Soldier Trail – 2/17/2019

Water at a rocky canyon crossing lower on the Soldier Trail. February 2019.
Water at a rocky canyon crossing lower on the Soldier Trail. February 2019.

A Principled Stand, The Story of Hirabayashi v. United States by Gordon K. Hirabayashi with James A. Hirabayashi and Lane Ryo Hirabayashi, page 155:

Periods of meditation are Quaker in style and spirit. Under the open sky and hills, we feel very close to the nature of things. Life becomes meaningful in a vivid way.

More images from 2018/2019’s wet winter – this time from Soldier Trail – the highlight of this hike was seeing the rushing falls in Soldier Canyon and, more of a surprise, seeing the water pouring over the rock structure near the junction of the Soldier and Molino Basin Trails.

Soldier Trail takes its general route from an old powerline and road to the prison camp that provided labor for the construction of the General Hitchcock Highway. Highway construction began in 1933 with the prisoners originally in temporary housing at the base of the mountain – in 1939 the camp moved up to the Vail’s Corral area where the remains of the prison can still be seen.

During WWII the Catalina Federal Honor Camp housed draft resistors and conscientious objectors – including Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mennonites and Hopi – in addition to prisoners convicted of federal crimes such as immigration-law violations, tax evasion and bank robbery. The first version of the General Hitchcock Highway was completed in 1951. Before being torn down in the early 70s the prison site served as a juvenile prison, was turned over to the State of Arizona and housed Forest Service crews.

In 1999 the prison site was renamed the Gordon Hirabayashi Recreation Site. Gordon Hirabayashi was one of the approximately 45 Japanese American draft resisters who were sent to the camp during WWII. Committed to non-violent resistance to the unconstitutional racially motivated curfew on, and removal of, Japanese Americans during WWII he served 90 days at the Catalina Federal Honor Camp after his initial conviction was unanimously upheld by the Supreme court in 1943. It would be over 40 years before a 1987 Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling finally overturned his wrongful conviction.

If you want to read more there are a number of interesting articles online – a few are listed above – but I also highly recommend A Principled Stand, The Story of Hirabayashi v. United States by Gordon K. Hirabayashi with James A. Hirabayashi and Lane Ryo Hirabayashi. Published in 2013 the book is a collection of Gordon Hirabayashi’s writings and letters – published and unpublished – that have been selected and edited by James A. Hirabayashi, Gordon’s bother, and Lane Ryo Hirabayashi, Gordon’s Nephew.

Of particular interest to readers of this site may be the chapter on the Catalina Federal Honor Camp – a few quotes:

Page 150:

There are approximately two hundred inmates, and most are engaged in constructing a road to the mountain resort at the top of the hill. I joined the road crew that worked crushing and shoveling rocks into a dump truck, which was quite monotonous and a non-incentive activity, I assure you.

Consequently, by November 1943, at my request, I was transferred to the baking department. There I became “adept” at mixing, rolling, and baking bread, learning the techniques for various rolls, pies, cakes, etc. I hope to learn something by the time I leave.

Page 152:

There were a lot of Mexican border jumpers … , quite a few selective service cases, many Jehovah’s Witnesses, several pacifists of the FOR type. The latter group was the most aesthetic in appreciation, and I joined them once in climbing a little hill back of the camp to gaze at the beautiful, indescribable Arizona sunsets. The Native Indians were of two types. One type, which included many traditional Hopis, was objecting to being drafted into a white man’s war.

Page 154:

A group of us retreat to our favorite meditation spot for a refreshing, stimulating period of quiet. My thoughts: There is no excuse for tolerating injustice or violation of the brotherhood of man merely because we are incarcerated.

One part of the Hirabayashi family’s history that has been stuck in my mind is the story of the White River Garden. A Principled Stand, page 16:

In 1919, four families of the Pontiac collective, including two Hirabayashi families—my father’s family and the Toshiharu Hirabayashi family—moved to Thomas, Washington, a rural community twenty miles south of Seattle. These families formed a Christian cooperative, White River Garden, and purchased forty acres of land. Then the difficult development process began: clearing the land of stumps, digging ditches for better drainage, fertilizing the soil, cultivating, and building their homes.

At the time Washington’s Alien Land Law prevented non-citizens from owning land – so the White River Garden purchase was made in the name of the oldest child born in the United States – Aiko Katsuno, 10 years old at the time. Government officials felt this arrangement was an illegal subversion of the law and after a victory in the Washington Supreme Court Washington State took the land back from the White River Garden Corporation. The families were forced to lease the land in order to stay and work the property they had developed.

It wasn’t until the early 1950s that the Supreme Court ruled that forbidding aliens from owning land was a violation of the 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause. The White River Valley Museum has several photographs from White River Garden including a photograph of the White River Garden families and friends including a young Gordon Hirabayashi!

Poppy just off Soldier Trail. February 2019.
Poppy just off Soldier Trail. February 2019.
Falls in Soldier Canyon. February 2019.
Falls in Soldier Canyon. February 2019.
Water flowing near the Soldier Trail and Molino Basin Trail junction. February 2019.
Water flowing near the Soldier Trail and Molino Basin Trail junction. February 2019.
Grassy hillsides on Soldier Trail. February 2019.
Grassy hillsides on Soldier Trail. February 2019.

Tortoise Shell – 5/12/2019

Shell pieces. May 2019.
Shell pieces. May 2019.

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 shell. May 2019.
Tortoise remains. May 2019.
Tortoise remains. May 2019.
Gila Monster near the Babad Do'ag Trail. May 2019.
Gila Monster near the Babad Do’ag Trail. May 2019.
Checkerspot. May 2019.
Checkerspot. May 2019.
Silverpuff. May 2019.
Silverpuff. May 2019.
Ocotillo with the Rincon Mountains in the background. 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.
Looking down on the Babad Do’ag trail – with gunshots ringing in the distance… May 2019.

A Night on Guthrie Mountain – 5/9 and 5/10/2019

Light from Tucson, taken on Guthrie Mountain. 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.
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.
Sunset over Green Mountain – from Guthrie Mountain. May 2019.
Flowers growing in and area burned by the Burro Fire. 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.
Below Point 7162 in an area burned by the Burro Fire. May 2019.
Tank with water at Maverick Spring. May 2019.
Tank with water at Maverick Spring. May 2019.
Coralbells on the Green Mountain Trail. May 2019.
Coralbells on the Green Mountain Trail. May 2019.
Coralroot on the Green Mountain Trail. May 2019.
Coralroot on the Green Mountain Trail. May 2019.

Romo Peak and the Sutherland Wash Rock Art District – 2/23/2019

View from Romo Peak. February 2019.
View from Romo Peak. February 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.
Water in Sutherland Wash near the Golder Ranch South Parking Area. February 2019.
Rushing water in Sutherland Wash. February 2019.
Rushing water in Sutherland Wash. February 2019.
Sutherland Wash Rock Art District Petroglyph. February 2019.
Sutherland Wash Rock Art District Petroglyph. February 2019.
Corn perhaps? February 2019.
Corn perhaps? February 2019.
Sutherland Wash Rock Art District Petroglyph. February 2019.
Sutherland Wash Rock Art District Petroglyph. February 2019.
A quiet moment at the Golder Ranch South Parking Area. February 2019.
A quiet moment at the Golder Ranch South Parking Area. February 2019.

Flooded Redington Road and Lower Edgar Canyon – 2/24/2019

Redington Road - flooded and closed. 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.
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.
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.
A narrow section of side canyon. February 2019.
Crow Poison. February 2019.
Crow Poison. February 2019.
Red Maid. February 2019.
Red Maid. February 2019.
Shadows. February 2019.
Shadows. February 2019.