Immediately after breakfast the crew and I set out to explore our new camp.
It’s going to be a hot day judging by the pleasant warmth of this morning. Bridget and Spike are excited and I’m thankful they are willing to stay in the middle of the dirt lane as we make the gradual descent from our campsite. My eyes sweep from left to right, ever vigilant for the appearance of a snake. I stop to take photos of the views and the great variety of desert plants.
A helicopter passes high overhead.
Yesterday Brenda at Hidden Oasis RV Park told me the helicopters are so a count of the burro population can be made. I’d love to see some burros. I see some manure that might be from a horse or a burro. There’s none from cattle. Bridget stops to smell something. It looks like it might be coyote dung. I need to learn scat, the poopy kind, not jazz singing!Last night was very quiet, no coyote howls or barks.
The crew and I walk all the way down Chicken Springs Road.
We pass the little white building that is Wikieup Bible Church. Saquaro Sam Road and Cholla Chuck Road both slice through an orchard of trees I can’t identify. At the end of the lane, across from The Wikieup Trading Post, I try to turn the crew. Spike wants to keep going, of course. He still doesn’t understand that we have to save energy for the walk back. As we walk home I decide we will stay in camp for our first day. I want to see if anyone comes up this way before I leave the BLT for any length of time.
I sit outside in the cool shade of the BLT with the crew next to me in their pen.
The breeze from a large wash below our camp gives us constant cooling. I can see the post office flag fluttering in the valley. Tiny trucks and cars inch along, to and fro. Throughout the afternoon I make frequent visits to the blog, reading and replying to comments. The crew and I lie on the bed in the breeze of our 12-volt fan which lulls us into a nap. Supper is a chicken sandwich, shared with Bridget and Spike, of course, and a green salad.
Before we go inside for the night, a covey of quail parades by.
That’s the only wildlife we see all day . . . human or otherwise.
Tomorrow we’ll go to Burro Creek Recreation Area. I’ll pack a picnic lunch. It’ll be fun! Maybe Spike will get to soak in the creek . . . .[slideshow]
rvsue
Hey, Sue and crew
I’ll bet Spike and Bridget can sing Scat if you play some for them (my two like to sing along with the theme of CSI Las Vegas).
Looks like there is a lot of green in the desert foliage. Great pics!
Bob
Hi Sue and Crew, love the new pictures. That tree with the beautiful flowers. What kind it it? i can almost smell them. lol. Today my car went up for sale. I finally did it. My son cleaned it and polished it. looks brand new! I still can’t even lift a milk carton. going for more x-rays. they think its pars fracture. Wish me luck. I need to go rv shopping!! Hope your evening goes well. Stay safe. I think your braver than I am.
That’s a juniper. In Colorado and Utah, the old-timers call them cedar trees. The berries are used to flavor gin and also make a really nice tea. Junipers can change “sex” when stressed and self-pollinate. The natives used them for all kinds of things, especially the bark, which comes off in long strips.They make up a significant part of what’s called the pygmy forest here, often interspersed with pinyon pines, which need a bit more water so grow along arroyos and low spots more. Junipers grow very slowly and often twist. Some here in Utah are 800 years old. You’ll see them all over once you get into the higher desert.
Hope that’s not too much info. 🙂
I LOVE this answer! I think I just might have to *borrow* it :o) & awesome pics as usual.
Chinle answered something I have had questions about but didn’t know! Thanks! Now if I can just learn to tell junipers and cedars apart! I’m used to palm trees and citrus groves! LOL
Geri, there aren’t any real cedars out here, so no problem, they’re all junipers. I don’t know why the old-timers call them cedars, maybe the wood looks similar, as it’s really pretty. I have some furniture made from it, looks a lot like red cedar wood. But those big western red cedars like you see in the mountains of Montana are a whole different ballgame.
Never too much information. Thanks, I have learned so much from reading all your comments. keep them coming. I need to learn to prepare for my first trip alone.
Well that looks like a nice camp and you can walk to town. The vegetation is much thicker than Congress. Have you looked at Alamo State Park? Might make a nice day trip. Thanks for the nice photo tour.
Sue, You will love the escalante, Bryce and Zion areas . While you are there , stop into take a tour of Best Friends animal society. Super cool place !! It is in Kanab, Utah. Also there is a place called Turoweep that is on the edge of the grand canyon. Supposed to be super nice but you have to drive a long ways on a bad road. dirt and rocks. so maybe not a good idea. I think it is free camping there. Just not sure if you would want to drive it . It is like 50 miles or something.
Here’s a nice site to help with identifying animal scat:
http://www.bear-tracker.com/animalscat.html
Oh boy wild burros, I hope you get to meet some. We adopted two years ago when they were going to shoot them in Death Valley and Cleveland Amory’s Fund for Animals was looking for homes for them. Fred & Ginger. They were GREAT!! But the horses treated them with a rather snooty attitude I thought. 🙂
Hi Sue! Great pics as always. Burros will usually protect horses…when I boarded some horses in CA mtns, they had a minidonkey and a burro….coyote got in the pasture and the 2 killed it… never had a problem with them and the horses.
Sherry, great adoption and kool names!!!!
Chuck
I wonder if burros/donkeys always protect “their herd”?…recently here in central NC have been noticing more cow herds with a little donkey in the midst…have read some accounts online of them killing cougars even. Not too many of those yet in this region, but coyotes and brown bears, etc. are seen sometimes.
Nice photos…looks bit more interesting than previous boondocking spots…but more hiding places too…good thing you have such great companions!!
Loved the slide show! I kept waiting for you to cue the desert music sound track though! 🙂
It looks like an interesting place to camp. Kind of nice to be close to civilization without being in it. Do you carry any kind of spray or anything in case you do run into a coyote?
The link to the dog pens doesn’t work?
I do hope you carry pepper spray, AND have a HITCH LOCK, for your rig.
Theresa
Hi Sue! Wasp Spray works as well as pepper spray and shoots a longer stream and is less expensive and more readily available. Works on all kinds of critters, humans included!
I sure hope you get to see the burros. They are adorable. Don’t know that Spike would think so though. I thought that looked like juniper. Although the berries are edible I don’t find them very palatable. That’s such a diverse desert area. Unless you really want to go through Prescott you can continue north on 93, much easier climb. And although Toroweap is superb it’s no place to tow to. PVT would do it nice and slow. Do you camp in it ever? There is free camping there at a small first come first serve primitive campground. Sure hope to see you at the North Rim. Just remember, it doesn’t open until May 15.
If you don’t know scat, you don’t know $hit.
Looks like you have found another interesting place to visit! I can’t wait until the MotherShip comes home today from repairs and upgrades! I am ready to start packing and get on the road. My gypsy feet are dancing to your blog! LOL! But I gotta stop reading Chinle’s books! Can’t put them down! haha! I finished the 2nd one last night…yawn! It was sooooo much fun I couldn’t just leave it! So no more books until we get going! Beginning to put away winter clothes and bring out summer attire to pack! Bringing the rock tumbler, the bead box, and the metal detector ! Grin….. gonna be a fun summer! I can’t wait !!!
Thanks for the nice comments about my books! I’m working on the third mystery now, it’s called the Paradox Cafe and is set in the Paradox Valley of SW Colorado. Howie starts a country-western swing band – LOL. But since I’m going fulltime in a couple of days it will be on hold for a bit till things settle down.
Sue, your blog is almost a forum! It’s a great place to meet people.
If you ever get up my way, I can tell you some great boondock places where you’re guaranteed to see wild burros, over in the San Rafael Swell. I’m going there myself when things warm up, it’s a bit higher than Moab at 7000 feet so not bad in the summer. No rattlers, scorpions, or tarantulas. Lots of junipers. 🙂
HI Sue- Really enjoy the exchanges you have with Chinle! You enjoy such a diverse, knowledgeble group. I’d take Chinle up on an INVITE anyday! RV Sues byline should be ‘The learning never stops!’
We are finally leaving for AZ later today (i think). We’ve got dog sitters so we can travel longer periods and stay in motels easier if we just have to! (Holly is getting to the age where she doesn’t travel well for longer stretches). EB is buzzing over the new law that requires owners of pitbulls, rottweilers and german shepards to buy insurance coverage of $100K! We’re trying to figure out if the 2 dots above Brownie’s eye’s make her a rottweiler? Our local Vet doesn’t even know what she is!
Viewing your slideshow and shows in the past where the BLT/PTV are shown, the solar panel is in the travel mode. Do you find the need to deploy the Mick System? Also there was a brief discussion several blogs ago about concerns of breakage or damage to your panel ($275 today to replace if you can find one!) Since my systems use identical PV panels K would be willing to make you a cover with some padding that you could deploy if the weather ever looks like hail. You can also deploy the Mick System to it’s maximum height and that would deflect hail lessoning the damage of a perpendicular hit! Something to think about because solar panels are soon to be on the endangered list! The technology cannot sustain itself without subsidies or kickbacks! The manufacture of the cells in your panel (Evergreen) is also in bankrupcy! OH WELL! CHEERS Br, K and (insured) kids!
loved the slide , specially the pic where Bridget is giving Spike”the look”.Gotta keep that’tude trimmedIm dying to mee the crew, andS sue as well
Sorry for putting you as an afterthought,but you should be used to it,with those two cuties in tow
watch for snakes!!
Jean