Hueco Tanks, Texas State Historical Park

We finally made it to Hueco Tanks on this trip.  Not an easy visit, as you first have to get a permit, of which only 70 are given out per day, and then you can make a camping reservation.  Why all of the bureaucracy?  To protect these incredible pictographs that date from thousands of years ago, to the ancient people, to the Apaches, to the mid 1800 pioneers heading west for the Gold Rush.

Our guided tour, lead by a couple of excellent docents, took us up on the mountains to show us many of the pictographs.  We saw drawings from the ancient Fremont Indians, the Hopi, the Apaches, and the stage coach travelers on their way out to the west coast to seek their fortune in gold.

  

Following the tour, we struck out on our own, with our daily permit in hand, up the chain trail.  We saw even more pictographs.  Colors of red, yellow, black, and white were used; all brought into the area as none of the local rocks and minerals would present in these colors. 
All quite fascinating.

Gila Cliff Dwellings, New Mexico

We had planned to camp at a National Forest campsite ten miles south of this amazing dwelling.  We had heard about the winding road, "well I suppose you could drive your motorhome on the road," and then the night time temperatures was going down to 22 degrees.  For whatever reason, Morey checked in with the NF office and found out that the Mesa Campground (which had electric hookups so we could stay warm) was closed due to maintenance.


A new plan, we stayed in Silver City at an in-town RV park where we could stay warm, and even go out for a nice dinner at Diane's Café.  We don't love RV parks versus our usual National Park/Forest or State Parks, but it was convenient to our plans.  We then rented a car for the day to avoid the windy drive.

All worked out well, although we missed not camping at one of the other NF campgrounds that we passed on the route to the Gila Cliff Dwellings -- although we would have been cold.  We didn't miss out on the amazing dwellings.

We were rewarded with a self guided 1 mile hike up to the ancient dwellings built by the Puebloans of the Mogollon area.  Forty rooms were built inside five natural caves, which we were able to tour walking from one open cave to the next.  Amazing to think that the wood beams still in place were 700 years old.

Chiricahua & Fort Bowie -- Apache land

We now understand how Cochise and later Geronimo and their Apache band hung out in this Arizona/New Mexico area.  Water was available from many natural springs, and the volcanic rock formations were great places to hide from the US Army when hostilities started.

At first, the Apaches allowed the pioneers and gold rush gang to pass through their land.  They even accepted the Butterfield Overland Stage Coach, as it barreled through their tribal lands on its 24 day 2,800 mile trip from St. Louis to San Francisco.  During this time the Apaches were mostly at peace and even offered supplies to the Stage Coach.   But when Cochise and his band were accused falsely in 1861 of ransacking a local ranch and kidnapping a young boy, war started.  For the next ten years, death and destruction came to southern Arizona.  Finally Geronimo surrendered and was removed to prison in Florida.


Fort Bowie was built to protect the local ranchers and travelers on their way to the west coast.  This National Monument is the only one where you need to hike in.  A trailhead, 1.5 miles from the Fort, is the beginning of the history lesson you receive as you walk the lands that the Army and the Apaches roamed.

Chiricahua National Monument, where we camped for four days, is located on the western side of the Apache Pass (Fort Bowie is on the east end).  In addition to the Native American history, Chiricahua is also a great park to hike the trails through the rock formations.  The later history of the CCC in the mid 1930s, is a great follow up to the earlier Apache history.  Most of the trails, and the support buildings including the visitor center were constructed by the CCC.

 

What a fascinating part of our country. 

Hanging in Tucson for a week

Our base of operations: Catalina State Park.

Stayed at this campground for the week, should have stayed for a second week.  A great state park.  It's a good thing that we had reserved a campsite almost a year ago, as we discovered that this park is now almost as hard to get a site during January/February as the Florida state parks.  Why?  Great campsites, lots of activities, and some great trails leaving from the park into the surrounding Catalina Mountains.

While at the park, we went to a Saturday afternoon folk concert, and another day, took the almost 6 mile Romero Pools hike.  The folk concert was fun, and the hike was beautiful, but very rocky.  Our muscles and knees will be recovering for a few days.  We had recovered from an earlier hike in the Sabino Canyon a few days earlier, a much more moderate hike; but also another breathtaker.

Although Catalina is a good reason to spend time in Tucson, the best reason is to be with our friends, Vickie & Michael.  What great hosts.  Once again they took us to the BEST Mexican restaurants.  And then we drove together down to Tubec and checked out all of the arty stuff; especially the Mexican ceramics.  Yep, we purchased some new dishes for our NJ home.





We must mention that while in Tucson, we had a number of days of rain; the first precipitation since November.  All of the locals were happy, and so were we.  We watched the desert green up and the waterfalls started falling.  Made for interesting hikes!

We like the tune....of Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument

For our third time in the Tucson area, we thought we'd check out the music of the Organ Pipe Cactus.  With the National Monument less than three hours to the southwest, we decided to spend a few days touring this green desert, located just north of the Mexican border.

At the excellent Visitor Center, we learned that this park's namesake, the Organ Pipe Cactus, is only found in this part of the United States.  Being susceptible to frost, it is able to grow here, but no further north.   We also learned more about some of the other cactus in the park including the Saguaros and the Chollas (watch out for the "jumpin" variety).

In addition to the 1.5 mile walk to the VC, we also hiked to the Victoria Mine.  This was one of our more easy treks, walking 2.4 miles each way.  The desert landscape with all of the cacti, particularly the Saguaros was impressive.

While at the park, we took advantage of the park shuttles; the first along the Ajo Mountain loop.  A pretty amazing drive on a washboard road through all of the desert plants.  We were surprised to see a natural bridge carved from the rough granite mountains.  Even saw some hardy rough road bikers on the route.

Another day we took the shuttle to Quitobaquito, which is a small pond formed from the remaining natural spring (once there were four).  To get to QB, we drove 15 miles along the Mexican border where the current fence may be replaced by a more massive structure?

The National Monument's Twin Peaks Campground, even though it is non-reservable, had plenty of sites for us to fit into when we arrived.  All sites are on concrete pads, with plenty of space between sites.  Morey got out the solar panels, and we had power to burn..............wow 42 volts and 17 kw!

Can't forget to mention, that being back in Arizona, we are once again experiencing all of the magnificent sunrises & sunsets!!

We can't believe this place exists! Agua Caliente

For all of the San Diegoens(?), you must drive to a unique place less than two hours from home.
(You know who I'm talking about).

Agua Caliente County Park is a desert park with a hot spring.  Not just any hot spring either.  There's an indoor pool heated to 102 degrees from the depths, and an outdoor pool at 90 degrees for floating around and enjoying the desert views surrounded by the blue sunny skies.

First stopping at Vallecito County Park, where we had a lunch stop, and then a walk around the Stage Coach Station used by the Butterfield Company back in the mid 1850s.  No stagecoach today, but great phone and data cell service!  (Which disappeared when we headed down the hill to Agua Caliente.)

Then we pulled into one of the almost 200 campsites surrounding the pools.  Choices abound from basic no-hookup tent sites, to full hookup sites; we chose the partial hookup with water and electric, parked up against one of the low mountains.  Set up our site, while our friends, the Feesers and the Cousins set up theirs.






Party Time!  Great conversations, hiking, dipping (in the pools), and for sports -- Shuffle Board and Horseshoes.  Winner got the remaining pies from Julian...............We were all winners.

What a place!

It's the PIE

How could we not take a small detour to the town of Julian, California.  It may have been a really windy road, climbing 4,000 feet back into the pines and oaks, but it was all worth it.  After all, Julian is noted for Pies!  The cool climate allows for fruit trees, and fruit trees means cider and pies.


We stopped at the most famous Julian Pie Company and indulged. 

YUM!

Anza Borrego Desert State Park

Pulled into Borrego Springs, California and headed to the Desert State Park.  Having been here on our first RV trip back in 2011, we knew we wanted to return.  And besides, Morey's favorite T-shirt, which was purchased here, had worn out; so he needed a new one.

Great campsite up against the desert mountains.  Even though the temperatures reached the mid 80s, it was always comfortable in the shade.  So with the shade from our motorhome and the ramada  covered picnic table, we enjoyed the desert and then, the night skies.  We did let the sun send out its photons to power our solar cells; wow did we get the power!

Met up with our friends, Ray & Ann, and Ray's sister, Nan and her husband, Dave.  With three rocket scientists in attendance, it made for interesting conversations.  We all had a great time hiking to the Palm Oasis near our campsite.  Amazing to walk a mile and a half in the desert, and then come across a spring with palm trees.  On the hike we saw a number of big horn sheep, including some new additions to the herd.

We also got out our bikes and rode to town and checked out the local attractions.  There is a large Sculpture Park on the edge of town filled with steel plate sculptures.  We biked on the sandy roads of  the desert deciding which sculpture was our favorite.   Was it the prehistoric elephant, or the camels, or the dragon?

We'll be back to Anza Borrego; a good stop when the winter weather is howling back east.

At a mile high, Idyllwild, California is a "A Manzanita Lover's Dream !!"

Manzanita lovers from all over come to this primo place to hike the mountain trails covered with this wondrous and magnificent plant.  No botany information in this blog, just lots of great looking Manzanitas, with their red bark, shiny green leaves, and pink flowers when in bloom.  Morey, being one of those Manzanita Lovers, was overly ecstatic. (But will they grow in New Jersey?)



Having traveled to Idyllwild four years ago on a day hike, we decided to camp for a few nights at the Idyllwild County Park, and spend some more time in this forested mountainous area.  On arrival, there was no gate attendant, so we drove down the narrow, winding, camp road.   Checking out the sites (and we had reserved a site based on the internet ), we discovered that very few campsites would fit our motorhome.  Further, our chosen site looked great, but had no driveway that we could negotiate with our RV.  With lots of help and direction from Ruthie, we did squeeze in to a nearby campsite.

This time, we were joined by our friends, Ray & Ann.  They also had some "fun" setting up camp with their motorhome.  Then we all set out hiking; on the trails, nice, although the trails are poorly maintained.  As mentioned earlier, lots of Manzanitas and great views of the San Jacinto Mountains.  Included in our hiking was a stop at a surprisingly nice visitor center where the local plants and animals were displayed.




And what we remembered the best, was the ice cream on our walk through the town of Idyllwild.  So we had to walk to town this trip as well.  Good news, it was good as remembered.

Almost forgot to mention.  To add to our feelings about this somewhat run-down county park,
a CalFire truck arrived and parked just down the road from our campsite.  Out walked a dozen "fire fighters" wearing uniforms that said, "California House of Corrections", oops these are inmates.  At least there was one sheriff to watch over the workers.

Should we worry that the inmates were equipped with chainsaws................
For the three days we were camped, they were there cutting down dead trees.  A great service, but a little uncomforting.