We were in Organ Pipe National Monument, which is located in southwestern Arizona, right along the Mexico border. As the park website says, "This is where summer goes for the winter". Camping in the middle of winter is a pleasure here, and you're apt to find t-shirt weather in December and January. Camping in the summer? If you like hot weather! July averages 25 days over 100 degrees.

Desert hiking at Organ Pipe Natl Monument

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Organ Pipe is part of the Sonoran Desert, set aside to allow the natural flora and fauna of this region to flourish, largely untouched and unspoiled. It's part of an International Biosphere Reserve established by the United Nations in 1976, that also encompasses part of Mexico.

Camped by an organ pipe cactus

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Like other parts of the Sonoran Desert around Phoenix and Tucson, Arizona, you'll see plenty of the tall, stately saguaro cacti here, with their single trunk and branching arms. Unlike the rest of the Sonoran desert in the US, here you'll also find many Organ Pipe cacti - the eponymous species of the park. These are also large cacti, but with many arms branching up from a central base. (Hey, I couldn't help myself - how many chances do I get to use "eponymous"?)
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Alamo Campground was was wonderful! It's a primitive campground, with no running water, and just 4 spacious tent sites, so we had the whole campground to ourselves. It was quiet, serene, and so beautiful.
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The one element that was both comforting and unsettling was the number of Border Patrol agents that came through the campground, but more about that later.

But what about the mountain of garlic?

Desert vista from Mt. Ajo trail

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And about those border patrol guys? Of course, this international reserve is now divided by a fence. Judging from this picture of the border fence, it looks like even I could climb over it, but I have read that it has stopped considerable illegal vehicle traffic over the border, and through the wilderness areas of the reserve.

Well, there have been plenty of incidents along the border, including a few in the National Monument, but I really can't believe that it's now unsafe to visit our own National Parks. That would be too much like admitting defeat, turning part of our national parks system into a no-man's land. (Which would have some logic to it, if it was for the protection of the land and the wildlife, but not if it's just to chase drug runners and illegal immigrants!)

Relaxing on the trail up Mt. Ajo

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It's a shame that the backcountry areas of Organ Pipe are closed indefinitely to overnight camping, due to an increase in illegal border activity. When our own National Parks system is off-limits to us, that seems too much like admitting defeat. Fortunately, I'm sure it's temporary, and I look forward to a day when we can explore and backpack in the more remote areas of the park.

And thanks to all of the people who are keeping it as safe as it is, and who will (I'm sure of it) win this battle at some point.

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Organ Pipe National Monument is one of the less visited gems of the US National Parks system. It's pretty out of the way from almost anywhere, but if you're looking for an inexpensive outdoor adventure that's warm in the winter, this is a great place to check out!
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Related posts:

1. So there we were... rubbed down in the desert
2. The rare Arizona Prickly Palm
3. Rosario Resort - think we should buy it?

Tombstone is a fun place to visit any time, and this weekend had some special extras.  It's an event that ties back to Tombstone's main claim to fame - the Gunfight at the OK Corral.

Stagecoach on Allen Street in Tombstone, Arizona

Tombstone was one of the true wild west mining towns. After prospector Ed Shieffelin discovered silver here in 1877, the town quickly sprang into being and grew to about 15,000 people in just a few years.  There were over 100 saloons and a large red light district.  Oddly enough, I haven't seen how many churches there were.

There was a lot of money here, and the town had a public swimming pool, ice cream, and even ice skating!  Like many other mining boom towns, the people who got rich weren't the miners, but the bar owners, merchants, and even lawyers.  I was surprised to find out that lawsuits were a big business in Tombstone even way back then.  Who knew our proclivity to litigation was going strong back in those gunfighting days?

Though the main business of Tombstone was tied to silver mining, it was in the middle of the desert, surrounded by wild country.  Groups of "cow-boys" from the area around town didn't always get along with the city folk.  It was a dangerous place, to the point that the city council had outlawed carrying guns in town. Since the Bird Cage Theater (/ saloon / brothel)  has about 140 bullet holes in the walls and ceilings, it seems like either there was a good reason for this law, or it was a major failure!

A cowboy is hit at the OK Corral

Wyatt Earp - the man and the mustache

The most famous event in Tombstone was the infamous gunfight at the OK Corral, between Wyatt Earp's group, and the Clanton group (the cowboys). Over the years, the story has been dramatized and romanticized, with Wyatt Earp played by Burt Lancaster, Kevin Costner, and Kurt Russell. He's the iconic wild west lawman, bringing justice to lawless towns, and saving the people from ruffians and killers.

According to the newspaper of the day, the Earp brothers and Doc Holliday went to the OK Corral on that October day in 1881 to disarm the Clanton brothers and their friends. "a lively fire commenced from the cow-boys against the three citizens. About thirty shots were fired rapidly."  At the end of this, Billy Clanton and 2 of his friends were dead.

But what of the other side of the story? If you fast-forward to today, and head to Tombstone for Clanton Days, you can hear Terry Ike Clanton telling a different side of the story, on the spot where the action took place.  I can't do justice to the whole thing, but it revolves around Doc Holliday (a friend who accompanied Wyatt Earp to the OK Corral).  It seems that everyone agrees he was a drunk, a gambler, and a gunfighting dentist (surely an unusual combination, even then)!  But just how much of a villain was he?

This Clanton-view historical tour of Tombstone is just one of the interesting activities during Clanton Days.  There are also costume events and contests, dinner with old-timey entertainment, a re-enactment of the OK Corral (starring Ike Clanton as Ike Clanton), a mounted shooting demonstration, and a ghost tour.   For 2011, they're also talking about a mountain bike race through the mine-studded hills.

Clanton Days schedule of events...

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I don't know when this will happen in 2011, but probably around the same time in mid-November, and I'm sure they'll be posting info on TombstoneArizona.com.  If you're thinking of touring a bit of Arizona history, this is a fun event to catch!
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Related posts:

1. So there we were... among Tombstone's tombstones
2. The rare Arizona Prickly Palm
3. Arizona water policy = don't ask

I finally watched the 1950 Jimmy Stewart movie, Broken Arrow. I say "finally", because I've been meaning to for years, ever since I first went to Sedona, Arizona.

On our Sedona trips, you have the option of taking a rugged (and I mean rugged) jeep tour. The route I like best is the Broken Arrow tour, so called because it goes right through the area where this movie was filmed. I've known that for years, and finally got to see the movie that is the jeep tour's namesake.

The Sedona jeep tour is an exciting ride - get ready to hold on tight!

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This Jimmy Stewart "Broken Arrow" movie (not to be confused with the totally different John Travolta movie by the same name) is obviously a period western. However, given the time in which it was created, I was pleased to see the balanced approach that it took, acknowledging that there were two sides to the "Cowboys vs. Indians" story, and that in fact not all the Cowboys were good, nor all the Indians evil. In fact, this movie is credited with having "a decisive impact on popular consciousness and effectively amend(ing) the ground rules of the genre." Guess that makes it more important than I realized!

The classic western, Broken Arrow

Based on fact, the movie is the story of ex-army scout Tom Jeffords (played by Jimmy Stewart). He is distressed at the way the war against the Apaches is going, and does his best to see if everyone could just get along together, and live in peace instead. In his efforts, he makes friends with the Apache chief Cochise, who is sympathetically portrayed as a wise leader doing the best for his people in a difficult time.

The main problem I had with this movie was the scenery. I mean that's one of the things I love about it, too -- the spectacular Sedona scenery! So why is that a problem?

Sedona, Arizona was a big place for making movies, especially back in the days of the westerns. The thing is, for decades they were making movies here, and never calling it Sedona! In movie after movie, they'd use Sedona as the location for filming, and pretend it was somewhere else. In this movie, it's supposed to be the area in southern Arizona near Tucson, where Cochise had his stronghold.

So I was sitting in Tucson, watching this movie that was clearly happening in Sedona. (Once you've been there, you simply cannot mistake Sedona scenery for anywhere else!) And everything would be going along fine, until they mentioned that they're in Tucson. Every time that happened, I did a double-take. Tucson? They're not in Tucson!

Then I'd get lulled back into the Sedona scenery until the next time they called it Tucson!

You can find the movie on Amazon or Netflix. If you've been to Sedona, or are thinking of going, it's a great movie to watch. You get a little Arizona history along with Sedona vistas... even if they are mismatched!

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If you do the jeep tour in Sedona, you might even recognize some of the views from the movie! We'll be back in Sedona (or is it Tucson??)for our Sedona getaway trips in April, May and October of 2010.
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Related posts:

1. So there we were... watching imminent disaster
2. So there we were... mmming, oohing, and ouching
3. Arizona water policy = don't ask

Hedgehog cactus - beauty among the rocks

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One nice thing about visiting the desert in the spring is the flowers that add splashes of color to the landscape. It's amazing how even the forbidding cacti, covered in treacherous thorns, have these beautiful blooms. It almost doesn't seem to go together.

These little hedgehogs are just a few inches tall, and the blossoms are nearly as big as the plants themselves.

As for the name? Looking at these adorable baby hedgehogs, it's easy to see the resemblance!

Baby hedgehogs

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We'll be headed back to Sedona soon, for our Sedona Red Rock Getaway. The mesquite trees are in bloom now, and the palo verdes will be coming soon. With any luck, we'll see plenty of blooming hedgehogs while we're there too.
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Related posts:

1. Alaska - Haines in bloom
2. The rare Arizona Prickly Palm
3. Ahhh... back to the red rocks

Last weekend, I was down in southern Arizona, at a little place called Tumacacori. The main claim to fame here is that it was the site of a Spanish mission, founded by Jesuit missionaries back in 1691.

Mission church at Tumacacori

When the Spanish first arrived, the area was populated by the O'Odham people.  The name Tumacacori is a Spanish phonetic spelling of the original O'Odham name, but nobody's sure what that original name meant.

Over the centuries, this place has seen the O'Odham and the Jesuits, the Franciscans and the Apaches, the Spanish, the Mexicans, and the Americans. The southwest has such amazing history!  And much of it is little known, like Tumacacori. 
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Today the old adobe mission church is in ruins.  Adobe requires frequent maintenance and regular coats of mud plaster.  What with all the conflicts and takeovers of the area, it fell into disrepair, losing most of the roof and interior.  In 1916, Tumacacori became a National Historic Site, and now the National Park Service takes care of it.  One of the rangers pointed out that their task is to "stabilize and preserve", not to "rebuild".  The goal is for you to see the work that the local people did centuries ago - not work that the Park Service did last year!

December 6 was the day of the annual Tumacacori Fiesta, which is held right beside the mission.  There were arts and crafts booths, historic costumes, demonstrations, and pinatas for the kids.  Of course there were plenty of food booths too, including hand-made tortillas.  I don't know if you've ever tried this, but talk about labor intensive!  There was lots of traditional dancing, too.  Group after group came out, with different colorful costumes.

Dancing at the Tumacacori fiesta

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The event had an old-fashioned, small-town charm to it that I rarely see.  It's a great change from big-city Phoenix or Tucson.  Such a wonderful way to spend a beautiful, sunny December day!

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Tumacacori is about 1.5 hours south of Tucson, Arizona.  The fiesta is on a weekend in early December, but it's worth a stop any time of year.  If you're interested in southwestern cooking, there's also a nearby chile/spice shop with an *amazing* selection.  It's about a block from the park, so just ask for a point in the right direction.
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Related posts:

1. Tuzigoot - Ancient Sinagua Ruins in Arizona
2. Video: Skellig Michael, ancient monastery in ruins
3. So there we were... rubbed down in the desert

Walls of Tuzigoot

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Not far from Sedona, Arizona, lie the ruins of Tuzigoot, an ancient Sinagua town that was abandoned centuries ago.

Tuzigoot National Monument (pronounced "too-zee-goot") is part of the southwest US's mysterious history. This small hilltop town was built by the Sinagua people about a thousand years ago, and there's so much we don't know. We don't know what they called themselves, or called this place. We don't know why they left, or where they went.

All the names we use would be foreign to them. Spanish explorers named these ancient people Sinagua "without water" since so many of their ruins were in dry, desert locations. The Apache named this site Tuzigoot "crooked water", since it was by a bend in the river.

The people started building Tuzigoot about a thousand years ago. Generations of Sinaguans (or whatever their own name was) lived here, expanding the pueblo buildings over a period of 400 years. And then they were gone.

As you walk through the ruins, you can imagine it full of life. About 200 people lived here at its peak. The hilltop would have been full of people talking, children laughing, everyone going about their daily business. I can picture the women grinding corn in the plaza, exchanging gossip and tales about their children. The men would be out hunting, hoping to return with a rabbit, deer, or other meat for the family. Kids would be kids -- surely they had more chores and work responsibilities than children now do, but I bet they were running around yelling and laughing and getting into trouble back then, too. Some of the older folks would be complaining about toothache (a common problem in those days, with no dental care).

When you've been living in a town for centuries, why pick up and leave? It's one thing for some of Tuzigoot's young people to take off for another nearby town. We know the Sinagua had an extensive trade network, and must have met people from other places. But why would everyone leave?

Tuzigoot was on top of this hill for 400 years -- longer than the US has existed. It's far longer than most of our present towns and cities have been around. So why would everyone leave?

This story, often called "the abandonment" is a recurring theme throughout the southwest. The great Anasazi cities at Mesa Verde and Chaco Canyon were abandoned, as were many others throughout their realm. The Sinagua did the same thing.

View from the Sinagua ruins at Tuzigoot

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What makes Tuzigoot especially puzzling is that the location here seems ideal. As you can see in this photo, there's plenty of greenery around here.  By a bend in the river, with a small lagoon and marsh, this place is practically an oasis in the desert. Why leave this prime spot and travel across the hostile desert to who knows where?

Theories abound as to why they left, and where they went.  That could be a whole series of posts on its own!  Right now, there's more mystery than solid fact, and that's part of what makes Tuzigoot so fascinating.

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I'm in Sedona right now, on our women's trip to Sedona. We visited Tuzigoot yesterday, and it's such a cool place. A ranger here told me once that he believes we will eventually solve the mysteries through more advanced archaeological techniques. In the meantime, it makes you wonder...
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Related posts:

1. Video: Skellig Michael, ancient monastery in ruins
2. Ancient Anasazi motel maps?
3. Tumacacori - Ruins and dancing

The old tow truck, as opposed to the new tow trucks that the other drivers got to drive. When you're the new driver at the company, you're stuck with the oldest truck. Just one of many things I never expected to learn this day!

I set out from Phoenix with a song in my heart, headed for Taos - a good 9-10 hour drive, in preparation for our Santa Fe & Taos trip. I never made it out of Arizona before the car overheated, and I had to stop. Those little red lights are never a good thing!

Then it happened again. Then again.

Happy to see the tow truck

That's when I called AAA. Since I just had my car fixed the day before, I was afraid something got screwed up in the process, and I might just make things worse if I continued. Not to mention that I'd never make it to Taos if I had to keep stopping every 5 miles!

That brings us to the tow truck... I was so happy to have cell coverage out there on the highway, and reach a friendly voice at AAA. A very nice (even if not high on the totem pole) driver whisked me away (well, it was sort of a slow, lumbering whisk) to a shop in Payson, AZ, where I was fortunate enough that they could squeeze me in right away.

A few lessons I learned (taken from my Twitter stream):

1. Never drive anywhere without AAA. Worth its weight in gold today!! I could do a commercial.
2. There are lots of good people out there. So far 3 sets of people have stopped to offer help. How nice!
3. I've got to upgrade to AAA plus version since problems do happen far from town!
4. One way to meet interesting people you'd never normally meet - hang out with the guys in a small town car repair shop
5. If you arrive in Taos at midnight & everything seems closed, check out the Alley Cantina. Yes - here at last!
6. It's somehow comforting to be broadcasting your woes & status to Twitter when something happens like this. It made me feel less alone, standing there by the highway.

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End result from the repair shop?

Inspection shows visible signs of coolant loss at radiator cap.  Cap tests bad.  Need to replace cap, fill with coolant, and re-test."

Cheapest car repair I've ever had!

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Since everything turned out OK, I've decided to view this as just an extra adventure. According to my Philosophy of Adventure, this is one of the "cunningly disguised adventures". 
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Related posts:

1. San Francisco - home again
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Rare Arizona Prickly Palm

• Dormant frogs survive buried underground for many months at a time.
• Flower seeds may wait years for the right rainfall conditions, then sprout, grow, bloom, and back to seed in a few weeks.
• Kangaroo rats manufacture their own water from eating dry seeds.

There also seems to be a preponderance of species that followed the "if you're going to be mean to me, then I'll be mean to you back" evolutionary path. Rattlesnakes, scorpions, and cacti are all in this category. If you're walking through the desert, it pays to be careful!

This brings us to the unusual desert species shown above -- the rare Arizona Prickly Palm. In this case, the plant has concentrated its sharp spines in small outgrowths that occur along the main trunk. This would appear to be an intermediate variation - it's likely that as generations go by, the species will develop spines more widely distributed about the tree. Extremely rare, this specimen was spotted in Tucson, Arizona.

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Actually, everything above except the prickly palm is for real. Spadefoot toads really do stay buried for 10+ months of the year. (What a life!)

For a prickly pear cactus, the side of a palm tree is an unusual place to live, but seems an easier environment than many. The trunk of the palm will help trap some water, there's little competition for resources, and you're safely elevated above the javelinas (who adore munching on prickly pear fruit)!

You'll see palm trees and prickly pears on our women's trip to Sedona, Arizona, though they're not apt to be together! You could even try eating cactus fries, or sipping a cactus margarita. Find out why the javelinas like these things!
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Related posts:

1. Arizona water policy = don't ask
2. Tuzigoot - Ancient Sinagua Ruins in Arizona
3. Tombstone, Arizona and Clanton Days

Even when an image seems clear, its meaning isn’t as easy. Does a glyph that looks like a deer mean this is a good hunting area, frequented by deer? Does it record a specific hunt? Perhaps it honored a deer-related god? Or was it just the idle chippings of a bored and artistic traveler -- ancient graffiti?

In most cases we’ll probably never know, but one group of petroglyphs may have yielded up its secrets. A couple of amateur Arizona archaeologist say these "water glyphs" were used by the ancient Anasazi used to find scarce water sources in the desert.

The markers seem to act something like a map of motel locations. Just as a modern traveler could look at such a map and decide where he would be assured lodging for the night, one of the Anasazi well-versed in reading these symbols would have known where he could next stop for water and shelter."

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Bob Ford and Dixon Spendlove have identified and studied more than 270 examples of these symbols, across more than 2,000 square miles, throughout the ancient Anasazi homeland. Each glyph is at one water source, and points to another, enabling you to hop from water to water across the desert.

Just take a quick walk in the desert today, and imagine heading off on a lengthy trek across the forbidding (and potentially deadly) desert. You’ll wish you had a reliable water map.

A thousand years ago, they did.

Wilderness Utah: Water trails of the Anasazi

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Our desert hiking trips in Arizona and New Mexico come supplied with plenty of water, but you’ll quickly get an idea of how hard it must have been for earlier travelers without all our conveniences. It’s spectacular country, but not easy for the unprepared!
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Related posts:

1. Tuzigoot - Ancient Sinagua Ruins in Arizona
2. Ancient Southwest Indian beer?
3. Ancient Irish motels?

If you ever come to Sedona, take one of the Pink Jeep tours, and be sure to get the "Broken Arrow" tour. It's hands-down the best.

The tour involves amazing feats of driving up, down, and over the red rocks of Sedona, and you'll go places that look like they should be impossible! If you've got back problems, this isn't a wise idea, as you WILL get bounced around a lot, and grab for the "oh shit bar" frequently. It's an exciting ride!

The trail is on national forest land, so although Pink Jeep company has exclusive rights to this trail for commercial operators, any Tom, Dick or Harry who wants to do it on their own can give it a try.

We passed a private vehicle with a family inside, little kid waving out the window at us. A bit later, we almost saw them flip over.

We'd just come down the very steep section shown in the photo, and they were attempting the same thing right behind us. Unfortunately, Driver Dad hadn't had weeks of training in how to maneuver this course (unlike our driver). He got his wheels in the wrong place, went way up on one side, and came within inches of flipping. He finally realized he had to back up out of that situation, so one imminent disaster was narrowly averted.

I'm sure there were some very worried people inside that vehicle, who would rather get out & walk down the hill at that point. I'd bet there were also some "I told you this wasn't a good idea" comments flowing, interspersed with a ripe selection of 4-letter words!

After the first near-miss disaster, our jeep driver continued on, so we weren't able to see the rest of the story. I certainly hope the folks behind us did better on their 2nd attempt, because it was just too scary watching them on the 1st!

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We do women's trips to Sedona a few times a year, and every guest has the option of going on this jeep trip -- with a fully-trained professional driver! For anybody who's feeling the urge to drive it themselves, I'd recommend taking the tour first, and see what you're up against.
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