Day 17 - 22 Oct - A cool regional park near Buckeye AZ

The main event today was that the Arizona fan club of The Mud Dragons took us on an outing to White Tank Mountain Regional Park where we hiked/walked the Waterfall Trail.    

None of us had been there before, and we arrived around dusk.  And, it was pretty amazing!

Here are a few pix to give you an idea of what it was like.

I love the saguaro cacti.  And they were all over the place.  I didn't make it to Saguaro National Park on this trip, but this gave me a taste of what that park might be like.  And, just in case you have never seen a saguaro, they can be huge, and grow to 10' and taller!  They are also extremely long-lived.  There were also several other kinds of cacti around.

Plus, petroglyphs.  And, lots of them. 

I guess the one thing I can say about hiking in Arizona is this, you leave the established trail, you do so at your own risk - but the plants in AZ are pretty darned amazing.  There are scratchy, pokey things everywhere off trail.

We, of course did other things as well today, but this, for me, was the main event!

Have a great day!  

Sorry about the late posting.

Day 13 - Oct 18 - Las Cruces NM to Buckeye AZ and White Sands National Park and Passing the 3000-mile mark

Instead of just taking a slow and easy drive between Las Cruces and Buckeye (Phoenix area) AZ, I headed in the opposite direction right off the bat to visit White Sands National Park.  Sheesh, I mean it was only about 45 miles away, so, why wouldn't I!?  Like a former professor used to say, "You'll never be closer."

It was an amazing drive with some great scenery in between, and along the way, I was reminded that some pretty significant US history happened out there.  The White Sands area was where the first atomic bomb was detonated at a place called Trinity Site.  This area was also an early site of the NASA program, established in 1963 for testing rocket engines, etc.  And, this is also the home of the White Sands Missile Range.  But, that's not why I wanted to go.  I wanted to experience the natural beauty of the National Park...

...and here's why:

White Sands National Park isn't a big one, and it's not what most people would call a major NP, but it was definitely worth the stop.  Since it's not heavily visited, I had to go only a couple of sets of dunes away from the road to find untracked sand.  And the white sand dunes were extremely pretty!

On top of that, a surprising amount of life manages to eke out an existence there.  Like Dr. Malcolm says, "Life finds a way."  And he's right.  If we didn't constantly work to hack back nature, it wouldn't be very long (probably a matter of decades) before it took back over all the things we've built.  

Anyway, that was a great stop.  After flipping it and heading west, I made a fun stop in Las Cruces at a place called COASBooks.  It's a used bookstore that sells, of course, books, but also music and movies.  Here is a shot of their used DVD section...and at 3/$10 it was worth a look. :-)

Once movied-up (well, I found three), plus a book - Sibley's Birds of North America - I've always wanted a copy of this - I was back on the road again.  

Along the way, The Mud Dragons and I passed 3000 miles on the road.  Whoa!  And, add another state to the list.

I saw some absolutely beautiful country along the way, including mountains that rival or beat the Wasatch Front when it comes to shooting up out of surrounding valleys, fun stops, and a sunset that makes your heart swell and burst.

A fun sighting in Benson, AZ

And you know that you are in south central AZ when you see the saguaro cacti.  They make you start looking for the Wiley Coyote (super genius) and the Roadrunner.

And the end of the day saw me pull into Buckeye, AZ, the new home of my daughter Lindsey and her family.  It'll be great to spend time with them.

Stay tuned!