Arizona Sonora Desert Museum and Saguaro National Park

January 13, 2011 Gilbert Ray Campground.
We got up early...well sorta, to prepare for our visit to The Arizona Senora Desert Museum. After all, this was the reason we were staying at Gilbert Ray Campground. So after walking the dogs, we jumped in the Jeep and headed off for the museum a short drive away.

McCain Loop enroute to AZ Senora Desert Museum

Approach to the entrance

After paying the $14.50 each entrance fee we scanned the brochure map of the museum and were amazed at the size and all that it had to offer. We had thought this would be a 2-3 hr. visit.

Joyce at the entrance and the outside paths behind her.

There were outdoor pathways all through the museum/zoo. There were enclosed aviaries and animal exhibits to include a bear, mountain lion, wolf and other desert animals scattered through out.

Shady concrete path

Along the path I found these Saguaro Cacti growing out from the shelter of a tree. This is typical of young Saguaros which eventually out live their tree shelter.

Saguaro Cacti and shelter tree

One of the loops in the museum/zoo is a desert loop with spectacular views.

We stopped to witness a Harris Hawk demonstration. The park had four of these magnificent hawks soaring over the small crowd that had gathered and resting on the tops of saguaros. This one landed near me in a dead saguaro.

Harris Hawk perched in dead Saguaro

We believe The Arizona Senora Desert Museum was well worth the visit and the fee. We thoroughly enjoyed it. After about 6 hours, we left the museum/zoo and drove another mile or so to Saguaro National Park. We had actually driven through a portion of the park on Sandario Road when we were initially traveling to the campground. 

We stopped at the visitor center and checked it out. It was nice with the typical souvenirs and some nice desert displays. We stayed for a short slide show on "The Voices of The Desert". The visitor center was certainly less than impressive after having toured The Arizona Senora Desert Museum. If we had planned to hike or park our vehicle in the Saguaro National Park, then we would have been required to obtain a pass at a cost of $10 if we didn't have our volunteer parks pass.

It was getting late so we didn't have time to do anything more than drive through a portion of the park. Its actually no different than where we are staying within Tucson Mountain Park. Plenty of saguaro cacti of various shapes and sizes.

It was a beautiful day and the weather certainly cooperated with sunny skies and temps in the low 60's. By the time we got back to Maggie and Rico, we were tired from all the walking and standing so they got only short walks!

We had been conserving water at our campsite working off the approximately 20 gallons I had in the 80 gallon tank of the fifth wheel. So far we were doing good and I wouldn't have to stretch a couple of hoses to put more water in the tank. Sponge baths were in order tonight! Tomorrow we hoped to get an early start and head for Las Cruces, New Mexico.

Tucson Mtn. Park, Gilbert Ray Campground, Tucson

January 12, 2011 Gilbert Ray Campground.
We got up early today as it was time to move from Usery Mountain Regional Park to our new destination Tucson Mountain Park and the Gilbert Ray Campground. We pulled out of our site by 9:30 and were on the road after stopping at the dump station by 10:00. The weather was cool but sunny warming from the low 50's to the upper 60's.

View Larger Map

The trip consisted of interstate travel and then some two lane roads as we traveled west of Tucson. We followed the directions provided on the Gilbert Ray Campground website. The road into the park was full of dips and narrowed dramatically inside the park. We came to this park for the purpose of visiting The Saguaro National Park and the Arizona Sonoran Desert Museum.

After traveling 124 miles we arrived @ 12:30 at the entrance to the campground, there were no attendants but a self-pay kiosk. The posted instructions stated to find a campsite and then return to the kiosk to pay for the site. Each RV site is $20 a night for electric only. We discovered that only loops H and C were open. However, there were no signs indicating the larger loop A was closed. So naturally we took off for loop A only to have to turn around in the dump station at the back of the campground. Subsequently we checked out loop H and C before settling on site 114 in Loop H. The sites have 30 amp electric only. We must fill our water tank in our rig and work off our pump for water. I always carry about 20 gallons in the tank so we will start off with that amount. There is a water spicket close enough to our site that I can use to fill our tank if needed.

Site H114

We pulled as far back as we could into our site. I decided to keep the truck hitched to the fifth wheel as we would only be staying for two nights. Staying hitched will give me a time advantage for making an early departure. We plan to head for Las Cruces from here and that will be a long drive for us at nearly 300 miles.

I used the Bigfoot Levelers in the manual mode to level the rig as much as possible without lifting too hard on the rear of the truck.

View out our back window.

Gilbert Ray Campground is about 13 miles west of Tucson near the Tucson Mountains. So, it's a considerable drive into town. However, we don't plan on visiting the city on this trip. As you may recall we visited Tucson last June. President Obama arrived in Tucson today for the commemoration on the "Tragedy in Tucson". Our hearts and prayers are with the fallen, injured and the families affected. 

Tomorrow should be a busy day.

Our new site at Usery Mtn. Regional Park and a short hike.

January 7th, 2010 Usery Mountain Regional Park.

House Finch feasting on a half orange

As you know, we had to move sites per the park's rules after the initial 14 days in one site. So on the 4th we moved from site 9 to site 30. It's on the outer loop but an inside site with a great rear view of Pass Mountain.

Site 30

Side yard with fire pit.

Rear window view.

After our last dramatic hike where we felt a bit lost, I did some thinking about what kind of gear we should carry with us. So the next day at Walmart we picked up a first aid kit, some portable foil emergency blankets, plastic ponchos and a waterproof match stick holder. Back at home I packed both our packs with the above gear including a small flashlight for each and a pair of leather work gloves. In my pack I also packed a small wool blanket extra batteries and fire starter. I've basically determined that my pack may be too small with the added gear for hiking in the desolate backcountry mountains. 

I also purchased a Bushnell Original Back Track from Sam's Club. 

                                                              

GPS MADE SIMPLE!

BackTrack utilizes GPS technology in its most basic format, BackTrack has only two buttons and stores up to three locations – just mark it and forget it until it’s time to return. At the end of the day, select your location and the BackTrack displays direction and distance to travel. Use it to find your car in a crowded parking lot, your treestand or the trailhead, even to rendezvous with your group. It’s extremely compact and stows conveniently in your pocket, pack or purse.

It's a very simple GPS that can mark up to three locations at a time i.e. you car. The Back Track then gives you a directional arrow and distance (as a bird flies) to your car or whatever location you set into the Back Track. At $39 it was certainly cheaper and less complicated than a full scale portable GPS.

I did a short hike today down to the Salt River in the Tonto National Forest to test the Back Track.

The Bushnell Back Track so far works as advertised. I obtained a satellite signal after getting out and set the Back Track to the location of my vehicle. The unit powers off after a short period of inactivity. When you turn it back on it immediately obtains a satellite signal and picks up in the mode from which it turned off. It measures the distance initially in yards and then eventually in miles and tenths of a mile. Right now I'm very satisfied with it. 

Hike at First Water Trail Head in the Superstition Mountains

January 3, 2011 Usery Mountain Regional Park.
You may have noticed that we started a Facebook page for our blog. I'll be posting more pictures on the Facebook site as it's faster to load them. In addition there will be more timely short updates. Joyce will be helping me with monitoring the Facebook page. Please feel free to write on the wall. In the near future perhaps we will have some "Discussions" on the Facebook page as I become more familiar with it.
Well, today we were supposed to move campsites to be in compliance with the park's 14 day rule. We found a site we wanted and went to the gate house to register. Their information indicated the site would be vacated by noon so we paid for a week at the site.  So at some point we drove by the site to check on the status of the occupants to see if they were preparing to move. It turns out they had a new tag posted on their site indicating they wouldn't be leaving till 1-4-11.  Long story short, they had renewed via the "iron ranger" and after checking back with the registration desk we ended up staying in our current site at least till tomorrow. The volunteers running the registration desk were very apologetic for the mix-up. So tomorrow morning we will pull out to dump our tanks and move to another site.
So, with the morning shot, we decided to take an afternoon hike in the Superstition Mountains. We drove east through Apache Junction before turning Northeast on Hwy. 88. turning at a sign for First Water Trail Head on FR-78.

The turn onto FR-78 to the First Water Trailhead in the Superstition Mountain Wilderness is 0.3 miles past Lost Dutchman State Park on the Apache Trail (SR-88). FR-78 is a gravel road with several unbridged crossings but it's almost always passable by passenger cars. The exception would be during or after a rain. This is one of the two most popular trailheads in the Superstition Wilderness--the other being the Peralta Trailhead. The main trails leaving the trailhead are the Dutchman Trail and the Second Water Trail.
In addition to the trails out of the First Water Trailhead, this road is also used for access to: the Crosscut Trail, the Massacre Falls Trail, the First Water Horse Lot (Overflow lot), Hackberry Spring, and First Water Ranch. There are vault toilets at the First Water Trailhead and at the First Water Horse Lot

Near the end of the FR-78 (dirt road) is the trail head.

Starting out on the Lost Dutchman Trail.

The trails were not very well marked and we didn't see any maps of the area at the trail head. By this point below, we were pretty much lost!

I had a compass and a general heading for the start of the trail head but that's it. And the general heading was over hill, mesa, stream and mountain. Not exactly a direct route.

It was just after 3:00 so I knew we had a couple hours of daylight. However the low sun and the clouds made it seem later in the day.

We decided to continue moving forward following a trail. A trail that seemed at times to be frequented by equestrians as evidenced by the occasional pile of horse manure.

We seemed to pass over the same or similar creek beds along the trail as we were becoming increasingly uneasy about our apparent inability to find our way! Finally we saw what looked like a hut in the distance. We hiked toward it and what we thought was a hut was a tin roof covered stable. Thankfully there was a man and woman there who helped us with directions back to the trail head. 

Covered Horse Stable

It turns out we had been within a couple miles of the trail head and once out of the valley they called "Second Water Valley". We were back on the dirt road FR-78 and had only a short hike to the end of the road and the trail head. We got back just short of 3 hours.

Back home, I did some "Google" searches and found this very good site of the trails: Hike Arizona. Best I could tell we did a version of the Hack Berry Spring Loop. 

This hike has made us realize that really should carry a GPS or some type of directional finder other than a compass. It's rare that we ever have a map of the areas we hike. We took off on this trail cold without any information before hand. Perhaps not the best way to go!

Having said all that, It was a beautiful hike with lots of beautiful mountain scenery.

Happy New Year!

December 31, 2010. Usery Mountain Regional Park

House Finches on Saguaro Cactus

On this New Year’s Eve, we hope everyone has a Happy and Prosperous New year!

The last few days have been spent with my Father and Karen mixed with hanging out in the park with the dogs. A few nights ago we shared a nice campfire at our campsite. It was a cool evening with no wind which made it perfect for the fire. 

Desert sunset from our campsite.

On Wednesday we drove to the local Verizon Store to update our phones. Our phones were two years old and showing their age.  At one point, we had discussed getting a “smart phone” for Joyce to have internet on the road and because she’s always checking her Face Book account. However, we had decided against it due to the anticipated additional monthly costs.

At the Verizon Store we were helped by a very good saleswoman, Lesli who really knew their products and phone plans. Lesli showed us how we were overpaying on our current plans. The plan for our 5 gigs of broadband data on the MiFi had decreased by $10 a month. She said it looked like we were using only 2 gigs a month and they have a 3 gig plan that would save us another $15 a month, but we decided to keep our 5 gigs and just take the $10 savings. Lesli checked our phone records to determine that we averaged less than 200 minutes a month well below our 1400 minute plan. So, she reduced us to a 700 minute plan saving an additional $20. With the savings, we again began considering a “smart phone” for Joyce.  After checking out the Droid phones, Joyce settled on a Droid X. Her phone is like a mini IPad that makes phone calls!

Droid X and Casio Ravine

I picked up a rugged phone (with no broadband service) called the Casio Ravine. So with the monthly service savings, the cost of unlimited internet on Joyce’s Droid was a wash making our monthly phone bill the same. So aside from having to pay the upfront cost of both phones we made out pretty good. After rebates, my phone will be free and Joyce’s will be $199.

After getting our phones we set off in the rain to a theater to watch the newly released movie, True Grit. We missed the 1:30 showing and walked around the shopping plaza as Joyce played with her new phone till the 3:00 show. The movie itself was very good and worth watching if you like “westerns”.

Lately, it seems we’ve done a lot of driving and shopping. Yesterday we visited both Sam’s Club and Costco just because, we like to look around and we were killing time staying inside from the miserable cold outside. I don’t mind the cold as long as the sun comes out. However, it’s been cloudy and cold. In fact yesterday we saw snowflakes here in Mesa and the local news captured pictures of a light dusting of snow that stuck for a few hours in the local area. 

The low last night was below freezing. I disconnected the rig’s water hose last night and let the campsite spicket drip. We used the rig’s water tank and pump for water till late this morning. I turned on a 60 watt drop light in the basement next to the water tank and pump to help keep the basement warm. Our basement and tanks are heated but only if I run the furnace. We had two ceramic heaters running all night but we were still cold. When we woke this morning it was 60 degrees inside and 48 in the basement. I turned on the furnace this morning to chase away the chill. Outside the water in the dog’s water bowl froze solid! It’s suppose to be colder tonight with temperatures dipping into the 20’s! We don’t have any plans for “ringing in the New Year” so we will see what happens.

As some readers have suggested, we can in fact stay here at Usery Mountain Regional Park beyond the 14 day limit. It just requires that we move out of our current site and into another available site. We are undecided on whether or not we will move to another site and stay longer or just press on towards Tucson on Monday.

Happy New Year!

Relaxing the Day After Christmas

December 26, 2010 Usery Mountain Regional Park.

Pass Mountain

We hope everyone had a Very Merry Christmas. On Christmas Eve we drove to Cousin Raymond's House for a family get together and some traditional tamales! We spent Christmas morning at my Father and Karen's home in Mesa. My Father prepared an outstanding breakfast with eggs, potatoes, bacon and tamales. Afterwards, we traveled 50 miles to my Cousin Terry and Rick's home in Glendale, Az where we ate more tamales! We had a great time visiting with relatives, enjoying the holiday and eating too much.
Today was a day to relax and decompress. Joyce went to a few stores this morning with Karen to return a few items and no doubt buy some more! I stayed at home with Maggie and Rico enjoying the cool weather.

Maggie

Rico

Later in the day I took a short walk along a wash in the back of our campground site. There are so many large and beautiful Saguaro Cactus in the park.

Large Cholla in the foreground.

Pass Mountain in the distance.

Phoenix to the West.

Relaxing in the mild climate of the Sonoran Desert. Does it get any better than this? We intend to find out as we continue to travel next year. Stopping to enjoy one state at a time.

Wind Cave Hike in Usery Mountain Regional Park, Mesa

December 24, 2010 Usery Mountain Regional Park, Mesa Az.
Located on the Valley’s east side, this park takes in 3,648 acres set at the western end of the Goldfield Mountains, adjacent to the Tonto National Forest. 
The last few days since arriving have been filled with last minute Christmas shopping and visiting with my Father and Karen. We've done a lot of driving to and fro and I'm sure we will do a lot more as we plan to visit relatives throughout the Phoenix Valley.
We had some rainy cloudy weather as the system that devastated California earlier in the week, passed over the Valley. I actually was looking forward to the rain to wash off the dust on the roof of the rig!

View on the door side of our rig.

Yesterday, it was still cloudy and cool with a forecasted high of 65 but the weather was clearing. We decided on doing the most popular hike in Usery Mountain Regional Park, The Wind Cave Hike.

The park contains a large variety of plants and animals that call the lower Sonoran Desert home. Along the most popular feature of the park, the Wind Cave Trail, water seeps from the roof of the alcove to support hanging gardens of Rock Daisy. The Wind Cave is formed at the boundary between the volcanic tuff and granite on Pass Mountain. Breathtaking views from this 2,840-foot elevation are offered to all visitors

Beginning the hike.

Pass Mountain

The trail was washed out in many areas no doubt, due to the recent rain fall. Much of the trail up the mountain required stepping over large fallen rocks which made it more challenging.

One of the smoothest sections of the trail

Near the top

The Wind Cave is basically a large hollow in the side of the mountain. I didn't include a picture as there were other people in the photos I took. The hike seemed to be very popular. We found a secluded perch near the cave where we sat and enjoyed our snack and the beautiful view of the valley.

Perched by the Wind Cave.

View looking South.

Our campground in the distance looking West.

While seated from my perch on Pass Mountain, I played with my Canon camera using the 40x zoom to capture the picture below of our campsite. You can see our silver Dodge and the Cameo behind it.

Our site from afar!

We climbed back down returning to the Jeep after our two-hour trek which is the average according to the park information on the hike.

We like Usery Mountain Regional Park especially the campground. The views are fantastic. There is a shooting range in the park and I can hear the target shooting when outside but it's not annoying. Maggie and Rico continue to have encounters with the cactus spines on the ground from time to time so we have to be cautious. There is no sewer hook-up so we have to be frugal with water. I have to empty my 18 gallon grey tote everyday. I don't want to fill my grey (rig) tank as then it can be messy draining it into the grey tote. But that's just me!

We are considering staying longer in the valley but it's difficult to find a park that isn't 55 plus. So we may just stay here for another week. You may only stay at Usery Mountain Regional Park for 14 days.