Arboretum Walk

Thursday afternoon Rolly and Jeannie Jurgens stopped by and we loaded up for an afternoon of exploring Boyce Thompson Arboretum located just west of Superior.  This arboretum has an amazing collection of cacti and succulents. The facility is laid out in loops that guide you through various gardens and exhibits. Its trails are very easy to hike and there are many shade stops where you can sit and view the birds and lizards living in the different gardens. 

Cactus will grow anywhere!

We hiked the main loop and looked at the various plaques that identify the numerous cactus and trees. This hike identified many of the plants that we have been hiking past as we walked through the desert. As I have said before plants from the desert are nothing to be holding and cuddling.  Every one of them wants to hurt you in one way or another, but that is one of the draws of this biosystem. 

Birds nest in a Chollas cactus.

Picket Post House

Clevenger House

The solid rock wall on the left,
the house was built into a natural wall.

Bird of prey in the shade of a thick bush.

Holes & Hohokam

There are signs left by ancient peoples all over this area. In the short time, we have been here, we have visited at least six places where these people have left either pictograph, pottery shards, dwelling walls, or other signs of their lives in the past. 

Today, I went with Rolly Jurgens on a Razor ride to some pictographs and then to some holes in rocks that were said to be made by the Hohokam Indians. (Link takes you to the Wikipedia page for Hohokam Culture.) It is said they inhabited this area about 300 to 1700 AD and left all sorts of signs for us to wonder about.

The holes in the rocks are very interesting. These are said to be carved into the very hard stone by the Hohokam as they ground seeds to make the flour they would bake and then eat. They definitely do not look natural and very much look to be man-made. 

Both Rolly and I had many questions that we could not answer. Why were they located at this spot?  The area where the pottery shards are abundant is much farther upstream. Why would they camp so far away from their seed grinding spot? Did they farm the flats near the rock holes and then use the grinding holes next to the fields and carry the final ground product up to the living site in clay pots?  We talked and talked about all these questions, most of which we may never know the answers to.

The holes in the rock are said to be used to grind seeds.

A pottery shard found on a
"bench" above the stream bed.

Our Days Go By

 As the days go by, Linda and I get more and more settled into daily routines. We hike, walk and Linda runs. Both of us have started playing pickleball, a new obsession. We have had a few cloudy days where the sun avoided us, but it is definitely better than freezing cold temperatures and snow on the ground. 

Just Looking Around

Rolly Jurgens picked me up in his Razor and we did some looking around.  He showed me the route up to a starting point for a hike that would take me to an old Indian village site.  I decided to wait until Linda could accompany me before I hiked up that trail. Then we drove down to a wash and went exploring at a place that was said to be part of the wagon train watering stops.  There were several old building foundations that made us wonder exactly how the place was used back in the day.  It was fun looking around at all the junk left behind. 

Pickleball: A New Obsession

I returned to QVRV and walked up to find Linda and Jeannie playing pickleball.  It looks like Linda has a new sport to add to her fitness program.  We have actually bought paddles to play with so look out all you local pickle ballers. We are coming for you. 

Short Slot Hike

Wednesday, Linda and I joined three other folks, John, Irina, and Sherry, on a short slot canyon hike located just south of Superior, AZ. The hike followed a stream bed into the rocks and up a short waterfall. There was very little water in the stream at this time so we mostly just scrambled up the rocks.  It was a very nice hike and we enjoyed talking to our fellow hikers.  As it turned out, Sherry is from Montana and she had been on several canoe trips with two friends I knew from NIC many years ago. Just another small world moment in our lives.

Misc. Days

The Days Begin

Each day we are a bit more settled into our spot at Queen Valley. The tempo of the days has slowed and most of the duties that needed to be done to complete our setup have been accomplished. A good example of this was the hooking up of the park's water to our camper. We received some sage advice from Earl Anderson prior to leaving home. Earl called me up and told me to come over to their house and pick up a hard water filter that uses osmosis to soften the water. He said that the water in Queen Valley was so bad that it could eat your pipes up in one season. He graciously gave me a system that he used while down here. Earl has sold his big motorcoach and he said he had no use for the system.

I took the tank home and cleaned it up, purchased new resin and salt, and then stored it all in the Jeep for transportation to our park spot.  When we arrived I went about setting up our water filter and Earl's tank to get the water to the proper condition so we could use it in our camper.  I really had no idea how this all would go together, so I googled the possess and watched two videos demonstrating how to set it up.  

On the day after we arrived, I set everything up and gave it a test. It all worked! Well, sort of.  I had leaks and drips.  I checked things out and found that one fitting was cracked and another pipe was cross-threaded.  Thus the drips.

The next day Linda and I drove into Mesa and I bought the fittings I needed. We also replaced a small space heater that we had owned for about 10 years. Linda felt it was way overdue to be replaced so we found a nice one while we shopped.

Next, we went shopping at a Walmart nearby and bought some food items that were on our list. Finally, we stopped by an In-N-Out Burger joint for our first ever In-N-Out burgers.  Our neighbors, Jodi and Steve, rave about these burgers and so we had to give them a try. They were very good and just what we needed.

We drove back to our little spot and I put the water system together without having a single leak.

Razor Tripping

Rolly Jurgens stopped by and asked me if I wanted to go for a ride on a trail up Hewitt Canyon past a rock formation they call Elephant Butte to a spot where we looked for pottery shards left by the native inhabitants many years ago.  Rolly likes to look for the shards, but he never takes them. I am in total agreement with that thought process, and really like the idea of leaving things where they are and using your imagination to recreate the place and past events.

Another Hiking Group Adventure

It is Wednesday and Linda and I joined the QVH (Queen Valley Hikers for our second desert adventure. On this outing, the group met at the clubhouse and caravaned up the road that Rolly Jurgens and I Razored up leading past Elephant Butte. The entry trail led into the top of the drainage where we viewed the Spanish Cross and this hike took us to within a mile and a half from connecting those two hikes.

The group was a large one with 35 hikers in attendance. Mark Gilbart counted us up and Steve led the way into the drainage.  As we hiked, we were told that this drainage was usually overgrown so thick that it was almost impossible to hike down the entire distance. The rains and flooding had opened it up quite nicely so hiking was very easy for our group.

We hiked past some pictographs placed on the rocks by early peoples and enjoyed speculating on the history of the area.  The total distance of this hike was 6+ miles and both Linda and I returned to our camper tired, but not so tired that we could not move. This is always a good sign.

Camping Out with Rolly

Later that evening Linda and I jumped in Stinky Jeep and followed Rolly and Jeannie Jurgens out of town and into the desert. Rolly had planned an overnight campout so that he could set up a truck bed tent and spend the night under the stars.  We met some of their friends, Nadine and Jimmy, at Rolly's campsite and where we all gathered wood for the night's fire. When the sunset we sat around the fire pit and cooked a great dinner of hotdogs and beans. We talked and laughed. Occasionally we could hear the restless songs of the coyotes and the hoots of owls, making it a very memorable experience.