Tempe & Phoenix, AZ (11/29/2019)

After a nice Thanksgiving dinner here at the RV park, I planned to spend Black Friday in Tempe, since I had not visited that part of the Phoenix metropolitan area in some years.  Heavy rain overnight and into the early morning, followed by wind and clouds, kept me indoors until after lunch when I finally made my way into Tempe.

My first objective was to tour the Arizona State University campus, and in particular Sun Devils Stadium.  I remember watching Fiesta Bowl games from there, before they moved the game to the domed stadium in Glendale.  The ASU students, unable to get student discounts for the bowl game, would climb the large rock formations adjacent to the stadium and watch from there.  That tradition probably continues today, even for regular season games.  Whether students climb up to watch a game or not, there is the obligatory climb up to the large letter "A".

Noticing a few people dressed in Muslim garb, I followed them to the Islamic Mosque and Community Center.

Since my last visit here, the town of Tempe built a dam in the Salt River, forming a lake in the heart of the city.  The lake, two miles long, attracts all forms of water sports.  Several bridges cross the lake to serve automobiles, trains, light rail and pedestrians.

The lakeshore has become a favored location for large buildings that are presumably part of the school.  Active construction is ongoing all around this area.  It appears that mirrored glass is the most popular choice for exterior siding.

Tempe has a great many parks, some surrounding the large rock formations that just seem to pop up all over town.  My favorite is called "Hole In The Wall", which is obviously a popular rock climb for locals.

I had wanted to take in the Desert Botanical Garden again, but with the temp in the 50s and a chill wind blowing, I decided to go into Phoenix and check out Roosevelt Row.  This is not only an historic neighborhood, but is well known for the murals painted on many of the commercial buildings.  Here are just a few of them.

I will be leaving here tomorrow, heading east toward New Mexico for a couple days.

White Tank Mountain Regional Park, AZ (11/27/2019)

One of the parks that attracted me to this area is known as White Tank Mountain Regional Park.  I first learned of it more than a year ago from one of my resource books, Hiking Ruins Seldom Seen.  While there are no ruins here, at least none accessible by the public, several native cultures did live in these mountains over thousands of years.  The Archaic culture is thought to date back approximately 7000 years.  The Hohokam people were here around 1000 years ago.  The Yavapai arrived several hundred years ago, but gradually merged with the Apache Nation and today live on several reservations.

According to park officials, these mountains are very old, about 1.7 billion years.  However, Wikipedia describes them as very young, "only" 30 million years.  Both sources agree they are mostly made up of metamorphic granite.  Boulders in the many washes have been scoured by water-borne sand, leaving them white and with many depressions.  These depressions, or tinajas, hold water for some time following rain, providing for the people who lived here.  Early European settlers passing through also took advantage of what they called "tanks".  Thus, the mountains became known as the White Tanks.

The park is the largest in the county with some 30,000 acres and many miles of trails.  There are several campgrounds and hundreds of picnic tables, some under shelter and many just scattered about in clean areas of the desert.  There is also a competitive race track suitable for running, mountain biking and horseback riding.  The course is available for groups wanting to stage an event or just individuals out for exercise.  I never learned how many miles of trail it contains, but it looks quite large.  It's described as very strenuous, not something I want to tackle.

The mountains in this range are generally about 4000 feet, small compared to the Colorado Rockies, with the highest at 4083 feet and named for Barry Goldwater, former senator from Arizona.  To me, they are very attractive, with lush vegetation including all the normal desert plants.  Saguaro cacti are very prominent throughout the park.

The park claims to have a large variety of wildlife, including birds, and I don't doubt it.  However, I saw no mammals and very few birds that were too skittish to get close to.  The primary reason I came here was to hike Waterfall Canyon Trail that was described in my  book.  The trail, two miles round trip, climbs up the canyon to a seasonal waterfall.  Halfway up is a large area of rock art left by the three cultures who lived here.  Beyond that area, I discovered other petroglyphs not signed or close to the trail.  No doubt there are many more on the thousands of boulders scattered about the mountains.  I'll bet even park personnel haven't found all of them.  Of course, some are thousands of years old and weathered significantly.  Also, the symbols are quite different than those found in other areas. I only saw one human figure and none of the sheep or deer commonly found.

At the head of the canyon is a waterfall that flows only after a rain.  I was hoping the heavy rains of a week ago (while I was in Colorado) might still have water flowing.  Alas, there was no flow, only a couple pools at the bottom of the waterfall.  A ranger I encountered on the trail suggested the forecast for rain would have it flowing Friday or Saturday.  It took a little wading and a little rock climbing, but I managed to get a view of where it would be if it were there.

On the return trip, I took a photo down in the wash that shows the white boulders for which the mountains are named.

I also wanted to show you the skeleton of a saguaro cactus.  Those woody ribs are very strong and have been used frequently in constructing homes, both by the native peoples and by more modern residents. 

My best wishes to all for a Happy Thanksgiving!

 

Phoenix & Buckeye, AZ; Montrose & Cortez, CO (11/12 thru 11/22/2019)

During a visit to downtown Phoenix, I snapped a few photos of significant structures that interested me.  First is Chase Field, home of the Arizona Diamondbacks baseball team.  This stadium was built in 1998 in time for the Diamondbacks' first home game.

Nearby is the beautiful St. Mary's Basilica, completed in 1914 to replace the original adobe church founded in 1881.  The current structure is in the Mission Revival style, with the interior of Romanesque design.  Before 1881, priests traveled from Florence, AZ to conduct mass.  The church was honored to have Pope John Paul II visit in 1987.

Across the street from St. Mary's is the very large and impressive convention center that actually covers two city blocks.  Also with a downtown location, the Talking Stick Arena is home to the Phoenix Suns.  I only learned of it after my trip downtown, so no photos of it.

A couple days later I drove to Skyline Regional Park, located in Buckeye.  I had the feeling it might be a good place to observe sunset, and this feeling proved to be correct.  The park has numerous hiking trails in the small mountain range that offered a variety of foreground views.

After leaving home for my winter trip, I got an acceptable offer on my Montrose town home.  Since closing date was fast approaching, I made a trip back to supervise the moving operation.  It turned out the buyers, a very nice couple, wanted to buy my furniture, making the move less expensive for me.  Consequently, I only had to have personal stuff packed and put into storage.  It was a busy few days, but everything worked as well as could be expected.

During the trip to Montrose, I got a shot of Church Rock from a different perspective than before, and also got a different view  of the mountains that surround Trout Lake. 

One morning in Montrose, on my way out for breakfast, I was treated to a most unusual sunrise.

On the day I was due to return to Goodyear, a winter storm passed over the San Juan Mountains, dropping up to 30 inches of snow.  Trusting the snow plows to do their job, I stuck to the plan and headed up to Lizard Head Pass.  While there was snow on the road at the higher elevations, the lower sections of road were basically clear.  While passing up countless photo ops along the way, I did get a couple examples of the "winter wonderland" all around me.

Finally getting out of the snow around Cortez, I  appreciated some of the scenes that appeared there.

Now I'm homeless for the moment and ready to travel for a while.  It will soon be time to head for Florida for a family visit, so I'll look forward to that..