Pinkley Peak

Thursday I had the opportunity to go where I had not gone before. Pinkley Peak is located west of the North Puerto Blanco Road five miles north of the VC in an area that is lightly visited. There is a picnic area at the turn around with restrooms and ramada covered picnic tables. A nice place for quiet contemplation.
8:30 put the three of us there, ready to go. It was going to be a warm day so I would have voted to start earlier, but here we were.
The initial mile or so was an easy walk across the desert heading for a prominent wash on the southeast side. The underbrush was sparse and well scattered. A gentle rise all the way. Into the wash, again rising up. Half mile up the wash, our first obstacle, a water fall (less the water), actually a series of them rising quite abruptly a couple of hundred feet.
After some sweating and scrambling it was time to pause and look back down. A good feeling to see what we had done in a relatively short time.
That look down also brought a feeling of sadness and disgust, because our view was also of piles of trash. Discarded clothing, food containers, water bottles, shoes left behind by our noctural visitors. Those folks who travel by night and hide out during the day, carrying their dreams of a better life and jobs in the US and those carrying something much more sinister and illegal into our country.
We shook off that bad vibe and continued climbing. Up this wash, across that ledge, up that water fall, around that palo verde tree. Watch for loose rocks, don't want to slip. Watch where you put your feet and hands, snakes can be there. Climb up, rest and take some water, eat a snack. Need to keep hydrated and energized. Glad I wore long pants and long sleeves because the rocks and branches are always nearby to scratch and prick me.

Finally we reach the saddle where I leave my walking stick and the other drops theirs. Time for the pinnacle. I found it easy and loved climbing on and through the boulders and in s short time we were on top. Great Views! 10:50 am.  Found the Bench Mark on the summit, but no elevation was given. 3147 is what it is.  Seemed higher.  Half an hour for lunch and conversation and it was time to descend.
I am not too proud to back down in areas where it is too steep or too scary to go down "front first" and much of the pinnacle was just that. In a short time, back to the saddle, pick up the hiking stick and resume our descent. My hiking stick bacame an essential part of me on the way down. It was an extension of one arm. It allowed me to slow my progress in areas where it needed to be slow; areas of marginal traction. (Descending is more difficult that ascending because gravity is trying to suck you down the hill faster than you want to go.)

We traveled roughly the same route down as we did up and returned to the vehicle by 1:15pm. Happy to be back, safe and sound.

Saturday March 3, 2012

Today R and I are on the schedule as "C". That means we are to do our evening program. It's a time we look forward to. The visitors like it ans we have a good time. The "C" schedule means that one of us goes in aobut Noon and spends the afternoon in the Visitor Center and gives the 1:30 patio talk. It's my turn today so I have a couple of hours before I put on my uniform and travel to the VC. It is close enough to walk.
Half an hour ago I grabbed my towel and accessories and walked across the driveway to the volunteer building (the Sonora Room) to take a shower. As I exited the trailer I saw a movement at the edge of the paved patio next to out trailer. A medium-sized lizard was hunting. As I slowly peeked around the camp chair it jerked and wounded a moth. The moth flopped around for a few seconds and then disappeared inside the mouth of the lizard. It was so fast that I almost did not see it happen. One minute it was there and the next all I saw was the edge of the wing sticking out of the lizard's mouth. One second alive, another second lunch.

New Program

I have been asked to present a patio program for a group next Wednesday. Twenty minutes on the Sonoran Pupfish. Of course I can't bring myself to do a conventional "This is a pupfish, blah, blah, blah. They live, blah, blah, blah....." Can't do it. I have to make it more unusual.
Last night during supper I had a brainstorm. "What if I were to offer some fishing tips or a guide service to fish for the elusive pupfish?" That would be unusual. That would be fun.
I need to think about it some more....

Cactus in Bloom

The wildflower bloom is in retreat. They are out there, just harder to find. But with the ebb of the wildflowers the cactus flowers are beginning.The little cactus, the pincushions were first and quick. The Hedge Hog Cacti are blooming now. The Buck Horn and Stag Horn are showing a few blossoms but in a week......
Soon the "big guys" will be starting their show. The Saguaro, Organ Pipe, and the Senita cacti have begun. There is a Senita over by one of the renger houses that has produced some blooms already and I know of one Sgauaro that has buds developing right now. It's fun to tell our visitors where to go to see the new blooms.
With the warmer weather come reptiles, lizards and snakes. That really gets our visitors excited. Every day a visitor will come in with multiple pics of a lizard or snake that they have seen. "What is it?" is the question. so we look in our books and have a discussion and learning happens, right there in the visitor center. Learning can be such fun.

You can see how small the bloom of the Senita is. It lasts for only one day.

Final Trip to QBQ for 2012

Today was the last scheduled trip to Quitobaquito for this season. Everything went well. Nineteen people had a good time and learned about the history and biology of the place. There was room on today's trip for five "standby" passengers because the five media people that where scheduled, failed to show up. Poor for them but a good thing for those who decided to take a chance.

Old Friends

What is the definition of a friend? Someone you can see after several years and pick up your conversation as if it had been just days. That's the way it was on Monday. R and and I went to Yuma to see friends that we volunteered with at Gila Cliff Dwellings in spring of 2009. Ollie and Harriet, who live just north of London, sent us an email saying that they were coming to the west for their holiday this year. We arranged our schedules so that we could meet in Yuma if only for part of a day.
We didn't do anything exciting that day, just hung out, ate good food, laughed, told stories and generally had a great time. Good bye guys. Hope to see you again, soon.

Friends are a Gift from God

Rainy Sunday in Arizona

Awoke to the sound of rain spattering on the roof. Not sprinkles, but drops, large drops. First slowly, then faster and faster. A regular rain. Being an Oregonian, I know about rain. I went back to sleep listening to the drumming on the roof.
About 7:30 I thought it was time to walk the Peaches and Mollie. The rain had lessened but not quit. I donned a coat, found an umbrella stowed in the pickup and hooked up the girls. Luckily they were ready to "take care of business" so we didn't have to walk very far. Because of all the concrete in the Phoenix retirement park where were staying, much of the water did not sink into the ground but ran down the street. The problem with the city - Pavement. .62 inches of rain means flooded streets.