Month: April 2009

 
The Catalina State Park is one of our favorite local parks.  First thing this morning before the day heated up we girls went with a few friends for a hike…

We had a funny experience as we set out… We came upon a man with a double set of hiking sticks coming toward us with a warning that just around the corner was a bear, or a bull… a big black thing right there around the bend.  And he wasn’t sure which but he was turning back and  going to find another trail…
Now, this happens to be my favorite trail in the park and I didn’t fancy turning back just as we were getting going.  Besides, I was curious–what was around the corner?  I’ve never seen a bear in this area, never heard of such a thing even.  I had to see.  Wishing Louie were here just in case… I took my friend’s walking stick in hand and took a few steps, and then suggested we all go see.  We did.  And just around the bend here’s what we found– our Arizona ‘bear’ ( :

This land doubles as grazing ground for cattle.  Here was in fact a bull, but one not much interested in our passing by.
We continued on and had a leisurely stroll along this creek bed.  The water here will dry up in another month and be a dry bed till the monsoons come at summer’s end.  So finding water here is always a treat.

Along the trail we nearly trampled on this little guy.  He’s a ‘horny toad’ that keeps the ant population under control–quite harmless despite his fierce appearance.   You can pick them up if you can catch them.  This one skittered off in the midst of our photo shoot.

And so went our lovely hike…very different than the ones I’ve posted thus far, but oh so bright and sunny and full of memories of times past.  Thanks for  coming along!
“…He opened the rock and water gushed out;  it flowed through the desert like a river.”  Ps.105:41
“I will make with them a covenant of peace and banish wild beasts from the land so that they may dwell securely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods.” Ez.34:25

In the olden days when we were young,  we would drive the days and the nights– saving restaurant stops, potty stops, and time…
This trip we stopped nights– 4 of them in total.  Two were spent in friends’ driveways, two at State Parks.  Woodson Bridge S.R.A in Northern California had these glorious old Oak trees, just coming out in leaf…


Sweet to hear the birds waking the morning and wander about a bit before hitting the road again…

And very nice to have indoor seating and our own little kitchen along for the ride.  We’ve always been tenters before.  So this is a treat!

The next State Park stop was a completely different scene.  It had been a long day.  The car had been hot for some of our party… (me) and morale was low (mine anyway) Somewhere north of Bakersfield, CA we left the highway to find Colonel Allensworth State Park,  not knowing what to expect.  It would be our last chance to camp before setting out to cross the desert to Arizona. When we found it,  I was still wondering where it was.  We found ourselves in the middle of a flat expanse of dusty dry earth.  Wind blowing, chill in the air.  A couple other campers.  And nothing but a few scattered buildings–looked like an old ghost town actually.  Upon exploring we found out it really was a sort of ghost town!  A negro town was established here in the early 1900’s.  The water became toxic and the town moved away.  Buildings were abandoned…  Years later someone had the bright idea of  restoring and rebuilding some of them and this Park was born in the middle of a lonely expanse of prairie land.

We scouted about peeking in windows and my morale lifted.  I love old houses that have been restored.  It’s like stepping back in town.  They capture my imagination… Here’s what I saw peeking in windows:



Although I sure don’t envy the folks who lived in this desolate arid spot I sure admired their cozy homes…
And that’s enough for today. 
Tucson coming next…