Weeks 92-93: from the desert to the mountains!

Sending sunshine your way from Arizona.

Hi, hello, and welcome back to another update on our grand adVANture! It’s hard to believe it’s been 93 weeks since we sold our house in Austin, Texas to travel full time in an AEONrv we’ve named Henry — and what a journey it’s been so far! I can’t wait to see all of the places we’ll go — and we’re so glad to have you along for the ride.

Here’s our route so you can see where we’ve been — I had to include Lake Havasu City in the upper left corner since that’s where my dear Aunt Freda lived.

Let’s get right to the update!

Ironwood National Forest

This was our second week camping at Ironwood National Forest (catch up on our first week here) and we had the best time — this was our incredible view from camp:

This view of Ragged Top Mountain never got old!

Here are a few more photos from around camp so you get a better idea of what it was like — the last row was taken from out the door of the van:

Did you spot the sun dog in the bottom middle photo? So amazing!

Lunar Eclipse

On March 3rd we set our alarm for 3:30 am to watch the total lunar eclipse — it was super cool to see! We went for an evening walk after sunset and the full moon was so bright we could see our shadows:

Our shadows by the light of the full moon!

During the eclipse I tried to capture some photos and while they didn’t come out all that great I had to share this one with the moon between the arms of a saguaro:

If anyone has any recommendations for taking night sky photos with an iPhone please send ‘em my way!

I also did some nature journaling to mark the occasion using my headlamp in red mode:

I tried to catch the coyotes singing but the recording didn’t pick it up, darn. It was COLD and I had to bundle up — felt great after the 90 degree day. It’s always a little surprising how cold the desert can be at night. As soon as the sun goes down it cools off in a flash.

Hike to the Crested Saguaro

While looking at maps of the area Jason discovered that there was a crested saguaro a few miles from camp — so of course we had to go look for it.

What is a crested (Cristate) saguaro, you ask? It’s a saguaro — with a crest instead of a rounded top.

From the Saguaro National Park website:

Biologists disagree about why some saguaros grow in this unusual form. Some speculate that it is a genetic mutation. Others say it is the result of freeze damage or lightning strike. At this point, we simply do not know what causes this rare, crested form. Even if the saguaro has a cristate pattern, it will still produce viable flowers, fruits and possibly arms. Like all columnar saguaros, no two crested saguaros are the same. Many mysterious growth formations can happen in a cristate. For example, a regular arm can grow from the crest and arms themselves can also be crested.

We hiked cross-country (mostly through a network of desert washes) for a while and then we finally spotted it!

Doesn’t he look like he’s waving hi?

I couldn’t stop taking photos!

We also saw a bunch of tiny plants blooming so we tried IDing them using the iNaturalist (iNat for short) app — it’s always fun to learn about new plants. We highly recommend getting this free app if you haven’t already. I’m lisaspangler on iNat if you’d like to see these IDs.

I found a freshly fallen ocotillo flower and brought it back to camp to sketch — thanks to J for being my hand model and for being in the saguaro photo for scale.

It’s surprising how fast things bloomed after last week’s rain. Nature is truly amazing.

Evening walk from camp, with Ragged Top in the background.

Tucson, Arizona

Sunday we sadly left Ironwood and made our way back to Tucson to finish some errands. I got a haircut (yay — needed it, the last one I had was over the summer in Indiana!), we did laundry, and got our teeth cleaned on Wednesday. We stayed at Gilbert Ray Campground in Tucson Mountain Park since it’s so convenient - and pretty! We had plans to go hiking there but we didn’t have time, darn it! Guess that means we gotta go back (again).

Oro Valley Friend’s House

We were lucky enough to camp in the driveway at a friend’s house for three nights in Oro Valley, just north of Tucson — hi, Amala!

Amala’s Dad created the most amazing garden here and I just had to do a thank you sketch for her, trying to incorporate as many elements in as I could:

Here’s a closer look:

Here’s a closer look at this incredible garden, inspired by Baja California:

I loved sitting on the back porch watching the birds — we saw so many hummingbirds, Gila woodpeckers, cactus wrens, lesser goldfinches, house finches, Gambel’s quail, pyrrhuloxia, and phainopepla! There were also huge bumblebees buzzing around.

I felt so peaceful and relaxed and I wish we could have stayed longer, but we had to head down the road to avoid the extreme heat wave.

Thanks again for again for having us, Amala! Miss you!

Gila River / Christmas Recreation Area

As we made our way to Tonto National Monument we stopped at the Christmas Recreation Area along the Gila River. It was so neat to see saguaros growing along the banks of a river:

It was surreal to hear ducks while looking at saguaros!

We soaked in the views of the river valley from an overlook — just wow!

Tonto National Monument

On Saturday we arrived at Tonto National Monument around 2:30, so we hurried up and checked in at the Visitor Center since the gate to the Lower Cliff Dwellings closes at 3:00.

After a short but steep hike we made it to the dwelling:

A ranger and a saguaro guarding the Lower Cliff Dwellings.

I’m always so amazed by the construction and the surrounding landscape of Ancestral Puebloan homes. Just look at this view:

The reservoir would not have been there when they lived here, but it’s still incredible. If you follow the trail down to the parking lot the white vehicle is Henry-the-Van. What a feeling seeing our home from this one.

It was so much cooler in the dwellings than on the hike up. As I was writing this post I saw an alert that the trail may close if temperatures go above 105 F! Yikes. It was “only” in the 90s when we were there.

Here’s a bit of background on the two dwellings at Tonto National Monument from the park website:

Construction on the 20-room Lower Cliff Dwelling and 40-room Upper Cliff Dwelling began about 1300 CE. To build the dwellings, rocks were easily gathered from the cave floor and surrounding hillsides to for the walls. Other materials, such as pine and juniper roof beams, had to be carried down from the surrounding mountains.

The size of the Lower Cliff Dwelling was limited by the shape of the cave in which it was located, which is 40 feet high, 85 feet long, and 48 feet deep. Each family occupied one room, with a fire pit in the floor and a hatchway to access the second story and roof. Ceilings and walls still bear smoke stains made by cooking fires.

We checked for tickets so that we could go on the ranger-led hike to the Upper Cliff Dwelling but they were sold out — hopefully we can see them next time.

Clouds moved in on our descent, providing welcome shade.

If you’re interested in learning more about the Ancestral Puebloan people I highly recommend visiting Chaco Culture Historic Site (see my post here with lots of links for further reading) and Canyons of the Ancients National Monument, where I was lucky enough to be an artist-in-residence (read about that here).

There are many more heritage sites scattered throughout the Southwest and we hope to visit several more in the coming weeks.

Coconino National Forest

We spent the next two nights in Coconino National Forest near Strawberry, Arizona and it was so great to escape the heat at 7,000 feet.

The ponderosa pines smelled so good!

Our forest home.

It was great to have some downtime and relax in the forest after the hectic weeks!

Big Bend Still Needs Our Help!

In my last post I put out a call to action to help save Big Bend and stop a border wall from being built along the Rio Grande River, so I wanted to share an update.

According to @visitpresidotexas, “The map and type of wall listed on the DHS (Department of Homeland Security) website has changed 7 times since early February. The contracts they are sending out to property owners say something different. Those documents we're receiving state 30 foot tall physical steel barriers, tower lights, cameras and that the design is open to fluid changes at DHS discretion.”

Here’s a look at one of the areas where a border wall might go through the park:

The Rio Grande as seen from the nature trail at Rio Grande Village Campground. Mexico is on the left and the US is on the right. No wall through this!

Since my last post:

• Five sheriffs in neighboring counties have joined together to oppose the proposed construction of a border wall in the Big Bend region, saying other strategies could better strengthen border security in the area. Read more here at Outside Magazine.

• The petition to oppose the wall is up over 90,000 signatures as of this writing. Sign the petition here — it just takes a minute. Let’s make it 100,000!

• After Kristi Noem, the Homeland Security secretary was fired the Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) map was updated to reflect a change from “planned border barrier” to a “detection technology” approach through a portion of the Big Bend Region, including Big Bend National Park. This doesn’t mean we’re out of the woods cactus yet! Detection technology means building roads, lights that will ruin our world-class dark skies, and irreparable harm to the landscape. And they could change it back to a steel wall at any time.

• There is still a steel border wall planned for the Big Bend area. The CBP map continues to show a border wall system in place for 172 miles along the Rio Grande, including Big Bend Ranch State Park.

• A 1.2 BILLION dollar contract has been awarded to a Montana company that has been known to break environmental regulations. Local residents have seen helicopters marking flight paths and construction equipment is being staged in the area. This is happening.

Please join the fight to stop the wall.

Ways to help:

• Contact your senators — the @5calls app makes it easy and even has a script you can follow. Find more at 5calls.org.

• Contact Texas Governor Greg Abbott — calling is best.

• Help get the word out! If you’ve been to Big Bend, post your pictures and share your story on social media. (Tag @nobigbendwall.)

• Austin area friends! There’s going to be a rally on April 4th at 4:00 pm on the Capitol South Steps! Please go for me! Find out more at the rally info page here.

Get current updates and more resources at No Big Bend Wall.

Thanks so much for your help in helping to save this special place.

See you next week! — Lisa, Jason, and Henry-the-Van