Travel Tuesday: Valley of Fire

Valley of Fire State Park had never been on our radar. Only because of staying nearby were we even made aware of it. We are so thankful that we got to see it!. It is the most breathtaking landscape with all kinds of colors of rock and soil right next to each other, sometimes in layers, sometimes in folds, sometimes jutting out. Every turn of the road brought more amazing sights and I was very busy with my camera trying to capture it all.

Below is the best of what I took. We did two hikes which was enough for me, but there are more for next time. The $10 entrance fee per vehicle was easily worth it. 

Driving into the Valley of Fire State Park. Even the drive in is fascinating.

So. Much. Color. Every turn and twist of the road brought more breathtaking scenes!

The Seven Sisters is a series of tall outcropping with nice picnic areas nearby.

It's not hard to see why the destination of this walk is called Fire Wave! What amazing colors and shapes! The walk began on the other side of the large red rock outcropping at the top right. The next few pictures are in the same area, just looking in different directions. The variations of color, texture, shape and height are amazing!

On the left, the red and white striped rock, the next to it a greenish and brown color, and behind that a deep burgundy color! The arid climate makes all of this so dramatic since there is sparse vegetation.

Returning along the Firewave trail, just past the large red outcropping looking into the next valley. 

To the right, this is what is left of a movie set built in the 60s. There is a plaque explaining that this area has been used for many movies over the years. The fantastical shapes and colors makes for great backdrops, especially for filming movies like Star Trek Generations. 

Layer upon layer of different colored rocks. I can't help but wonder what the composition is to create all of these varied colors. Coming from a place where the vast majority of rocks are just grey, I'm always fascinated by the colors of rocks in the Southwest and especially here. 

This slot canyon may not be as large or as deep a red as the famous Antelope Canyon near Page, AZ, but it's still beautiful, picture-worthy and fun to walk through. I love the contrast of grey gravel on the floor to the pink walls. The picture just above is near the entrance to the slot canyon just before it got narrow. There were so many holes and caves dotting the walls. And a very sturdy bush stubbornly growing in the barrenness. What a great reminder that life continues, that life can grow in unexpected places and survive when it doesn't seem possible.

This Valley of Fire is a place that warrants repeat visits. It's hard to take it all in in only a day. They have a campground there which is in a beautiful setting, and staying there would be a great place from which to go on the many hikes. It's first come, first served so you have to be early and quick to grab a spot. We drove all through the park, but only did two hikes: Fire Wave and White Dome. That was enough for me for one day. I'd like to return some time and do the other hikes. It's a place that begs to be explored, photographed and enjoyed. 

Throwback Travel Tuesday: Canyon de Chelly

Overlooking the canyon where farms operate alongside centuries-old ruins.

  We went to Chinle, AZ last Spring in mid-April on our way home. I didn't blog about it then, but I plan to catch up on some of the spectacular and fun places we visited. This is in the NE corner of Arizona on Navajo land. We enjoyed it more than the Grand Canyon. The people there are so ready to share their culture and we were able to talk to several and learn different aspects of their life. In the Visitor's Center when I asked how the name was pronounced, I got a very interesting lesson in semantics and history. It's pronounced Canyon de-SHAY and is derived from the Navajo word "tsegi" which means "rock canyon". So it means "Canyon of the rock canyon". An amusing redundancy. Also, the Navajo people call themselves the Dine (di-NEH) which means "The People". They claim that 'Navajo' is a Spaniard word for 'horse thief'. You can easily see why they would prefer their own name for themselves! However, I think they're stuck with 'Navajo' at least to outsiders.

   We stayed in the Cottonwood Campground near the Visitor's Center since there really isn't anywhere to boondock nearby. It's a beautiful place and we appreciated the services. Within walking distance is a nice little motel and gift shop and we enjoyed browsing and then talking to one of the Navajo weavers and she explained how the beautiful rugs were woven. It was fun to get that first hand. They are quite expensive, but worth every bit, I'm sure. Just not in my budget!

It was an impressive site, and well worth the hike.

Proof I made it to the "White House' ruins.

   It's free to enter the park and drive the rim drives both north and south. You're able to see quite a bit, but from a distance.There are tours with local guides which is the only way to get into the lower canyon with the exception of White House trail. We opted not to do a tour, but perhaps we will next visit. There are many families that still farm in the valley and it was amazing to us to look down and see the farms, the fences, the animals, houses, etc so near the ancient ruins of the Anasazi. We did do the White House hike, 2-1/2 miles round trip with a drop of about 800+ft. It was a great trail and they did a good job of making it reasonably gradual. We took our time and did fine. It was well worth it to get closer to the ruins. On our return and near the top we chatted with a Navajo who had some artwork he was selling. It was beautiful work and I was sorely tempted, but I contented myself with learning about his childhood living in the canyon and his grandmother who still lives and farms there.

Spider Rock, a rock climbers challenge! 

Farther up the Canyon stands Spider Rock, a spire that is a lofty 1000ft high. I asked why it's called "Spider Rock" and was told by our Navajo friend that the story is passed from the elder women to the younger women in the Hogans where the women gather. I got the sense that it would be a privilege to be allowed to know this story, so I let it go. He was so gracious and fun to talk to, and we learned many other things. He now lives 'up top' where cell phone reception is better and life is not quite so hard as it is for his grandmother. There are many enterprising and artistic Navajo who sell their wares in the parking lots or wherever tourists are likely to be stopped. Some of their work is whimsical, some quite exquisite. As much as I wanted to help support them, the question of 'where to put it' or 'how much does it weigh' keeps me from getting carried away. The rock formations are spectacular and we enjoyed our visit there very much. Even after seeing some of the more famous parks, it still remains our favorite.

Looking down at the floor of the canyon and trail near the White House Ruins.

Lava Beds National Monument

The smallest entrance we did, but worth it. 

Sunshine Cave.

    While looking for a new route home that didn't involve I-5 any sooner than necessary, we discovered the Lava Beds National Monument and thought it would be fun to explore. Have I mentioned how much I love Google Maps? Well I have 'visited' many places via Google Maps and it's an invaluable tool when planning a route since I can zoom in a see if a motorhome of our size can actually get into that gas station, a parking lot at a grocery store, or where is that turn-off-- really?--so we don't have to unhitch to turn around. A fair amount of preplanning takes place before each leg of a trip and it has prevented several problems and revealed some real gems along the way. Lava Beds was a real gem as was the RV Park where we stayed. Tionesta, CA is a tiny collection of less than 20 homes and 2 RV parks. The first one you come to (Hawk's Nest) has several small cabins that can be rented and it's a cute and well kept place. At the end of the road is the one I had chosen (Eagle's Nest) and it turned out to be a win; free Wi-Fi, great phone reception, grass and friendly and helpful hosts. We splurged and got full hookups for the 3 nights we were there since the night time temps got down to freezing and below.

Headache Rock: thankful for those hard hats!

    After a visit to the Visitor's Center, we checked out several nearby caves. At the last one we went in, I twisted my ankle a bit, so we curtailed our tromping around. After putting some Arnica and other herbs on it and resting and elevating it, the next morning we checked out a cave our hosts told us about. It turned out to be a really fun cave, once you got past the opening! The bottom was sandy and not as rugged as some of the other caves.

Glittery ceiling, colorful and fascinating.

    Our hosts provided hard hats for spelunking and we each had a hat light as well as a hand held one. Being well equipped helped and after seeing other people who we not, we were thankful. It's amazing how much each cave differed. In "Golden Cave" there is an abundance of a bacteria that creates a golden (and sometimes silver) sparkle. To look up on the ceiling and see what looks like an explosion of glitter was pretty fun. Some caves had craggy, rocky ceilings and rough floors. Some were damp, some dry. Some more smooth and others with broken areas that let in the sunshine after a hundred feet or so. Some fairly level and some that went way down deep. Some you could stand up straight with high ceilings, some had sections you had to crab walk through or crawl. The caves are rated so you have an idea of what you're getting into and we skipped the more difficult ones. I'm sure hard core spelunkers would have a great time in those and we left them to it!
  Before we left, we drove all around the Monument and encountered many different terrains, lava flows and rocky outcrops. We couldn't see it all since some of it was still under a blanket of snow, but we were satisfied with what we saw.  It's a fascinating place and one we'd enjoy returning to some day.

Tucson camping

sunset turning the Catalina mountains to pink.

After leaving Phoenix, we went back to Tucson and stayed at Catalina State Park for a few days. Jerry's friend and one-time next door neighbor from gradeschool is living part of the year in Oro Valley, and we wanted to spend a bit more time with he and his wife and see his house. Just before we left Phoenix, the truck started acting up and even though Jerry replaced the cap and rotor, it still wasn't running smoothly. We decided to go ahead and go to Tucson and see about getting it fixed there. We're getting pretty good at finding decent repair places! We love the online reviews. They help quite a bit. We got it fixed at Oro Valley Automotive. They were quick and it runs great now.

Our campsite at this beautiful park.

    In the park we saw a couple of Roadrunner birds, a couple of Jack rabbits--such long ears!--and some small rodents that make a funny clicking/squeaking sound, pound their feet and nibble on the grasses. We took several walks around the campground enjoying the view and checking out the different RVs that were there. We enjoyed the shore power and the AC while we were there as temps got into the low 90s.

  Not only did Neil  and his wife Tammy feed us dinner twice, but they encouraged us to swim in their backyard pool, and they loaned us one of their cars while we had repairs done, It was a fun visit, even the adventure of trying to catch the gecko that their cat had brought inside! They are fast little critters.

From Tucson, we begin our meaderings back to Olympia, WA. Although we are not really in a hurry to get back to the rain, we have some tabs to deal with on our vehicles which gives us a date to aim for. Plus we have things on our lot we want to work on and family to see. We are taking a different route northward this time, so it will be interesting to see the differences.

Ajo, Arizona. Where?

The little town of Ajo has some really beautiful buildings. One can see the impact of artistic people in paintings on the buildings as well as architecture in the plaza buildings. This small town hosts a Fiddlers competition each year and well as a number of other community activities. Although we arrived after the Fiddling Contest was over (won by a 16 year old girl) I did get in on a wire-wrapping class which was great fun. We also enjoyed the Farmer's Market on Saturday and dinner out on Valentine's day at Marcella's.

This little town is a jumping off point for traveling into Mexico as well as Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. We stayed north of the border, but did do a 21 mile drive around Organ Pipe Cactus NM which was quite beautiful. We were glad we had our truck, although it is a road that can be done in a car with enough clearance. Pretty rough in places, but worth it to see this amazing place.

Organ Pipe Cactus like to grow in sparse vegetation. This is the only place north of the border where they grow.

Amazing hills full of all kinds of color and quite dramatic.

We were parked with the Boondockers BOF, a subgroup of the Escapees RV Club at the Roping Arena outside of Ajo. We enjoy spending time with the group. Talks by the fire at night, Happy Hour at 3pm, doing crafts with the ladies, going for walks. We seldom make it to the campfire at 7 am for the Cowboy Coffee. Too early!

Local Sculptures

At the visitors center, we got the Borrego Springs Village Guide which tells about the many things in and around Borrego Springs that one can do. In it, they tell of Galleta Meadows with the sculptures. When talking to anyone in town, inevitably they ask if we've seen "the sculptures". So of course, we had to check them out. Handily the Guide has a map so you can find them. There are quite a lot of them, it turns out. They are a gift from "visionary town benefactor Dennis Avery and the craft of sculptor Ricardo Breceda". There are roughly 30 of them. We saw a large percentage of them. The day we decided to explore turned out to be quite windy, and a sandstorm created visibility problems. It also created a pretty cool picture of these sloths (or whatever they are) trekking through the sand.

Very interesting jeep sculpture with intriguing details!

Velociraptor looking ferocious

a prospector and his horse carrying all his supplies

One of many big horned sheep sculptures.

Palm Canyon

Borrego Springs is a cute little town, and when we checked out their two grocery stores we found one which even carried organic fruits and vegetables and several things in brands I usually get! It was like having a health food store selection sprinkled in amidst the usual fare. It’s always fun to see the differences one sees regionally. We also bought postcards and postcard stamps so we could send them to the grandkids, which then grew into sending them to others in lieu of our usual Christmas Letter.

We also visited the library, a very nice one, too, and several shops that were interesting and fun to browse through. With Borrego Springs Outfitters, we found more desert-appropriate hats, so added those to our collection.

Lots of large boulders on this hike.

The Park Visitor’s Center is on the west side of town (we were to the east of town) and well worth the visit. We got to see a short video on seasons in the desert. I enjoyed this since I don't plan to be here for some of those seasons--like summer where it can be over 124 degrees! They also had bird experts there so I was able to ask about the bird we saw at Big Morongo Canyon Preserve and get it identified. We also asked about the best route to take our RV over the mountains and go some good advice.

We then we went on the hike up Palm Canyon. What a beautiful hike, but seemed much longer that the mile and a half they advertised. We wondered if it was as the crow flies, since the trail wound back and forth quite a bit and by the time we got back to the truck we felt we’d been on quite a trek! They warn you to take a gallon of water per person. I had a quart that we shared, and by the time we returned I understood the wisdom of that advice. Even though it was a cool day, the area is so arid and the climb challenging enough that I sure would not want to do this on a hotter day! I clearly need to get a backpack of some sort for stripping down layers and carrying more water. Still it was worth the climb past huge boulders, over all kinds of rocks and finally to the oasis with running water and many huge palm trees. 
 

At the top of the canyon where the palm tree are, there is a lovely spring and creek that goes for a little ways, feeding the trees and other plants that grow around it.



The palms at the oasis were huge!





Desert Christ Park

"The Last Supper" relief

Always on the look out for free things to do in the areas we visit, we found this little gem: the Desert Christ Park. A reasonable drive from Indio, we took off one windy day and after doing some hiking in the Big Morongo Preserve (see the other post) we went on to the next town to see this. We enjoyed this, and found it to be a great lunch spot, as well. There was a little chapel nearby which was quite unique as well. Very peaceful spot.

I apologize for how messy this post looks, but the formatting is not cooperating at all, so I will have to leave it as is!

The above link takes you to a website describing this interesting little park: 

Desert Christ Park overlooks the high desert town of Yucca Valley in southern California.  Here the visitor may find more than forty snow-white statues and images portraying scenes of Christ's life and teachings. 

Dedicated on Easter Sunday 1951, this park was the vision of Eddie Garver, known at the time as the Desert Parson. Through a series of events, the Desert Parson was introduced to artist-sculptor Frank Antone Martin, the creator of these remarkable works of steel-reinforced concrete, and together they began a journey that would span time and test, and produce one of California's most iconic and historical parks. The park transcends denominational considerations and we welcome all to remember and celebrate not only the visionary and the artist, but most importantly, the life and teachings of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. 

 

 







the tomb is empty!