Category: Hiking

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A Travato 59K is waiting for us in Texas

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June 1 we flew to San Antonio, Texas. We were chauffeured by Rick, cousin of Barry Gorden (Motown Music Founder), to KerRVille where our van was waiting. We learned so much about how to operate it from Keith, for which we are very grateful. We also appreciate the small town service of Otis, Todd, Shannon and Keri. Thank you so much!
We bought a Winnebago Travato 59K which is a converted RAM 3500 high top extended cargo van. This is the layout of the 21′ length – everything we need!
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We did not linger in Kerrville because of the intense rains forecast. We drove to Fredericksburg in the rain and spent the night there. We had a pleasant evening but it did rain all night – so we know our van is waterproof!
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Our first National Park with the Travato is LBJ childhood home. The Texas White house is closed due to flooding but we enjoyed our time here very much. Good movies on both LBJ and Lady Bird – seemed like a good start as they did much to preserve some of the beauty of our country.
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We took a ranger led tour and sat on the front porch.

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We left early and drove to Ft Stockton to skirt all of the storms. We were successful!
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Our first purchase was this fresh water hose. Newbies trying to figure this out. We love that the Travato is fully self contained and that the solar panels recharge the “house” battery.
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The little kitchenette, 2 coach seats swivel with airline type trays, overhead cabinets have lots of storage, 2 twin beds that can push together and also tilt for reading/TV viewing. Sliding screen door and lots of windows – good cross breezes.
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After a visit to Ft Davis Historic Site, and the local library, we headed up into the hills and found this The Nature Conservancy Trail and picnic area.
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Seemed like a good spot for wine o’clock and then to spend the night.
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Guadalupe National Park with Chollas blooming.
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Our camp site for 2 nights. Interior of van is 6′-3″ so Henry does not hit his head.
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An automatic awning over the picnic table. Wine O’clock in style!
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We got up early and hiked Guadalupe Peak. A 3,000′ elevation gain!
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This formation of El Capitan from the top reminded us of Michigan lower peninsula.
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What lies ahead? We wander into New Mexico.
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The Mexican Trestle Bridge hike in Cloudcroft where we spent a night.
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We went to the space museum in Alamogordo. This was the moon model behind Walter Cronkite when he gave all those updates on the astronauts. Pretty interesting that it is preserved here.
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Capitan is home of Smokey the Bear and they have a museum to him.

 

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Fraser – Rocky Mountain National Park

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From our friend’s condo, we hiked from the Red Gate down to Hideaway Park in Winter park to ride the bus back home. Still snow on the ski runs as you can see.
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We hiked along a creek, stopping for lunch to enjoy this view.
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Shadow Mountain Lookout Tower in RMNP was a beautiful destination. Notice the chipmunk in the foreground.
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This is classic CCC architecture.
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Organ Pipe National Monument, AZ

 

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Sunrise with moon and Venus
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What a way to start the day!
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This is our home – weather is predicting some rain storms so we snagged this site with the Ramada.
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Reflections from the overnight rain.
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Really fun to experience the morning changes.
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On the hiking trail to Lost Cabin — found but lost agian.
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See how these Chollas jump!
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Old wheel near the Victoria Mine
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There is a bull on the rock face behind us – a nice steep climb to this point.
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But it is worth it for the views towards Mexico!
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Awesome to be able to just relax and enjoy the day.
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This is the view from near the Rancher’s Line Camp.
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And looking the other direction is The Border…and The Fence.
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Look how it runs as far as the eye can see straight up the distant hill.
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The old Wangler’s Line Camp building.
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Let’s ‘off road’ Motor — with amphibious Mini!
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Another incredible sunset in the Arizona desert.

 

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Catalina State Park

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We headed to Catalina for the First Saturday Music in the Park series. We got there early enough to enjoy a hike.
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The 50-Year Trail goes along a ridge with lots of great views.
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The saguaros here seem to have more arms than other areas – are they older or a different variety?
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Warm today – well down right hot with no shade! We had short sleeve on under the sun shirts.
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Very picturesque down by the river. We enjoyed an hour or so of the concert with some fresh popcorn and the incredible mountain views! The drive home was an ever changing variety of colors of sunset to twilight. Very peaceful.

We were here last December for a concert in the park also. That blog posting is http://tealsky.com/2014/12/06/catalina-state-park/

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Tumacacori National Historic Site and Anza Trail

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The Mission is on the Juan Batista de Anza National Historic Trail – we had visited here last year but did not hike any of the trail. This year after our trip to Tubac and hiking some of the trail there, we focused on this part of the history.
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Such a beautiful detail against a pure blue sky.
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The Anza trail is between here and the mountains. It enters the USA just south of here around Nogales and goes all the way to San Francisco as he set up the Mission there. There is an Anza Borrega State Park South of Pam Springs we visited.
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Another view with an interesting sky against the Tumacacori mountains.
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I did not know the origins of the name Arizona! The good oak tree is hard to find.
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Here is the section of the Anza trail behind the Mission’s orchard.
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A large flood plain as the river changes depending on the water flow.
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We chose this spot to have our picnic lunch. The water is moving quite rapidly and we watched the sandy bottom shift its ripples.
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These riparian ways are really known for their birding opportunities. We hear a lot of different songs but they are hard to capture with our camera – however this lovely one kept us company during our rest. A huge flock of raven circled overhead making quite a racket – wonder what all that was about!

Here is the blog posting from our visit last year

http://tealsky.com/2014/12/29/tumacacori-national-historic-site/

and from Anza Borrega State Park http://tealsky.com/2011/01/20/anza-borrego/

 

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Tuscon Mountain Park

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At the end of Star Pass, we started hiking the David Yetman trail with our friends. This also went to Bowen ruins, where we enjoyed a picnic lunch, and Lee Hidden Canyon for the return journey.
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And here we are adding some contrast to the saguaros. It was a really pleasant day with the temp around 60 – perfect for desert hiking. Last year we all did a hike together on the 31st so maybe this is going to be a new tradition?
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Aren’t they such a cute couple?
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A chain cholla forest because you are probably getting tired of our saguaro photos!
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On the trail again after lunch…
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Willey Coyote pausing to check out the MINI.
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A few days earlier we had started at the West trail head near Gates Pass. The entire trail is 12 miles so we have left a chunk in the middle un-observed by us.
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Saguaro National Park West adjoins this park and was once a part of it – same beautiful scenery.
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Nice weather warmed up to the low 60’s. Perfect for a hike!
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It is amazing how green the desert is in December!
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A good rest at the end of the David Yetman West hike.

 

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Madera Canyon — Coronado National Forest

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Early December 18, we set out on the 4-Springs Trail and were surprised by the amount of snow still on the ground.
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But great views over Green Valley to the west. We went yesterday to the copper mine discovery center to learn about those retaining ponds and the big plateaus in the valley.
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Following the stream up the canyon was a nice mix of water and ice.
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Here is one of the springs. We hiked to three of them on a 5-mile loop trail.
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Beautiful clear blue skies brightened our spirits when we got glimpses like this.
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We went back the following week to do a steep climb to Agua Caliente trail, over to Josephine saddle for lunch and back by the Super Trail for an 8-mile loop. We ended up taking the H&P social trail from Carrie Nation and the mine there, up to the ridge and Jack Mountain. This is the peak of Mt Wrightson.
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This is the mine on the Carrie Nation Trail. We started the day hiking at 43 degrees and finished at 47 degrees – it did feel warmer in the sun. And was in the 50’s when we returned to the casita.
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Who let the bears out?