for a period of time to survive on their own and meditate on their place in the tribe and family and their future. Each culture approached this differently, but often they spent much of their time in areas where water was available, both because this was a necessity for survival, and because the presence of water evoked a connection to higher powers. 

Here is a small sampling of what the area has to offer. We didn't thoroughly explore the area due to time restraints and crowded trail. Park rules also require staying behind the railings, so it's difficult to photograph some of the smaller glyphs. I suggest clicking on each photo and opening it up individually to see the detail. Or, open the album link (which has more photos) at the bottom of the page and view the photos in a larger format that way. 

Petroglyphs album

White Tank Mountain Regional Park

White Tank Mountain Park, near Waddell, Arizona, is to be our home while we're here in Arizona visiting friends we haven't seen for several years. It's a "mini reunion", and lots to catch up on. 

Our site is in the Family Campground, one of many small groupings of campsites distributed along a winding road through some of the most beautiful Sonoran desert we've seen. 

The cactus and shrubs are beautiful, even though the area has been short on rain fall for quite awhile, and the birds are plentiful. Some of them have the strangest voice! I'm hoping the visitor center will provide names for them. They're rather bashful so I haven't been able to get a photo yet. 

Shall we dance?

There is a network of trails throughout the park, all clearly labeled on the park map, and ranked according to difficulty. The signage leading hikers to the trails and intersections along the way is clear and the map in the brochure exactly matches the Google map, so there's no confusion. That's probably the first time I've seen that happen! 

There's a brief description of the human history of the area here. And the White Tank Mountain Conservancy has more detail on the history on their website. 

Considering the numbers of birds happily singing their spring songs around our site, many of those birds new to me, I thought this would be a good time to try out the Merlin app I had downloaded a few months ago. It's a product of the Cornell Lab, and I've used some of their online resources before with good results.

The app, how it works and how to get it, are here. It took me a little while to figure it out and get my Cornell account set up, and then I went to work recording and trying to identify one of the really strange, gravelly calls I had heard frequently. Bingo! It's a cactus wren. 

Immediately after I played the third recording the system had offered as a possible match to my sample one of the wrens swooped in, landed on our retracted flag pole and started calling back to the electronic voice he had heard. I felt really bad that I had to disappoint him (or her?) but there was an answer from across the campground loop so I hope they met up. 

There are multiple ways to identify birds using the app, so I think I'll get a lot of use out of it after little more practice. 

There is a wide variety of wildlife in the park, and each has its own preferred "hours of operation". It wasn't until evening, coming home from one of the gatherings in town, that we saw a pair of coyotes near the road. They are smaller than those is some areas. These two had gray-tan coloring, and looked quite healthy, and calm, as they know they are safe within the park. Several times during the night we heard them singing. There seem to be several of them around the area, including several young ones that are still learning all the notes. Their presence probably accounts for the fact that we haven't seen many rabbits, chipmunks or other types of rodents.

We've had a good time here, walking the trails in the morning and then going in to Glendale to visit friends from the "old days" when we lived in Orange County, CA. Lots of stories to be told and things to catch up on.  We'll be leaving Monday for Indio, CA. to visit family. Our trail hikes led us to an area thick with ancient petroglyphs....see the next post for photos of those. 

The Old Timers Club

The Arizona and New Mexico album is here

 

New Mexico and Arizona stops

Our first two days on the road went well, but the skies started to darken with heavy clouds and the wind picked up, and we started keeping a close eye on the weather. Our next planned stop - Silver City, New Mexico. 

By Sunday afternoon we were settling ourselves in to a spacious pull-through site at the Rose Valley RV Ranch, in Silver City. Now, this place has character! and very few stickers for the dogs to get tangled up with! Spacious sites and rustic but effective farm/ranch themed landscaping provide a reasonable amount of privacy, and windbreaks, and considering the weather they were appreciated. 

There are also a well maintained dog/hiking trail and a couple of small dog parks. 

The trail has great views of the surrounding terraine and the vegitation is very attractive. Even though it's still winter the evergreed cactus and junipers provide a nice contrast to all the golden grasses. 

Our main purpose for being in Silver City is to take a close look at some RV models that we don't have access to at home, so that's first on the agenda in the morning.  Entertainment for the evening is the Superbowl! We're keeping an eye on the weather, as it's cold and windy now, but forcasts are calling for increasingly high winds and some snow. 

We had intended to stay in Silver City for two nights but Monday morning we reviewed the updated forcasts and decided an early departure was a good idea. We made a quick trip to Lowry's RV sales and toured several models we were interested in then headed back to camp, packed up quickly and headed down the hill. We were attempting to get to I-10, but when we arrived at the intersection at Lordsburg we learned that a large section of I-10 had been closed all the way to Willcox in AZ due to high winds, blowing sand and multiple accidents. We had passed two ambulances on our way to Lordsburg, so apparently there were several injuries. Traffic was being redirected to hwy. 70, which took us back through Lordsburg, through narrow streets in the older town. 

Cutting around on the narrow roads took us on an interesting trek along with more long-haul trucks than you can imagine. We don't realize how many there are on the roads until they all get gathered up, waiting for the roads to open. Since we left Silver City a day early we didn't have reservations anywhere else, but the Trail Master always has a backup planned,"just in case".  We were running pretty late, but tried for a last minute spot in Roper Lake State Park, where we had reservations for the following night. No such luck, the car right in front of us grabbed the last vacancy. So, we turned around, went back to town and managed to get a night at the Graham County fairgrounds in Safford, AZ. We had the very last space in their RV area. Most fairgrounds rent facilities for RVs as the people who show horses and other livestock usually like to stay overnight so they can care for the animals. There wasn't a lot of livestock in residence at the time, just a few horses being boarded, but the dogs enjoyed sniffing out previous occupants and walking along the stalls and race track.

The surrounding hills and storm clouds were beautiful, and they were dusted with snow by morning. We were grateful to have survived the wind with no accidents. The fairgrounds was only a few miles away from our next reservation, Roper Lake State Park. 

Tuesday - We arrived at Roper Lake State Park mid-day. The sites are fairly large with natural vegetation between spaces to help privacy and to encourage wild life.

The weather was cold, but setting is so pretty we were sorry to have to close the door, as it blocked our view of the snowy mountains in the distance.  Wait! didn't we make a storm window for the screen door? There is was, the large sheets of plexiglass were safely stored behind the sofa. We hadn't used it for so long we'd almost forgotten it, and how to install it, but it only took a screwdriver and a few minutes. Now, no cold wind and lots of light along with a great view! After getting settled in we headed back into Safford for our Valentine's Day dinner at Casa Mañana, highly recommended by the park staff. 

The park is centered on a nice little lake and is noted for fishing and birdwatching, but the many hiking trails are an outstanding feature too. There are short trails in and around the rv area, and other more challenging trails that take hikers to the mesa top and out into open desert. 

The chilly temperatures and high winds continued, but the area is beautiul, so we made the decission to cancel the reservations we made at another park for two following nights and stay at Roper Lake. The decision did require us to move to another site, but that's not a problem. Once that was done the dogs and I took off to explore one of the longer trails, up Mariah Mesa. The views are amazing, and so was the wind blowing down from the snowy peaks in the distance. By the halfway point my eyes were watering so much from the wind I could hardly see where I was going. It was worth it though, and the trails are beautifully maintained and lined with small boulders of a variety of native stone. 

There are also signs along the way identifying several of the more common shrubs and trees, and information sign at the top of the mesa with information about the views.  We tried out another branch of the trail the next day, and thankfully the wind had settled down, and the temperature warmed up. For those who are interested in the native desert vegitation, the attention given to the plantings in the camping areas and along the trails is to be appreciated. The cactus and native trees are all carefully groomed and the grounds are immaculate. 

This is a beautiful park, offering fishing, birding, hiking, great photography opportunities, and swimming during most seasons. The sites are generous and many connect to the hiking trails, the restrooms are very nice, and there are covered shelters for picnicking near the water for day use groups to enjoy. 

View from the top of Mariah Mesa

You can view the rest of the photos in the The Arizona and New Mexico album. here

California or Bust!

We're headed to California to see a few friends and family, and we're pacing ourselves. Nothing like several long days of driving to wear out your enthusiasm, and the dogs don't think much of it either, so we have several stops along the way. These first two days will be focused on getting to the night's destination, all places we've been several times before, so not much in the way of photographic evidence. 

Friday, Feb. 10, we left after breakfast and had a leisurly drive to one of our favorite stops, South Llano River State Park. It's a really nice, clean park, and one of the few places we've ever seen an armadillo. This time we saw a really cute little armadillo on the way into the park, but none after that. They are so tame here that they just look calmy at you with their little tiny eyes if you approach. We like to make the first day's drive short, to sort of shake-down the rig and be sure there are no issues we have to deal with. 

Saturday night we stopped in Van Horn at the Van Horn RV Park (clever name!) It's not bad, though for the money we might expect more. The best feature is that it's not right by the railroad tracks or the freeway. For those with pets, beware! The area has sharp burrs everywhere and it's impossible to walk a dog without having to stop multiple times to remove the painful burrs from their paws. 

Van Horn is a tiny little town in west Texas, not too many people have heard of it, but it has risen to fame recently as the Texas home for Jeff Besos's Blue Origin headquarters. The test site is about 25 miles from town, and several employees of the company have established themselves as members of the community.

I wasn't feeling very creative these first two days, just focused on enjoying the scenery, so sorry, no photos!, except for this one of sunrise in Van Horn. It typifies the wide open spaces of the west Texas plains. It remeinds me of scenes from one of the old John Wayne cowboy movies. 

It really does take  two days to get out of Texas from where we live, no matter which direction you are going. This is our last stop in the state on this leg of the trip.