Sunday, March 28, 2010

Ash Canyon









Kevin felt well enough to hike this morning so we went back up Ash Canyon. We started at 9:40am and were the only ones in the area.

This time we took a different trail up, one that led directly west up the ridge. This was a longer trail, an old mining trail, that ended near a collapsed mine. The trail continued along a ridge as an illegal single-track trail, well-hidden behind scrub oaks and manzanitas.

We never got as high in elevation as last weekend, as we followed a lower ridge along the peaks. We circled the entire "bowl" of Ash Canyon, as Nipple Peak grew larger and larger until it revealed itself to be a real...boob. "A lop-sided boob," added Kevin.

Once we left the last mine remnants we were clearly on an unstable "illegal" trail. More trash was visible here, but never too much that made the trail unsightly. The views into the valley were lovely and the dogs had fun.

Kevin brought his rifle with him. "I like hiking with it" he said, "I can't imagine hiking without it anymore." Between Kevin, his rifle and three big dogs, I had my own personal protection.

Luckily, we didn't encounter any illegals, nor drug runners, suspicious-looking backpacks, nor any USBP until we had left the trail head. The only strange thing we saw today was a thick roll of carpenter plastic rolled up and tied with twine, the same twine that Mexicans use to tie up their blankets. What was this rolled-up black plastic doing so high up the ridge? Is this stuff used to transport drugs? Or did someone discard it because of its weight? Mexicans use heavy contractor plastic bags to keep warm at night with, but this plastic was one long, rolled-up roll.

We found a few more smaller trails we could explore next time. The trail we were on merged with Ash Creek which at this elevation was a rocky, exposed and dry climb up to the Crest Trail. We turned around here and went down the same way we went up. We were back at our truck by 1:20pm.

I took some nice photos of Kevin but won't post them here to protect his privacy.

When we got home by 2pm I got online to post photos from yesterday and read that a Southeastern rancher near the New Mexican-Mexican border, Robert Krentz, was found shot and killed, along with his dog, on his 35,000 acre property late Saturday night. It sounds like he was killed by an illegal alien, most likely a drug runner. His ranch has been terrorized by drug runners since 2002. It's a known drug-smuggling route as the terrain there opens into a wide, easily-traversable valley.

The media describes Krentz as a "well-known Southeastern rancher." Both Kevin and I were all ears during the 5pm news but not much new was reported. When this story is completed it's going to make national news, and the border patrol militia will most likely find new members real quick.

It's one thing to want to come to this country for a job as a documented foreign worker, but it's another to use the bleeding heart liberals' compassion for ALL illegals, criminal or not. I am sure "La Razistas" will be all in an uproar over this killing, blaming the rancher. The rancher was a third generation rancher, as the family has had that land since 1907, before Arizona was a state. This event isn't going to help the immigration debate, and I'm sure this killing is going to unleash a whole new set of issues and complaints about the border.

http://www.azstarnet.com/news/local/crime/article_08c10326-3a9c-11df-b975-001cc4c03286.html

http://www.tucsonweekly.com/TheRange/archives/2010/03/28/cochise-county-rancher-murdered

http://www.azstarnet.com/news/local/border/article_32642381-6314-53b4-aff1-570dbd1d6834.html

Thursday, March 25, 2010

Under the three-quarter moon

As soon as it was dark enough for a moon-lighted walk, I leashed up the excited dogs (they hadn't been walked since Monday) and walked with them the 2-mile loop in the neighborhood. They all know the routine now. I like these evening walks as Sadie doesn't pull as much, there are no other dogs aggravating mine, and I don't feel frustrated. I can actually enjoy these walks, too. Tonight the moon was high above early on. I never needed to turn on my flashlight as we power walked around the route.

If only the neighborhood dogs wouldn't bark so much!

Tonight was much of a replay from Monday: 61F at 7pm with pockets of warm air encircling me along the way. I smelled mesquite burning.

Kevin took a sick day today. He now has the cold. Is this the same virus I had or is this just a nuisance cold? He may not be in the mood to hike up any mountains this weekend, and the orange poppies are popping up all around Tucson.

I'm still coughing but the coughing is no longer productive. I made an appointment with my family practitioner and the earliest date is 8 April.

It's been a beautiful week weather-wise. We had some rain Tuesday morning which chilled the ground for two days--we even had morning fog!--and our Bermuda grass is showing a come-up. So are, of course, all the weeds. I try to pull weeds/garden when I come home, 30 minutes a day at least just to keep the weeds in check. The puncture vine has been very prolific this season. That is my least favorite weed.

I'm starting to think of summer plans. With Erin coming here in late June we have been talking about taking four days for a trip down to San Diego. She was born in coastal central California and we both have a special attraction to that state. She loves the ocean, too. I may even go high-end and rent a luxury hotel room. The Gas lamp district, Balboa Park, the marina and the beaches are all worth a day each!

Alex decided to get married in Orlando in mid November. My high school reunion is in Dallas in August. I haven't committed to that one yet as I don't know of anyone of my old friends who are going to be there as well. I may just go just to spend time with friends I've met since graduating from there and who are now friends via my Facebook. (One of them, Darlene, is also an avid hiker all over central California.)

I've also decided NOT to take any summer courses but to instead read a history book a week all summer to prepare for an Honors Literature-History course I am interested in taking. I have really enjoyed my American Literature course and I especially have enjoyed the Black Literature.

I don't even know if I am going to have time to travel to Oregon this July.

All these plans roam through my head as I walk the dogs on a spring evening. I haven't made any concrete plans for the summer at all. If anything, it's going to be one of those "Let's wait and see" summers.

Monday, March 22, 2010

Spring is here!

The nice thing about Arizona is that its seasons always come on time. My fruit trees in the back yard are all in full bloom. This may be the first year I actually have any fruit, as we aren't due a cold snap any time soon. Earlier today I planted more beans.

What I like about spring is the nighttime temperatures. I took the dogs for an evening stroll and it was still in the 50s. Perfect! The nighttime also echoed the sounds of the dogs' toenails scratching the street asphalt. Tip-tap-tip-tap drove the neighborhood dogs nucking futs.

I swear I got a whiff of Mexico, too as the smell of burning wood hit my nostrils. I could also feel the snow radiate its chill off the mountains, which glimmered a slight blue in the evening moonlight.

Although my energy is back, my lungs are still annoyed with phlegm that just doesn't want to leave. I had a coughing fit in class but that didn't dislodge anything. I'm happy being able to have energy again. I've lost three pounds and my taste for caffeine. I haven't had any caffeine since last Tuesday and don't plan on starting up any time soon. Even beer doesn't taste good (it could be because I'm drinking "diabetic beer" (Michelob Ultra). If I keep this up my Mormon friends would be proud of me.

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Hiking up Nipple Peak














This morning Kevin joined me for a quick jaunt up this little ridgeline. He wanted something short and intense and I was able to deliver.

The USBP was still documenting a large marijuana stash they found in the canyon as we drove in, and the van ahead of us on the way to the trailhead was looking for more. Bundles wrapped in burlap in an open truck bed bounced ahead of us in the streaming dust.

All the snow from my last venture up here on 11 Feb was gone, which was bad news for the dogs who were thirsty once we got to the top. All that remained was one narrow ice batch in a shadowed north slope. We stopped there to let the dogs refresh themselves as they bit into the crunchy ice. A large group of hikers had beat us to this isolated viewpoint this morning. This place is more popular than I thought! It's a meandering, steep trail up loose rocky soil and small manzanita shrubs.

The views were just as spectacular as last time I was up here. The vista was actually prettier as there was no trash anywhere. Kevin liked this view point, too. We stayed up along the ridgeline for a good thirty minutes, watching the lands south of us. The border fence shone in the sunlight, the black line traveling behind the mountains in either direction.

"You can tell someone came by and pruned the edges of these shrubs for easier night-time walk-through" said Kevin as he pointed out the pruned edges of some of the manzanitas. Leave it to an infantryman/hunter to notice these things.

It took us just over an hour to make it to the top, and 45 minutes to get back down. In two more months this is going to be one hot hike! This would be a good hour-long training hike to the ridge and down. Kevin showed an interest in using this trail to get into shape.

I guessed this trail to be no more than two miles uphill. He guessed about the same.

There was more illegal trash once we got back down. The stuff never stops!

I think today is going to be my last day of my H1N1 virus. I hacked up pretty much any left-over phlegm. My appetite is coming back.

The swine flu prevented me from getting as much done as I wanted over spring break. Tomorrow it's back to work. The budding garden alone will be work.

Kevin liked Ash Canyon and wants to try some of the other steep canyons in later weekends. Yay!

Saturday, March 13, 2010

Meeting Timothy Egan










Timothy Egan is an investigative reporter and blogger for the New York Times. He's a Pulitzer-Prize-winning author of "The Worst of Times," describing survivors of the Great Dust Bowl of the 1930s. He spoke today at the Tucson Festival of Books about his latest book, "The Big Burn," the devastating 1910 wildfire that terrorized western Montana, northern Idaho and far eastern Washington.

He wrote the book because as a kid living in eastern Washington, he remembered family vacations in the area and seeing burned tree stumps still standing from that fire. "Descendants of that fire still talk about that burn."

I sat in the front row, in awe of his passion for his work. He spoke about the 1910 fire and of President Theodore Roosevelt's determination in the years before that (he left office in 1909) to get the Forest Service created. By 1910 under Taft Congress was eager to cut off all funding for the Forest Service. Although only around 100 people died that time, it was the largest fire ever to haunt our lands. As Egan said, "we can thank the Big Burn for our National Forests." Before the Big Burn Congress had slashed funding for its survival.

Flash backs of those northern Rockie forests of last summer came back to me. "You can still see old strands of burned cedar from that fire" said Egan. I saw a LOT of burned tree stumps in western Montana, but most were from more recent fires.

He also mentioned that a more current threat are the ash beetles killing all the trees. "You can see large strands of rust-colored trees in Montana from that beetle" said Egan.

I somehow managed to get to the front of the autograph line. With me I had my advanced copy of his book. "Where did you get this?" he asked me, as his book hasn't been released in paperback yet.

"I got it from Amazon" I told him, "I write reviews and I was the first one to write a review on this book. You wrote this book just like a raging wildfire, slow at first and then culminating into the big blow in the middle before the fire dies out in the end." That review to date is my biggest-scoring review on Amazon, although, I must admit, it is far from scholarly.

Egan lit up with a smile. "I remember that review! You're the one who got my book sold!" Although I think Egan is exaggerating there, (he after all didn't win a Pulitzer because of anything I wrote about him) he shook my hand and was genuinely grateful for my words.

His next book is due out in two years. I can't wait to read it!

It's the weekend!

I'm getting ready to head out to Tucson for the entire weekend. The University of Arizona has its free second-annual Festival of Books and I'm going to meet some writers: Timothy Egan, Hampton Sides, Luis Urrea. I can't wait! And it's going to be the first time in years I get to experience some night life.

Tomorrow will be much of the same: more authors, more books.

Spring break has started and I have a week to get caught up with my readings. I have four books to read as well.

Our heat wave has started. Hopefully this is the last time we need to worry about a heat wave. Some of my vegetables didn't like that last cold snap.

Sunday, March 7, 2010

Yearning for Steinbeck Country

I needed to research some critics on John Steinbeck last night, but instead I looked over my new Benchmark map of California and started dreaming about going back there again. I miss California’s coastal beauty, its lush greenness and its open trails. Reading some of Steinbeck’s short stories hasn’t helped much, either. Like him, I feel a love for the Monterey Bay area but also an estrangement as well. His own people chased him out of the state and he settled in the cultural antithesis of California, namely New York City. I fled California and settled in New Jersey.

I need to go back to Monterey and central California. I want to hike Big Sur again. I want to hike those old hiking trails that took me above the marine layer and into a sphere of heavenly existentialism. I want to hike around the Coulter Pines, smell the cones and whiff in some ocean salt. I want to feel as if I am above the edge of the earth again.

So, when shall this trip be? Who knows. I don’t even know if I’m going to summer school this year. I don’t really want to; my restless spirit is calling me back on the road again. I have people and places in California I want to experience again, and so many more places I never got to see before.

If I go to California this May I could see the old friends I’m been longing to see. There’s Karen in Los Gatos, Dennis in Monterey, Daureen in Marin County. My old neighbor Lisa is still in Pacific Grove and Bob from my old high school is in the Bay Area. I certainly won’t be lacking human companionship.

My trip, however, will be a trek back into time. I want to recapture that lost spirit of my California days and this time thank it for those restless days, those sleepless nights and all the loneliness and pain I felt during that time. It’s not that I want that loneliness back, or the pain and agonies I fought against during those years. I want to go back there and thank it for making me a better person in the long run. I survived California. I therefore can survive anywhere. And I have.

Saturday, March 6, 2010

French Joe Canyon...Again!












Today was almost a repeat of last Saturday but this time I had some fun company. Steve and new hiker Gary from Boise, Idaho joined me at the 9am meet-up for a repeat performance in French Joe Canyon. We drove in my dirty Ford Escape from town to the trail head where Rod and Caci were waiting. Yay! A group of five is ideal for hiking.

This was Steve's first time here. Gary had never been in this canyon despite having lived the winters here for 15 years. I spent most of the hike talking with Gary about the local hiking trails, and of the members of the club. He was quite the loquacious hiker the entire time. He would fit in with some of the other gentlemen in this club: Bernie, Colonel Bill, Paul.

"I don't like hiking by myself anymore, and carrying a gun with me gets old" he said. He needn't worry, as any bad guys hiding in the brush would be wiser avoiding us with a dog around. We chated about the dangers of encountering illegals. The only ones to worry about are the drug smugglers dressed in black. They would hike through a canyon such as French Joe for its steep canyons and remote upper peaks.

We didn't see a soul this time. I think it's because for most of the hike, the clouds looked like they were ready to storm on us. They came close, but the heavy rain never came till the end.

Gary said he was an intermediate hiker. I said I was one, too. Donna and Bill Bens are people I would consider advanced hikers who could leave me in the dust. For a man who claimed he hadn't hiked much, he did fine. This hike was a short but intense workout.

Rod knows these mountains intimately. He recommended a side hike to a saddle overlooking the San Pedro Valley. We agreed we would do that on our return hike. I wanted to take the group to the mine that I didn't get to last weekend first. That is where most people turn around anyway, and it had been years since I was at that mine.

The mine isn't that far off from where I turned around last week. But the rocks did get steeper and harder to climb up. (The steep grade didn't seem to bother Sadie!) We ended our climb at the mine, with a pretty view of the narrow canyon to our south. Here the cliffs in all directions made for a natural barrier; hiking further up the canyon would require serious rock climbing skills.

A skunk's tail (!) lay nearby, rotting near the mine shaft. Poor critter probably lost it in a fatal fight with a predator.
"What's that smell?" asked Caci.
"A dead skunk!" I replied.

We rested at the last dry waterfall before turning around. I climbed up even higher to explore the upper creek bed. It wasn't an easy climb and I didn't want to risk falling today, not as a hike leader, but the upper canyon would be a great rock climbing expedition for another day. If you go to the saddle of French Joe Canyon you end near the boundary of Kartchner Caverns, where a great mineral wealth lay waiting for discovery. (This I know from the college's Geology 101 course)

According to Rod's GPS we had hiked 1.5 miles at this point! That's all? It's quite deceiving how long a steep rock climb appears to the legs. I figured we'd gain a few more miles bushwhacking to an eastern-facing saddle on the return trip, but it started to rain as we got on this illegal trail and three of us didn't have rain gear. Caci had already announced she was not going to hike any further, so we all turned around and went back to our cars.

I will get back into this canyon again. I want to explore the higher ridges of this canyon, the more remote trails of the high ridges. Maybe next time I'll find that hidden treasure of gold. Ha.

Despite the short hike we all agreed that our legs felt the work-out.
"I feel like I did 'The Lunger' all day" I said, referring to an old army warm-up exercise. Both Steve and Gary agreed.

It rained hard as we left the trail head. It rained even harder as I approached our neighborhood. My birthday girl lay in the back seat exhausted, but perked up when we got home.

Kevin, just like last weekend, went hunting in the Dragoons. This time he brought back a hare that he had killed. One of the doomed critter's hind legs was grilling on the stove when I got home. Sammy and Sara were excited about the smell, and Sadie was curious. She ended up eating more of the hare, which Kevin was kind enough to hide from my view in the backyard. Sadie allegedly liked very much what she ate. Did it taste as good as that dead deer I hauled home over Christmas?

"I really didn't like it too much" said Kevin about the hare. He offered me some meat but I refused. I ate rabbit once years ago when I lived in Hamburg, Germany. It was tough and tasted wild. If I want meat I want it to melt in my mouth like Yukon Gold potatoes.

http://willcoxrangenews.com/articles/2010/03/05/news/news01.txt

Happy Birthday, Sadie!

My favorite German Shepherd Dog in the whole wide world turns two today. I fed her an extra-large cut from a hack of tenderloin Kevin donated for this morning's nondescript "ceremony." Even Mo and Pache got some meat this morning, but Sadie got the biggest cut.

What would my life be without Sadie? The nights would be more restful. There wouldn't be 3am wake-up whines, midnight demands to "play ball" or excess fur everywhere. But life without her now would be unbearably boring.

I'm going hiking with her back to French Joe Canyon, but the clouds over the mountains look ominously dark and stormy. There's no rain YET but we're still going to hit the canyon. I'll be interested to find out who shows up at the 9am meet-up later. I usually get 50% who never RSVP beforehand.

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Camping plans

Kevin bought a $200 Eureka tent a few days ago and wants to go on a family camp-out soon. I don't know what surprises and delights me more, the fact that he's showing an interest in camping again, or that he actually bought a high-value item for us! This is a 10x10 family tent, big enough for our weekend gear and three happy dogs.

We haven't gone camping since our week in Arizona's White Mountains two summers ago. Sadie's never been out camping.

But where to go? I suggested we try the Dos Cabesas Wilderness south of Willcox. He agreed. We had both suggested last year that area was worth exploring some more, both for its remote beauty but also for its Apache history and the many "finds" there. There are two reliable springs in the higher elevations as well so that the dogs would have fun, too. The hike would be more of a bushwhack, away from annoying horses or even more annoying flatlanders from Texas who I always seem to run into in that part of our copper state.

Now we have to figure out when we are going. I have a hike planned for this Saturday, back up French Joe Canyon, to replace a work event that was cancelled. Rain is again forecasted for late Saturday.

The week of 15-20 March I'm on spring break but will be busy with research. And the following weekend I'm leading a hike to Picacho Peak, an old Confederate look-out peak during the brief time Arizona played a part in the Civil War. Picacho Peak is doomed to close after the wildflower season this spring and I want one more hike up there before that state park gets shuttered.

___

On another note, my sister Alex is planning a wedding. She hasn't announced when or where this wedding will be, but her ideas run from Orlando to Vegas to somewhere in North Carolina to Nice, France. I'd love to have an excuse to see North Carolina again. I'm no fan of Florida (too much asphalt and assholes to contend with) but the flora and the few remaining Spanish sites would be enough to lure me toward Orlando. (I will not be caught dead inside Disney World!) Vegas would be close-by and an easy eight-hour drive, but from there I'd be tempted to climb up nearby Mount Charleston, another "Must Bag" on my list of mountains. The city itself does nothing for me.

So, I'll guess I'll find out more when Alex is ready to make the announcement. She'll be in Vegas scouting out that place this weekend. But if she gets married this summer it may hamper my plans for a road trip to Oregon. Either way I'll be on a long road trip no matter where my plans lead me to this summer. I don't think I'll have the money nor the mindset to see both Florida and Oregon in a leisurely time frame, without rushing anything or simply to "get it done and over with."
_____

Meanwhile, my apricot, pear, apple, blueberry plants and potatoes are budding or in bloom!