We like to get away at least once during the winter months, but this year we waited until successfully scrounging Covid19 vaccinations. Not an easy task.

On March 7^th, after the second jabs, we took off. First night out we stayed in one of our favorite new discoveries from last year, Mills Canyon, NM. Southern Colorado and all the SW states are gripped in a devastating drought. Our home valley was SO dry, but the severe extent of the drought became more and more evident the farther south we went.

One surprise was the amount of road work New Mexico has done to make access to the canyon available to 2WD cars. However, in March we were still one of the few there. I have a lot more information on Mills Canyon in the last post before this one…”A Few Camping Suggestions”.

The town of Roy, NM isn’t far south of Mills Canyon. It’s a good example of what has happened to the area since the dust bowl days.  Roy was founded at the turn of the twentieth century by a couple of brothers, Frank and William Roy who set up a stage stop and general store for those heading west. Roy became a stop on the Goodnight-Loving Trail. Cattle were fattened in Texas and then driven hundreds of miles to rail heads in Denver, Dodge City and Kansas City for shipment to the slaughter yards in Chicago. A nearby coal mine provided some jobs. Soon farmers planted wheat, soybeans, alfalfa. Ranchers moved in too, and the people to service them all kept Roy alive. Livery stables, a school, churches, hotels, a theater, a restaurant, shops, a lumber yard, even a hospital popped up. Later a post office, rail station, gas station and car dealership. All was going well until The Depression of the 1930’s hit the farmers hard. They left, and the tilled land started blowing away with the strong winds. On Black Sunday, April 15, 1935 a huge dust storm with 60 MPH winds swallowed Kansas, southern Colorado, Oklahoma/Texas panhandles and eastern New Mexico in massive, boiling clouds of dust. (An excellent book on the people who weathered the Dust Bowl days is Timothy Egan’s “The Worst Hard Times”.) The federal government stepped in and bought out the homesteaders and started the protected grasslands programs.

Roy’s biggest claim to fame is fiddle player, Bob Wills who set up a barber school in the late 20’s and lived briefly in Roy before forming the Texas Playboys in 1934 and moving on. And we’ll move on also, to White Sands NP.

 

Most sand of deserts and beaches is formed from various rocks and shells that have been tumbled and broken by wind and water. Weathered more finely than gravel and less than silt. Gypsum is rarely found as sand because it’s water soluble and generally washes away in rivers.

Gypsum is a mineral consisting of hydrated calcium sulphate. Ancient Permian seas covered much of middle America millions of years ago. Thick layers of gypsum were  exposed when the sea retreated. In White Sands NP water isn’t far from the surface and the ephemeral lakes are only full part of the year. The exposed mineral is tossed and turned by the winds coming off the San Andres and Sacramento Mountains. It turns into tabular gypsum grains that pile into impressive dunes. The sand feels cool to the touch even on very hot days.

 

Moved on to the Organ Mountains Nat. Mon. just outside of Las Cruces, NM. Had planned a small hike but the winds were ferocious and the blowing dust made that option unpalatable. We found a lovely campsite outside the monument boundary on BLM land just under the mountains. At dusk the winds died and it was lovely. It was so dry nothing was turning green except the creosote bushes. The prickly pear had been heavily munched by javalinas and probably deer. The ocotillo wasn’t showing any signs of life yet. A lone thrasher broke the stillness.

 

Into Arizona. Very few birds this year. Don’t know if they’re late or just not coming. Weather wasn’t particularly welcoming either. We planned to camp at Whitewater Draw where so many Sandhill cranes were resting,

but the wind was relentless. Very few ducks were at Whitewater, but the ones that were there, were in full breeding colors.

We moved on to Patagonia Lake where we have had a lot of birding luck in the past. Well humph! Took a lovely walk and saw a few water birds, but not much else. Next morning we awoke to a blizzard.

Next stop, the Gilbert Ray Campground in the Tucson Mountain Park, abutting  Saguaro National Park. Several friends had recommended this campground, and while it’s lovely, they recently limited the first come section to a small and not particularly desirable loop. So, unless you make reservations, be prepared to find no room at the inn. You have to get there early, wait in line, and maybe there will be a space left.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One must hike in the Saguaro NP and visit the Desert Museum while anywhere near Tucson. This year’s visit to the museum was disappointing because many of the activities were cancelled due to the pandemic. Also, some of the animals were missing from the displays…however, still worth the time. And next year should be better.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stayed at the Kofa National Wildlife Refuge as we have several times before. Established in 1939, it covers a big chunk of the Sonoran Desert. Roads in the refuge are dirt in various states of repair. High clearance vehicles are recommended, although many RV folks camp near the most accessible roads. There is a 14 day maximum stay. Desert bighorn are the most iconic animals protected here, but we didn’t see any except at the Desert Museum.

Drove through some sere and disappointing landscapes to the Mojave National Reserve in S. California to check out the Mojave desert. We wanted to compare it to the Sonoran…and found many different variations on the desert theme. Imagine our surprise to find a relatively lush, charming landscape after the miles of disastrous land management viewed from the highways. Don’t forget the drought still rages on, so lush may be a bit of an overstatement.

 

Numerous tracks out on dunes gave the lie to my feeling that there weren’t any animals. Kangaroo rats, lizards, road runners, foxes, etc. were all represented.

The Kelso depot was the first depot on the rail line (1905) from Los Angeles to Salt Lake City. It was located here because area wells provided plenty of water to supply the steam engines. Built in 1923 it now houses the visitor center and a period museum (this year closed due to Covid) that looks tantalizing through the windows. The depot bustled during WWII carrying troops, supplies and iron ore from the mines. It also housed extra engines to power the steam trains over the steep Cima Incline. After WWII and the introduction of diesel engines, as well as the shuttering of the Vulcan Mine, freight and passenger numbers plummeted. Few employees were needed and the depot languished. When the Union Pacific planned to demolish the old depot in 1985, friends of the depot were horrified. The Bureau of Land Management took it off the railroads’ hands to manage and restore. In 1994 the Mojave Preserve was established and the depot was transferred to the National Park Service.

The northern section of the preserve is covered with Joshua trees, which aren’t really trees, but giant yuccas. Some can get as tall as 40 feet. The desert gets between 4 and 14 inches of rain a year. (Closer to 4 recently). Older trees are very drought tolerant, but young plants need more water to get established. Higher temperatures cause more evaporation and young Joshuas aren’t growing in the needed numbers. Non-native plants and changing climate are encouraging more wildfires.

Sadly, last August, huge fires swept through these forests burning 1.3 million Joshua trees. The ground is so sterilized it will be a long time before anything can grow again.

 

There is a lot of the preserve we weren’t able to visit in our short stay. It’s worth a visit if ever you find yourselves in the area.

That’s enough for now, more to follow.