Saturday, June 11, 2016

Stonerman Road

I wanted to get a break from the record desert heat, and replenish the stock of birdseed at WalMart, so I drove up to Phoenix. I feel excluded from Vekol Valley now, after Officer Harry J. Anslinger of the US Department of Fish and Wildlife confiscated my pot and wrote me out a warning. So I went up through Buckeye instead.

I braved downtown Phoenix to get an Arizona State Land Department Recreational Permit. $15. Governor Douchey recently pushed through an initiative to raid the State Land Trust for school funding. How many cows must die, so kids can be properly brainwashed (by the likes of Blarney)?

Anyway I got up to Stonerman Lake in Mogollon Plateau country, 5000 feet. I wanted to camp in the Coconino National Forest but there were too many industrial campers. I found a spot with a marker, General J. Francisco Chavez passed this way in April 1864. Along an old Indian Trail from the Hopi Mesas to Verde Valley. The sign named Fort Whipple as Chavez's westward destination. Was it like Fort Courage?

http://azstateparks.com/trails/historic/trail_06.html

Streams were dry. It was fun to do pullups on pine branches. The terrain reminded me of Eastern Washington and Oregon and Nevada.

I heard Stellar Jays for the first time in half a year. A hummingbird hovered for a fraction of a second a couple feet in front of my face. I listened for but heard no dove calls. A couple mockingbirds sang, and sparrows.

It rained, hard. I drove out toward the freeway. There was lots of lightning, so close it hurt my eyes.

I stopped at the interchange to check the map and decide what to do. There was intermittent internet connectivity there. I took a nap.

I was about to head south on I-17, but saw a dirt road at the far end of the pullout. I followed it down a ways, and figured I would just sleep there.

It rained during the night, then cleared up.

Today the sun is back. I think I hit peak Bob again, doing pullups, after getting real high ...

Jackrabbits prancing across the road; lots of small black biting bugs.