Greetings from Scottsdale, where I'm visiting my friend Susan Freeman from Golden who also has a house down here.
I left Denver between snowstorms about 12 days ago and hightailed it down I-25 into New Mexico as directly as possible, exiting the highway at Bernal (just S. of Las Vegas, NM) where the highway curves back north again. I drove into the national forest there and camped for the night but didn't take any pictures. The next day I took some back-ish roads (highway 3, 54 to Alamagordo, 70 past White Sands) down to Las Cruces, seeking warmth. Here I found a beautiful campsite in a BLM lot just west of the Organ Mountains, on the E. side of town. I took some beautiful pictures that night which unfortunately I can't share because the next night, before I had reached wifi for my pics to be uploaded to the cloud, a horse stepped on my phone and totaled it. The way this happened was that I had driven west on the third day to the outskirts of Tucson and found what I thought would be a good campsite near Colossal Cave, backed into a little wash off a dirt road in the state park, and was enjoying a beer and some appetizers and listening to NPR on my phone (my old phone had an FM tuner, I guess because I got it about a year ago in Thailand after I'd dropped my previous phone on a rock and broken it). I had to plug in earbuds to act as an antenna for the radio, and I was playing it over my bluetooth speaker, and because I was in a ravine the reception wasn't great so I had laid the phone on the rocky streambed and stretched the earbuds out to get the best possible reception. Suddenly a guy appeared on a horse and said hello and mentioned that I was actually in the state park and not the national forest and the ranger would probably be by before long to check that everyone was out before he locked the gates for the night. He was a nice guy and said that if I continued up the canyon I could park at the end of the road for the night, and he also offered to let me camp on his property which was adjacent to the state park and he even gave me the combination to the locked gate to get onto his property. All this time his dog was sniffing around my snacks and I was preoccupied with shooing him away so I didn't notice when at some point the horse must have stepped on my phone. All I know is that I hurriedly packed up my car again and headed further up the road to the parking area at the end at which point I realized I'd left my phone behind. So I drove back down the road to my previous campsite and was delighted to spot my phone glinting in the dying evening light until I walked up to it and saw that it was totally crushed.
The next day I drove into Tucson and spent the day getting a replacement phone and downloading all my apps and data (offline google maps, e.g.). It was still a bummer, though, because the new phone (a Moto Z Play) doesn't have an FM tuner, and the camera doesn't have as many options for different types of pictures like wide angle and fisheye and stuff which I enjoyed before. But it's working for now. It does have an interesting panorama mode where it produces a picture you can click on and then manipulate around which you may notice below.
As the afternoon wore on I realized I should start thinking about finding a campsite for the night and, still seeking lower elevations and warmer overnight temps I decided to try the BLM area west of Tuscon, an area called "Ironwood Mountain National Monument" which is a bit confusing because it's not the type of national monument where you have to pay an entrance fee and camping is restricted, it's definitely plain old BLM land where you can camp for up to 14 days at a time pretty much anywhere you want. So I drove out on a dirt road and found another wash to pull off the road in and camped there for the night. The next day (Sunday?) I tested out my solar panels and stayed put in the same campsite for the second night in a row. I took the opportunity to do a little hike in the area and at the top of a small hill I found signs of migrant camping, including a ripped-open and discarded bale of marijuana, I'm pretty sure (it was quite weathered and decayed but upon inspection it sure looked like it had once been fresh pot).
The next day I drove back over the Tuscon Mtns to find some shopping opportunities. I needed a sun hat (I couldn't find the one I thought I had brought) and I wanted to find a rechargeable 12 volt radio (preferably with bluetooth capability) to replace my previous phone so I could listen to the radio in camp without having the car turned on, but so far I've been unable to find something satisfactory.
Later that afternoon I explored more of the Ironwood Mtn BLM area by car, and ended up camping in another spot. It's all quite beautiful desert out there: for that matter everywhere around here! Then the next day I returned to a location near where I had spent the two nights, which I had found during my hike. Thinking that evening about the immigrant campsite I had found near there I started getting a little nervous and ended up locking the doors to the car that night but of course I didn't see anyone.
The next afternoon (Wednesday, a week after my departure) I drove into Tucson to visit my friend Greg Stickroth. He had invited me to have dinner with himself and some friends that evening. It was great to see him again after about 25 years (I'm pretty sure the last time I saw him was before Owen was born when Darcy and I drove down to Tucson to visit him and his boyfriend at the time, Terry) and to meet his housemate Lois, who is very nice and generous. I'm looking forward to seeing them both again later this week when I've convinced them to let me hang around for a few days and help them with some projects.
After a nice relaxing morning Thursday I packed up again and headed east on Tanque Verde road to Reddington Pass road. Just up out of the valley is a BLM dispersed camping area with great views, and equally nice, great phone reception! I've recently discovered I don't have the data limits I thought I had on my phone so that has alleviated my missing FM tuner issue as I can listen to the radio over the phone connection (not to mention read the news and check email!) as long as I have cell service, which seems to be much more prevalent down here (T-Mobile) than other parts of the country I've been in.
The next day (Friday) I continued east over Reddington Pass down into the San Pedro river valley. As I exited the national forest part of this road I thought, "at last, the road will get better now." But it didn't. In fact, it got worse. In fact, there were parts that I went down that I thought "I'm not sure I could get up this if I was going the other direction!" and I hoped I wouldn't reach an impasse and have to turn around. But I didn't and eventually reached the bottom of the valley and headed north toward San Manual. But before reaching there I veered right and turned off on Tom Rhodes Ranch Road which heads back up out of the valley on an alluvial ridge. This was a really gorgeous area and had a great view of the valley below and great phone reception as well! I passed and noted several good campsites on my way to the end of this road (at least as far as I could get before I came to a locked gate) and then drove back down to the first of those to (once again) camp at the lower elevation for the (hopefully) warmer temperatures. In fact, I think that was my warmest night yet, reaching a balmy low of 50 degrees according to the thermometer app on my phone.
The next day, Saturday, I drove into nearby Oracle where my friend Greg was performing a cabaret show that evening. It was a great show and afterward there was a "speakeasy" theme party. Greg let me stay in a spare bedroom in his cabin that evening at the nearby Triangle L ranch where we had yet another delicious breakfast the next morning before my departure for Scottsdale. That was yesterday and I got here in time to be disappointed by the Super Bowl.
So that's my story and I'm sticking to it. Here are some of my more favorite photos since getting my new phone and I'll include a link to the whole kit and caboodle including some short videos at the end.
Wishing you all the best! -- Chris
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| This guy (Enrique?) helped me with my replacement phone. At a "Quik Fix" shop in Tucson. |
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| My first campsite in Ironwood Mountain BLM area. |
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| Umm, about my hair: I haven't had it cut in a while. I'm not sure what I'm going to do about it. I usually keep it pretty short but because I always feel chilly when I first get my haircut, and because I'm somewhat inspired by my son Owen, I'm considering letting it grow out a bit for awhile. But the combination of being at that awkward in-between length along with several consecutive days of bed-head produces some frightening results. Apologies in advance. |
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| The hat helps with the hair problem, but it's warmed up lately and I don't have that solution anymore. |
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| Love those saguaros! |
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| Early morning in the desert. So green! |
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| Setting up my solar panel (200 W) for the first time. Battery and charge controller are behind and out of view. System works great! And I have a charge controller that plugs into my AC adapter in the back of the van to recharge the battery when I'm in motion. This allows me to keep everything powered up without relying on the car battery, which gives me peace of mind that I'm not going to drain the car battery. |
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| Because I was planning to stay in one place for the day I decided to try cooking breakfast on a campfire instead of on my Colemen 2-burner stove, thereby saving some propane. Worked good for coffee, bacon, and eggs. |
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| Having failed to find my sun hat (which I've since found) I came up with an improvised solution to keep from getting sunburned on my upcoming hike (using my sleeping bag stuff sack) |
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| "Dos Titos" (the two peaks on the left) were my reference as I rambled cross-country in the desert. The smaller, closer hill on the right is the one I eventually summitted where I found the signs of immigrants camping. |
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| Here is an abandoned bale of marijuana |
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| Whoever slept here did not have my creature comforts. |
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| Love that evening light! |
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| This is from the "dispersed camping" area east of Tucson on Reddington Pass Road. |
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| And here is the end of the road (at least for me) at the top of Tom Rhodes Ranch Rd. |
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| Friday night camping. |
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| Sunday was my first rainy day. Driving north toward Tucson I stopped for a nap at the Tom Mix roadside memorial (it had been a late evening the night before). The low clouds were dramatic over the green desert and when I woke from my nap I saw a full rainbow. |
