Coming down MacDougal Ridge, looping back towards the Babad Do’ag Trail, I curse at the brown and white in the grass sure it is cardboard trash – but closer the shapes and textures come into focus, I stop and my mind slowly puts the puzzle together – not trash, remains, probably of a desert tortoise.
I hadn’t ever thought about what remains behind after a Desert Tortoise dies – I suppose in retrospect it is obvious that the shell would remain – maybe I have seen a shell in an exhibit at some point? Regardless seeing the shattered pieces bleaching in the sun was slightly shocking, oddly fascinating, poignant. I hope every year to see one – not the ideal first sighting of the year…
It has been a mild May – we had clouds in the sky and a few minutes of hail for this hike – the weather is making some of the trails I would normally start to avoid this time of year quite a bit more attractive!
Tortoise shell. May 2019.Tortoise remains. May 2019.Gila Monster near the Babad Do’ag Trail. May 2019.Checkerspot. May 2019.Silverpuff. May 2019.Ocotillo with the Rincon Mountains in the background. May 2019.Looking down on the Babad Do’ag trail – with gunshots ringing in the distance… May 2019.
Light from Tucson, taken on Guthrie Mountain. May 2019.
On Guthrie Mountain cloudy grey skies block the stars, light from Tucson reflects off the clouds and floods into the mountains. Thru the camera lens the city lights are white hot metal, the clouds rising steam – the energy coming from the city is unfathomable, tonight it seems like Moloch’s incomprehensible prison is Howling out into the mountains.
Moloch whose eyes are a thousand blind windows! Moloch whose skyscrapers stand in the long streets like endless Jehovahs! Moloch whose factories dream and croak in the fog! Moloch whose smoke-stacks and antennae crown the cities!
Moloch whose love is endless oil and stone! Moloch whose soul is electricity and banks! Moloch whose poverty is the specter of genius! Moloch whose fate is a cloud of sexless hydrogen! Moloch whose name is the Mind!
Clouds, city and headlights on the highway from Guthrie Mountain. May 2019.
The images and thoughts above are fleeting – most of my overnight is the simple joy of being outside, nothing to do with Ginsberg’s anger and frustration – old graffiti and new flowers on the Green Mountain Trail; thick lines of black ants, new ferns and water at Maverick Spring; blackened trees, new views and fresh flowers in the Burro Fire burn that covers most of Guthrie Mountain and the ridge out to and past Point 7162.
Sunset over Green Mountain – from Guthrie Mountain. May 2019.Flowers growing in and area burned by the Burro Fire. May 2019.Below Point 7162 in an area burned by the Burro Fire. May 2019.Tank with water at Maverick Spring. May 2019.Coralbells on the Green Mountain Trail. May 2019.Coralroot on the Green Mountain Trail. May 2019.
In 1949 Ray Romo was walking near the top of a hill above the Sutherland Wash Rock Art District when he found a ceramic jar covered by an inverted bowl – the ceramics and contents as described in Archaeology in the Mountain Shadows – Exploring the Romero Ruin – by Deborah L. Swartz and William H. Doelle:
Both vessels were decorated with red-on-brown designs, which dated between A.D. 1100 and 1150. The jar contained around 100,000 stone and shell beads, and about 30 copper bells.
Most of the beads were made from red and black stone, but a small number were made of turquoise or marine shell. A majority of them exhibited signs of wear from having been strung. However, no thread was found to show whether they were strung when placed into the vessel. This find is called the “Romo Cache” after Mr. Romo.
The estimate in Archaeology in the Mountain Shadows is that it would take a single person 2.8 years of constant work to produce the 100,000 beads and if strung together it they would stretch 300 feet – an astonishing quantity, while I have not seen a concrete theory offered for the reason the cache was created it seems hard to believe that it didn’t have quite a bit of meaning to the person/people who left the objects.
Copper bells, made in Mexico, have been found in sites across the Southwest but are not common and finding 30 bells in one locations seems to be very rare. From Archaeology in the Mountain Shadows:
Copper bells were made using a process called the “lost wax” method. A small pebble was embedded into a ball of clay, the clay was dipped into wax to form an even coat, and then the waxed ball was surrounded with more clay. Molten copper was poured into the space held by the wax, which melted out. After the copper cooled, the clay was removed from the exterior and chipped off of the pebble inside the copper bell.
The hike to Romo Peak was steep and rugged, we never found any hint of a trail, and to our eyes the summit was remarkably like many other hilltops in the area. We spent some time at the top, enjoying the quickly melting snow, the great views, and wondering at the human activity in the area nearly 1,000 years ago that resulted in the Sutherland Wash Rock Art District and the Romo Cache.
Water in Sutherland Wash near the Golder Ranch South Parking Area. February 2019.Rushing water in Sutherland Wash. February 2019.Sutherland Wash Rock Art District Petroglyph. February 2019.Corn perhaps? February 2019.Sutherland Wash Rock Art District Petroglyph. February 2019.A quiet moment at the Golder Ranch South Parking Area. February 2019.
Redington Road – flooded and closed. February 2019.
Most of the time driving across the sandy bed of the San Pedro River on Redington road is a complete non-event, easy to miss, and the occasional road closures in the area are a bit of a mystery until you see San Pedro River flowing and the road underwater… Another beautiful result of our wet winter!
I had hoped to see a ribbon of water trickling towards the San Pedro at the mouth of Edgar Canyon – but, driving across, nothing… A bit up-canyon where the gas line road cuts down into the canyon – still dry… Finally, 20 or 30 minutes up-canyon, water appears – not rushing or filling the canyon wall to wall, but a steady clear flow slightly sunken into the gravel.
Farther up canyon I loop up above the canyon to see the line of Sycamores, look for flowers and then wander into long shadows before returning down canyon and making the long drive home.
Water in Edgar Canyon. February 2019.Looking down Edgar Canyon as it heads towards the San Pedro with Bassett Peak in the background. February 2019.A narrow section of side canyon. February 2019.Crow Poison. February 2019.Red Maid. February 2019.Shadows. February 2019.
Snow near the top of the Knagge Trail. February 2019.
The Knagge Trail has the perfect amount of soft snow – plenty to enjoy, but not enough to require anything more than trekking poles and a little care to navigate. The old Knagge cabin site and mine are high enough to still have a light blanket of snow from this year’s unusually wet winter – lower on the trail, in oaks and sun, the snow disappears long before the large old cairn on the ridge and the carsonite marker declaring the end of the maintained trail. Past the marker the ‘trail’ seems obvious, drawing you down along the ridge connecting sections of maybe-this-is-the-old-trail just good enough to go just a little farther… Too soon any illusion that I am still on the old trail disappears and it is time to head back up.
Knagge Cabin site with a blanket of snow. February 2019.Snow at the mine along the Knagge Trail. February 2019.Ice along the Knagge Trail. February 2019.Large old cairn and newer end of the maintained trail marker on the Knagge Trail. February 2019.The ‘trail’ (maybe…) disappearing along the ridge below the end of the maintained trail marker. February 2019.View of the Point 5817 and the cliffs north of Edgar Canyon from the Knagge Trail. February 2019.
