Oracle, Arizona

 We drove due south from Holbrook yesterday. Our journey was about 200 miles. It road started out flat and featureless.

We were driving through ranching territory, but I only saw one barn. If there were more, I didn't see them.

We always see a lot of this, though. It's an iconic feature, especially in the southwest. Interestingly, this one appears to have a solar panel nearby. I guess if the wind fails, the sun can still pump water.

We drove through some towns with interesting histories. Possibly Show Low was the most interesting.

According to our friends at Wikipedia, legend has it the city's unusual name resulted from a marathon poker game between Corydon E. Cooley and Marion Clark. The two men were equal partners in a 100,000-acre (400 km2) ranch; however, the partners determined that there was not enough room for both of them in their settlement, and agreed to settle the issue over a game of "Seven Up" (with the winner taking the ranch and the loser leaving). After the game seemed to have no winner in sight, Clark said, "If you can show low, you win." In response, Cooley turned up the deuce of clubs (the lowest possible card) and replied, "Show low it is." As a tribute to the legend, Show Low's main street is named "Deuce of Clubs" in remembrance.

And it was there, we turned right, and continued on down the road.

From there, the landscape began to change. We went through a forest of junipers and pinon pines that eventually gave way to the taller Ponderosa pines.

We were traveling a scenic byway listed in our scenic byways book. We passed by two quilt shops, both closed, sadly. (It was early in the day.) 

Eventually we entered the beautiful Salt River Canyon. Although Mike and I lived in Arizona for three years, and we have visited many times, this was our first knowledge this place even existed. We pulled off at the "Becker Butte Lookout" for a better view. Looking into the chasm, we saw this:

Turning around 180 degrees, we saw this:

I was really trying to get a picture of the bridge you see on the right side of the image below, it was half obscured by the hillside. No worries...we were going that way, and it looked like there was a restroom below. Bonus!

Still, I saw something here...do you see it in the image below?

It's a blooming ocotillo cactus. Cool! You can see it through the trees.

Looking north from there, we could see this:

At our feet, were these two markers.

Okay. Well, that prompted another question for The Google. Surprisingly, I could find no reason these two gentlemen were honored here, nor what their contributions to the state of Arizona were. There was another marker for a much younger person who passed away in the 1990's, but it seemed as if it were added much later. Perhaps someone's ashes were scattered here. It would have been a good place for someone who loved river rafting.

As for us, we tubed the Salt River during our time in Phoenix. I remember it as having contributed to one of the worst sunburns of my life. We were wearing swimsuits with t-shirts, but there was no way to protect our legs. There weren't good sunscreens then, to begin with. And anything we might have rubbed on would have washed off in the water. We were in the inner tubes butt first, and so our legs were flopped over the side of the tube, giving the sun a perfect angle for burning the skin covering our shin bones. It was actually painful to walk the next day.

Okay, so moving on. This was another winding mo-fo of a road.

We stopped at the rest area we'd seen earlier. Here, you can see both the old a new highway bridges. The old bridge is now a footbridge, and it was possible to walk out over the river.

I walked about halfway.

From there, I could get this shot looking north.

There was some kind of walkway/trail/picnic area...I'm not sure what...down below. It was closed off for some reason. According to our scenic byway book, we might have seen 1,000-year-old petroglyphs near the stairs there, but we couldn't see anything from where we stood.

Okay, and so we moved along. South of Globe, we passed mile after mile of charred landscape. This is the work of the Telegraph Fire that started near Superior, Arizona on June 4, 2021. The fire burned 180,757 acres and was fully contained on July 3, 2021. It was the largest wildfire in the United States of the 2021 wildfire season until being surpassed by the Bootleg Fire in Oregon on July 13, 2021, a dubious honor for Oregon.

On and on it went, mile after mile. Optimistically, some green is returning to the area just three months later.

As we approached the Tucson area, we started seeing the iconic saguaro cactus. Honestly, I can't believe I'm in Arizona until I see the saguaros. 

As we moved closer to the Santa Catalina Mountains, we saw them in greater numbers...

and growing more densely.

I am positively in love with the saguaros. Most every time I mention them in my blog, I'm also forced to tell the facts about them, so here goes...again: The saguaro blooms in late spring and only after dark. They are pollinated by bats during the night, and then the blossoms close and wilt by the following afternoon. Despite the pollination by the bats, one saguaro cactus will produce approximately 40 million seeds each year. Many of the cactus live some 200 years, but in their lifetime only a few seeds will even so much as germinate.

After they drop their seeds, they require 1-½ inches of rain within the next day. Not enough, and the animals will eat the seeds. Too much and they will wash away. If they get the amount of rain necessary, they still have a difficult ride if they germinate. After one year, they are only ¼-inch tall. After five years they are one inch tall. And after 15 years, they will be only one foot tall. It’s amazing any of them exist at all. Only after sixty or seventy years does the first side branch appear. Kind of makes you want to treat them with more respect, doesn't it?

And here's something else: Many people are under the impression that if they were lost in the desert, they could cut off the top of a large cactus and drink the water. Apparently that only happens in Hollywood. The moisture stored in most cacti has a toxic level of oxalic acid, and only a few creatures of the desert can neutralize the poison. So, just don't do it, okay?

As we approached our final destination, the sky grew more threatening. We were expecting rain both yesterday and today, and so this wasn't surprising.

It was quite a drive off the beaten path (only partially unpaved) to our final destination of Hay Creek Ranch. We are out in the middle of nowhere with nice views of the Santa Catalina Mountains.

I took a little walk around taking pictures as I went. 

It was hard to get a good picture of the mountains with the bright sky in the background.

As I mentioned, this is a horse campground, and there are the appropriate stalls for horses. One can rent a stall here and bring your favorite pet horse along. The rules state that you will have to clean the stall daily, and absolutely no studs are allowed. (We briefly wondered if this meant Mike couldn't stay here. Ha!)

In my wanderings, I made a few new friends. These two were in one corral...they were a little stand-offish. I was accompanied by the most annoying two barking dogs. They barked at the horses. The horses seemed nonplussed, but they were annoying the heck out of me.

At the next corral there were more horses and a couple of mules.

There was a mare with her young foal.

I couldn't decide which of these I liked best, so I'm posting both. Besides, the mule in the background would be disappointed if I didn't.

Okay, so with rain in the forecast for today, we won't do any riding on our ATV's until tomorrow and through the remainder of the week. We have five nights here (four now), with good weather every day except today. We'll make a trip into town and get some groceries, and then just relax for the rest of the day. We're in a rain break right now, and the sun is dazzling. The expectation is for rain at various times throughout the day. Happily, there is a good cell signal, and so I should be able to keep caught up on our comings and goings.