Ash Meadows Wildlife Refuge

GETTING THERE 

This wild life refuge is located close to Death Valley approximately couple of hours away from Las Vegas, NV. There are couple of alternate routes to get there. Google maps showed the route through Pahrump, NV was shorter by about 20 miles but would take the same amount of time as 93N through Indian Springs but suggested 93N. Although I was bit apprehensive about going through the downtown traffic and sphagetti bowl exchange it turned out to be route. Had better luck traversing the I-15 traffic than the slot machines and once I went past Santa Fe Station the traffic died down and near Indian Springs I had to look for traffic.  Between Indian springs and the turn off for 373 towards Armagosa valley there is just desert.  One is free to enjoy the freedom from stimulus of civilization or suffer the boredom and endured the pangs of hunger.  The big billboard "Hungry?" for the Area 51 Alien center seemed like a sign for heaven when I pulled over I saw a big store,  a diner and a brothel next to each other. I was hungry for food so i chose the diner. It was small with few empty tables and a bar with a couple sitting and a girl behind the counter busy texting. Between the time I sat down at the bar, went through the menu few times and left after few failed attempts to attract her attention she was still busy texting.  Later I mentally thanked her for saving some time for me to enjoy the park.

WILD LIFE REFUGE 

I took the spring meadows road a dirt road the main path way of the refuge . Soon after entering the refuge one sees a visitor information center which is just a big board with a detailed map and few information brochures. I thought this was it but then I saw the signs for the main visitor center. At this point I had few second thoughts about visiting this refuge which looked dry and barren with few rewards for a two hour drive.   On the way to visitor center I passed on few attractions since all of the dirt roads leading up to them had the sign saying "high clearance vehicle" recommended. Later the staff at the visitor center center said it was more for sports cars rather than sedans.  The visitor center is big with neat rest rooms and even "covered parking"! Might come very handy in summer.  Friendly staff, answered my questions patiently with recommendations and offered to queue up some informational videos for watching but I was running short of time.  Given I had only around 3 and half hours before sunset they recommended visiting crystal board walk, crystal reservoir, devils hole and point of rocks.  I remembered watching a TV report on Devils Hole and had mentally tossed it in and out of my bucket list since it is all fenced off and one cannot see the fish. When I mentioned it to staff they still said it is worth a visit.

Crystal Spring Board Walk 

The board walk i located right behind the visitor center and is a .9 mile leisurely walk with plenty of benches to rest and take it all in.  The initial part of board walk is over a dry land till it meets a gurgling stream at the far end. Later the staff explained to me the board walk is there not only to protect the habitat but also to protect the visitors shoes and the visitor centers since the land becomes real gooey even with a little rainfall. It is refreshing to see running water and spot birds surrounded by dry rugged terrain.

Crystal Reservoir

Contrary to my expectations for the crystal reservoir to be right next to the crystal board walk it is couple of miles away. It is amazing to see this vast body of water surrounded by hundreds of miles of dry dessert supporting plant and bird species and deepens the appreciation of the wild life refuge and the conservation effort at the surrounding land.  The land is quite gooey closer to water with quite a few ducks clustered here and there. I probably could have spotted few more birds near the marsh less than a mile away but I decided to give it a pass.

Devils Hole

Although in the vicinity of the wild life refuge it is actually part of the Death Valley National Park.  It is also well named since thats all we get to see here. Seems dry but it is fascinating to learn how the water in the hole we are  peering into is connected to the underground waters that are important to Nevada and California.  It is mind boggling to learn that a mini-tsunami was observed here as a result of an earthquake in Mexico.

The highly fenced off area surrounding this hole with a narrow passage leading up to a viewing area might lead one to imagine it as pupfish prison. However this is a desperate attempt to conserve this endangered species as detailed in this report 

This article in scientific american https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/running-ponies/the-plan-to-save-the-rarest-fish-in-the-world/
details the efforts and to save this rarest fish in the world.
There is a small path thats leads to another gridded hole where one can only peer into darkness and what one sees depends purely on ones imagination I guess.

Peering into this hole one does not see much but Devils hole seems to stand for the deepening divide between conservationists and developers and the awareness of which is key to the future of this planet or someones pocket maybe.

Point Of Rocks

This is probably my favorite spot in this refuge but I also spent the least amount of time due to the fact there is a big sign "The gate automatically closes at dusk" at the gate near the turnoff to this area on spring meadows road. I would have waited till sunset but I did not want to be stranded in this area however beautiful it might be. There is a short board walk surrounded by some greenery with plenty of benches and the angle of light at the sunset brings out colors in this rugged terrain along with the chirping birds. There is plenty of picnic areas near the parking lot indicating its popularity, however, at this time I was alone. As the sun neared the horizon I made a bee line to be out of the gated area and when I approached the gate I saw a sign that said "Gate opens automatically if closed, stop here to avoid damage".  I guess next time I would confirm with the visitor center about the reliability of opening and closing of these gates before staying there at dusk.

GETTING BACK 

 The spring meadows road leads to Bella Vista Road. There is a turn off leading to the left that requires a high clearance vehicles and it is easy to head in that direction in dark since it traverses a lot longer distance before meeting with Bella Vista Road. As I neared the Bella Vista Road I was rewarded with sunset colors all around.  This single lane highway leads Pahrump.
I made a mental note to stay at one of the hotels nearby next time around to enjoy a longer stay at the park as well as a possible visit to Death Valley. There was quite a bit more traffic on the way to Vegas from Pahrump and it is single lane most of the way.

Here is the link for additional photos.

Saguaro National Park East

Saguaro National Park is physically two different parks located on the opposite sides of Tucson, AZ.  Although both are within short driving distance from Tucson downtown, to me, the west side of the park is slightly more accessible since one does not have to drive all the way across the town. After I took the Valencia exit on I - 10 and stopped near the Jack in the box the google map went crazy asking me to go the opposite way on Valencia. Finally after I canceled the navigation and restarted it started giving the proper directions. Compared to most other National Parks this park seems to be low key including the street signs.  Before the pay station there is a big visitor center with a mid size parking lot. The visitor center staff are very friendly and eager to answer any questions. 
One of the new staff members enlightened me about the geology of the surrounding area and I was surprised to learn the Tucson desert is a very young dessert, only few tens of thousands years old.  I was not able to confirm that upon later research but then I could have misinterpreted what he meant.

Shortly after the pay station the road becomes a one way loop and it is little bit windy but not too bad, the only thing to bear in mind is occasional pedestrian or a jogger on the road.  There are few parking lots in the first few miles of the loop road for accessing the hiking trails.  Today I chose to do the Loma Verde loop which is probably close to 3.5 miles. It is very well marked and well maintained trail with minimal elevation gain a delight for a lazy hiker like myself.  There are plenty of saguaros peppered throughout the loop with limbs going every which way reminding me of what one of the staff members at the visitor center said jokingly "Saguaro National Park West has more number of saguaros but here on the east side we have saguaros that have more personality with more limbs going in all different directions.  He even showed me a picture of saguaro with prickly pear growing out of it.  Within the first half mile one can see a saguaro swooping down like a dinosaur with a little bit of imagination I guess.

This is a great trail to spot birds. It was a overcast day so it was a great day for hiking and not so great for photos still I was able to spot few different species of birds.  After hiking in the dessert a bit I have become familiar with Gila Woodpecker which seemed to be everywhere on the trail with occasional phainopepia. The rest of the birds I still need to learn the names.  I hardly met anyone on the trail, probably because it was a weekday. I tried to extend the loop by going on the monument wash and hooking up with Deer Valley wash trail which seemed like bit of a mistake since hiking in the sandy wash was bit difficult and hard on the ankles but still it was fun.  When I returned back to the the trailhead I did see few cars parked although I did not meet them on the trail probably because it is a loop trail.
On the way back I stopped by Javalina Rock which is a great place to enjoy the surrounding landscape as well as to enjoy the sunset. 

Sabino Canyon - Telephone line trail

Sabino Canyon is a popular recreational area for outdoor activities in the outskirts of Tucson. If Tucson keeps the current pace of expansion it looks like it will be in the center of Tucson metropolitan pretty soon. The parking lot is fairly full and the overflow parking lot is open as well although I didn't have to use it.  The unseasonal warm weather might have had something to do with also. 

The main trails start at the sign behind the visitor center. Since I have been there few times this time I started walking on trail that parallels the Sabino Canyon upper road.  Between half mile to a mile there is a cut off for bluff trail that follows a wash along the ledge of some cliff kind of rock formation. It was nice and shady and I did get to see the only flower that I noticed in the valley. What attracted me was the fact there was a grasshopper and a beetle both inside that flower probably chomping it away, but before I could get the camera ready the grasshopper was gone and the fact beetle did not take off probably means it was dead. This section of the trail would be very interesting when there is water running in the wash. The trail meanders around and there were quite a few spur trails, although it is hard to get lost I found myself going around until I encountered a Sabino Canyon Volunteer. Since I did not have any concrete plan he suggested I go up on the Telephone line trail via Telephone line link trail. I took up on his offer to tag along till we hit the Telephone link trail. He was very informative about the whole area and the volunteer opportunities that exists in that area and ecology of that area.
After we shook hands I started climbing on the Telephone link trail. It climbs quite a bit in a short distance along a rocky terrain with some interesting rock formations. I kept thinking about my conversation with the volunteer - even though you might not encountered any wild life there is a good chance you were seen by a mountain lion, there are around eighty of them in that area. Although there has been no known case of mountain lion attacking humans there have been few cases where couple of them had to be put down for stalking humans.  Although mountain lions are very territorial the amount of food available seems to make them make the adjustments along with the fact their habitat seems to be shrinking.  He also pointed out his last sighting of mountain lion was pretty close to the start of the Telephone link trail around 4.30 in the evening.  That made me determined to be back before that time especially considering the sunset occurs around 5 pm this time of the year.  I took a pit stop half way through the trail to catch my breath and I got unnerved with the sound of crunching rocks. When I looked up and scanned I could see nothing and I continued on and very soon I saw couple of hikers up above couple of switch backs from me.  Human presence can be very reassuring indeed.   Telephone trail as a continuation of the link trail kind of levels off (gentle gradient as opposed to continuous climbing).  Before long I caught up with the older couple who were in front of me and one of them had a hard time extracting a thorn that got embedded in his leg after a accidental encounter. Just a reminder to all of us to be conscientious of the nature of plants in the desert terrain.  After a brief chat I moved on with the understanding they would catch up with me but after a bit and where the trail curved around I saw them heading back leaving me alone with mountain lions, rather thoughts of mountain lions.

It got very scenic as I moved along with the vistas opening up with the view of upper sabino canyon road winding through the canyon occasionally seeing a tram with visitors. Just when I was wondering when to turn around I saw two elderly ladies powering their way up the trail. Boy O Boy were they happy to see me and were escatic to learn the climb down the link trail was only a short distance away.   They said I was the first one they encountered on their way which is not too surprising I guess considering the time of the time and the direction I was hiking. Soon afterwards i encountered a huge boulder that seems it is about to roll away but seems to have stayed as a picnic spot for hikers to enjoy the scene below. There are few helpful steps to climb to the top of flat top of that boulder.  Top of that boulder one has a good view of a hill with kind of of thimble on top. One of the hikers I encountered told me the closer one gets to that one has a great view of sabino canyon, looking directly into it.  Considering the time I ventured few minutes past this and it seemed the trail started climbing down and I was in no mood to climb back up so I started back.

 Way back was bit more relaxing I was able to enjoy the view of lone saguaro on top of a rock where nothing should really be growing. It is amazing how the plants thrives with the slightest opportunity just a star reminder how much opportunity I squandered away being lazy or wanting to be given.  When I got back to the junction of link trail i saw the sign with the option to continue towards the bear canyon and to be ended up near visitor center. So I continued on enjoying the view of Saguaros peppered all along. Most saguaros have the limbs growing up. Probably because i was not hurrying i noticed this freaky saguaro that had limbs downwards.

I probably could have made it to the visitor center before 4.30 but considering the fact there were high clouds and a possibility of a very colorful sunset I dilly-dallyed along instead of dilly dillying for a budweiser.  The juncture where the trail meets the sabino canyon dam one gets to see arizona fall colors. Some of the trees (don't know the name) had leaves with vivid colors surrounded by dry brushes.  The real sad part was there is absolutely flowing anywhere in the park which is unusual.  I remember Tucson had a good monsoon in terms of rainfall amounts (8.5" I believe).  But it fell in very few but big storms and the water just ran off. 

Moral of the story to me was too much of a good thing (weather) is not necessarily a great thing.

Lot of birds eluded my photographing skills until this bird on top of a saguaro.


It was amazing to see how it can be so comfortable on top of a saguaro tree amidst the thorns. I guess one can call that cactus yoga or something similar.  Just to kill the time till sunset I went on the nature trail close to nature center. Very educational until i came across this emperor saguaro with the weirdest formation.

Cave Creek Regional Park

CAVE CREEK REGIONAL PARK

Located within a short driving distance from phoenix near Happy Valley this beautiful desert park offers rugged views of Sonoran Desert. It has numerous trails for multi purpose usage for horseback riding, biking and hiking.  The best thing about these trails are most of them can be made into loops combining each other into a distance of one's liking or to test ones endurance. 

Coming from Las Vegas my aim was to visit the cave creek trail in Tonto National Forest. After considering the traveling distance and that one has to drive on a gravel road for 12 miles I decided to settle for this nice regional park and I was not disappointed. It offers a nice quite escape from the city life into well maintained and marked trail system. As of Nov 21, 2017 the entry fee was 6$ per vehicle and less for day usage by bicycle. Although it has plenty of benches spread throughout the park shades are hard to come by. The weather was perfect for hiking with the highs around 79 degrees reported in phoenix. Even in that perfect weather by 2 PM out in the desert floor I was feeling it out on the Go John trail in one particular section near the Gunsight pass where there was absolutely no shade for a while. I can only imagine how tough it would be out in hot days which seems to be most days of the year in this area. 

Nature center is located a short distance from the pay station and has coffee from Kurig coffee machine at $1.50 a cup and energy bars and water are for sale as well. The staff were extremely friendly and patient. They answered all my questions on their trail system along with recommendations.  They even had couple of rattlesnakes in the showcase and one of them was extremely big. I am afraid of snakes and an encounter with a big one like that in the wild I would want to turn around and run. But then if it is overweight and sluggish it may not be the worst to encounter as well. I was bit tentative watching out for the rattlers constantly when I started my hike but when I saw how well maintained the trails were with no overgrowth of the shrubs or grass onto the trail I relaxed. 

I started out on the Overton Trail with the intention of taking Maricopa Trail back to the nature center a 3 mile loop in time for a good lunch. When I reached the junction of Maricopa Trail I was feeling good although hungry and I couldnot resist but go along the Go John trail and complete the 6 mile loop. Overton Trail starts off with views of nearby town as it climbs and it stinks a bit of the horse dung. I guess the horses relieve themselves near the begining of the trail and I didn't see the dung droppings that much after a mile or so. The only wild life I encountered was some birds trying to peck away insects out of the horse dung.  I wanted to take some photographs of birds but waiting for a photo opp near that smell or the photo opp itself was not that apealing so I climbed on. Plenty of Saguaros spread throughout the park. 

Once the trail meets the maricopa trail it starts climbing down to the desert floor and I believe at its lowest point or so it reaches the park boundary. At this point there is a park bench where one can relax and enjoy the view. But the solitude was not so quite since there is a road construction going on with plenty of banging. That noise soon got engulfed in the silence of the desert floor after traversing half a mile. This stretch I believe would be real tiresome in the sun since there is absolutely no shade till it starts climbing back again.  Between the bench near park boundary and the Quartz trail it meets with a spur trail that has no name and it hard to get lost even if one tries. The trail starts climbing back again near the Gunsight pass and then starts climbing down near the Quartz trail.

 Even though the saguaros were sprinkled throughout the park there is one stretch I didn't see much of them but it was interesting to see one lone Saguaro on top of a hill. Before the Go John trail ends there is a sprinkling of variety of Saguaros new and old. Most them don't have branches or siblings as I like to think. The largest saguaro is supposed to be 10 feet in girth, that is simply amazing unless they count the width of the limbs. The largest saguaro recorded was in cave creek region (not sure here or in cave creek part of tonto national forest) but the height recorded was 78 feet (almost double what we see around here) before it was toppled in a storm. The one most limbs in this area is located closer to the end of Go John trail and I call it grand father saguaro. You get to to see some young not so tall but with many short limbs.  Go John trail ends pretty close to picnic area next to a huge parking area where you pick up the overton trail to continue on to nature center. It starts following the main road for a bit before forking off into a trail crossing a wash with a hop skip and jump to the nature center.

It took me close to 3.5 to 4 hours but i took plenty of breaks and I believe one can finish the trail within three hours. 

Historical Railraod Trail to Hoover Dam

Although I lived in Las Vegas for a long time I never knew about this trail. But then it is lot easier for me be lazy when in Vegas. As the saying goes a slot machine at hand is better than a hike in the dessert. This time I happened to be staying in Boulder City and was looking for a place to go for a walk and stumbled upon this googling. The description of the trail was very enticing and the fact it passes through a series of tunnels was very intriguing. I attempted this trail on three consecutive days before successfully finishing it on the third day.

On the first day I barely reached the series of tunnels. After the second tunnel it was getting pretty dark so decided to turn back. It was bit spooky going through the tunnels at dark since I could barely see anything and I started imagining rattlesnakes spiders but luckily only tiny bats were flying around and they probably could sense me better than me off them. The second day I made upto the second tunnel and a couple I encountered told me of a family of goats up in the hills past the third tunnel. I was lucky enough to get a glimpse of them before they scooted up the hill behind the bushes. 



The second day I made upto the second tunnel and a couple I encountered told me of a family of goats up in the hills past the third tunnel. I was lucky enough to get a glimpse of them before they scooted up the hill behind the bushes. 

 On the third day i had a early start and was determined to make it all the way to Hoover dam. Although it was a warm day it was drizzling on and off and the dark clouds and thunder gave me plenty of excuses to call it off. Presence of the tunnels in case of heavy downpour was a big factor for me to continue on.


Near the first tunnel the vista opens up to a beautiful view of the boat dock and with the passing of each tunnel one is rewarded with a different perspective of lake mead. The only thing I really missed was the presence of the train tracks. It would have been to cool to see a train engine and some train tracks near one of the tunnels but i guess it could have been hard to maintain. (There is a railroad mueseum in boulder city but they close real early).
At the end of the fifth tunnel there is a warning sign stating the gates would be closed at sunset. And one of the hikers I passed by told me they have seen them closed. There is a picnic bench and a restroom. After that the trail continues behind a some kind of a maintenance station and becomes less scenic or one could say not at all scenic. A short distance from there you have the option to take a short cut to Hoover dam. I gladly took the short cut however kept wondering how much distance or time I actually saved doing that. The trail meanders around massive transformers finally descending down to Hoover dam parking lot. After the long walk I was bit tired and took the gift of human engineering called elevator down to the Hoover dam visitor center and I was in the middle of hundreds of tourists taking selfies as a short contrast to sparse human encounters on the trail. It was breath taking to see such giant concrete structures.  Even though I had driven across Hoover Dam bye pass quite a few times this was the first time I had a great view of  Mike O'Callaghan–Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge
Looking over the Hoover Dam I remembered the story reported on TV previous day of a young visitor jumping into waters. In the interview he was mentioning I have a great story to tell for the rest of my life at the cost of getting fined 300$. Well, that could be true but he was too close to the turbines to be saved by anyone and he got lucky. I guess it is a trade off between wanting a story to tell or a life to lead. To each his own.




On the way back I was rewarded by a remarkable sunset and I could see the heavy downpour in the distant mountains with thunder and lightning. I thought there was constant lightening without thunder near the Hoover dam but it turned out to be the lights of the helicopter or so I assume. There is a constant flurry of helicopters reminding of the million dollar tourism industry in Las Vegas.
  click on this link for more photos

Ramsey Canyon Nature Preserve

This beautiful nature preserve is within a easy driving distance from Sierra Vista, AZ. I had visited this small town quite a few times however I had made only one previous attempt to visit this canyon and it was closed at that time. They are closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. This time I made it however barely in time. They close the gates at 5 PM. I had barely two hours to spend.  People who work at the visitor center are extremely friendly and informative. I got to say Jane one of the people who work there answered all my questions and informed me what to watch out for both in terms of safety and scenery.

Since I barely had two hours i hurriedly picked up water and camera and set out on the trail which starts right behind the visitor center right.  The moment i saw the shaded area with plenty of benches right next to the creek I almost decided not to go on the hike but to enjoy the solace offered by that area. But I was prodded on my curiosity to explore that area.  The wooded area was a sharp contrast to terrain I traversed before reaching sierra vista where i could see for miles.
After a brief hike I came across two ladies clicking their camera at a family of deer standing around only few feet away. Initially I was afraid the deer would scurry away at my sight but they seem to be used to human presence and enjoyed posing for those ladies.  After chatting with them a bit I moved on to start the climb to the scenic overlook. The climb is pretty steep however was not too bad. After little bit of huffing and puffing I reached the overlook and was rewarded by beautiful view of the north facing cliff with moss covered colorful rock formations. It is hard to get a clear view because the entire area is wooded and there is little bit of clearing near that area. It took me about 45 minutes of leisurely walk to get to that area.

After a brief rest I started on the trail again. I expected it to climb to the top of the mountain but instead it started going down towards the bubbling creek in distance.

On the way back I saw few deers but they all seemed very shy and scurried away at my sight. Those ladies had the charm I guess. I timed my visit to the visitor center like a NFL quarterback milking the clock to the maximum and when I reached the visitor center it was two minutes to five and Jane and the other elderly lady were waiting for me. I was the last one on the trail. We chatted for a bit and they seem genuinely interested in my experience and how far I made on the trail and we talked about the rest of the trail before they closed the visitor center and I was on my way to Buffalo Wild chicken right next to my hotel for a beer.