arid-zone-a

Hola Amigos/Amigas

We’re back in the big apple after a week in the big desert (rather than dessert, though perhaps would be more in keeping with the ‘food’ theme). We had what can only be described as a hell trip – it took ALL day, and involved a walk, 2 buses, a subway, and airtrain (2 hrs to the airport), 2 planes and, finally, a hire car. I just about died (figuratively, not literally) on the flight from JFK to Phoenix (flight #1) when just after we pushed back from the gate they announced that ‘there’s a problem starting engine 1, we’re going to have to go back to the gate to get the technicians to check it out’. I was sure my number was finally up, and when we eventually took off some 1 ½ hours later, I was even more nervous than usual – poor D. tears were had, but all was good. Most other passengers just seemed happy to be able to turn their cell phones on for a bit.

So, Arizona, or Arid – zone – a as I came to think of it. The thrill of walking (aka driving our rather large vehicle) out of the airport into hot sunshine was closely matched by our first sighting of a saguaro cactus… and another. And another… We drove through Tucson (a flat city of massive highways, surrounded by (some) mountains, and up the interstate (I-10) to our first destination – Ironwood Forest National Monument.

A slow meander on an unsealed road as the cacti ‘forest’ got denser and denser, made slower as I made d stop at ever other turn for an even better cactus/mountain shot… Completely isolated, we were passed by only 2 other vehicles, one of which was US Border Patrol (we were to see many more).

The desert itself was a mix of the giant saguaro and spiky spiny ocotillo, in flower with bursts of red at the end of each ‘stem’, with the odd prickly pear and (teddy-bear) cholla thrown into the mix for good measure. Here’s one of many:

I had planned this 30 mile loop back to the I-10, and about 25 miles in, as the sun was about to set, this was foiled by the road turning into a huge pool a water. A local sitting there in a ute said ‘no, 4WD only…’ so back we went, luckily escaping just before the hoards of marauding penetrating Mexicans descending… Seriously, the rhetoric around the border is intense, and what one should do it one encounters illegal border crossers begging for water (nothing; notify the authorities). There are 100s and 100s of deaths on this desert border each year, partly a result of US border policies which closed down the borders in the cities, meaning the permeable bits are wild (hot, snake infested) desert – which equals more deaths…

Anyway, stayed that night in a motorway services cheap motel 6, collapsing after a delicious Mexican meal, and waking to classic views of cowboys in pickup trucks, and a ghastly diner breakfast…

the reality of food in the US was soon brought into stark relief as we drove past massive cattle foodlots, brown, dusty, and over-burdened with cattle, on the way to Gila Bend. here's a close-up of a small section:

Truly a terrifying thing, we felt well-informed about them having just watched the doco King Corn.

Gila Bend had some ancient wildlife:

We had our first desert hike in the Sonora Desert National Monument (fab) and saw some 'painted rock' petroglyphs - 1000s of years old, and now 'protected' (you're requested to 'stay on the paths'):

Around Gila Bend, a region that used to be fertile until the river was stopped, irrigated fields were almost painfully green against the desert brown:

We then drove south to a town called Ajo, where we stayed on route to our next destination, Organ Pipe National Monument. We passed through a border patrol checkpoint, but they didn’t stop us as we were heading towards Mexico… it’s all about direction! Ajo was very cute – formerly much more populated that it now is, full of cute churches and great signage:

The main industry of the town seems now to be selling ‘Mexico Insurance’ (except they were all shut!), and water, a necessity in the desert climate (they recommend carrying a gallon of water per person for a day’s hiking!):

It is home to a now closed copper mine, the New Cornelia mine, which was the apparently the second biggest open-cast mine in the world. And according to Wikipedia, produced over 6 billion pounds of copper! Blimey! You seem to drive beside the tailings for at least 10 minutes as you leave town, staggering. There’s no way to photograph it which captures the scale (you can see a panorama shot though).

Organ Pipe was our key destination. here's an 'organ pipe cactus (the busy one in the middle of the pic):
The park runs along the Mexican border, and unfortunately most of it is currently closed for “security concerns”. Damn! We did three hikes, up valleys and up into the mountains for two. The first was damn spectacular, a hike up a canyon, with views of a 90 foot rock arch high to the right, then a cairned scramble up to just above and behind the arch. Spectacular views across miles and miles of desert, into Mexico and beyond.

The absolute highpoint was seeing a hummingbird!! Both of us associated hummingbirds with jungles, but no, they’re common in Arizona (we saw quite a few more). Here’s a pic of a different one:

We also saw millions of lizards, birds of a various stripes, including the massive and impressive turkey vultures, and my personal faves, the rock squirrels(!).

AND luckily no snakes. Very very happy about that! D was rather disappointed. You learn to live with such disappointments. But hiking among cacti is not without risk:

Much of the desert was in bloom, being 'spring', so it was pretty special...

After a full day of hiking we set off back to Tucson as the sun turned the desert into a glowing thing of beauty:

We passed through the spectacularly named towns of Gunsight and, best of all, Why

We got stopped by Border Patrol. We’d be warned out the seriousness of them, so that when I was asked where we’d been, I completely panicked and forgot the name… duh! Luckily we were the right colour, and after checking our passports, we were wished a good night and off we drove. The road passes for probably close to 100 miles through the Tohono O’odham Nation (‘reservation’). Starving at about 9pm we stopped at a roadside place in the one town on the road, hoping for some ‘local’ food options, only to be greeted with burgers and chilli-cheese-fries (which won on the night)! While waiting we ‘gringos’ (seems appropriate, given it once was Mexico) entertained the little kids by our mere presence. Another ghastly cheap motel on the edge of Tucson, then a visit to the really quite fab Arizona-Sonoran Desert Museum, a bit more like a zoo/museum, where we got to enjoy all the animals trough the safety of glass… those snakes are damned small; in my imagination, they were far bigger… glad I’d seen them at that late point in the trip. The high point for both of us was the hummingbird enclosure; I could have stayed for hours. Heaps were nesting. The low-point: Oh so many loud Americans and their even louder offspring…

Our farewell to desert hiking was a switchback ridge climb in the West Tucson mountain part of the Saguaro National Park.

The next day we got up early and drove the spectacular road (designated a national scenic byway) up to Mt Lemmon, a road which ascends from about 1000 ft above sea level (Tucson) to close to 10,000ft over 27 miles.

Part of the Coronado National Forest, we got high enough to encounter big green and brown things (aka trees, conifer etc!), and even SNOW! A ski-field in winter, we hiked up to the top, for stunning views of the mountains and drop back down to the Tucson plains.

Both sides of the mountain had been decimated by fire earlier this decade, and regrowth was really slow. The burned out trees were, however, stunning

Running late for getting our hire car back, we thought we’d jump on the chairlift back down the mountain… but NO! you had to buy a ticket at the bottom. And when we asked whether we could buy it down there, well no, because you have to sign a waiver that you won’t sue if you managed to hurt yourself! Honestly! So we raced back down the mountain, and it was worth it for some very cute Abert’s squirrels with these super tufty ears. (I geekily bought a National Audibon Society Field Guide to the Southwestern States, so we know all the names of what we saw now. Fab!)

Sun, heat, and even more heat was a treat to break the slow start to spring. Conference was great for me, but it was good to be heading back to NYC too… The desert was amazing, but I could not live in that environment: too harsh, too prickly, and far far too dry (not to mention deathly hot in summer).

We caught a ghastly ‘red-eye’ flight back to NYC from Phoenix (9.30pm dep, 4.30am arrival, less than 4 hours in the air!) and come to a city where spring had arrived. Glorious day, trees bursting into blossom, it was wonderful (if still rather cold!). Now it’s colder (about 7°C today), and wet… gotta love that water though! The return was rounded off perfectly by a lovely neighbourhood wander in bright sunshine (we passed little Matilda Ledger/Williams[?] - her presence indicated by the 6 paparazzi busy photographing her mundane childish climbing of a fence!), some fabulous 4pm Sunday soccer and post-soccer pub action; and then a gig by Steve Abel who’s visiting NYC, and was playing at this totally cool little venue, Jalopy, about ½ an hour’s walk from us; definitely a venue to return to…

Now it’s back to work – and trying to figure out how this country doesn’t do a public holiday around Easter/Passover at all. Possibly going to a Passover Seder this weekend, which should be an experience. Enjoy your long Easter weekends, in those countries that do!

Adios