2020 Winter Camping Trip Day31

 2020 Winter Camping Trip Day31, 2020/12/26

Day2 in the Big Bend National Park. We had 3 hikes!

First one was Marufo Vega Loop. 14.4 miles with 2726 feet elevation change. We worried a bit about parking at the trailhead, because there was a sign saying breaking in would occur. The trailhead is not far from Mexican border and actually it is accessible from Mexican side. The river between US/Mexico is shallow and I heard that Mexicans cross the river by riding horses and steal stuff from cars. Due to that, we hid everything in the car that was visible from outside.  

The hike was absolutely solitude. We only saw 2 people at the end of hike. So from morning to evening nobody visible! I loved the solitude. 

The first couples of miles was in the wash and the vast desert area. Interestingly, we saw wild horses. The morning light and horses are pretty view in the desert (left picture). The wild horses: I didn't know that wild horses exist. Considering the location, however, it makes sense. Horses in Mexican villages escaped from their farm and crossed the river and stayed in the U.S. They are immigrants, or 2nd generation of immigrants. Somehow they wanted freedom. 

Rio Grande

Going further and further, the view got more and more dramatic. The trail goes down to the canyon and reached the Rio Grande, which is US-Mexico border. The canyon is very deep and huge rocks there were quite impressive. Then we reached the ridge. Below the ridge is the Rio Grande. The view between the river was amazing. Massive rocky mountains are in the both side of the river. The river was clear beautiful blue. It was extremely quiet and peaceful. I felt like I was in the middle of the different planet, since it was not the imaginable scene, even though I was still during the domestic trip. The only animal I saw was a couple of horses in the distance along the river. We sat on the ridge and had a lunch. This is one of the best views in my memory. For sure this will reside in my heart forever. 

donkey

2nd hike is a mini hike of 1.4 mile. This hike, Boquillas Canyon trail, also goes to Rio Grande, but it is far from the one we went in the hike I mentioned above.  Boquillas canyon is very close to Boquillas village in Mexico. Indeed we saw Mexicans from village kids were playing along the river. Adults were also there, too. Interestingly, along the river of the US side, they put souvenirs for Americans. There is a container to put cash (US dollars) there. In the river they had a kayak. Obviously they cross river and trying to sell stuff. It is illegal, and I am sure park rangers know it, but it seems that US park service or border control not really arrest them. I heard that US border control cooperate with Boquillas people so that border control can arrest very serious people like drug traders. In return US officers unofficially approve those Boquillas peoples' illegal "non-serious" crimes. Usually before COVID, there is an official boat tour from Big Bend National Park to go to their village several times a week. If Americans go there officially with passport, buying their souvenir goods in Mexico is totally legal. It was interesting to see such kinds of stuff. 

 

 

Another interesting thing we was was a horse and donkey along the river. Maybe they are belongings of those Mexicans. The donkey is following the horse. Then the horse went into the river, probably because the horse wanted to cool down (it was a warm day). Since the donkey was much smaller than the horse, the donkey couldn't go into the river. The donkey looked frustrated. He said, "Mmmmmmm" several times. His breathing got bigger. He seemed angry that the horse left him. After a while the horse came back to the shore and the donkey looked happy. Cute and funny!!

horse in the river and the donkey is staring at that

Finally we walked a mini nature trail near the campground and finished a day! I believe that not many people staying there, "hike, hike, hike" like us.

2020 Winter Camping Trip Day30-Big Bend National Park

 2020 Winter Camping Trip Day30, 2020/12/25

First day in the Big Bend National Park, we had a big day hike. 18 miles with 3600 feet elevation change. First we planned to hike up to Emory Peak, which was 10 miles, but we ended up hiking more. 

Emory Peak

I loved hiking in the Big Bend. Now it is a very different view from Arizona. The mountains in Texas are more brown and rocky at the top. The shape at the top are more rectangular and straight up to the sky.  Trails are built in the area with great view. Sometimes it is on the ridge looking down mountains below and in the distance, sometimes in the valley looking up in the mountains. 18 miles were long, but almost non-stopping view was had! 

Rim Trail

In Big Bend, there are a number of backcounty campsites. Especially East Rim campsites, we found them with great view. In 2020 the availability is limited, since at least half of them were closed due to COVID. For sure some time we need to go back for backpacking. Another cool thing was I was able to see Mexico. In the right picture, for example, the mountain range in the distance is in Mexico. I knew that US and Mexico are next each other, but seeing it was kind of exciting. It looked like that a lot of mountains in Mexico as well.

Evening Light

 

In the evening the orange sunlight reflected on the mountains: it was really beautiful! This day we went to a different campground: Rio Grande Village campground. Rio Grande means river Grande in Mexican and actually the river is the border between US and Mexico. The campground capacity was limited due to COVID. It looked like more than half was closed due to COVID. It was good. The campground was huge, probably 100 campsites, but 50 were open and all opened ones were occupied. It seemed that everyone was on vacation on Christmas. The majority of people had RV, and us tent campers were minority. 

2020 Winter Camping Trip Day28/29-Arizona to Texas

2020 Winter Camping Trip Day28/29, 2020/12/23-24

This day we traced back to the trailhead. It was easier, because water was gone, which was the heaviest part of the stuff, and it was downhill. We pleasantly again enjoyed a lot of Saguaro. Every tree is different, so it was not boring at all to see thousands of them. 

After completion of the hike, we saw a coyote crossing a road leaving Saguaro National park and going to the Tucson city direction. We saw and heard many coyotes during this trip. They are cute and their voices are interesting. 

Then we left the park and went to again Salsa Verde, a Mexican restaurant. Why not?!

Beautiful morning light

At night we camped at Cochise Stronghold Campground. There was a little Nature trail and historic trail with sign and panels. It was interesting. Cochise was a leader of this region. As you can see in the picture, Dragoon Mountains, rugged rocky terrain helped them to hide and attach their enemies. Actually the terrain is really beautiful. I need to go back there to explore more the area. 

Next day we drove to Big Bend National Park. 

On the way we stopped by a Mexican restaurant for take out. It is in Texas, why not having Mexican food? We did it in the El Paso. 

Big Bend is most south of Texas (US-Mexico border) and Texas is a big state: so the drive was a whole day. There we went through the border control checkpoint. Because it is near US-Mexico border, there are sporadic border control stations. There each car must stop. Then an officer asks a driver if all the passengers in the car are American citizens. In our case, Mr.N says he is American citizen, and he says that I am a green card holder. Then the officer asks me to show my green card. I handed it over to the officer. Usually the officer looks for a second and gives back to me and tell us good to go. I knew that there were border control stations so I brought my green card. It is interesting that American citizens don't need to show anything! What if a person lies?

We arrived at Chisos Basin Campground, which is inside the Big Bend National Park around 8 p.m. and pitched a tent and went to sleep. 

 

2020 Winter Camping Trip Day27 2nd backpacking in Saguaro National Park

2020 Winter Camping Trip Day27, 2020/12/22

 2nd overnight backpacking day1 in Saguaro National Park! This time we headed for Juniper Basin campground, and set up camp, and day hiked to Tanque Verde Peak. Total was 12 miles with 4200 feet elevation gain. A lot of elevation gain, but it was totally worth it! 

Saguaro

The hike started in the beautiful Saguaro forest. Hiking in Saguaro was so much fun. It made me really happy. 

Blue sky and countless Saguaro. Only a couple of people on the way. So nice. 

Young Saguaro

On the way I saw various age of Saguaro. Some young Saguaro are cute. The 2nd picture is young Saguaro. They grow in the shelter under Palo Verde nurse trees. It was nice to see in person a lot of stages of Saguaro trees. From pictures, it is difficult to see these images!

There were 2 guys, who looked like retired, on the way and asked if we were going to Juniper Basin. We said yes. They said, "All right!" They are friendly, chatty, and happily hiking after retired: I hope I continue happily hiking until 100 years old!

About 2 miles to go to the campground, we saw 2 volunteer hikers. They day hiked into the campground to check if everything was okay. They said that one party camped there previous night. They asked if we had enough water and we said yes. They told us that there should be water puddles year-round a little beyond the side trail from the campsite.

Tanque Verde Peak

We pitched a tent at the campsite and went to Tanque Verde Peak. It was up high above 7000 feet and the view was amazing. Geology is very different from first 4 miles: no Saguaro but more rocky and high mountains were seen. I had anapan at to top for reward. Delicious!

Then we came back to the campsite. Extremely surprising fact was that fire is allowed at Juniper Basin campground. There is only a couple of puddles nearby in the middle of desert and fire is allowed!? Wow. The fire danger is high, but maybe it is okay, because the campsite is actually surrounded by trees and kind of protected from winds. Even if that factor is considered, the fire permission was still super surprising. We had enough water and we found some pool nearby, so why not having fire? I was excited. When you think that something is prohibited and suddenly you find it allowed, isn't it exciting? Since it is desert, the night is still very cold even if it is southern Arizona. It was late December. Although we were heading more south and south as time went by in December to escape cold, the cold became faster to south than us. 

2020 Winter Camping Trip Day26-2nd day in Saguaro National Park

Saguaro

2020 Winter Camping Trip Day26, 2020/12/21

This day we traced back to the trailhead. I enjoyed Saguaro in the morning sun. The picture in the left is one of the impressive Saguaro. There are many arms, meaning it is at least more than 100 years old. It is very cool. Also I am grateful to be able to see such a historic Saguaro in person.

After backpacking, what do you do? 

Feast.

We went to a Mexican restaurant to have a take-out. We were in southern Arizona, why not having Mexican food? I first met Mexican food when I lived in California. There are so many authentic Mexican places in California. In my neighborhood there, there were 4 Mexican restaurants within 3 blocks.  Now in Massachusetts, I don't see a single authentic one, although I know some fake ones. We yelped and we went to the place called Salsa Verde. Although they took long to be ready, which made me impatient, but it was paid off by authentic food. Ah! This was the one I was looking for in the East. 

Then we went to the car campground run by the National Forest. The campground name is Gordon Hirabayashi. I immediately noticed that Hirabayashi is a Japanese name. Since the first name Gordon is American name, I suspected that he was Japanese American and I thought that possibly the place was the internment campground during WWII. Sadly, usually those Japanese-Americans' internment camps are in the harsh environment area in the mountains and I saw several of them while my outdoor camping trips. For example, Manzanar is near Mount Whitney. Another example is Tulelake, near Lava Beds National Monuments. 

There was a sign and panel at the campground about Gordon Hirabayashi and we were able to learn about him. He challenged the interment camp order in 1942, and he turned himself into FBI and been sentenced. The government at that time didn't transport him to prison, so Gordon Hirabayashi hitchhiked from Washington state to Arizona. Wardens at the prison camp didn't have papers for Gordon Hirabayashi, so he had to go to a movie. In 1987, over 40 years later, his case was overturned. More detail can be found here in Wikipedia Hirabayashi vs United States

sunset

From the hills behind the Hirabayashi campground we went to see a sunset and the Saturn and Jupiter conjunction. The sunset was amazing. From the hill, the sun set over the mountains and far below Tsuson town was seen. This day right after sunset was supposed to be Saturn and Jupiter conjunction. We saw Saturn and Jupiter, but two were not combined. They were very close, but definitely apart! Hummmm. Anyhow it was still good to see such close planets in the amazing place with admiring Gordon Hirabayashi.

Two planets

After checking out the sunset, we had fire and dinner. Because we were able to forage as much as we want in the National Forest, we had enough logs to have long campfire. For dinner we had salad from Safeway to feed veges to our bodies.

 

2020 Winter Camping Trip Day25 First day in Saguaro National Park

2020 Winter Camping Trip Day25, 2020/12/20

 First time visiting Saguaro National Park!!! So exciting. 

Saguaro National Park is in the area with many Saguaro as the name indicates. There are two regions: West and East sides. Between the two region is the city of Tucson. The Saguaro National park has an interesting setting. There is no car campground, but there are backcoutry designated campsites. You need a permit to do overnight backpacking and have to stay at the designated campsite. Permits can be obtained via Recreation.gov or walk-in at the visitor center.

We booked backpacking campsite permit a few days in advance. We got one at the campsite Douglas Spring. Although the campsite is close to spring as the name indicates, a lot of time of the year the spring is empty. Before we start backpacking we wanted to ask a ranger if 2020 winter's water situation. 

The visitor center was open, but indoor area was closed due to COVID practice. There is an outside table and 3 volunteers were working there. There was a separation between them and visitors and everyone was required to have face covering. Arizona is doing well regarding social distancing. The volunteers were Tucson people and answering questions. They said there would be no water at Douglas. We were thinking about doing 2 night/3 days backpacking if Douglas Spring campsite had water source, but based on their comment we decided to do overnight backpacking as out and back. 

At the trailhead we saw a person with a dog: he was told by a ranger at the trailhead that dogs are not allowed on the trail. There is huge national forest around Saguaro National Park, so he went there -> this is just FYI for readers. 

Saguaro

From beginning, we saw many Saguaro!! Some are tall, some are short. Some have a lot of branches, some have a tiny one. Everyone is different. Oh so wonderful to see Saguaros! Not only Saguaros, Saguaro National Park is full of cacti. It is a Cactus Forest. 

Saguaro is a very long life. First 6-8 years it is only 2-3 cm. It takes 70 years to have a first branch. They reach the full height at age 150. It is very impressive. They survive in the desert with severe weather, lightning, drought, etc, a lot of things happens for 150 years. 

Surprising is not only Saguaro's lifespan. In Saguaro National Park, black bears live. I didn't expect black bears in the desert. They live in a higher elevation above 6000 feet. Actually I didn't expect that high elevation in Saguaro NP either. The highest point in the Saguaro NP is 8666 feet at Mica Mountain. 

Curry pan

In our backpacking we started around 3000 feet and Douglas Spring campsite is 4800 feet. The uphill is gradual, so I didn't feel tough. First 2 miles were full of Saguaro and other cactus, as well as day hikers. After 2 miles of hiking, there were not many hikers, maybe we saw only 2 trail runners. I liked the solitude in the desert. As we go up higher, Saguaro disappeared, maybe environment is not suitable for Saguaro. We sat down on a hill and had Japanese curry pan (pan means bread in Japanese: the same in French), which we bought at a Japanese bakery in Phoenix. This was also unexpected experience! The pan was delicious!

nice view

Going up, the view got even more marvelous. You can see a trail in the left picture and the town Tsuson in the left. Desert mountains are very cool. After 6.6 miles of hiking, we arrived at the campsite. Douglas Spring has 3 sites. 3 groups can book permits, but not specify which site. We were the first one to arrive there, so we assessed all 3 sites and took the site1. Actually nobody came that night. 

 

campsite

The site picture is in the left. It is spacious and there is a bearproof locker. It is nice they provide it: that saved our weight a lot, because we didn't need to carry a bear canister. One interesting fact is that this locker is not only for bears, but also for javelinas. Javelina. I didn't know about this animal. They look like wild boars, but much smaller size, with pig-like nose. Their visions are not great, but smelling skill is excellent. Technically they are vegetarians, but they also eat small rodents, dead birds, etc if there are opportunities. Javelinas are usually not aggressive, however, they can be aggressive when food is involved. That's why animal proof boxes for campers for bears and javelinas.

After we pitched a tent we walked around the campsite, AND we found WATER! It was just some puddles, but it is enough to go backpacking another night. Hmmmm. Volunteers didn't tell us. We could have done another night, but we didn't bring food for another night. Oh well. 

evening light

Jupiter and Saturn

Anyway we went up to the hill and had dinner. Nobody around. So quiet. Looking at sun going down gradually was extremely priceless. This experience is literally priceless, since you can't just buy this!

Orange light hitting the sun was beautiful. Eating hot udon noodles was perfect for that chilly night! 

 

By the time we eat cookies and hot tea, the sun was set and we were able to see very close Jupiter and Saturn. Since we were camping everyday, we observed each day them getting closer and closer.
How lucky we are! I could even catch the Jupiter and Saturn with normal digital camera. They are very bright. 

Very nice day in Saguaro!