RV There Yet?

This past Wednesday Barbara and I visited the Saguaro National Park (NP) in southern Arizona. This park is divided into two parts, the east side and the west side with the city of Tucson in between. On Wednesday we visited the east side. As far as national parks go it’s not one of the more scenic parks, but the east side contains some rare geology that geologist from all over the world come to see.

Approximately 20 to 30 million years ago the earths crust in this area began to stretch. This stretching caused the rocks to thin and elongate, transforming the granitic rock in the area into mylonitic gneiss and the sedimentary rock above into cataclasite. But the most interesting part of this deformation was the formation of detachment faults and at Saguaro NP one of these detachment faults is on display for everyone to see. At Saguaro NP the sedimentary rocks originally laid down on top of the granitic rock have detached and moved to the west of the location from where they were deposited. So, geologically speaking, Saguaro West was once east and Saguaro east was once west. In addition, in Saguaro east you can see the oldest and youngest rocks in the park lying side by side. The oldest rocks, the Pinal Schist, are 1.6 billion years old while the youngest rocks, alluvium, were created literally yesterday. (15)

We woke up this morning to an outside temperature of 33 degrees. So while I was waiting for the things to warm up outside I looked at my AllTrails app and found a trail that starts right at the back of the RV park where we’re staying. It is a short two mile out and back trail that goes into the nearby Tucson Mountain Park. At around 2:30pm, I had grown tired of what was on TV so I took off. It was a nice hike seeing a lot of cacti, a few critters and just myself with a light breeze and the sound of my footsteps below. Tomorrow Barbara and I are going to explore nearby Saguaro National Park. (13)

This past Sunday, our last night in Yuma, Barbara and I along with some new found friends drove out into the desert to enjoy another Howling at the Moon. This is a tradition in Yuma. During every full moon, weather permitting, people come from all over the area to gather for a fun evening filled with music, food and drink, laughter, good conversation with good friends followed up by Howling at the moon. On this night clouds blocked the moon but also provided a colorful sky. Take a look! (12)

Today Barbara and I and our two friends, Ben and Mary, visited the Yuma Territorial Prison State Historic Park. The prison was only open for 33 years, from 1876 until 1909, but it has a very rich history with ties to nearby Tombstone, Arizona. The prison could house 204 inmates, men and women, but at one time housed 240. Some of the prisoners had to sleep on the ground in the door way to their cells. Up to 29 women were housed at the prison.

This morning my friend Robert and I joined six people from Canada, who are also staying in this RV park, and took a hike around the nearby Yuma Foothills. We hiked three miles up the foothills and through a wash in the valley. We saw some bighorn sheep and some Indian Petroglyphs, but most of all we just enjoyed the desert fresh air, hiking and stretching our legs while watching the sun rise over the mountains.

On Friday, December 30th, my son Nicholas and I drove to Reno so I could play ice hockey. In addition to playing ice hockey I got to wear my Oakland Seals jersey that my son Alex gave me for fathers day several years ago. My closest friend of 52 years, Jerry aka EJ, turned 65 and all he wanted for his birthday was to play ice hockey. So he invited 30 plus people that he knew to play. I was his first invite. We had people of all ages ranging from 10 to 70 years old, boys and girls. In fact, my ice skates are older than most of the people who played. My ice skates are 47 years old. In the locker room, prior to the game, EJ showed everyone my vintage skates. One of the girls asked if during the game if one of the blades was going to fall off? We all got a good laugh out of that.

Now this is the first time in 46 years that I have played ice hockey in full pads and I have not skated in two years. When I first stepped on the ice I felt like a Weeble and fortunately I didn’t fall down. I soon gained my balance with all of my pads and it was game on. Now before the game and between the first and second periods we enjoyed watching a seven year old figure skater perform. She has only been skating for eight months, but skates like she has been skating for years.

The teams were divided up equally, dark jerseys (my team) and white jerseys (EJ’s team). I really liked the way the game began. The opening faceoff was between EJ and me. He won the faceoff but I stole the puck from him moments later. It was a fun game and the visiting team, EJ’s team, won. The final score was 6 to 5.

I really enjoyed the referee, who is the general manager of the ice rink (Reno Ice) where we played, as he was talking to the players, laughing and smiling. I don’t believe I have ever seen a referee smile before. In the end, everyone was all smiles as we did the customary hand shake (fist bump) after the game, had a group photo taken and had beer, for those of us who were old enough, waiting in the locker room.

It’s been some time since I last posted anything on my blog. Like the rest of the country, it’s been cold and damp here so I haven’t had much opportunity to get out with my camera. It hasn’t been as cold as Buffalo, NY, but it has been cold. So yesterday I took my camera out with a lens that I rarely use and just took shots of the area. Just experimenting. I hope you like what I posted below.

Recently I took a hike along the Monroe Ridge Trail above the Gold Rush site in Coloma. The Monroe Ridge Trail is named after the Monroe family who migrated to California from Missouri in the mid 1800’s. The Monroe family purchased a small plot of land in Coloma and planted fruit trees. Over time they acquired several acres of land, making their living selling fruit to people in the area. Before his death, the Monroe’s eldest son sold the land to the State of California and that land today is part of the Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park in the town of Coloma.

I always enjoy the Monroe Ridge Trail as it challenges me physically and it is generally very quiet and peaceful. I rarely see many people on this trail. This time of year is especially nice as the leaves on the oak trees are turning from green to amber which makes the hike that much more enjoyable. The trail is only three miles long, but it is a short hike from the RV park to the trailhead. All in all my hike was an enjoyable 6.3 miles round trip.

Over the past week I have been trying different setups (cameras and lenses), asking a lot of questions and learning a lot through trial and error. Last night under Bortle 2 skies, I set up my Canon SL-1, crop sensor camera, with the Samyang 135mm, f2 manual focus lens on my star tracker. Using my crop sensor camera gives me a focal length equivalent of 216mm. I initially aligned with the laser and followed up with the polar scope. I took 77 photos of Orion at 25 seconds each. The photos below were composited, 20 frames each, using Sequator and edited using Photoshop. For fun, the last photo consists of one photo showing an airplane flying through the photo. I’m happy with the results, but it does appear that I am still getting minimal star trails.

Barbara and I settled in at Coloma eight days ago and we have been so busy, I have not been able to get out and do any hiking in the area. After yesterdays football game the plan today was to just sit and relax for the day. That didn’t happen. I got up this morning and took one of our propane tanks to get filled. After that it seemed like every time I turned around one of our neighbors was stopping by to talk. Then our next door neighbor asked me if I could explain to him how things worked on his trailer. Him and his wife recently bought a used Reflection, fifth wheel trailer, and didn’t understand the owners manual that came with it. So I went through their trailer with them answering all of their questions. This made them very happy. By the time I was finished with them, it was after 2:00pm so I decided I wasn’t going to get to relax today, so I took off on a hike around Coloma. It wasn’t a long hike, just three miles, but I was able to get a few decent photos of the American river and the trees changing colors. Take a look!