The last Ajo Mountain Drive

   Today is a last trip up to Ajo Mountain.  It's an un-official trip.  Our second to the last day.  We decided to go up one more time.  But we are not going alone.   Two other couples are going with us.
J & V  and J & S are both volunteer couples who have driven on the road, but have not had the tour with an official driver and a guide.   It's going to be a slower, less structured trip with a picnic in the middle and lots of smiles and laughs along the way.   

New Neighbor

I noticed a new neighbor today.  He/she lives a couple of spots down the street from us.  He goes by the name of  Desert Iguana.  "He" is about 24" long and is quite handsome.

Cooler

Good news!  The temps are back to normal.  80's and 90's in the day and 60's at night.  We had a couple of hot days and warm nights as a precursor to summer.  Hopefully it stays this way until after we vacate southern Arizona.

  Tomorrow, R and I take the government van to the Chevy dealer in Phoenix to get a transmission seal replaced.  I chance to get in a big city shopping run.

Triple Digits

   104 yesterday. 

    It was inevitable.  Southern Arizona, Soronan Desert.  But it's still early spring!  It's April!  It seems that Mother Nature is having trouble reading the calendar.  So what's it like?  Nice in the morning.  80's by 8am.  90's by mid-morning.  Beautiful blue skies.  Blossoms popping up on the big cacti everywhere.
   We are working in the VC this week, so I have been doing the morning shift and R comes in at 1pm.  Then I have the afternoon off.  The problem with the extreme temperatures is that you don;t feel like being outside and doing activities.  I find myself sitting in front of the screen, TV or monitor. 

Friday 4/20/12

Nice day yesterday.  No plans.  Day off.  I rode my bike over to the Visitor Center to see what was happening.  Checked to see if the schedule was the same.  It was.  Seven work days left on our tour. 
  Decided that we would go into town.  Called J and V to see if they wanted to tag along.  We grabbed a quick lunch and drove in.  Went to the post office, visited a shop with "Mexican" ceramics and knick-knacks,  introduced J & V to "Cheap Oles".  It is a store that sells items that are close to or past their shelf dates.  It works for some items and not for others.  You just need to read labels. Then it was Oleson's IGA for regular groceries and the trip back south to the park. 
  When we got back, we decided to have supper together.  We invited B & D the only other volunteers to eat with us.  We fired up the barbeque, had a great supper followed by an evening of conversation.  A perfect night to complete a great day.

Early Sat morning

    Woke up at 6 this morning to take the girls for their walk.  62 already, heading for near triple digits today.  Ugh!   I was confortable in a tee shirt and shorts even at this early hour.  As I journey around on the paved road that circles the park housing area and volunteer camp, I keep my eyes open.  Look for movement which could be an animal or reptile.  Listening and watch for birds.  Watched a great egret fly slowly overhead on my walk yesterday. 
    No excitement this morning.  A few new blooms on Saguaros with lots of buds, more every day.  As you scan the area, you notice that the tops of the cacti columns and arms are no longer nicely rounded.  Now you see "bumps" on them.  Those bumps are buds and soon, flowers.  The Saguaro and the Organ Pipe both bloom at night, a few blooms at a time, appearing at night and completing their bloom by about 9am for the Organ Pipe and "noonish" for the Saguaro.
    This is a new bloom for today Saturday 4/21/2012.

New Neighbors

Now that April 1st has come and gone, the volunteers are gone too.  Just a few of us left. 







As the weather has warmed up the number of heat-loving creatures has increased as well.  I have noticed more snakes in the neighborhood.  Both rattlers and non-poisoness ones.  Lizards, big and little.

 The number of big cacti with buds and even blossoms are increasing every day. The Saguaro.







 I saw my first Organ Pipe Cactus bloom today on my early morning walk with the doxies.

Pics from ORPI

A Prickly Pear Blossom

An old Saguaro

A Juniper in a precarious position

More photos of Mt Ajo trip

Looking north from near the summit.  Montezuma's Head in the distance. A century plant or Agave in the foreground that is giving it's life to bloom

An agave plant that has bloomed and died.

I'm not sure what this was.  Cool huh?

Mt Ajo

  The highest spot on Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument is Mt Ajo.  I can see it from the door of my trailer.  This time of year the sun comes up over it;s southern shoulder.  As the sun sets its color changes from brown to red to grey to black.  It was our target on a Thursday morning.

   A half hour drive up the Ajo Mt Road put at the parking lot at the trailhead.  We hit the trail about 8:45.  The distance from the trailhead to Bull Pasture is approximately 1.6 miles of uphill.  It is a well maintained trail and we accomplished it in less than an hour.  The area gets it name more from the dominant rock formation towering over it than from cowboy usage.  With the only path up to it being the route we followed, it is unsure whether the rather large area was used by the Gray family for pasture.

   After a short break (drink water), we resumed our trek and the trail diminished but was still quite evident.  Sardius neglested to start his GPS so the exact distance is still an estimate, but it is at least three miles.  The entire route from Bull Pasture to the summit, while not being an actual trail, was fairly easy to follow as it traveled up and around Bull Pasture and zigzagged up the mountain.  Spots of traversing followed up steep scree (ugh) followed by more zigzags, always going up.   Several more rest stops with many water drinks, and for snacks and to slow breathing, we reached the ridge and traversed it north to the summit.

    12:15 pm.  The summit.  On it sits a large solar panel which powers some equipment in a box-like building and the nearby antenna.  Government property, US Park Service, Border Patrol, and who knows.  A leisurely lunch at the top, sign in on the registry, taking in the four directions:  north – more of the Ajo Range, east – the Tohono O’odham lands, south – Mexico, west – the trailhead below and the headquarters buildings more distant.   Time to head down.

   Now the hard part starts.  Down climbing with gravity trying to speed you faster than you safely want to go.  Tiredness makes your feet heavier.  Kept the water intake happening as the dry climate sucks moisture out of the body.  Down the dangerous scree slopes, using the walking stick as an extension of an arm to help slow the descent.  Finally back to Bull Meadow, another  stop more food and water.  Then the trip back to the car.

   Did we conquer the mountain or did the mountain allow us some time to enjoy her and her environment?  I think we were fortunate to be in that place at that time were happy to keep the memories and photos and leave only sweat drops and foot prints.

   The trip?  To quote the title of a Jim Croce song;  “Photographs and Memories”

Filmed in Ajo

You will need lots of popcorn to watch this.

Another Mountain

Tomorrow, Thursday four of us are going to hike/climb to the summit of Mt Ajo.  The temp is predicted to be in the high 70's so that will be great.  Look for a follow-up story later.

USAF

Yesterday had a special moment.  Thanks to the Air Force. 
R and I were conducting one of the driving tours of the Ajo Mountain Drive.  We had just stopped at a wonderful specimen on an Organ Pipe and R was telling its story, when I heard and then saw a couple of jets loafing over the nearby mountains.

 A-10 Warthog

The pilots must have seen us because they came over for a look.  As the second one passed, I waved and they were gone.  The lesson resumed.  A few minutes later they appeared from behind the another mountain and headed straight for us, flying low and slow.  As the first plane got close the pilot banked the aircraft so that he got a good look at the group and we all got a good look at the top of the plane.  I don't know what the others did, but I gave the pilot a smile and a wave.  It was a great moment.

USAF

Yesterday R and I conducted a Ajo Mountain Drive tour, one of the last ones.  With dwindling numbers of visitors and volunteers the program are tapering off too.  I hate this.  It's much more fun when it's busy, when things are happening.  It is really too bad because the desert is coming alive right now.  People come here in the winter because of the sun and warm ( warmer than where they are from) weather.  But to the desert, it is winter too. 
     Now is the time that the plants are growing, the cacti are blooming, the birds have returned and are nesting, the reptiles are out and about.  Now is when you see change every day.  The daytime temps are in the 80's but it still cools down to the 50's at night so jackets or sweaters are needed.  Sleeping with the window open is just right.
     But I digress. 
     Yesterday, on our tour, we were outside of the van and were standing at a very large specimen of a  Organ Pipe.  When I noticed the low-flying jets.  The Barry Goldwater Bombing and Missile Range is not far from here so it is not unusual to see military craft.  This area of Arizona is in a commercial no-fly zone so the jets have room to play.

Almost floating over the nearby mountains were two A-10 Warthogs coming toward us.  As the second ship came over us I waved to it as he flew by and disappeared over the next ridge.  The teaching lesson resumed when the two planes reappeared and the number one plane headed straight for us at a low level.  Just as he got near he banked his craft so that we had a great look at him and he had one of us.  I don't know how many people waved, I was too busy saying hello myself.  All teaching

A link to an article on Organ Pipe

http://www.nps.gov/getaways/orpi/

Hunting?

Here is a Headline from a local paper.  Tell me how sporting is it to use dogs to hunt for you!!!!!!!
Jaguar spotted in Cochise County Arizona

2011, November 28 - 10:02am — desierto



Jaguar in Arizona, Nov. 2011 (©Chasin Tail Guide Service)The newest confirmed jaguar sighting in Arizona comes from a mountain lion hunter who's dogs chased and treed the animal in Cochise County Arizona south of I-10. The hunter called AZ Game and Fish immediately. The jaguar took off and was again chased and surrounded by his dogs, which the hunter was eventually able to call off after a tense confrontation in which some of the dogs were slightly injured. The hunter business, Chasin' Tail GHuide Service, released only 2 photos of the incident to the public, but says he took many more including videos of the cat running away.



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Gila "Monster"

   Yesterday was an exciting day.  While working in the VC one of the volunteers came up to me and announced, "You need to go over to the Admin office right away.  There's a Gila Monster over there!"
I hopped in the truck and went over to get R and our camera and headed to the Admin office.  Following several other volunteers, I saw it lurking along the edge of the garage. 

   The guy was about 14 inches long and beautifully spotted.  Notice the usually spots.  No two are alike.  They are omnivorous, which means that they eat almost everything; bugs, worms, small lizards.  The Gila Monster is considered poisonous, but only if he chews on his prey.  The poison is injected when the prey is biten.