Catching up, 1: Painted Rock campground: tenting in the desert

 

March 18, 2022

We left Yuma late yesterday morning, not altogether sad to turn our backs on this city, yet glad that we had included it in this year's trip to find out what draws people there. It didn't make it hard for us to leave: we had delayed breakfast so that I could write my blog and, crossing the street to the Mexican restaurant that promised breakfast from Friday to Sunday from 7 to 11 am shortly before 11 we found out that they had already switched to their regular menu. At the iHop a few metres further on, where we had breakfast the day before, a long lineup of people promised a waiting time we were not willing to put in. No breakfast, then, at least not now. We headed east on Hwy. 8 toward Phoenix, traffic soon thinning out, the road smooth and nice to drive, decided against stopping in Wellton for another attempt at breakfast when we saw that this was again a sizeable town that would likely have the usual restaurant chains we were trying to avoid.

The turnoff to Atca, which looked like just a tiny dot on the map, showed a plate with fork and knife – we'd try our luck here. And luck it was, the unassuming 'Jac's Whistle Stop Cafe' right by the tracks open – and even still offering breakfast (why did it have to be breakfast? I don't know. Probably because that's my favourite meal, and Johann doesn't really care that much. Also, it mostly is the only meal we have eaten at a restaurant, a good solid breakfast getting us through the day so that we can get by on a slice of bread with cheese and ham, a tomato salad prepared by Johann or a few crackers and nuts. Oh, and of course a beer and/or wine). It was a good breakfast, the server very friendly, and we could even sit outside, with a prime view of the very tracks that gave the name to this restaurant, and we were fortified now to continue the drive to Painted Rock campground.

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It is hot, hot, HOT here in southern Arizona, so hot that it zaps my energy and makes me lethargic. It's nearly noon, the sky slightly overcast, with only a hint of a breeze. Who can exist in a climate like this, thrive, even? Yet here at Painted Rock campground not far from Gila Bend there is ample proof that at least the former is possible. The O'odokam people have lived here for thousands of years; a large group of settlers moved to 'Alta California' from Sinaloa and Sonora, a trek of over 1000 miles, and passed through, men, women, children and a large herd of livestock under the leadership of Captain Juan Bautista d'Anza; the 'Mormon Battalion' also travelled through this area on their way to aid the United States in their fight for California in the Spanish war of 1846, and, last not least, the route of the Butterfield Express, the mail coaches, went by here. Where did they find water, where feed for their animals?

Having hiked in the hills around the campground I really appreciate the survival skills of all these people. Of course, there are the washes where in times of rain water must push through with great force. Here, palo verde and mesquite trees, creosote bushes and other small shrubs subside. Small desert flowers are in bloom, though I don't see a single California poppy yet.

The area is strewn with black boulders, leftovers from volcanic eruptions. Last night we watched the sun set from a low ridge behind the campground, carefully picking our way between those rocks and the chollas and thorny shrubs eager to hook us. Saguaros are part of this landscape as well, ranging in size from 'babies' in their nursery of shrubs that offer some protection until they have grown a bit, to big old fellows that are starting to decay, black spine showing.

We put up the tent in one of the bare campsites: no shade available here except where I am now, in one of the three shelters we appreciate very much in this noon heat. Most people here have campers, canopies lowered, windows shaded. I had been looking forward to sleeping in the desert under the vast starry sky, and since it was so warm we didn't bother to put the rain cover on and slept without a roof. For quite a while we sat outside, watched the full moon rise over the scraggy hills in the east, observed Orion's and Taurus's progress on their nightly journey. The only thing we could hear were the quiet distant voices from other campers on this spacious campground, the occasional bark of a small dog from one of the motorhomes, from time to time the sound of a jet flying high above; otherwise it was blessedly silent. What a difference from our motel in Yuma the previous two nights!

It got surprisingly cool during the night so that I was happy to have my down sleeping bag to snuggle into.

Jumping cholla, a cactus out to get you :)

This cool stayed with us for a good part of our morning hike into the hills to the east of the campground. We started out at seven, the sun just peeking over the same hills where we had seen the moon rise at nightfall, and followed several washes, picked up faint signs of a trail here and there, though we couldn't determine who had made that trail; it didn't look like it had been humans. In the draws we saw multiple signs of deer, hoof prints as well as droppings, and bighorn sheep are supposed to live here as well. We didn't encounter any mammals; only a vulture seemed to follow our progress for a while. Was he hoping for a meal? 

To my delight I found a few cacti just getting ready to bloom, and a most amazing sight awaited us when we came down a hill as we circled back to the campground: something bright orange and shiny black was moving slowly sideways across the trail. It turned out to be two large beetles mating, about three centimetres long, their heads and front legs orange, the rest of their bodies black: the Master Blister Beetle is a common beetle here in the desert of the southwest. There was not only this one pair mating either; several were engaged in the same activity, and a few single beetles lingered nearby – losers in winning the favour of the females?

By now it is nearly one pm, and we'll pack up the tent and be on our way to Phoenix soon. We'll spend the next few days with friends in Mesa and Apache Junction and will enjoy the Superstition Mountains and the arboretum, some of our favourite places here.