Beauty in the Arizona desert

In the past when I have thought of the deserts of Arizona I thought it was dry, lifeless, all brown and most of all dead. How wrong could I have been. After a few (very few) winter rains the desert turns green, and blooms. Color in the plants and rocks are all over we just need to slow down and look.

Friends in Dateland, AZ

Easter Sunday. Today we took a little drive of 115 miles from Casa Grande West to Dateland, AZ. Dateland is about 70 miles East of Yuma.

We had a nice visit with our friends Walt and Lorraine from the great state of California. They have property in Dateland where they winter. Dateland is little more than a wide spot on the hiway. We met them last winter (Feb 05) while boondocking a couple months in the desert near Imperial Dam, AZ

Visit over, we headed back for a nice evening at home. 87 deg today.

Chiricahua National Monument, AZ

Feb. 26, 2006

This day we took about a 150 mile Harley ride with our friends Dan & Sylvia from the “great state of California” and another RV-Cycle rider, Denny.

We drove to the Chiricahua National Monument. Established in 1924, these formations of balanced rocks, spires and pinnacles are similar in size and shape to those of Bryce Canyon in Utah although without as much color - the rocks are mainly grey but often with a covering of green lichen. The one mile circular route winds through some of the most impressive groups which include several examples of balanced rocks - boulders perched precariously on top of much thinner supporting columns.

During the 1860s and 1870s, the Chiricahua Mountains provided a refuge for the Chokoen band of Chiricahua Apache tribe led by the famous chiefs Cochise and Geronimo. Those people called this area the “land of standing up rocks”. On our way we passed a well-preserved fortress from this era, the Cochise Stronghold, in the Dragoon Mountains 40 miles west of the Monument. This will be a location we will go back to next year. (picture below, Dan, Denny, Sylvia, Betty)

Apache Trail, Superstition Mountains

We are in Casa Grande (Desert Shadows RV Resort) for a couple more days, heading to the "Sedona area" this Friday. We will be in the general Sedona area for 5 weeks. We were there last spring and enjoyed this area a lot. Lots to see there.

Tuesday Apr 5th we drove the Apache Trail. The “Trail” goes around the legendary Superstition Mountains. This trail once served as a stage coach and freight wagon route from Mesa to Globe. The Lost Dutchman Mine is still waiting to be discovered in a hidden canyon in these mountains. The trip was about 214 miles, 22 of those on a dirt road took us pretty much all day. We made several stops along the way. Our 1st stop was at the Goldfield Ghost Town, a booming community of 3-5 thousand people and 50 working mines in the district.
Here we met up with our friends, Bob & Marlene from "the great state of Washington". We wondered around the many old buildings, snapping pictures as we went.

Next stop, Tortilla Flat (100+ yr old stagecoach stop). We sat on western saddles at the bar. The inside the restaurant /gift shop, all the walls were covered with autographed dollar bills. About 5 miles east of Tortilla Flat, the road turns to a sort of washboard dirt road for the next 22 miles that takes you through the canyons.

The dirt road ends at the Roosevelt Dam. We got to the dam late in the day with dark thunder clouds in the sky and a few drops of rain falling, not leaving much time to see the abandoned old silver mines not far from Globe, AZ. That will be a motorcycle trip for next year.