Day 37
While I have not forgotten Day 37 (and most likely never will), it'd be nice to do so. I got used to my passenger chair being populated by a person. A real person. And this person was more to the trip than simply a way to change fellow drivers' gazes from Look't this weirdo talking to a bag of chips to These people really need to clean their car.
So apparently I like being around people. Hooray! I've been enlightened!
Petrified Forest National Park
I stayed at a KOA in Holbrook, Arizona to work on some blog posts. On Day 38, I took a drive into Petrified Forest NP and hiked a few trails.The park is not broken up into two sections, but it certainly feels like it is. The southern portion of the park contains the "forests" (sections with petrified wood), while the northern portion consists of what is called Painted Desert.
The petrified wood is really cool! They are essentially rocks shaped like logs with some wild colors. And they're just hanging out in this grassland. Painted Desert was also cool, but it didn't feel like a new sight to me. And it probably looks pretty cool to you. I've seen the bad lands of North Dakota, South Dakota and Nebraska. While these were more colorful than any of the previous three, they certainly were not as deep. Also, they stole the term bad lands from those in the Dakotas.
This realization led to some reflection, mostly focused upon Did I go the right way? In other words, did I set up my itinerary in the best possible way? For example, had I been to Arizona before the Dakotas, perhaps I would have considered the Dakotas lame and Arizona's bad lands terrific. I thought of this in light of a number of various changes I've made to the trip. If I have time, I discuss a few of them, as I find it quite fascinating.Saguaro National Park
On Day 39 I got up and moving toward Tuscon and Saguaro National Park. Unlike Petrified Forest NP, Saguaro is broken into two sections - West and East. Because I knew I was going to move east the next day, I decided to head toward the West Unit first.
I remember viewing cartoons with a desert setting as a child. My ex-travel-companion did as well. When we were in the Sand Dunes section of Panamint Springs (Death Valley), she said, "This is what I pictured the desert would look like." Undoubtedly, this comes from Aladdin, one of the three greatest movies ever created. My perception of the desert was Saguaro Cacti (apparently cactuses is also correct, but it sounds funny, and it looks funny), but only about 6-10 feet-tall plants.A few of the many things I've learned on this trip are as follows. The deserts in America are ginormous (now apparently a real word), but they are also ever changing. There is no one perception which will encompass what the desert looks like. Sometimes it is endless dunes and sometimes it's lush greenery. Sometimes it's 80 degrees in August and sometimes it's 129 degrees. In addition, there are many types of cacti. I've always just thought cactus meant Saguaro Cactus, but it doesn't. Also, Saguaros can be 30-50 feet tall.
Saguaro NP is often called a desert jungle. Many of my photos, including this one, show how dense and green this desert is. It was cool, but it was hot. I was not out of my car very often. The park has a nice scenic loop which leads through the coolest part of the west park.I saw a cool plaque here. It showed the viewpoint of the plaque's location in the 1930s - the landscape was littered with saguaros. There were two years which killed a significant number of cacti. It was determined 20 hours of freezing temperatures could kill a saguaro (which take 70+ years just to grow arms!). In the 1980s, plaques told visitors all the saguaros would be gone by 1990. Later they went through a good stretch where many saguaros were able to germinate. This brings me to two points.
Point #1: Park Names
Several of our national parks are named based on geographical items within the park which we determine to be their most prominent feature. I've written about this before. Perhaps we should consider which items may not be static. For example, Petrified Forest works because the forest are actually getting bigger as the land erodes. But parks like Saguaro, Joshua Tree and Glacier are in danger of becoming arbitrary names to describe their incredible parks.
Point #2: What Are We Fixing?
I had a debate about protecting wild animals with a friend last week. We discussed whether it was right to reintroduce animals into a park or any ecosystem, or whether we should let them naturally die out. I'll spare you the argument, but I will tell you this. Many of these parks talk and preach and beg for us to be more sustainable (what that means is up for debate), because we are killing the environment. Many parks have introduced sustainable practices into their operation (like a shuttle bus system). But guess what one of the biggest problems was/is?
Cattle Ranching. Cattle are devastating to the landscape. Saguaro is still recovering from overgrazing. People even tried to graze on Anacapa Island! This infuriates me so much, I'm going to consider not eating any more beef. Ever.
Okay, I'm back. I had to finish my cheeseburger. Well, at least I considered it.
Day 40
Wow, I've been out here a long time. The problem with Saguaro NP is they are on opposite sides of Tuscon. To get from one to the other, you have to drive through the entire city. It's no fun. It took so long that I didn't get to the East Unit last night, and ended up camping in Coronada National Forest. I had to climb from 2,500 feet to 7,000 feet just to see a temperature around 80 degrees. And then I went back down in the morning. Actually, the Catalina Highway is a really pretty drive.
The East Unit is very similar to the west. I did the quick scenic drive and headed toward New Mexico.
Arizona Album
Next Post: Texas & New Mexico
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