Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Much has happened since my last post. First of all, I settled into my winter home at the Saguaro SKP Co-Op.
I have been meeting lots of people while attending the 4pm happy hours, and other park activities, such as the weekend dance. The park has a volunteer fund raising group, which collects donations through a few major activities. For example, an auction was held and they collected over $9,000. The funds collected pay for many of the events, including the bands, so there isn’t a cover charge and of course its BYOB, it makes for a cheap night out. LOL.
The RV park borders a huge expanse of desert, so I’m able to hike 4-5 miles most days on desert trails through the back gate. That, plus the walking to events easily puts me over my 10,000 daily steps, some weeks I have exceeded 100,000 steps in a week. I’m happy with my decision to make this my winter home. I enjoyed last winter at The Ranch, but this park is about 5 times the size, and therefore, there is much more activity. Also, since Benson is located on I-10, we get more travelers and I’ve already had some friends stop by.
The first week in December I headed to a Four Wheel Camper Owners Rally in Ocotillo Wells, CA., after stopping in Yuma to visit my friend Marilyn.
A small section of the FWC Rally
There were 120 FWC campers like mine. The company catered two breakfasts, two dinners and two happy hours with endless beer and wine. We did a tour of many of the personal campers. It was very interesting to see the diverse modifications people had made to their units. All the fly fisher people were impressed with my home made fly rod vault. I was impressed with one guy who raised his unit 4 inches and then place storage draws between the bed of the truck and camper floor as well as cabinets on each side. Of course, he had a F350 to handle the extra weight.
After the rally, I met up with my college roommate Michael.
He drove in from San Diego early in the morning and we did a desert canyon hike in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. He had a motel room about a mile from the State Park campground where I camped. We spent the evening in my campsite, grilling a couple of steaks, drinking, enjoying the desert sky and catching up.
For Christmas, I had planned to fly to Beaver Falls, PA, to hang with my family. But due to the explosion of the Omicron variant I canceled. Once I canceled my flight, I booked two nights at Picacho Peak State Park Cam,pground. It’s only 90 miles away and it was a favorite desert hiking area for Nancy and I. I arrived at noon, Xmas eve, settled into my campsite with Enzo, checked out the trail head for the next day, relaxed, had some appetizers, cooked a steak, and had a nice bottle of wine. It rained off and on, which really brought out the dessert fragrance. Picacho Peak it a 1500 ft chunk of rock that rises up from the Sonoran Desert. The desert is home to some nice size Sonoran cactus.
Christmas Day, I started hiking about 9 am, on the Sunset Vista Trail, which meets the Hunter trail about a half mile from the summit.
The first mile or so is a moderate hike, it then begins the ascent with switchbacks until you come to the first of many cables. Without the cables, these sections of the hike would be an easy technical climb, probably rated 5.2 or so. The cables allow the hikers to ascend using natural footholds and the cable to “climb” the rock face. Some of the cable sections were 20 to 30 feet in length. I didn’t count them but my guess is that there were at least 6 vertical sections, and a couple of horizontal sections.
There was one couple on the summit when I arrived, we did the usual photo of each other and then they headed down. I had the summit to myself for about 15 minutes until a loud group of four arrived. I stuck around to watch a jet liner circle the summit and then land at the Pinal County Airpark, which I now have learned is an airplane boneyard.
I have to admit that by the time I reached my truck at the trailhead, my legs were tired. Total distance for the day was 6.2 miles, round trip, and according to my altimeter 1,560 vertical feet. I was showered and set up back in camp around 2:45pm.
I spent some time FaceTiming friends and family, then treated myself to prosciutto wrapped sharp provolone, a salad and grilled lamb chops, along with a good bottle of wine. It wasn’t as good as being with my family on Christmas, but I was Covid safe and overall a very good day.
The view of Picacho Peak through Enzo's window
The next day, Sunday, I drove home and settled in at the Co-Op, back in the Moho. The weather has turned cloudy and cold with the high temps in the low to mid 50s. Currently, according to the office there are no cases of covid in the park. We are supposed to self report and quarantine if we test positive or get sick. I’m taking it a day at a time, with regards, to any future indoor activities.
I wish all of you a very happy, healthy, and positive New Year.
Tight lines and safe travels
Nice adventure.
ReplyDeleteLooks like a lot to see there.
Best in 2022