A Graphical Summary of the Trip

We arose mid-morning in Flagstaff, and set about repacking our gear and the car.  We put most everything in the right bags to fly in, got it all neat and organized, and checked out of the hotel.  Before heading up north, we stopped at a cute little diner in Flagstaff for brunch.  I hadn’t been back in Flag since 2004, and I had forgotten that downtown bears an astonishing resemblance to Ithaca–it’s just a big crunch town!  Except it’s also a tourist town, with more outfitters than you can count on fingers and toes combined!

Sunset Crater

Leaving Flagstaff (after spending not-nearly-enough time there), we drove up to Sunset Crater National Monument.  Sunset Crater is a cinder cone volcano near Flagstaff, and is one of the youngest in the area (between 1040 and 1100 CE).  The actual cinder cone is rather unphotogenic (and scarred from foot traffic, which is no longer allowed), but I took a few shots of the lava field with the San Francisco Peaks in the background.  Those peaks are part of the same volcanic field as Sunset Crater, although many of them are substantially older.

Factoids:

Sunset Crater itself was nearly dynamited in 1929 for the movie “Avalanche,” which is the event that led to the area’s protection as a National Monument.  In the 1960s, NASA used the lava fields as a practice area for lunar surface exploration.

Wupatki

After exploring Sunset Crater for a bit, we drove through the National Forest up to Wupatki National Monument.  The Wupatki Pueblo is an old anasazi ruin, from a time when the area that is now a dry desert was lush and fertile.  The Anasazi people believe that ruins should be let to crumble and decay, because too much preservation would fill up the earth.  The National Park Service, on the other hand, is charged by act of Congress to preserve the site, and has even restored some areas to show what they would have looked like when the area was occupied.  This tension between government and native is not new nor unique to this park, and the brochure for the area highlights the conflict in a somewhta schizophrenic manner.

GRAND CANYON!!!!!

After briefly exploring the Wupatki Ruins, we got back in our convertible and pressed on to Grand Canyon.  Our first stop inside the park was Desert View, the lookout established for the Santa Fe Railroad in 1932.  Seeing the canyon made me pine for time at the bottom, but it was not to be on this excursion.  The views speak for themselves.  Click the pics for enlarged versions.

And of course, the obligatory traveller-in-front-of-canyon shots:

After desert view, we drove west on South Rim Drive to the main Grand Canyon Village.  What a touristy circus!  By the time we got there we barely had time to get out, look around, snap a few photos, and visit the gift shope before heading back to Vegas.  I was so bummed at our limited canyon-time that I hardly shot any photos.  Part of me almost wishes we hadn’t gone at all if our time there was to be so short, but Laura needed to see the canyon, and she got it!  Here’s one I took from Grand Canyon Village.  The canyon you see moving off towards the top is Bright Angel Canyon, which I explored in 2004 on the North Kaibab trail with my fellow REUers.  At the bottom center is a small green oasis, which is Bright Angel Campground and Phantom Ranch, where we camped on that trip.

Over the Hills and Far Away

Back in the car, off to Vegas and New York!  We tried stopping at Williams, AZ for dinner, but there was none to be found except for a small sit-down restaurant that we didn’t have time for.  Back on the road, and we got off at the next exit, Ash Fork, where the highway signs said there would be food.  Let me tell you about Ash Fork.  We saw the whole town, and the only thing that anybody wants to sell there is their real estate.  You want some land in the desert?  Please?  Stop by the land office (you might mistake it for city  hall or the post office, but for the big sign that says LAND OFFICE) and I’m sure they’ll be delighted to hook you up.  We finally found a Picadilly Pizza at the gas station under the interstate (not even really in town), got some food, and got back on the road.  Our plan was to head up US 93 and over the Hoover Dam into Vegas, but as we approached the exit, we saw a lighted sign announcing:

DELAYS AT HOOVER DAM.  TURN TO AM XXXX FOR INFORMATION

So we turned to that channel, and heard the announcer tell us that the Arizona Highway Patrol had a roadblock nine miles south of hoover dam where all vehicles must stop and submit to a thorough search of contents.  I began immediately to renavigate, mostly because I don’t like police but also because a thorough search of all our luggage and gear would have meant missing the plane.  The detour wasn’t bad, but it did take us a little bit out of our way and by the time we got back into metro Vegas we were hurting for both time and fuel.  Fortunately we had selected the “return the car full” plan, so while Laura fueled us up, Ginger and I did the final reconfiguration of luggage for departure and threw away all the accumulated trash in the car, in a hurried exercise that made me feel like a NASCAR pit stop attendant.  As it turned out, we got the rental car returned and ourselves checked in with plenty of time to spare–our plane wasn’t even there yet.

Thus ends the story of how three astronomers and two law students spent six (really seven) days of bliss in the desert before returning to their cold and dreary home.  I hope that the reading has brought you joy.

3/20/2008
8:00 AM
Flagstaff, AZ

Yesterday we rose as soon as the chilly sun shone in the canyon and hiked out. I rose before the chilly sun, because it was raining in my tent, and spent some time sitting on a hilltop watching the desert wake up (it’s not that exciting). On the trail, we met a professional photographer who agreed to take our group photo after protesting that my digital SLR camera was “a crutch.”

Ginger modeling her gear at Camp Cayuga before we head out

We repacked, our gear, left several surplus items at the gear-exchange table in Cottonwood Camp, put the top down, and drove out in eighty degree sun. As we left Twentynine Palms, we passed a sign, “next services, 100 miles,” and for 100 miles we passed through barren desert with not so much as a power line. One stretch of road was long and straight enough that I could comfortably have pushed the little sportscar up to 120 mph, but I didn’t think of it immediately, so I only did ninety. Words are inadequate to describe this desert, but fortunately Laura took this picture while I was driving:

On the desert road, we passed a cyclist on the side and pulled over to see if he needed any assistance. He was experiencing a minor mechanical annoyance, but was certain he would make it to the next town. He was short on water though, as he had set out across the desert with only one bike bottle, but was otherwise happily biking to Phoenix. We topped off his H20 and went on our way.  Ginger says I have graduated from talking to strangers I run into, to going out of my way to talk to strangers.

The services after 100 miles were one gas station at Vidal Junction.  THere were lots of hikers, and the ruins of an abandoned gas station.  A California Ag Inspection Station commanded all traffic coming in from the AZ/NV direction stop and be inspected.  Curious, since we didn’t have to be inspected when we crossed on the interstate.

Across the river in the Colorado River Indian Territory, we ate a late lunch at a fabulous diner.  Ginger and I both had burgers with chili cheese fries, Laura got a club with regular fries, and we all got the biggest damn glasses of iced tea that you ever did see.

The drive up from the Cali border follows the Colorado River for about 40 miles, then climbs up from desert to plateau.  We got in to Flag around 9:00 PM, lodged at the Super 8, and were asleep by ten.  Laura and Ginger each noted that it took two shampoos to get the desert out of their hair, but one go with the baking soda was all that it took for me.

Today: Grand Canyon, Sunset Crater, Wupatki National Monument, and the flight home.

Google Map/Google Earth Junkies can see a map of the day’s adventure here.  Or, import this KML file into Google Earth to see the Lost Palms Trail and our campsite (it took me about an hour, but i found the exact location of Camp Cayuga on Google Earth!  It’s at  33°43’3.06″N, 115°46’30.33″W.)

The walk from here to Lost Palm Oasis is only about 40 minutes. From the overlook, you see two oases–one down in the canyon, and one on the opposite rim.

The trail descends steeply into the gorge, where we immediately encounter fan palms. Some are still well-covered in shag; others have recently burned. The canyon floor is very sandy and these are the beaches we read about–beaches without water. There is very little water here, only sparse seeps leak above the ground. Many of the seeps are fouled with decomposing organic matter. We find a few bones, too small to be Bighorn Sheep, too small to be rabbit. Coyote, maybe?

This is the largest puddle of standing water in the oasis. You may not be able to see clearly in the photo, but you really really don’t want to drink it. Leave it to the Bighorn sheep.

I am suffering a mild heat exhaustion. The canyon floor offers some welcome evening shade. We proceed (and I join reluctantly) down towards Victory Palms. Just past Mile 4, the trail becomes a class III scramble. My sandaled feet are quite chapped and my climbing shoes are in the car, so I elect to sit on the rock and meditate while Laura and Big Horned Mel explore further. Ginger and Briony return to camp. While I was waiting, I snapped a few exposures of the sun setting and moon rising over the canyon.

Laura and Mel returned to tell us that they had reached an overlook where they would have to scramble down to go further, and they could not tell if the oasis was near or far. They returned with “buns of steel,” but no Victory. We walked back at sunset and made Indian and Thai foil pouches for dinner.

20:07
Camp Cayuga

Evening is warm, stars are out. I’m just wearing a light jacket and quite compfy. Will go to bed soon so that I can rise with the sheep.

]]> http://borealnemeton.org/outdoors/day-5-part-2/feed 0 http://borealnemeton.org/outdoors/desert-5 http://borealnemeton.org/outdoors/desert-5#comments Thu, 17 Apr 2008 12:38:06 +0000 Borealis http://borealnemeton.org/?p=21 3/18/2008
9:36 AM
Cottonwood Camp

Warm morning: everybody slept well. Ginger feels better. I’m wearing my kilt and t-shirt at 9:00 AM–a vast improvement over previous days! We cooked the rest of the bacon today, but fully half of it was consumed in a sudden grease fire. I washed the pair of pants that I had been wearing all week, and hung it on a Yucca to dry.

Pictures and more below the cut:

Our camp, with pants, and a closeup of the yucca where I hung my pants.

3:04 P
Lost Palm Canyon Some Little Arroyo

We have established our wilderness camp in [what we though, wrongly, might be] Lost Palm Canyon, a ways back from the trail. It is a beautiful desert filled with Juniper, Yucca, Creosote, and Wildflowers. We are all sunburned despite liberal application of sunblock. We are repacking and prepping for the 1-mile hike to Lost Palm Oasis, the largest fan-palm oasis in the park. There, we expect to find fam palms providing ample shade, sand beaches, and maybe a big-horned Sheep. We have seen many lizards today, but not one tortoise, sheep, or coyote. There are insects here, including a few large flies, but compared to an eastern forest, they are hardly annoying.

Camp Cayuga. Click for larger image.

You may notice in this image that I am doing something silly–setting up camp in a wash. This is almost always inadvisable due to the danger of flash floods, but I was comfortable doing it in this case because I was familiar with the weather forecast and knew that there was zero probability of precipitation anywhere nearby for the next two days.

Stay tuned for Day 5 Part 2: Our Journey to the Oasis (or: There and Back Again)

]]> http://borealnemeton.org/outdoors/desert-5/feed 0 http://borealnemeton.org/outdoors/bagleybitthedust http://borealnemeton.org/outdoors/bagleybitthedust#comments Wed, 09 Apr 2008 03:14:40 +0000 Borealis http://borealnemeton.org/?p=15

In today’s edition, our intrepid heroes climb a mountain and hike through the desert to abandoned mines and the tomb of a desperado miner who died by the hand of a rival, fighting over a few scraps of land in the desert.

As in the previous posts, italic text is from my contemporaneous trail journal, roman text is written for the blog.

3/17/2008
1910 PDT
Keys View

Hiked 8 miles today. Started @ Ryan Mountain at 12:30; got to the summit in about an hour. Summit was very windy and chilly–not good conditions for the light, summery kilt . We took shelter behind a large Yucca and enjoyed the view for a while before hiking down.

A panorama I short at the summit. Stitching by Double Take. Which I might buy, to get their watermark off my photo.

From left to right: The summit, Briony, Laura, and Ginger

I had to put this one in big so you could all see just how silly I looked.

Once we got back to the bottom, we drove to Hidden Valley picnic area for lunch. It was warm enough that after eating we stayed to bask in the sun for about an hour before we set out for the Wall Street Mill. Over 1.1 miles hiking out to the mill we passed 3 rusty cars, a rusty windmill, and the ruins of an old adobe house. One of the cars–a green pickup truck–had plants growing all throughout it, and I spent a great deal of time shooting the truck.

The trippy thing about this truck was what good condition its tires were still in. The sidewalls were kind of falling apart, but most of the main surfaces were intact. Things don’t really decay in the desert. I took a closeup of the engine block, which you can see here. The other truck wasn’t doing so hot:

This Well was called the Desert Queen Well, for the nearby Desert Queen Mine. The man who built it sold it to Worth Bagley in 1924, six years after it ran dry. Poor Worth Bagley.

The history of this area deserves some telling. In the early 20th Century it was occupied by two rival miners, Worth Bagley and Bill Keys. The California District Court of Appeal (4th District) told this story in 1944, on appeal from a jury verdict finding Keys guilty of the manslaughter of Bagley (asterisks represent page numbers in the Cal App.2d and P.2d reporters):

Defendant had lived on the desert in Riverside County since 1910. He acquired land there on which he built a home for himself and family. He also acquired land in San Bernardino County north of and adjoining the line dividing the two counties. Land belonging to the Southern Pacific Railway Company lay between the properties.

Defendant operated a mine in San Bernardino County. Some time after 1910 he built a stamp mill, tank, water **591 troughs and a pumping plant on his San Bernardino County property. We will refer to this as Keys Mill. There was also a well on the railroad property where he had a windmill which he removed when Bagley acquired the property. In the record this is referred to as Bagley’s well. The removal *906 of this windmill was one of the causes of disagreement between Bagley and defendant. There were roads crossing the railroad property which connected the two properties of defendant. He testified he had used these roads without obstruction or objection for about 30 years. He also testified that one or more of these roads had been opened and in use since about 1874. Defendant started raising range cattle in 1918. It was his custom to let the cattle range on the railroad property. Twice each year he drove them along a road crossing this property when moving them between the summer and winter ranges.

In 1936 Bagley acquired the railroad land lying between defendant’s properties. He was then a deputy sheriff. At some indefinite date, probably prior to 1939, he made cement blocks with which to build a house. He complained that defendant’s cattle were breaking those blocks while ranging on his land. This seems to have been the start of the differences between the two men. With Bagley’s consent, defendant, at his own expense, built a fence which kept the cattle off from about 80 acres of land around the Bagley house which he commenced using, probably in 1939. There may have been other fences and also cattle guards and gates which we are unable to locate because of the manner in which the witnesses testified. When a witness points to a map and says a certain thing is “here” or “there” it is understandable in the trial court but is meaningless on appeal.

Someone shot and killed a cow belonging to defendant and later a Spanish jack. Defendant accused Bagley of killing the animals, which Bagley denied. He became enraged and threatened defendant. Bagley interfered with defendant’s travel over the roads across his property and ordered him to stay off. Without going into further detail it should be sufficient to say that the relations existing between the two men deteriorated rapidly. There is evidence that Bagley made threats against defendant which were communicated to him. A disinterested witness testified that defendant threatened Bagley’s life although he denied doing so. Both men armed themselves. Bagley usually carried a 38 caliber police special revolver and also sometimes had a rifle when traveling in his automobile. Defendant carried a 30-30 caliber automatic rifle with him in his car. He testified that he regarded Bagley a dangerously insane man. This was the state of the relationship between the two men at the time of the fatal affray *907 which occurred at about eleven o’clock on the morning of May 11, 1943.

Defendant was the only living witness to the killing and we gather the following from his testimony. On that morning he arose at his usual time, had breakfast and went to Keys Mill to pump water for his cattle. He drove over the road across Bagley’s property and on to Keys Mill. There was an obstruction in the road over Bagley’s property which he drove around. He started his pump and pumped enough water to fill two troughs, but not his tank, when his engine stopped because of magneto trouble. Being unable to fix it he took the magneto off, placed it in his automobile and started home over the same road he had traveled earlier that morning. When he reached the Bagley property he saw several obstructions in the road ahead of him. These obstructions, separately placed, consisted of broken glass, of stones, and of Yucca logs across the road. There was a sign on a stake in the road about 50 feet beyond Bagley’s property line. Defendant drove to a point near the sign and read it: “Keys This is my last warning Stay off of my property.” Defendant backed his car up the road to a point which he believed was on his own property, though it is highly probable that he did not leave the Bagley property. For a distance of approximately 104 feet the road in front of defendant rose to an elevation of about six feet and descended on the other side. Defendant got out of his car and walked forward to a point where he could look over the top of the rise. He saw Bagley approaching, crouched over with his revolver in his right hand. Defendant ran back to his automobile, armed himself with his rifle and stood beside the car. When Bagley reached the top of the rise he fired one shot at defendant. The bullet passed close to his head and hit the door of his car although he was not conscious of this last fact. Defendant immediately returned the fire. He **592 described the subsequent events to an officer as follows:

“He said he shot at his gun hand, but he shot a little high; he hit him in the arm, and Bagley turned to the left and started to run, and he ran in a zigzag manner; and I asked him why he was running in a zigzag manner, and he said he thought to make him miss him. He said where he–he said he fired another shot as Bagley was going away from him, and he hit him in the left arm, partially turning him around, and when he partially turned, he fired another *908 shot and he dropped, he hit him in the side. * * * Deputy Heap asked Keys about the shooting. Keys told Heap that Bagley was coming over the hill, he shot at him; he went back and got his rifle out of the car, shot at Bagley’s gun hand and shot a little high and hit him in the upper right arm, and Bagley turned to the left and started running from him in a zigzag manner. Heap told him he was shooting the man in the back, and Bagley said it was an automatic and shot fast.

“Q. By ‘Bagley’ do you mean–A. Or Keys.”

Defendant’s rifle was an old model and is what is now sometimes called a semiautomatic. The explosion would eject the shell that had been fired and insert another in the chamber, but pressure on the trigger was necessary to fire each shot.

Defendant’s testimony at the trial did not differ materially from the story he told the officers. It is significant that sufficient time elapsed between each of the shots so that he could observe the effect of each and could see that Bagley was running away from him when the second and third shots were fired. It was the opinion of the medical experts that the third shot caused immediate death.

After Bagley fell defendant got into his car, turned it around and drove to his home by a circuitous route which did not cross the Bagley property. He cleaned up, had his lunch, secured another magneto and returned to Keys Mill by the same circuitous route. He attached the magneto to his engine and pumped his tank full of water. He climbed a hill which gave a view of the Bagley property but could see nothing unusual. He returned to his car and drove it to about the same place where it had stood during the affray. He alighted and walked up the rise, probably about 50 feet, to a point about half way between his car and where Bagley stood when he fired at him. He did not see Bagley’s body which was lying in low weeds and brush off the road. He testified that while he thought he had killed Bagley he was not sure and that Bagley might have been wounded. He returned to his automobile and drove to Twenty-Nine Palms where he surrendered to constable O. J. Cones. Defendant, the constable, David M. Poste, Dr. Gilbert John Leonard and W. E. Ketcham of the Federal Park Service returned to the scene of the shooting, arriving there shortly after four o’clock in the afternoon. They found the body of Bagley lying prone on its face near the top of the rise and a short distance from the road. The revolver was cocked and was clasped in the *909 right hand with the forefinger resting on the trigger. No fingerprints were found on it on subsequent examination. Low Grass and brush were standing around the body.

People v. Keys, 142 P.2d 589, 591–92 (1944); 62 Cal.App.2d 903, 905-909

And here is the place where Worth Bagley Bit the Dust. Keys painted and erected the tombstone himself, over fifty years ago. Like I said, stuff doesn’t decay in the desert.

The Mill itself is an old apparatus used to extract gold from ore. The ore was ground and crushed, then passed over a tray of mercury. The gold would bind to the mercury while the rest of the ore flowed off into the desert. This plaque by the National Park service shows how it works. Click on the images for larger copies.

Various shots of the mill:

It’s not cordoned off or anything, so you can actually go in and climb around the mill. Here are some shots of inside: Note the sign for the office, and the remains of the amalgam table. The bottom left shot is the two-stamp mechanism for crushing the ore.

And as if we hadn’t had enough abandoned mines, we scampered off from there to see the Desert Queen Mine.  Desert Queen was one of the most productive gold mines in the area, and it was huge.  Now all of the shafts have been sealed off (and re-sealed after extra-stupid explorers broke in), but the surface is terribly interesting to walk around–both to see the shafts from outside, the heaps of tailings, and the abandoned machinery that is still left lying around.  I was pretty tired by the time we got there, so I only took two good shots:

And then, as if we hadn’t done enough in one day, we went to Keys View to see the sun set over the San Andreas Fault.  That valley you see in the center of the photo is where all the pollution comes into the park from LA.

More pot o’ shit and two-buck chuck for dinner. Ginger is altitude-sick and going to bed.

Larger copies of all photos—including those that are not linked, and some not included here, are at http://www.borealnemeton.org/cpg.

Monday, 3/17/2008 11:00 AM
The Sonoran Desert

Yesterday was angrily, bitterly cold. We spent Saturday night huddling over our campfire. Temperatures sank to around freezing, and the cold front that came through during the night dropped small hail on us. By the time we went to bed I was wearing my long underwear, the pants of awesomeness, and khakis on top; I was wearing a long-sleeved shirt, fleece, parka, and sheep. Still chilly, but the two-buck chuck helped. Our savior was a local man who came in his pickup and sold us a shit tonne of wood for $8.

Ginger and Laura both slept poorly and coldly. In the morning I built up the fire (from the one remaining hot coal), and we had bacon, Irish Coffee, and oats boiled with milk, butter, dried fruit and brown sugar. Very tasty. You know you’re Irish when you’ve got more Irish than coffee in your Irish Coffee, and it’s only breakfast. Happy Saint Patrick’s! Then we bugged out and spent most of the day driving to Cottonwood Camp in the south–about ten degrees warmer. We stopped at the cholla garden and Ocatillo patch to look at cacti. At the Cholla garden was a sign that said “don’t touch the Chollas; even the slightest touch with embed a barbed spine in your flesh.” So of course Ginger had to go and molest a cactus–and it didn’t molest her back!

The obligatory cactus portraits:

I didn’t get Ginger and Mel. I’m sure somebody else did.

Lunch @ cottonwood was pitas with hummus, cheese, salami, and choco-covered fruit. We also stopped at Jumbo Rocks on the way down–they looked like good climbing or building, but the cold was a real killjoy, and we got back on the road fast.

In the afternoon we did a two-hour loop hike to Mastodon Peak, passing by two fan-palm oases–cotton spring and cottonwood spring (no really–there’s another one nearby called wood spring!) The California Fan Palm and other tropical and temperate vegetation gathers around tiny seeps and springs. Suddenly you see hummingbirds, cottonwoods, and other unlikely desert inhabitants. The fan palms collect all of their old, dead leaves, which lead to spectacular conflagrations that periodically purge the oasis of all other life and fertilize the soil for more fan palms.

At Mastodon Peak we could see out over large areas of desert, as well as the Salton Sea.

In the evening, Ginger and I went to the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center, the largest US Marine Corps base (by land area), where her friend Aaron is stationed for a few months for the Marine Corps Communications Electronics School. On the way up it was warm enough for us to drive with the top down, until we began the climb into the High Desert. When we arrived, we parked under a sign that said “ONE LAST REMINDER: DON’T DRINK AND DRIVE. FASTEN SAFETY BELT. USE O.R.M.” Aaron told us that ORM is “operational risk management,” which is military for “don’t be stupid in a way that gets you dead.” I suppose it makes sense that the military would have a term of art for that. Aaron showed us around the base, which provides entertainment for the troops in the form of a one-screen cinema, bar, and bowling alley. They have an Enterprise Rent-a-Car, but Aaron says that they only use it to go and drink in town. The first tank battalion is headquartered at 29 Palms, and we got to see the tank barn. There was a “tank xing” sign by the road–precious!

After we got hassled by the Gunnery Sergeant for being unregistered civilians, we went back to camp, stopping at Wal*Mart in Yucca Valley for Ginger to get warm clothes. Night was much warmer but very windy.

1: Unexpected Volcano
2: Abandoned Mine shaft with 1d4 machines lying around
3: Boy scouts
4: Jerky stand
5: Ghost Town
6: Man biking across desert
7: Old friend
8: Abandoned mine with full industrial works still standing