RIDING THE RAILS

Agatha Christie wrote about a murder on a famous one of these. They have fanciful names which evoke romance and history. They have been the subject of songs and poetry. They carry goods to market and family and friends to their loved ones. They delivered thousands of soldiers to the front. They’ve been the venue of many movies. Some think they are dying relics of a time gone by in a world searching Mapquest for ‘the fastest route’. We’re talking trains here. And I’m on one this moment.

I am traveling to Kansas City from Tucson to visit family. I could have flown from Tucson-perhaps not directly but certainly within five hours or so. That's how long it took me just to drive to Flagstaff to get on Amtrak's Southwest Chief at the ungodly hour of 6am. So why choose a slow-moving train instead of fast-moving jet?

Once, on another visit to Kansas City, I was blessed to see a herd of antelope prancing alongside the train. Can’t see that from the air. On that same trip, somewhere in Kansas in the middle of the night, I awoke at a small town depot sparkling in the light of streetlamps from recent snow fall. Very picturesque. Can’t see that by air. When I arrived at Union Station in Kansas City, a beautifully decorated and massive hall greeted me with elegant Holiday decorations and music from a grand piano. Don’t see that much in airports.

In train dining cars, it is custom for the host or hostess to seat complete strangers with each other at the same table with instructions to 'get to know one another'. Yesterday I had a delightful breakfast with two other women, mother and daughter, traveling from LA to Albuquerque to visit a son and brother.  They had nice egg, potato and muffin breakfasts and I had the tasty French toast with real butter and syrup. All served with real silverware, plates (albeit plastic) and lots of coffee refills. We chatted about our kids and jobs and retirement.

I don’t think I have EVER had such a nice breakfast on an airplane, even before they switched to the cold, tasteless, boxed meals you have the privilege of buying now. The closest thing to this kind of indulgence was on a on the late night maiden flight for British Airways from Osaka Japan to Hong Kong. The attendants treated my ex-husband and me, along with all the other passengers, to an open bar – all night. Good thing we sobered up a bit before we reached Kai Tak Airport in Hong Kong.

You could say I am a fan of trains. Yes, they have their limitations. In addition to the 5-hour drive to Flagstaff and the several hours I napped wrapped in my sub-zero sleeping bag in order to snag one of the rare and free parking spots for Flagstaff’s Amtrak station, I had to commit an entire 24 hours to riding the rails to my destination. Maybe I’m odd. I see that as a plus.

I find I sleep better on trains than on jets. First, the seats on Amtrak are generous and comfortable. The liberal leg room allows nearly all 5’4” of me to spread out a little, even when slumped into the cushy seat in sleep. Most of the time when I travel Amtrak alone I have two seats all to myself. Each seat is equipped with a hideaway footrest which, when pulled up parallel to the floor, provides sufficient space for a sound, sound sleep. And then there is that lovely rumble that encourages slumber, the constant drone of metal on metal as the giant wheels roll down the track. The vibration reminds me why parents place their fussy babies on the dryer to be lulled to sleep.  A vibration in a plane just makes me worry.

Every once in a while, another train will pass – quite close - and you can hear the ‘conversation’ of the engines as they signal their presence to each other. This rail route, which starts in LA and goes all the way to Chicago, carries a lot of consumer goods, fuel, food and other freight. A lot of trains pass by.

Right now, as we pull into Albuquerque, I can hear that very unique and lonely hoot of the train whistle, letting the tiny towns and villages on our way know that Amtrak is passing. I am watching high chaparral fly by on the north side of the train. To the south, a wide golden plain in its winter dress is bordered by mesas and mountain ranges.

Soon, we will pull into the historic but modernized Albuquerque train station which includes its version of fast train and is part of a greater transportation hub of the metropolitan area. Navajo and Pueblo craftsmen and women will undoubtedly have spread out blankets on which all kinds of jewelry and other items are laid out in tidy displays. Can’t EVER remember anything like that in an airport.

Let’s face it. The history of train travel in the United States is just plain sexy. Our country would not have been so easily developed if the railroad barons (and barons they were – refer to my blog post Of Pasties, Prostitutes and Politicians) hadn’t invested millions of dollars to build the rail system that would eventually carry miners to Montana, wheat from Kansas to the coasts, and legions of soldiers to the European and Pacific theaters.
Pullman cars, the first really comfortable ‘sleeping cars’, became popular after Pullman loaned one of his uber luxurious cars to the government in order to carry the body of Abraham Lincoln across a grieving nation to his final resting place.

In 1869, Union Pacific and the Central Pacific railroads met at Promontory Summit Utah, forming the very first intercontinental rail route. It could be argued that this one historic event is one of the best analogies of the development of the US West. The story of this joining includes blood, sweat and tears of the workers working by hand to build it; lives and fortunes won and lost; the necessity of collaboration between two corporate and distrustful railroad giants; and literally several acts of Congress. In a very real way, the railroad was a cooperative effort that included every socio-economic segment of society. Its completion opened up markets and provided workers and material for the development of the West. The route I am riding was established by the Sante Fe Railroad and named the Super Chief, bringing stars and the possibilities of adventure in the Wild West to the city folk as far east as Chicago.

Back East, railroads built beautiful stations with grand architecture, including New York’s and my own hometown’s Union Stations. In the West, railroads got involved in the development of the National Parks as they built quality hotels to lure Easterners to visit the Grand Canyon and Yellowstone on their rail lines. Those beautiful hotels, like the El Tovar in the Grand Canyon, remain some of our most visited and popular historic hotels.

Railroad history intersects with the history of the labor movement as the railroad workers struck for not only better wages but higher safety standards in the early 20^th Century. My father’s father, a switchman, was struck down in the huge Kansas City Kansas railway yards. The railroad called it a ‘stroke’ and my mother’s father, a co-worker, claimed it was an industrial accident. The railroad refused to accept any responsibility or pay out any survival benefits forcing my grandmother, since welfare programs were still far in the future, had to provide for her seven children through church and charity.

My father worked briefly for the railroad as did many of my uncles. And some of my fondest childhood memories include laying in the steamy hot and tiny guest bedroom at my grandparents’ house up from the rail yards where Grandpa worked, counting not sheep but the number of cars being bumped together to form a long snakey line that would wend its through the country bringing needed goods to both coasts. I could legitimately claim that my family history has been deeply shaped by the railroads.

As I watch the pueblos of Northern New Mexico fly by, I can’t help but feel nostalgic about the grand days of the railroads.  Honestly, I’m really more of a journey than a destination person. Planes are ALL about the destination. Trains are about the journey – enjoying the changing scenery, chatting with your neighbor. So when I have time and I’m not taking my trusty truck YiHa along, I choose to ride the rails. Then from beginning to end I can honestly say my trip has been an adventure.

I DID IT!!!

I did it. I got off the bench and entered the game. I’d been sidelined by injury but even though the event was slightly premature to have healed completely, I just had to do it. But right up to the start, maybe especially as I was standing with over a thousand other riders at the 40-mile start line, I found myself reconsidering my decision.

A few months ago, somehow I managed to reinjure a ligament and develop tendonitis in my left knee. I’ve been resting, icing, using compressions sleeves and elevating as much as I could given my busy life.  I’d downed anti-inflammatories and gave up dancing. For me, these things are a big inconvenience. I’m an active adult who needs to stay active or it’s whine time.

Often when I am recovering from an injury, I have a focus for my healing – a backpack or in this case, a bike race. It was the ninth year I was scheduled to ride in El Tour de Tucson and the race was not an event I was prepared to give up – even just this once.

The El Tour is special. Cyclist of all levels, including semi-professionals and complete novices ride together along one route with four different starting points. Although each route’s riders start separately, at some point each new group of starters merge with other riders who have already been riding for hours to the colorful, noisy finish line in downtown Tucson.

And there I was, at the 40-mile start. I had signed up for the 55-mile route but in a rare moment of sanity, I decided to downgrade my expectations for a knee that still twisted at odd times bringing ringing pain. The 40 might still be a stretch. Wearing my bike shorts and jersey, a black copper compression sleeve over my knee, I slung my leg over my bike and tucked my foot into the pedal cage.

BANG! And we were off. The 40 attracts a lot of first-time riders and it often shows in the number of accidents, both major and minor, that occur in the first two miles. The ride starts up in Oro Valley, a comfortably posh townlet in the northern suburbs of Tucson. Haven ridden the route before, I knew the first several miles is the hardest part of the race, proceeding up a long hill before dipping back down into a wash and then repeating the effort another mile or so for another wash.

The first 10 miles or so of the race basically traverses the end of a bajada created by the Tortolita Mountains, a lushly rolling and washy desert with many water courses, significant (Honeybee Wash) and insignificant. This means the route, after leaving the excessively well-groomed Rancho Vistoso master-planned community, tends to gently rolling terrain over Moore Road, made bumpy by heavy vehicles, horse trailers and lack of maintenance.  I like this part of the race. Mountains are all around and few houses can be seen. But I especially like what comes next, the long 7-mile glide down Tangerine to the Interstate.

My bike, a pretty ivory-colored racing bike I creatively named Ivory Pearl, loves hitting speeds in excess of 25 miles per hour down this stretch. I have been known to let out a few yeehaws here. Sometimes, Ivory is going so fast I no longer can peddle, having no gear wheel big enough for that size revolution. Gotta fix that. I’m sure Ivory can hit 30 mph with bigger gear wheels.

Seventeen miles into the race, a line of portapotties and an entire platoon of colorful riders and their bikes announce the first really big ‘rest stop’. Here you can fuel up on bananas, oranges and maybe some cookies or other sugary treat. You can also drink orange juice or fill up your water bottles. And you can take advantage of the portapotties. I stopped to check out the portapotties and my knee.

Portapotties were as I expected them to be; the floor was suspiciously sticky.  Portapotties need bull’s eyes in the urinals on the walls. At least it didn’t smell too bad. I was reminded why I often prefer finding the nearest bush. My knee? Doing good I thought. But just to make sure, I downed some more anti-inflammatories and rubbed my ear in the spot my acupuncturist assured me was the pressure point for that pesky knee.

Then off again, this time going under the Interstate and onto the frontage road from Marana, the northernmost suburb of Tucson, all the way to Downtown. Eight miles from the finish line, for as many years as I can remember, the last rest stop has offered richly chocolate brownies with enough carbs and sugar to get the weariest rider those last few miles to the finish. My knee, really hurting by then, needed tending and, after grabbing a handful of brownie (I have my priorities), I limped over to a folding chair with a footrest. I spent several valuable minutes massaging my knee, rubbing my ear, and pressing the pressure points for my knee in rapid staccato before getting up to finish the race, hoping for the best.

Virtually a few blocks from the finish, the route turned west, away from the Downtown area, leading us riders down through Rio Nuevo (Tucson’s somewhat deservedly maligned redevelopment project), circumnavigating the eastern base of ‘A’ Mountain (named so for the University of Arizona) and then on to 22^nd Street for the short incline up to 6^th Avenue. My knee, more than a little sore by then, was signaling me it was time to quit. My brain was having a pointed discussion with my knee – something about it being a wussy - all while my reason was trying out various combinations of gears – low/low, high/high, low/mid, etc. trying to find the combination that would cause the least pain with each revolution of the bike gears.

Finally! That blessed gold spire of Santa Cruz Catholic Church, a landmark that screams just a few BLOCKS to go! I was peddling slowly, trying to figure out whether peddling slowly just prolongs pain or eases it overall. But when I turned onto 6^th Avenue and adrenaline took over, somewhat blunting the pain, I adjusted to high/high gear to get more road per revolution and rode to the finish line like a champ.

I’m not the least bit competitive. I don’t golf or play competitive sports. I don’t ride, or hike, or climb mountains in order to best someone else. I do it strictly for myself – to remind myself of the physical limits of my body and my will. Sometimes, as in this ride, it is my will that takes over and my body must do its bidding. I suspect that’s true of most athletes, whether in competitive sports or sports like mine in which the journey is often the prize.

I am left wondering which is best – mind over matter or matter over mind? I suspect that mind is what really defines champions and heroes. But does it really matter as long as that precious journey has been worth it?

LET'S MOVE ON

My neighbor is a kind and compassionate senior. He used to travel regularly to Agua Prieta, just south of the border, to help build small block houses with concrete floors and roughed-in plumbing for impoverished families who needed warm shelter. He rescued a Chihuahua from a puppy mill. Just the other day, I asked him his opinion of a ballot measure which would allow terminally ill persons access to unproven meds and appliances. I counted on him to give me a considered answer.

One of my brother-in-laws is probably the best father I have ever known. He is generous with his time, has coached basketball and volleyball teams for his kids and has done his fair share of staying at home with his sick kids so my sister could go to work.

Another brother-in-law is a thoughtful and generous partner to my sister who suffers from arthritis. He makes sure things are done so my sister doesn’t have to. He married her many years ago, becoming more of a father to her two boys than their ‘real’ father. The boys, men now, look to him for the model of who they want to be. He was unbelievably loving to my mother as she suffered her last years with a horrible form of dementia that finally claimed her life. That last year, when Mother was barely able to move by herself, he nightly lifted her wasting body out of her wheelchair and tucked her in for the night. It was ‘their’ ritual.

I used to work with an organization dedicated to relieving the suffering from malnutrition, TB and malaria in Africa. I knew I could count on one of my US Representatives here in Arizona to introduce and follow through on appropriations to fund health and food measures for Africa. I knew he was aware of his privilege and deeply cared about those who had less than he had. I voted for him term after term.

One of my best friends grew up in the military. She was born abroad and spent most of her young life in or around military bases. She’s the type that shares food with the homeless, sitting right down beside them to hear their stories while they eat together. She stresses about the removal of music from schools. She compassionately assists her real estate clients as they make the very difficult decisions to leave their homes and move into assisted living. Once, we had a serious disagreement about a US military action and nearly ‘broke up’ before we realized our friendship was way more important than our disparate personal views on what patriotism is.

When I grew up, my parents always voted for Howard, our neighbor, as our state house representative. They knew him to be caring, and thoughtful, and true to his sense of morality. Howard simply couldn’t be bought by special interests. When I was in college, Howard invited me to intern with his office, giving me some juicy assignments that really opened up my eyes to the world. Once he sent me to the local prison to research and write up my thoughts about the prison system.

All these people are Republicans. I am a Democrat – born and bred. But I have never believed, nor has there been evidence in my life that would cause me to believe, that Republicans are ‘the enemy’. I have admired the grit and the honesty of my Republican friends and family members. I have relied on them for their take on the economy, health care, education. Obviously, we often disagreed but I felt better talking to them just to get the alternative point of view. I hope they felt the same.

There is a lot of news out there this morning that might prompt my friends on the left to think of the Republicans as ‘the other’. I’m even guilty of hoping they fail in order to prove the Democrats right that they are the party of ‘no’. But that ‘little voice’ in my head reminded that my Republican friends and family, who I absolutely trust in my heart are good, kind and generous people, simply have a different perspective on what’s best for America.

On this new day, instead of hoping they fail, I choose to hope they can use their considerable intelligence and insight to come up with alternatives to Democratic policies that have provided results, but not results that have come quickly enough. A friend called me early this morning to ask me why I thought so many people voted Republican in this election. My words were “People are tired, very tired, of being poor. They are tired of not having enough money to buy their children decent clothes; they are tired of worrying about paying the mortgage or the rent. They are looking for change.”

I, too, want change. I want better education, health care for all, higher paying jobs, an economy that does more than struggle along. I want my gay friends to have the right to marry and I want to make my own decisions about what to do with my body. I have always felt these things are best handled by the Democrats but I’m willing to give Republicans the field and not obstruct their good ideas. Ultimately this is a democracy, thank God (or Allah or Yahweh or Great Spirit or…..), and that means we are all in this together. All of us. The rich and the poor, the well and the unwell, the 1% and the 99%, for better or worse. Let’s get on with this.

SIDELINED

I woke up pretty grumpy this morning.  I have been experiencing some problems with my trusty knees and I finally went to see the doctor about it last week. That’s why I was grumpy today. That and the fact I am sitting in an imaging center lobby at 6:30 am waiting for an MRI.

As a child I was always on the move. That is, when I wasn’t hanging upside-down in ‘my’ tree. Now that I’m 61 I’m still pretty much always on the move. I have learned over the years to honor my energy level by hiking, backpacking, bicycling, canoeing and, if I can’t be outside, by dancing or taking Zumba and yoga classes. So when something sidelines me, I’m just not happy.

Theoretically, I should be staying off my feet as much as possible. My very initial diagnosis (pending MRI results) is damage to the medial collateral ligament of my left knee. Injuries to the MCL may be made worse by activity, such as my usual hiking, canoeing, blah, blah, blah.  Well-meaning friends, researching this on the internet, have warned me of operations and even knee replacements, with long months of recovery. Long months of inactivity and RICE (rest, ice, compression and elevation). This is the point at which I stop listening to my friends and their words sound like blah, blah, blah. But when I really get grumpy, what’s my go-to happiness strategy? Get outside. Go for a walk. Go visit some trees in the forest.

This past weekend, trying not to project months of sitting on my sofa with my knee higher than my heart (part of the treatment strategy according to WebMD), I took myself and my friend Annie up the Catalina Highway to Mount Lemmon. The supposed purpose of the ride was to catch what we Tucsonans have to settle for when fall comes round. Small groves of aspen and a few lonely Arizona ash, gold and red respectively, high on the mountain at the top of Ski Valley. It was lovely. I hobbled the mile or so to The Meadow and felt revived. Although I certainly appreciated the fall color, the mile hike to The Meadow was my way of thumbing my nose at the pain and distress I was feeling about my injured knee. I also spent the rest of the weekend laying on my sofa with my knee higher than my heart.

My recent sidelining has given me a deeper appreciation for injured athletes. In November 2013, Lindsey Vonn, a world-class skier so pretty I would very much like to dislike her, was injured in a training run. Her injury was a knee injury. A few months later, Vonn had to announce she would not be competing in the Sochi Olympics. Now THAT’s a bummer. She is back at the Super G in Lake Alberta Canada in December, staying positive about her chances for the 2018 Olympics. And here I am, grumpy because I am probably out of El Tour de Tucson this year.

This year would be my ninth ride in El Tour de Tucson. Nine times, all but 1 of them in the shortest event, the one that varies between 35 and 45 miles. My 59^th birthday present to myself was a vow to complete the 60-mile, which I did and not dead last as I expected. ’60 before 60’ was my motto. I even rode in the rain last year. El Tour de Tucson is a touchstone for me. As long as I can ride, I can be confident this aging thing has not overtaken me.

Until this morning, I have been unable to accept anything but ‘yes’ as the answer to ‘Are you riding this year?’. I admit that last week, I already began to get used to the idea of dropping back from the 55-mile (a few miles got shaved off this year) to the 40-mile. But this is just a setback but not a forfeiture of my commitment to ride.

My friends continue to ask. Am I going to ride? The short answer is I’m unwilling to forgo the idea I can but day after day of knee pain for an injury that just does not seem to be healing, is poking little holes in my usual confidence. Maybe I can’t.

Lying perfectly still in an MRI is somewhat like meditating – except for the loud noise, of course. But to keep myself from fidgeting, I go straight to my ‘happy place’, the place where streams of thoughts come floating across my consciousness. One stream that I didn’t much care for this morning was my ruminations on how I can participate without actually riding. Just writing that makes me cringe.

Beyond the physical treatments-the operations, the physical therapy, the medications-injuries need positive thinking. I think Vonn is really good at that. World-class skier that she is, she has suffered quite a few injuries in her long career. And every time she is injured, she speaks positively about when she thinks she’ll be back on the slope.

I’ve been thinking a lot about Vonn this morning. About how her injuries don’t mean just a loss of fun and accomplishment like mine do. Hers also carries a big risk of losing lucrative endorsement deals.  Her injuries mean a potential loss of her standing in the ski business. A double whammy. At least I don’t have to think about that.

So I am hoping that my uninvited stream of thoughts about how I can participate without riding is actually a good thing – my brain finally coming to terms with the reality that I am not impervious to injury and that my body, at 61 years old, injures more easily and just doesn’t recover like it used to. Maybe, just maybe, I, too, am on the path to healing. I think you can’t heal what you won’t accept.

INTREPID

INTREPID

As the current swept me further away in my canoe, I held my breath, waiting for Gloria’s head to pop up from the latte-colored waters of the Rio Grande. Her capsized canoe, with two days gear bungy-corded to its yoke and thwarts, was too heavy for her paddling partner Jerry to pull over by himself if he could even see her behind the hull. I heard myself start screaming “Gloria is under the canoe.” John, quickly turning his boat toward the disabled craft, jumped out of his canoe and swam quickly over. Jerry frantically kept reaching around under the canoe trying to find a hand, a leg, anything that let him know Gloria’s whereabouts in the murky, chocolate milk water.

Finally Gloria’s hand found Jerry’s and he knew she was still at least alive. With Herculian effort, John hefted himself on the other end of the canoe to tip the opposite end up and out of the water so we could find our friend and paddling comrade. Gloria’s head was above the water, alive and well, having found an air pocket under the upturned canoe. And that ended the worst three minutes of my recent 2-day paddle down the Wild and Scenic Rio Grande, just east of Big Bend National Park.

I had been working on this trip for months. As an organizer of a Tucson group of adventurists, I think up trips I would like to knock off my bucket list and then I post them on the Meetup page of my group. Max, my organizing partner, and I have done several trips before – I do the logistics and he is responsible for what happens during the trip. It’s a good partnership. We’ve taken 20 people canoeing down the Colorado; we’ve backpacked 25-miles into and out of Shoshone Lake in Yellowstone National Park. But this trip – this wild and scenic trip – was the most remote and potentially dangerous of any we’d done before.

I originally felt confident we could pull this off without incident or injury. The usually calm, wide Rio Grande, the headwaters of which are three states away in Colorado’s San Luis Valley, winds its way down through Northern New Mexico, then past its verdant chili fields near Hatch, turning toward the enormous cattle ranches of West Texas.  Usually it is a pretty sleepy paddle – running generally between 200 to 400 cubic feet per second. Some stretches you might even have to help your boat over a dry or shallow part of the river.

Not this time. Recent rains had pushed the cubic feet per seconds (cfs) up well over 1500 the first morning of our paddle. High water is usually safer but certainly faster water. We were headed from our put-in at La Linda to our take-out a little over 11 miles downriver in Miravillas Canyon, part of the Black Gap Wildlife Management Area. I confess, looking at the quickly churning river from the overlook above La Linda, I began to question the advisability of taking 15 paddlers of differing abilities down the fast-running, muddy river. Was this insane? Was my need for remote, perhaps slightly dangerous experiences foolishly pushing me to drag 14 of my closest adventure buddies along with me on this trip? Would all fifteen of us come back safely?

Honestly, I am too much of a scaredy-cat to try this alone. The Rio Grande is not only CLOSE to the border; it IS the border between Texas and the largely wild and open northern part of the state of Coahula, Mexico. The canyon walls on the American side of Temple Canyon, just east of Big Bend National Park, are pretty dang intimating – enough to encourage me to rent a satellite phone just in case we suffered injury or worse on this stretch of wild river.

In addition to the extremely wild and remote nature of this stretch, several paddlers originally interested in this trip canceled because this particular river, the Rio Grande, has a long history of being the swim for a better life between Mexico and the United States. But the Mexican side of the Rio Grande in the Temple Canon area rises high above the river, defying the most desperate undocumented immigrant and even the most avaricious and determined drug dealer. We were safe from above, I was sure. But were we safe from below?

The rains had made the ‘road’ into the La Linda put-in soft and clayey. My truck, Yiha, as faithful and as good of a truck she is, might get stuck and tow trucks are pretty darn far away. The outfitter providing the canoes would only take the trailer with our 7 shiny red canoes part-way down the alternately powdery or slick, rutted clay path. We had to carry the heavy canoes and all our gear about a tenth of a mile to the actual muddy bank that would serve as our put-in point.

Finally, we were all in the water and headed down river to the beautifully rugged canyon called Temple. Thank goodness the river was wide and smooth for a few miles. Even though most of us had been paddling before, our usual gig is backpacking. Many of us had never paddled with our particular paddling partner for this trip and we all took time to learn paddling together and relearn how to make the boat turn or even stay bow first in the water.

Most importantly, we had to be confident we could keep our craft from crashing into the tall, sturdy and grasping reeds lining the river. And that’s what happened to Gloria and Jerry. When they hit the reeds, Gloria reached up to protect her face, moving slightly up and off her seat and the canoe, precariously perched on the reeds, tipped over, depositing Gloria and Jerry into the river.

Gloria and Jerry’s unplanned swim in the muddy water had the effect of calming us all down. We started to get serious about our paddling – just in time for a series of riffles which call for some hard and coordinated paddling in order to avoid being pulled into the reeds. And then, the magic happened. We began to relax and enjoy the extreme beauty of this rugged patch of Mother Earth.

 

 

 

Max had spent some time studying the satellite images of this stretch of the Rio Grande and, confirmed by our informative shuttle driver Tim from Far Flung Outdoor Center in Terlingua, Texas, already had an idea of where he wanted us to stop for the night – atop a wide grassy shelf above the water on the MEXICAN side of the river. Yeah. Mexico. But with no Border Patrol to question our motives. No Park Police to even check our permits. Just us and the Rio Grande and the rock and the sky – and the pissed off wild burros and black-tailed rattler who usually consider this stretch of grassy bank exclusively theirs. We were in heaven.

We all pitched our various tents and prepared for a warm night on the river bank. Shortly after most of us retired, flashes of light crept over the cliff. Somewhere, people were being hammered by lightening. Would we be? Close to midnight, when most of us had gone to bed and just a few were up swapping stories, the wind picked up, pushing the walls of our small dainty backpack tents in and out like bellows, startling even the bugs that had crept into our tents for shelter. Whatever would be would be. We had faced all kinds of weather before; we certainly could live through this. We slept.

In the morning’s overcast light, we checked the condition of the river-several inches higher and it seemed much faster. With only 4 to 5 miles to go and without further incidents, we could get to the take-out lickety split.  Or we could have another boat overturn on the briskly running water and be late to our outfitter’s shuttle.

A third very real option was that we would miss the take-out altogether. Unlike our other paddling trips, if we missed our take-out, a very narrow and steep stretch of mud in a heavily reeded stretch of river, we would be faced with a very long and ill-prepared 98-mile trip down the rest of the Lower Canyons. Ninety eight miles of rugged canyon with no roads or helio pads. No help. No cell service. Miss the take-out and we were pretty much toast.

Back to Max. I am his organizing partner because I fully trust his knowledge and planning on a river or a trail. Every time we passed a likely take-out point, however, I admit to thinking “it THIS it? Did Max miss this?” Then my rational self would kick in and I would remind myself that Max is my partner for a really good reason. He takes his responsibilities to get everyone back safely very seriously. When I saw his red canoe pull over to a tiny, barely perceptible split in the reeds, my trust in his abilities was once again verified. We were at the end of our journey. And as soon as the first canoe was pulled up and out of the water, our canoe shuttle and my trusty YiHa with her ‘driver on loan’ arrived and backed up to get us. Our two glorious days on the Wild and Scenic Rio Grande were over. All that was left was the celebrating.

One thing about this group – they are intrepid. They are the ones you want on speed dial during the Apocalypse.  They have your back and expect you to have theirs. They have fun in the heat, the pouring rain or a blowing windstorm. They have gone with me to other remote and supposedly dangerous parts of this magnificent planet. And as long as I offer the right remote places, they will happily join me again where few others dare to tread – or paddle – or ski – or…...  In language my son would be embarrassed for me to use, they are my ‘peeps’, my outdoor family. Without these particular peeps, I would be in a constant state of wilderness deprivation. I’ve already planned next year’s paddle and they have already hit the ‘yes’ button. They are intrepid.

 

 



I WANT TO COME BACK AS A DOLPHIN

I’m pretty sure I want to be a dolphin in my next life. I observed a pod of dolphin last weekend, skipping across the waves, surfing on the wake of our boat, jumping for joy in tandem. A nice life I think. They are very social creatures and don’t mind at all if someone else is about. They just declare it a party. I like parties.

Apparently, the dolphin regularly escort the Pacific Islander boat from Ventura Harbor to the Channel Islands, taking campers and day visitors to one of its five islands which are now part of the National Park Service. Maybe they want to help get the party started early. And maybe they accomplished just that.

Not that the group I was with has trouble getting anything started. Comprised of hardy adventurists, a group of about 21 of us were headed out to Santa Cruz Island, the largest of the five islands of Channel Islands National Park, for two days of camping, hiking and sea kayaking. And there we were, being entertained by the dolphin, our gear stowed below deck, getting the party started.

The Channel Islands are home to over 2000 species of animals and plants – 145 of them found nowhere else on Earth. We became pretty familiar with one of these protected and unique species, the Island fox, as they were numerous little thieves who had a fondness for smelly hiking socks which our group could supply abundantly. Our hikes and kayak trips gave us plenty of opportunity to see other Island critters too like the Island Blue Jay, sea lions, lots of sea birds and fish. I even had one small brown bug attempt to stow away for a ride to the mainland on my tent only to be summarily removed before packing.

Santa Cruz Island, the largest of the five Park islands and our destination, has a long history of human habitation. Local legend has it that the name came from a priest’s staff accidentally left on the island during the Portola expedition of 1769. A friendly Chumash Indian, one of many living on the Island, found it and returned it, causing the Spanish to name the island “La Isla de Santa Cruz” (Island of the Sacred Cross). Many tribes and clans of American Indians have lived on and traveled between the island and the mainland for over 10,000 years often to mine the extensive chert deposits for tools and ‘shell-bead money’ which was traded among tribes throughout California.

European exploration and ranching has occupied the island in the last 150 years although the first Spanish exploration began around 1542 in the area of Scorpion Ranch. Evidence of ranching is everywhere when you first approach the island. Rusting ranch equipment lines the walk to the Visitor’s Center which is an old adobe ranch house, usually unmanned, but with several very informative displays about the island’s history and wildlife.

The Park brochure says the landscape reflects what Coastal California would have looked like before all the houses and people. Santa Cruz, like a lot of islands, has a high point which is Montanan Ridge, draining water across high plateaus both north and south creating deep canyons. For us hikers, these truly beautiful grassy plateaus were a delight, with views that stretched literally as far as the eye can see.  Although the Island is only about 66,000 acres, quite a few trails, usually old ranch roads, provide foot access to places with names like Smuggler’s Cove and Potato Harbor. These trails are only difficult if you happen to be starting down in one of the canyons – which admittedly pretty much everyone does. Plateau up; harbor down.

We camped in Scorpion Canyon, a mile up from the Pier at Scorpion Anchorage. One of our first house-making tasks was getting our own gear out of the boat and onto the pier. We then formed a human chain to get the gear off the pier and onto the land for the one-mile schlep to our organized campground in Scorpion Canyon. The campground has the ubiquitous composting pit toilets found throughout the National Parks and is one of only two on the Islands that actually provides potable water. Thank goodness. Even though hiking in a mile with your bedroom, kitchen, living room and closet on your back for two days is a mere distraction for this group, if uber heavy water needed to be toted too, this minor distraction would have become much more annoying. None of our favorite gear companies have figured out a way to freeze-dry water yet.

After setting up our tents and settling in, we did what we always do – find some like-minded friend and head off in all directions. I headed straight toward the beach, anxious to get the kayak in the water and explore the shoreline.  The kayaks were all sit-upons with which I had no previous experience. I like them for short shore trips although they are not nearly as sleek and beautiful as sit-in kayaks. Nonetheless, my kayak partner Caroline and I explored much of the coast to the east and west of the Anchorage over the next two days, floating into huge caves under the cliffs and paddling to ‘bird islands’, small rocky escarpments above the water which provide the pelicans, gulls, cormorants, guillemots and murres a solid resting place in a sea of moving water.

Sometimes, Caroline and I dropped our paddles onto our laps and just let the sea float us up and down. Sometimes we caught up with others of our group, grabbing onto other’s kayaks to form a moving conversation. And, naturally, Caroline and I couldn’t resist going through an arch through the cliff as the wave action bobbed us up and down, bringing our heads within a few inches of the arch’s roof. It felt a lot like a Disney ride with no lines. And yes we did it again.

For me, a highlight of the trip was a short 1.2-mile hike up from the campground to Cavern Point to watch Brother Sun dip below the horizon. Something about the humidity maybe – or possibly smoke from California seasonal fires – made Brother Sun a bright orange as he traveled further away from the night. And if I travel with this group, I always know there is at least one other (and often more) person willing to have that same experience. It is always a plus when the people you are with are part of the pleasure of the trip.

Nearly everywhere I go I always think I will visit again. To be honest, though, there are so very many beautiful places on this small planet and I would love to see them all. But perhaps if I get a chance to visit this very special place again I will take it, visiting the even more primitive islands for a few days. The Channel Islands provide the solitude I crave and only are a short distance in time and a world away from the busy bustling city. And frankly I want to play with the dolphin again.

GET OUTDOORS THEY SAID

Southern Arizona is full of ghosts and ghost towns, high desert grassy plains (yes really) and relics of old mines. It has mountains, lakes and chaparral, cacti and willows. It is full of history, romance and violence. Hollywood loves its high grassy plains (did you know Oklahoma was filmed down near Patagonia Arizona?) and its craggy mountains (the west slope of the Tucson Mountains formed the background for High Chaparral).  And I live here. Lucky me.

Yesterday was National Get Outdoors Day, with free admission to Parker Canyon Lake, possibly the most remote of the Southern Arizona lakes which are big enough for boating. Yes, there is boating in Southern Arizona. Yesterday, in the spirit of GO Day, my friend Annie and I took a day trip that celebrated just about everything Hollywood likes about a place that most people think of as a barren desert, the Sonoran Desert.

Our first stop was Parker Canyon Lake some 40 miles south of Sonoita, a thriving ranching and horse community on Highway 83, between I-10 and the border. Highway 83 is a fine, well-maintained road as one leaves the interstate, weaving past the Santa Rita Mountains to the West and the Whetstones to the East. Highway 83 continues south from Sonoita but the road gets narrower as it winds through Sonoita and Elgin’s wineries, eventually leaving these pleasant, high-desert rolling hills to become the road you would expect in a no-man’s land of canyon, rock, dust and cattle.

Highway 83 finally winds up to a small village called Lakeside which overlooks the Lake. Parker Canyon is much smaller than Patagonia Lake, its sister lake to the north. Since Parker Canyon allows only low-speed motors, it has become a favorite of flat-water kayakers and paddlers. The lake, which offers hikers a 5-mile trail around it, is large enough to provide a challenging experience but, with the low-wake policy, it is safe enough for even inexperienced paddlers. And it is beautiful, nestled as it is into its small canyon in the foothills of the Huachucas.

To honor Get Outdoors Day, the Forest Service had invited several vendors and organizations to set up near the marina including a traveling exhibit on the reptiles and arachnids of the region. Annie and I got to handle several beautiful and non-venomous snakes of the region. Since I often see snakes on my hikes and backpacks, I like to handle them in safe surroundings in order to reduce my discomfort at seeing them crawling across my trail. After visiting the various booths, we were ready to take off on our short hike.

A warning -the first view of Parker Canyon is deceptive. Looking north where the lake extends beyond its dam, you can’t even see its many fingers. So when someone tells you the trail around it is 5 miles, you are going to be tempted not to believe it. Believe it. And although it is well-marked (mostly), the lowering water volume has left parts of the main trail far away from the actual shore and subsequently many wildcat trails over parched dry lakebed have naturally been created. We sometimes took a trail only to find that it lead to a cliff or a fishing spot. The main trail, if you manage to stay on it, winds up and down with the terrain, often in the trees above the lake and is most certainly at least 5 miles. Of course there were the usual birds and lizards one would expect along the trail, but we also saw unusual plants, huge balls of leaves bundled in spider silk and wild turkeys.

Once back to the marina, we had a choice – return the way we came or head further into the remote high desert to the south and west, eventually arriving in the outskirts of Nogales, the nearest legal border crossing. Border Patrol and Forest Service personnel we spoke to affirmed we could easily make the trip over the primitive roads in YiHa, my trusty truck, but they warned we might encounter undocumented immigrants in this wild country.  We saw an imposing Border Patrol presence and absolutely no undocumenteds.

We followed 44 up and over the mountain finally arriving at an incredibly beautiful high desert plateau with prairie grass as high as my hip. For a few miles, this area is owned by us, the people of the United States, but after a few miles, the plateau becomes range with branded cows and their small calves, black and brown and glossy from the high desert feed. This is country where the road signs point to specific ranches and the roads are numbered rather than named.

Eventually, we come to our first stop, a tiny village named Locheil (named by its Scottish owners) that used to have a border gate and Border Patrol presence until the early 1980s. What is left of this once thriving ranch and mine hub are a few adobe structures, some more modern homes, a well-preserved one-room schoolhouse, and a bright white church high on the hill. No Trespassing signs abound.

Up the road from Locheil is a somewhat dubious monument honoring Franciscan Fray Marcos de Niza, said to be the first European to enter this area west of the Rockies in the 1500s. I found the derelict wind mills and some rusting farm equipment behind the monument more interesting but the village is the perfect example of the kind of environment early settlers would have claimed. Desert willow and sand proclaiming the existence of water not too far underground, low trees to provide shade and open areas perfect for a few gardens.

 

Next stop was Duquesne and Washington Camp, two old mining towns which were so close together one resident reportedly declared that when “Duquesne’s tail was stepped on, it was Washington that barked!” Washington itself shows little of its history but is the largest settlement south of Patagonia with a number of more modern structures, some of which are clearly inhabited. In this case, modern encompasses old mobiles and deteriorating tin sheds. We chose not to leave the road on which we were traveling to reach the ghost remnants of Duquesne. However we were lucky to travel past some relatively intact mining structures which are part of the complex just a little ways up the hill from Washington Camp on the road to Nogales, locally and conveniently named Duquesne Road.  A little further beyond the plant and off to the south we could easily see the large Duquesne mining complex in the valley below.

 

Once we were past the Duquesne and Washington ghost towns, we began winding down out of the cooler high country, coming upon the outskirts of Nogales in just a few short miles. We stopped at Tubac (one should always at least consider stopping at Tubac because I have a friend who owns the Deli there and it is a good place to wash the dust of the road from your throat) for a quick snack and cold drinks before hitting I-18 home. We baked in the sun, girding ourselves for the even hotter streets of Tucson.

 

On short day-trips like these, I sometimes feel smug that Arizona has so much to offer. But in reality everywhere I have lived, from Missouri to Colorado to Texas to Arizona to New Zealand or Montana, has similar day trips into history and great beauty. Get Outdoor Day was just a reason to go but the adventure of a back road, witnessing wild creatures, traveling under a canopy of trees can be experienced any day, any place. YiHa has nearly 140,000 miles on her and I’m convinced she loves bouncing down primitive roads as much as I do so we'll meet you down the road.