Mogollon Rim loop

The rogaine was located just west of Heber, at a wonderful elevation of somewhere around 7000 ft. I enjoyed the cool air for a couple days.

Scott and his camping cup in the piney woods:


After the race, we drove east along 260 through Show Low - a pleasant drive which we found out later took us through a large field of old volcano cones. Some of the cones on the horizon, as viewed from the town of Eagar:


Every once in a while we see this kind of setup and we just really can't believe it (there's even a dog tied to the boat, but I expect that hookup was only there when stationary):


From there we went south on the Coronado Trail (Rte 191), a beautiful drive through pine forests and eventually dropping off the Rim back to the desert. But before we got to that part, we stopped at a free campsite (with water and pit toilets - the best National Forest free site we have found to date) at Hannagan Meadow. Not only that, but we got lucky with some free entertainment at the lodge restaurant. We met Chaz who played guitar and sang some great songs. First we stayed for coffee and then went back for dinner - too enjoyable to pass up!

The next morning we continued south, stopping at the Blue Vista Lookout for breakfast. Ah, the views...



Tug at our breakfast spot:


Not far from the lookout we came across a huge dead tree with 200+ arrows shot into it ... and who knows how many more arrows landed much further into the drainage below. It was a steep, steep dropoff and as far as we could tell, not above any trails...

The Morenci copper mine - humongous and fascinating to watch from a roadside viewpoint. We even got to see an explosive blast (the dust cloud just left of center):

Big truck buckets, with a 40-ft dumpster in front to give some perspective (well, I'm sure it was there for other reasons too):


We swung around back west through Safford and Globe, with a short side trip up to Tonto National Monument for my first look at cliff dwellings:


The top of the path was closed due to aggressive bees, but it turned out that the flies and gnats were much worse than any bees we encountered (Roosevelt Lake in the background):

We stayed overnight at the Cholla campground, which gets its electricity solely from solar panels.

The next day we took the adventurous path back toward Phoenix on route 88. It started with a view of the Roosevelt Dam:



Wait for me!


Route 88 is unpaved for about 20 miles and includes a steep, narrow climb up the side of a cliff. Sometimes I'd rather be on foot than in a vehicle, but John's driving was spot-on and we made it up the hill just fine. The rest of the way kept us entertained with spectacular vistas and colorful rock formations:



Then suddenly we were back in civilization - like magic! We're in Phoenix until tomorrow morning when we start a smaller tour up to Prescott. Sunday we'll come back to get Howie and drive up to Flagstaff (yay!). Turns out there are a lot of scenic routes in Arizona that are better without pulling a trailer!

Rogaine pics

Last weekend we drove up to the Mogollon Rim for a 24-hour rogaine event (North American Championship). Tucson Orienteering Club sponsored it and John Maier did yet another excellent job of setting the course and placing points in interesting spots. I'll get something of a write-up together. But for now, here are some pre/post race photos courtesy of Sheila (thanks Sheila!!).

Our bed in Tug's camper:


Prepping maps:

Scott and Sheila are ready for the 12-hour version:

Pre-race group photo:

Awards ceremony, with Peg (TOC announcer) on the ice chest - and we won a couple bandanas with the Arizona flag on them, very cool:

Sheila and Scott placed 2nd overall (1st coed masters) in the 12-hour event - congrats!

Scott showing off his Too Cool gear and map analysis skills:

We had a great time in beautiful country!

GUR video and cameo

Kip found a link to a Great Urban Race (Austin edition, April 2009) video that includes a brief walk-by by me and a cameo interview by John:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NpdZqn_4Hk

Thanks Kip!

Desert Plants

Some photos I've taken of Sonoran Desert plants:

http://www.kipley.com/marcy/desert_plants/index.html

Tucson part II

It sure is quiet around here. Apparently the tourist season is over until OCTOBER or so. We're happy not fighting tourists along with the high temps. Things may change once we start heading to higher elevations later this week.

As preparation, we hiked to the top of Mt Wrightson (9453 ft), south of Tucson. Excellent trail system, beautiful day, nice (cool!) views from the top.

Near the top, looking down:


Running down, looking studly:


Yesterday we stopped by the Asarco copper mine for a tour. How many industries have a place where you can learn all about it and view the actual operations? I tried to picture a window tour of a Freescale fab and decided that would be a super cool idea for a tourist destination. Anyway, it turned out to be complicated, technical, and really interesting. I was too enthralled by the bubbling copper tanks to remember to get a photo of the best part (oops, guess we have to go back someday). But I did snap a picture of the open-pit mine:


There is a bunch of land reclamation and recycling work going on, including the addition of "Asarcows" to help get the land back to its normal desert state.

One of the tires from the giant mining trucks:


From there we drove down to Tubac, an artist community. Lots of creative arts and crafts to look at. If we had a home (that wasn't on wheels) and were decorating in the "Southwest" theme, there would be tons of great options here.

We finished up at Tumacacori National Historic Park, which was even more deserted than Tubac. Interesting Spanish mission church and history exhibits:

Coming up... a 24-hour orienteering rogaine on the Mogollon Rim... sweet

Notes from the desert

We're in cactus country!

Yesterday we hiked/ran up the Tanque Verde trail in the eastern Saguaro National Park. Temps definitely improve (i.e. go down) at higher elevations. The highs are about 101 degrees this week in Tucson. But it's a dry heat - and honestly, in the shade with a breeze it's actually not that bad. As long as we keep drinking water...

Giant Gila Monster! (John says it's actually a Komodo Dragon - he's probably right)


Prepping for the rogaine next weekend:


Today we rode our bikes toward and partway up Mount Lemmon on the north side of town. We discovered:
1. A full Camelbak bladder is enough extra weight to rapidly cause problems with butts on bike seats (otherwise known as "we haven't been on our bikes enough lately").
2. Bike riding creates a nice breeze to combat heat - better than running
3. A swimming pool is an excellent afternoon destination.

We made it halfway up the mountain before John questioned our sanity - high enough for some nice views at least:


Cacti over the Tucson plains:


Flowering cactus:

On the road again

We had a couple "Howie adventures" even before leaving Austin recently. The fridge stopped working for a couple days, and then seemed to magically function again after John's defrost method of troubleshooting seemed to do the trick. Hmm. More serious was a leak in the valve going into the toilet - nothing like a good carpet soaking to make your week. Luckily we were about to head to the desert, where all moisture disappears in about 7 minutes flat. Also - marrying a handyman is highly recommended! One of the many reasons I love John.

So anyway, everything seems to be working now, and we have commenced our 2009 Summer Tour!

On the way across west Texas, we stopped to run at the South Llano River State Park. We were pleasantly surprised at this park - tons of trails, a pretty little river, a well-maintained park, and a wonderful place for bird watching. I sat in a "bird blind" and watched not one but two painted buntings hopping around. Simply awesome.

That night we stayed at the Balmorhea State Park, another neat gem in the Texas State Park system. One million gallons of water per hour pouring out of a springs supplies a cool pool, then flows down canals toward the town of Balmorhea. A quiet, peaceful transition from Austin humidity to desert aridity.

Howie and I were pleased:


For anyone just joining us, Howie is our "House on Wheels"-ie. We like to name our vehicles - Tug is our Dodge Ram, and George is our Geo tracker waiting in Austin for us to return in September.

The next day we spent some more time on I-10, stopping outside El Paso for a lunch break of sandwiches and chips:


On the way into Deming, NM, we moved to a parallel side road and did a ride-n-tie. It was a mostly quiet road with plenty of room to pull over every couple of miles. We alternated running and driving, covering over 15 miles between us. I was a bit surprised to have some difficulty breathing when I first jumped out and ran too hard. Oh look, we're up around 4000 feet of elevation. And it's almost 90 degrees. A nice start to the summer heat and altitude training.

Yesterday we spent time at Kartchner Caverns in Arizona. It opened to the public about 10 years ago, and it is clear that they are very concerned about minimizing the impact of bringing people through the cave. Airlocks, misters, multiple guides - interesting. The cave itself is very beautiful. They didn't allow photographs, so I bought a postcard instead:

We also drove over to Tombstone. As expected, it's highly touristy, full of western imagery. The Courthouse exhibits were worth studying to understand the history of the area. Apparently there's a lot of silver still there, underwater. A guess if it ever becomes profitable to mine it again, someone will do it. We skipped the "shoot-out" reenactments but did find out that a bunch of actors have played Wyatt Earp over the years.

Now we're set up at a park outside Tucson for the week. I've got to remember to carry my camera wherever we go now - I had gotten out of the habit over the winter!