Company's here in Apache Junction!

Rose Lynn's brother, Robin, and sister-in-law, Carole, arrived in town last evening and we are looking forward to a great week touristing in the area.

Weather for the week looks good for a holiday away from Alberta!

SunJan 28

Sunny

79°F

 77

 54°

 0%

 11 mph S

 10

MonJan 29

Sunny

81°F

 79

 55°

 0%

 15 mph E

 10

TueJan 30

Cloudy with sunny breaks

81°F

 79

 54°

 20%

 9 mph E

 2

WedJan 31

Mainly sunny

79°F

 77

 52°

 0%

 6 mph E

 8

ThuFeb 1

Mainly sunny

79°F

 77

 52°

 10%

 7 mph E

 7

FriFeb 2

Mainly sunny

79°F

 79

 54°

 0%

 7 mph SE

 8

SatFeb 3

A mix of sun and clouds

82°F

 79

 55°

 20%

 7 mph E

 5

All about Canals in Phoenix Area

Over the past months we have spent a lot of time riding along the irrigation canals in the Phoenix/Gilbert/Chandler/Mesa area. The trails are usually paved although some sections are "granular". The sign above reflects the variety of path users. 

Since the canals were being built since the late 1800s to, primarily, serve the agricultural communities, many acreages are still located along these waterways. Housing has mostly taken up the land in these areas but we still see hay fields (flood irrigated), cattle, dairy cows, horses and even two large tortoises 😊right in the city.

Apache Junction and other outlying communities are populated with many acreages that keep horses and there are many horse trails throughout the mountains in the area. Indeed many of the hiking trails we have been on are also used by horse travellers and one often sees a collection of horse trailers at the trailhead.

Sometimes we encounter riders on sandy verges beside paved city streets here in AJ; one day we even saw three horses and riders "parked" and at a gas station! 

Divide and Conquer

Today we each had separate agendas: 

Rose Lynn had plans to attend the Phoenix Quilt Craft and Sewing Festival with our son-in-law's Mom, Elise.

Bill took up Jeanne's offer for another area hike.

We were both happy with our outings!

Sunday Morning Climb

It was a cool night (38F /3C) after yesterday's rain so we decided that it was a good temperature to explore a small "pile of rocks" in Mesa that we ridden past many times. We also thought it would be a good place to get a panorama look at the Valley of the Sun (Phoenix valley) so you could see how there are mountains on all horizons in this area.

It's a short, steep climb on what appears to be an old road.

 NORTH

EAST

(Superstition Mtns at centre)

We are staying near the Superstitions in Apache Junction.

The small hills in the left foreground are similar to 

the one we were standing on to take these photos.

SOUTH

WEST

(towards Phoenix)

Rain and a Dinner Show

Late this morning we got our third rain of the season. The air became heavily scented with the odor of the creosote bush*; the sensation is much more pleasant than the word creosote would suggest and many consider this to be the quintessential scent of the desert as it is also noticeable on a hot day too.

*Larrea tridentata is known as creosote bush or greasewood,

or as  chaparral when used as a medicinal herb

Dinner Show

"Those Were the Days" featured William Florian, an early 70s lead singer with The New Christy Minstrels. We were entertained with songs from his Minstrels' repertoire as well with folky music of the 60s that the grey-haired crowd eagerly sang along with throughout the evening! The event started with a tasty catered meal of smoked pork loin so it was all good 😊

Miner's Needle

Glad that both Bill & Jeanne are recover(ed)(ing) from head colds and we could enjoy this hike in the Superstition Wilderness together; she missed a hike last week and Bill has had a few "quiet days" since then when he wasn't up to a ride, making music or a hike.

Rustic trail markers are common in the area

You can see the profile we walked for about 3 miles out from Peralta trailhead to Coffee Flat trail junction so that we could see Miner's Needle and Cathedral Rock. A needle is literally an eye (hole) in the rock which you see in the photos below.

Cathedral Rock is the freestanding, lumpy rock to the left in the panorama and Miner's Needle was located further to the left from this viewpoint (not visible here)

We were on the trail at 8:30 am and could enjoy the fresh air and dramatic lighting from the rising sun

Scenery and panorama were ever changing - so nice to be in the wild 

Expecting Visitors from Alberta

We are thrilled that Rose Lynn's brother Robin and sister-in-law Carole are planning to come to Arizona from Jan 25 to Feb 3. So excited!

A look at the long term weather forecast reveals lower temperatures than we've been enjoying (Low 70sF / low 20sC). Locals remind us that the "winter" has been unseasonably warm but, of course any temperature here will be warmer than Alberta at this time of year!

Good Morning Apache Junction!

Salsa vs Sauce

It's amazing that Rose Lynn would want to share this!

This evening as she hurried to get a meal on the table between activities, she got pasta cooking and started heating the tomato sauce - or so she thought....in her haste, she grabbed a glass jar of salsa rather than a jar of tomato pasta sauce!!!!

While the the appearance of the tomato product did not raise any alarms, the scent of it heating seemed different. When Bill tasted it he remarked that it was rather spicy. Only then did a label check reveal that we had served ourselves hot salsa over pasta topped with parmesan cheese...

😖

We’re Not in Texas Anymore...

(but you could hardly tell from what happened this morning!)

Had to squeegee the windows before setting out at 8 am!

It was around 48F/9C

Our second rain of the season on Tues/Weds caused humidity

The truck was covered with condensation for the first time this winter

Back to Superior and L.O.S.T. Trail

On Dec 14th we walked part way up this trail (to the water tank in the panorama below) but wanted to do the whole trail and brought Peg along for the fun! It's an easy stroll up through the Queen Creek canyon to the Claypool tunnel built in the twenties to bring Hwy 60 from Superior east to Miami. Of course mineral riches (copper, silver) was a strong motivator for such an engineering challenge. To read and see more visit our post on Dec 14th titled "Superior Date Day".

4.5 miles roundtrip, 550 feet of elevation gain

Hopefully you can spot the path leading from the watertank to the current Hwy 60 bridge spanning the canyon? 

Approaching the ~50ft tunnel from the west

The original highway made a sharp left at the end of the tunnel 

and skirts a steep canyon 

After our morning hike we relaxed on the art-full sunny patio of the SunFlour Market to enjoy gourmet sandwiches and soups. It was a much more satisfying meal than the basic burger food we had at Porter's on our previous trip.

Recreational (!) Shopping

Guess this sign says it all!

We spent the early morning at this Market. After coming for a specific item for our bathroom at home, we managed to walk by loads of vendors selling everything from clothing to food products to RV supplies! It's so large, some vendors had more than one place of business in the Market.

It is arranged in four covered aisles about a block long....although not so many vehicles when we were there!

Ridiculous!

Saturday with the Pettys

We made this Saturday a busy day!

In the morning we took a quick ride as we wanted to be back for the Saturday Afternoon Jam here in Rock Shadows.

Due the frustrations of last week with too many players/ not enough singing time, Bill was not really sure he wanted to go again. After texting his buddy Chan (Chandler) where he plays on Tues afternoons, they decided to play hooky and make music together for a couple of hours at Chan's. A fine decision!

We finished the day with Renaud and Barb at Road Haven RV Park for happy hour, a meal for which RL prepared the main and Barb the dessert and then off to see the show ABBAFAB. ABBAFAB is a live multimedia tribute to the music of ABBA from their earliest monster hits like Waterloo, Dancing Queen and Fernando right up to the Mama Mia numbers.

That's how Saturdays should be!

Deer Tanks Trail

Jeanne took us out on a short, scenery filled hike today in the local Sonoran Desert foothills only a few miles from home.

Deer Tanks Trail in the Superstition Area Land Trust leads to..."deer tanks"! These are water collection devices that were built to water the animal population - a sign indicates that money from hunting tags and permits built the installation so one could only speculate that it was built to preserve local hunting opportunities?! In recent times, Jeanne saw the heavy equipment and supplies that were brought in through the back country to rebuild a former tank. Too bad we didn't take photos of the system which is, essentially, a large holding tank and small drinking tank enclosed within a fence.

Morning sun touches rough rock scenry

Trail through a "wash" or "wadi", a dry river course

Jeanne and Bill in the wash

Sky Candy

Looking east to the Superstition Mtns

 from the Hall at Rock Shadows late afternoon yesterday

Looking west towards Rock Shadows at sunset yesterday

Sunrise this morning

(Want to see these pics in a larger format? Just click on them!)

Just Sayin' About the Weather Today

We’re Not in Texas Anymore...

	Brownsville	Calgary	Apache Junction
High	45F  / 7C	36F /  2C	73F / 23C
Low	29F / -2C	22F / -6C	51F / 11C

Happy New Year!

We’re Not in Texas Anymore...

New Year's Eve in Apache Junction was somewhat different from New Year's Eve in Brownsville.

We had the standard party at the hall with a live band, snacks and drinks. We were joined by Tom & Cindy from another RV Park and we even stayed up until local midnight!!!!

The real difference was with fireworks. While fireworks were popping and flashing in the sky before and after the party, the location of our park away from much residential development meant that the sounds did not wake us through the night as in Brownsville. Also we did not hear any gunshots ....a frequent New Year's Eve occurrence in Brownsville!