AM EXPERIENCING A FEW UPLOAD PROBLEMS SO WILL ADD PICTURES TO THIS BLOG LATER & WILL UPLOAD PHOTOS TO THE WEB ALBUM LATER AS WELL..................
WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 13/08
Just love to hear the sound of birds when we step out of the rig in the mornings here. Short walk with Checkers & the Motormouse because we still want Max to stay off his injured ankle & he gets a very sad face on if we all go out for a walk without him. Beautiful warm morning so we decided to head back to the Organ Pipe Cactus National Park & do the second of two hiking areas there. This is our 4th time on the scenic 21 mile Ajo Mountain road loop & it just gets more beautiful everytime. One of the things I like so much about mountains is how they continuously change their appearance with each hour of the day. Shadows creep into new areas as the sun arcs it's way across the sky. Clouds cast moving shadows across them like huge dinosaurs roaming the canyon walls. Sun & cloud cast hues of color highlighting the multiple stratus or rock. Greens & golds, mauve's & maroons. And to-day for the first time we see the hillsides alive with the orange & yellow desert poppy. OUR PHOTO ALBUMS http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy It has turned into another one of those magical mornings as we pull over to the side of the road & I'm able to finally take some photos of mountain flowers. What a beautiful place this is. And, not a sound. The silence of the desert mountain ranges is overpowering. To stand amongst the desert poppies with the warm wind gently playing through the cactus & the sun washing over the desert valley floor below is something I will always remember. Once again I am reminded over & over how truly fortunate we really are to be here.
We arrived at the trailhead of the Estes Canyon hike to Bull Canyon & wasted no time in beginning our trek upwards . We had an 800 foot climb along a rocky & sometimes precarious mountain path. OUR PHOTO ALBUMS http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy With a good mixture of huffing & puffing we made our way along, enjoying the large vistas behind us as we climbed higher & higher. Signs of early spring were evident with multiple buds everywhere. I imagine there will be an explosion of color here sometime in the coming weeks. Finally, as we crested a small ridge, a bench came into view overlooking the vast Bull canyon before us. We had reached our destination. It is so humbling to stand in the presence of great majestic mountains & vast panoramic canyons.
Kelly sat on the bench for a water break while I headed up a little further & built a small Inukshuk & took a few more photos. A solid cloud cover had moved in & the wind was picking up so we decided not to stay long & head back. The descent down the mountain path, although easier in one way, is much harder in others. The descent is usually where injuries occur because of the loose rock & different weight bearing position of the body. However, we made it down without incident enjoying the magnificent scenery all the way. The car seats sure felt good when we sat down. Headed out of the park to the highway & drove the 20 minutes north back to our sight. The wind had really picked up so we had to scramble around battening things down. Must be a storm front coming in.
Back in Quartzsite we had taken our screen door off because we were having some problems with it sticking. It had been attacked by our car port back home in Canada last summer. When I took the door off I was very careful to put the 9 screws in a very safe place that I would be sure to remember where they were when we wanted to put the door back on. We haven't see the screws since!!!! Loaded up the screen door in the car to-day & went to the hardware store in Ajo looking for new screws. Never new there were so many different screws in the world. Picked out 9 that seemed to fit, so we'll see.
From the hardware store it was over to the grocery store & then out west of Ajo to visit some RV friends who are boondocking for their very first time in the desert . This area is sooooooo beautiful. Maureen & Mike (from London, Ontario) had dropped out to see us in Why last week & had invited us for supper. They have a superb spot with no visible RV anywhere near them. We are so looking forward to moving over to that area in a couple of days because it has just become too crowded here. Mike barb-e-cued up a big load of hamburgers while Al spilt some Pepsi on the floor of their spacious 5th wheel:(( I am such a boob sometimes) Had a nice visit & will probably see them again in a few days when we move up into the area. It was dark by the time we left & of course we had trouble finding our rig when we got back to the BLM land with all the different vehicle tracks winding through the shrubs & trees on the darkened desert floor. With a whole lot of luck & a little bit of logic, we finally found the rig. The gang was sure happy to see us & Max was able to hobble down the steps by himself for a washroom break. Slight improvement but I think we're going to have to keep him off that ankle for quite awhile. We were both so tired that we were in bed before 9 o'clock. I didn't even have enough energy left to edit the photos or write the blog. The mountain trail climbing is the easy part. It's the visiting part that always knocks the stuffings out of us. Maybe we should have called ourselves The Hermit Bunch instead of the The Bayfield Bunch. Do ya figure.............................
Just love to hear the sound of birds when we step out of the rig in the mornings here. Short walk with Checkers & the Motormouse because we still want Max to stay off his injured ankle & he gets a very sad face on if we all go out for a walk without him. Beautiful warm morning so we decided to head back to the Organ Pipe Cactus National Park & do the second of two hiking areas there. This is our 4th time on the scenic 21 mile Ajo Mountain road loop & it just gets more beautiful everytime. One of the things I like so much about mountains is how they continuously change their appearance with each hour of the day. Shadows creep into new areas as the sun arcs it's way across the sky. Clouds cast moving shadows across them like huge dinosaurs roaming the canyon walls. Sun & cloud cast hues of color highlighting the multiple stratus or rock. Greens & golds, mauve's & maroons. And to-day for the first time we see the hillsides alive with the orange & yellow desert poppy. OUR PHOTO ALBUMS http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy It has turned into another one of those magical mornings as we pull over to the side of the road & I'm able to finally take some photos of mountain flowers. What a beautiful place this is. And, not a sound. The silence of the desert mountain ranges is overpowering. To stand amongst the desert poppies with the warm wind gently playing through the cactus & the sun washing over the desert valley floor below is something I will always remember. Once again I am reminded over & over how truly fortunate we really are to be here.
We arrived at the trailhead of the Estes Canyon hike to Bull Canyon & wasted no time in beginning our trek upwards . We had an 800 foot climb along a rocky & sometimes precarious mountain path. OUR PHOTO ALBUMS http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy With a good mixture of huffing & puffing we made our way along, enjoying the large vistas behind us as we climbed higher & higher. Signs of early spring were evident with multiple buds everywhere. I imagine there will be an explosion of color here sometime in the coming weeks. Finally, as we crested a small ridge, a bench came into view overlooking the vast Bull canyon before us. We had reached our destination. It is so humbling to stand in the presence of great majestic mountains & vast panoramic canyons.
Kelly sat on the bench for a water break while I headed up a little further & built a small Inukshuk & took a few more photos. A solid cloud cover had moved in & the wind was picking up so we decided not to stay long & head back. The descent down the mountain path, although easier in one way, is much harder in others. The descent is usually where injuries occur because of the loose rock & different weight bearing position of the body. However, we made it down without incident enjoying the magnificent scenery all the way. The car seats sure felt good when we sat down. Headed out of the park to the highway & drove the 20 minutes north back to our sight. The wind had really picked up so we had to scramble around battening things down. Must be a storm front coming in.
Back in Quartzsite we had taken our screen door off because we were having some problems with it sticking. It had been attacked by our car port back home in Canada last summer. When I took the door off I was very careful to put the 9 screws in a very safe place that I would be sure to remember where they were when we wanted to put the door back on. We haven't see the screws since!!!! Loaded up the screen door in the car to-day & went to the hardware store in Ajo looking for new screws. Never new there were so many different screws in the world. Picked out 9 that seemed to fit, so we'll see.
From the hardware store it was over to the grocery store & then out west of Ajo to visit some RV friends who are boondocking for their very first time in the desert . This area is sooooooo beautiful. Maureen & Mike (from London, Ontario) had dropped out to see us in Why last week & had invited us for supper. They have a superb spot with no visible RV anywhere near them. We are so looking forward to moving over to that area in a couple of days because it has just become too crowded here. Mike barb-e-cued up a big load of hamburgers while Al spilt some Pepsi on the floor of their spacious 5th wheel:(( I am such a boob sometimes) Had a nice visit & will probably see them again in a few days when we move up into the area. It was dark by the time we left & of course we had trouble finding our rig when we got back to the BLM land with all the different vehicle tracks winding through the shrubs & trees on the darkened desert floor. With a whole lot of luck & a little bit of logic, we finally found the rig. The gang was sure happy to see us & Max was able to hobble down the steps by himself for a washroom break. Slight improvement but I think we're going to have to keep him off that ankle for quite awhile. We were both so tired that we were in bed before 9 o'clock. I didn't even have enough energy left to edit the photos or write the blog. The mountain trail climbing is the easy part. It's the visiting part that always knocks the stuffings out of us. Maybe we should have called ourselves The Hermit Bunch instead of the The Bayfield Bunch. Do ya figure.............................
Glad to see Max is slowly recovering! Spring is always so wonderfull to watch when you have the time to realy look closely and i enjoy the photos sitting here surrounded by almost two feet of snow.
ReplyDeletethe hermit
Love the flower pictures Al awesome.... what Lens did you use for those... Fred
ReplyDelete