Gilbert Ray Campground bike ride
Ribbon of highway and dips west of Tucson
Saguaro Cactus on its way to a new home on Hwy 86
New home in Gunsight Wash, AZ
Just a little bit lost in Gunsight Wash today
Evening arrives in Gunsight Wash
One of a million along Hwy 86 south
We had it all planned. Leaving Tucson with one stop for a night's rest at a little RV park on Hwy 86 just outside of Why, AZ. Yup, Why....We were headed to Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument National Park (quite the mouthful) but it is truly worth every syllable. This will be our third trip to this magnificent treasure on the border we share with Mexico. It is the only place where the Organ Pipe Cactus grows wild in the USA. It is in the Yuma Desert section of the Sonoran Desert of the far southwestern part of AZ. But I digress....Richard had discovered an area called Gunsight Wash on our Delorme Maps that is Bureau of Land Management Land where anyone can camp...There is a length of stay - 14 day limit. We had talked about checking it out on our way south to the National Park but realized that parts of the BLM land had been closed back in 2003 to dry camping (boondocking) because of illegal alien and drug smuggling traffic. When we traveled south yesterday just south of Why, I noticed a few larger campers on the right side of the highway scattered all over the land and mentioned it to Richard. We did a U-Turn to "just check it out". Needless to say that is where we are now for our second night in Gunsight Wash. I went for a good brisk hike yesterday but stuck pretty much within screaming distance of our camper. Today I got a little braver because I really really wanted to find the wild burros that would match up with the tracks I was finding all over the land around the camper. I kept wandering further away; always keeping the sun on my left. I must have traveled a bit further west and north then I thought because suddenly I realized I didn't have a clue where I was in relation to our "home". The rule of the desert is: Hat, sun screen, large bottle of water, walking stick ( to push those pesky rattle snakes out of your way) and a phone if you are lucky enough to receive a signal. My plan had been to have a nice brisk 30 min walk with my eyes peeled for rocks and burros. This trek turned out to be an hour and a half and I found myself in a place much further away than I thought would be possible with the sun on my left and the mountain on my right. I finally heard the familiar sounds of highway noise and knew that I was not totally a lost cause, but totally turned around and going in a different direction then I began. I walked back into the camper hot, thirsty ( I had not followed the rules of the desert today) no water bottle, no hat and no sun screen. But it was worth every second. Each little area of desert is different and beautiful. The beauty here goes so deep and you can feel it. It isn't like the UP, lush with trees, rivers. Its aliveness is older, deeper and stronger and tougher.
Being sidetracked can be a wonderful adventure.
No comments:
Post a Comment