The Adventures of Kinky Reggae: A Vagabond for Beauty

Today I fulfilled my dream of going birding in Madera Canyon in southern AZ. Sadly, it wasn’t as awesome as I’d hoped (although that was partly my fault for going birding during the mid-day hours when the birds aren’t as active). The campground was full of older folks, but it seemed like I had the trail to myself. I reached Bog Springs, took out my binoculars and bird identification book, and sat quietly.  Within five minutes, I heard an older couple shouting at each other on their way up the trail. They sat down near me, and the birds all scattered. (Karma for that car alarm the other day!) Just as things quieted down, I heard another older couple yelling at each other on the trail- “Gary? GARY!!! Does this trail just keep going up the whole time???” “Judy? JUDY!!! Where’d you go?”  The birds scattered, and I gave up.  Towards the end of the trail, I spotted a guy about my age hanging out, having a snack. What?? Someone under the age of 70?? We started chatting and I learned that he’s

I saw Cochise Stronghold on the map and was intrigued and wanted to learn more about the spot, so that was my first destination today. I did the little nature trail and read all the interpretive signs and learned about the conflicts between the Chiricahua Indians and the U.S. Army and how Cochise’s body is buried somewhere in the rocks of this area. And as I drove away from the site, through the busy campground and the ranches surrounding it, I felt so sad for the Chiricahuas losing their land. Apparently some guy donated 4 acres to the tribe for them to use for ceremonies and stuff. 4 acres. How depressing. Yet another win for the white people and Manifest Destiny.  Bernie and I stopped at Chiricahua National Monument five years ago, so I have the stamp but hadn’t been able to do any hiking there. So today I went back and did the Echo Canyon Trail, which I really enjoyed. It was easy and oh so scenic and I listened to some great podcasts while I hiked. (SciFri FTW!)  (This one looks l

I decided to begin the day by exploring the Chiricahua Mountains. On the map, it looked like this little stretch of national forest surrounded by nothing. It looked so remote that I texted Rachel and Nina to tell them where I was going, which isn’t something I usually do. However, as soon as I crossed the boundary into the national forest, I found a visitor’s center that was bustling with activity. Apparently I had stumbled upon a world-renowned birding spot! The nice people volunteering there pointed me towards the South Fork of Cave Creek.  There were a few people in the parking lot, and I was mortified when I accidentally set off my car alarm. Especially after chatting with some people on the trail and hearing that they saw tons of birds right in the parking lot, but not so many on the trail. I probably scared them all away.  Today I learned that birding is HARD. I’m having trouble with the binoculars; at this point, they are not helpful. And the darn birds kept flitting around, mak

The drive to the Gila Cliff Dwellings was long, windy, and gorgeous. I stopped a lot on the way up there; so much to see. The dwellings themselves had been ransacked and damaged, but I was still impressed. They don’t look big from the outside, but they were huge on the inside! Imagine waking up to this view every morning! There were a guy and his son there, and I kept moving to stay out of the guy’s pictures (trying to be polite), and he told me he wanted me in his pics. It wasn’t in a creepy way; it was more because he thought I was a novelty and I’d be part of his family vacation story- “And there was a woman there who was TRAVELING ALONE.” People think that’s so weird, and I don’t get it. I mean, I guess I understand why people are surprised when they meet me and I’m camping alone outside of a campground. But this? Visiting a national park site? That didn’t seem so scandalous to me. This was park #224, and I probably wouldn’t have done 200 of those if I’d waited for someone to go wi

Day One of spring break took me to the Tent Rocks, fulfilling one of my Pinterest dreams. As soon as I pulled up, it became clear that this would not be a day of desert wandering, like the Bisti Badlands. There were signs saying you could wait up to 60 minutes for a parking spot. (They won’t even let you drive back there if there’s no parking.) It was a tourist attraction. Beautiful, but hard to enjoy with all the hipsters in their ruffled crop tops and skinny jeans and huge families stopping in the middle of the trail and teenagers smoking pot and blasting music. And yes, anyone who canyons with me would be quick to point out my love of 90’s hip hop in the canyons, but I mean, who ISN’T down with OPP? More importantly, we’re the only ones out there, so there’s no one to disturb. Sadly, I think this place is going to be “loved to death.” But I still enjoyed the views and am glad that I went. Half of the hike was through a slot canyon- very cool.  One of the best parts of the day was we

I love my little feminist canyoneering group, but sometimes, it’s nice to spend time with the boys. These guys have been doing canyons a lot longer than I have, and they are full of helpful tips and always willing to carry the rope. (I insisted on helping out on Sunday, and I could tell Dan felt guilty.) We had no plan going into this weekend other than meeting up at North Wash. Even when we went to bed on Friday, we still hadn’t decided on a canyon! All we knew was that we wanted a chill weekend. It was mostly about hanging out with friends and camping and being outside, not being hardcore. So, on Saturday we did Angel Slot and Angel Cove Slot. (Well, I sat out the second one.) It was so fun and relaxing and pretty. Other than the awkward start on the first rappel, there is nothing scary about this canyon. Oh, except that we did meet a small rattlesnake! He started slithering downcanyon with us, and we thought we had made a friend. Otherwise, the canyon was uneventful and pleasant.  T