Wilderness Wandering

Southern Edition 2

April 14 – April 18

Theodore Roosevelt Lake is a large reservoir formed by the Theodore Roosevelt Dam on The Salt River in Arizona. It is a highly popular recreational area. There are miles of beach area. Is about an hour outside Phoenix, but feels much further away from civilization.  There are three visitor centers for permits, trip planning, a movie about its creation and migratory bird displays. It seemed odd to see such a huge lake in such an arid area. 

I was excited that we were in the vicinity of Tonto National Monument in Gila County, New Mexico. Tonto National Monument preserves two cliff dwellings of The Salado tribe in the Sonoran desert. The park was supposed to open at 9:00 AM. We arrived around 10:00 AM and the gate was locked. A father and son were walking around and calling the park number but no one was answering. I looked at the park Facebook page and there was an announcement that they were closed until 11:00 AM for staff training. The father and son said they couldn’t stay. We decided we would. About 10:50 an RV with Iowa license plates pulled up and turned around to leave. I walked over and told them the gates were going to open in 10 minutes. They decided to wait. We started talking and ended up walking up to the cliff houses with them. We got a stamp in the National Parks passport  and watched an excellent film about the history of the park. Then we climbed up a fairly steep paved path to one of the ruins. The views of the surrounding mountains were great! We were able to walk all around the site.  

We discovered David and Linda were going about as far as we were that day and we decided to stay at the same RV park. That’s how our several days of traveling with Linda and David came about. Linda and I had a lot in common and so did David and Tim. Linda and David had earlier in the day come to the aid of two cyclists who are crossing the country self supported. Becky and Donna had heavy panniers on their bikes. Linda had offered to take them in her van and give them back at their campground. So Becky and Donna were also camped near us.  We all set up in the RV park and walked a short distance to a Mexican restaurant in downtown Globe, AZ and had some very good fajitas. We slept well.

Globe also had a Salado site called Besh Ba Gowah. It was a substantial town with a 200 room prehistoric masonry pueblo that was occupied from AD 1225 to AD 1400. Like other sites, we don’t know why they left. The ruins are partially restored and were very impressive.  The museum had beautiful examples of their pottery and woven artifacts. 

It was very warm today. A few miles out of Pima, AZ we began to see signs for Taylor Freeze Restaurant. They were Burma Shave size and style signs saying things like cold drinks ahead, rootbeer floats ahead, 20 flavors of ice cream, etc. By the time we made it to Pima we couldn’t wait to order something! I had their version of a blizzard with pineapple and coconut. Tim had a slushy. They were also extremely helpful. We were looking for a spot to boondock for the night. The owner called the city manager and got permission for us to camp in one of the city parks. 

Today we happened to be passing through Duncan, AZ. 

I needed to mail a card at the post office and I asked the Postmaster what we should see in town. I actually asked when the Humble Pie Restaurant next door would be open? He informed me that it wasn’t dessert pie. It’s a pizza pie restaurant and they open at 5 PM. He said it’s wonderful, so if you’re ever in Duncan at dinner time, check out! We walked around the downtown checking out The Hotel Simpson. It didn’t look like much from the outside. They explained they’re renovating it (since 2005 – lol) but the gardens in back were pretty amazing!

A suggestion from the postmaster was to check out 

Germaine’s Emporium. It was a series of buildings with an enormous amount of stuff somewhat grouped. They had many kinds of pottery, and lots of western things. There was a gorgeous old library catalog that I would have loved to own if it would have fit in Calypso!

We journeyed on with David and Linda. We entered into New Mexico.  We stayed in a KOA campground in Silver City, NM. There was a big dust storm during the night and everything in Calypso had a thick coating of dust on it! We spent some time cleaning and taking care of business. In the afternoon, we did a 3.5 mile moderate hike I was excited to do on The Dragonfly Petroglyph Trail.  I love dragonflies.  The site of the petroglyphs isn’t terribly well marked, but we managed to find them. 

As we left Silver City the next morning we drove by The Chino Open Pit Copper Mine. It’s a huge operation. It’s 1.75 miles across and 1300 feet deep. 

This country has so many amazing sites!