making owls cool (since 1986)

West Clear Creek

noreply@blogger.com (Eric) — Tue, 22 May 2012 07:48:00 +0000

I bought a plastic Vivitar Focus Free PN2011 panoramic camera at a Savers in Worcester seven or eight years ago. Actually I bought two and they were a dollar each. The only control on the camera is the switch between regular and panoramic photos. It's a lot of fun because you can't miss the view trying to adjust the camera. It works on film and faith. Sometimes you get a lucky shot.

These were shot near West Clear Creek in central Arizona where you can go swimming under a canopy of cottonwood and sycamore, watch phainopepla and their flycatcher kin feast on flies clustered just above the stream, see plenty of fish and crayfish as big as your hand. No shortage of scorpions or gnarly spiders either. Great place to escape the heat. Click on the photos to see bigger, better sizes and more panoramas.

WTF

noreply@blogger.com (Eric) — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 18:35:00 +0000

’Evil mind’: Spiked boulder meant as booby trap for unsuspecting hikers?

R.I.P. Earl Scruggs 1924-2012

noreply@blogger.com (Eric) — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 16:51:00 +0000

Bluegrass pioneer Earl Scruggs revolutionized banjo playing with his syncopated picking style. He started playing banjo at 5 years old, developed his signature three-finger style when he was 10, joined Bill Monroe and the Bluegrass Boys in 1945, and left the group with Lester Flatt in 1949. They performed together as The Foggy Mountain Boys or Flatt and Scruggs for 20 years. Scruggs won two Grammies, was awarded the National Medal of Arts, and even has his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

First Day of Spring

noreply@blogger.com (Eric) — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 06:23:00 +0000

If we had no winter, the spring would not be so
pleasant; if we did not sometimes taste of adversity,
prosperity would not be so welcome.

He that walks among briers and thorns will be
very careful where he sets his foot; and he that passes
through the wilderness of this world had need ponder all his steps.

- Anne Bradstreet

Meditations, Moral and Divine

1664

Wasson Peak

noreply@blogger.com (Eric) — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 03:50:00 +0000

A modest 4687 feet gains Wassan Peak the title of the highest peak in the Tucson Mountains, which are partially protected by Saguaro National Park West. The walk to the summit is about seven miles or so, easy to follow, and popular. Lots of good desert plants and birds and a nice view at the end. I might suggest going during the week if possible. It's worth the trip out there because you can also visit the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum and see the raptor presentation.

Unfortunately, my long-suffering camera is fading fast. The lens doesn't communicate with the camera body and I'm not sure the light sensor is quite right. I can usually finagle a few good shots out of it. Sometimes I get weird ones like this above, which is pretty cool.

Crested saguaro are uncommon. Desert four-leaf clovers.

Old mine shaft for what I think was the Gould mine...

BASE Jumping

noreply@blogger.com (Eric) — Sun, 04 Mar 2012 02:16:00 +0000

It must be rad to go BASE jumping. I can't say I can begin imagine the nerve it takes to step out over the edge of some precipice thousands of feet up and place my faith in a little fabric parachute stuffed into a pack and strapped to my back, but I admire those who do and I hope the reward is worth it. It sure looks exhilarating.

Jumpers are recognized with a number when they have completed jumps from each of the four categories referenced in the BASE acronym - Buildings, Aerials (antennas), Spans (bridges), and Earth (cliffs). The first person to accomplish this earned BASE #1. Numbers are now being awarded around 1500. The clip is from Adrenaline Rush: The Science of Risk. It's on it's way from Netflix. The music in the clip is a Boards of Canada remix of a Boom Bip song called Last Walk Around Mirror Lake.

Coghlan's Backpacking Trowel

noreply@blogger.com (Erin) — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 04:59:00 +0000

I've had this discussion on a couple occasions while talking about backpacking gear:

Me: I still carry a Coghlan's trowel.
Friend: A what?
Me: Orange shit shovel.
Friend: (recognition) Oh yeah. Ha ha. I have one of those.

The Coghlan's Backpacking Trowel might not be high-tech or fancy, but it's cheap and it's light. How cheap? Under five bucks. How light? 2 oz. This page here has a helpful comparison of several brands of trowels. Can't beat it.

Gambel's Quail

noreply@blogger.com (Eric) — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 17:50:00 +0000

Gambel's Quail are ubiquitous desert neighbors in the deserts of Arizona and New Mexico. With their characteristic bobbing headdress, they scurry across roads and peck around in the chaparral. They're certainly some of the most amusing birds to watch. They resemble the California Quail but Gambels are a unique species and the two quails' habitats don't overlap. The female and young are more modestly dressed than the males. They spend a lot of their time on the ground foraging and even nest on the ground, but they can and do fly. When a hawk soars overhead, quail tribes explode in a whir of wings and scatter into the bushes. If you're hiking and you startle a group of quail, prepare to be startled yourself!

Erin took these photos of a particular group of quail that hang out on the wall in our yard. A few months ago, many quail in this group were just little chicks chasing their parents in their signature single-file line across our driveway.

The mourning doves and quail seem to enjoy a sort of truce. The doves' range vastly exceeds the quails' - it stretches across most of sub-arctic North America.

50 Year Trail to Baby Jesus Ridgeline

noreply@blogger.com (Eric) — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 01:04:00 +0000

Who could resist walking trails with such fascinating names - 50 Year Trail...Baby Jesus Trail? I based this hike on this description on Hike Arizona. I modified it by beginning at the Equestrian Center trailhead at Catalina State Park. I didn't follow the 50 Year Trail to the end, but I did go somewhat beyond the intersection with the Baby Jesus Trail. Not sure how far. So, I ended up walking the 50 Year Trail to Baby Jesus Trail, then a very rocky walk down the Sutherland Trail. A right down the Link Trail brought me through acacia stands that resembled orchards. I met back up with the 50 Year Trail and retraced a couple miles back to my truck. I calculated the trip around 19 miles or so. Not bad for one day.

I bought a new pair of shoes at The Hike House in Sedona. They're Roclite 315's by Inov-8. My long-suffering hiking partners have heard me bemoan the long-suffering in my feet. A uniquely bad combination of foot ailments - mostly terrible blisters - has plagued me through many, many hikes. I quit wearing hiking boots about a year ago, but running shoes lack badly needed grip. The Inov-8's have really helped out. A nearly twenty mile hike in one day, over rocky terrain, without a foot injury was unthinkable for me, but I made it all the way unscathed. Inov-8 claims these shoes are engineered for long-distance trail travel and, though I haven't logged too many miles on them yet, I think they live up to that. They're actually really comfortable and I like to wear them around.

This trough full of goldfish is the second one I've encountered, the other being in Saguaro National Park.

Happy 100 Years, Arizona!

noreply@blogger.com (Eric) — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 15:20:00 +0000

On the morning of Feb. 14, 1912, the headline of The Arizona Republican read "The 48th State Steps into the Union." George P. Hunt became the state's first governor shortly after Joe Melzer and Hazel Goldberg became the first couple to get married in the new state. Phoenix only had 11,300 people back then, slightly smaller than Tucson's 13,900. 100 years later, Phoenix has grown to 1,445,632 people; 520,100 folks call the Old Pueblo home, including us.

It's a cloudy morning in Tucson, 53 degrees, quail sing in the chaparral. Clouds cover Tanque Verde and Rincon Peak and a train creeps parallel to Interstate 10 in the distance. The Catalina Mountains rest in fog. A Gila woodpecker is raiding our hummingbird feeder. A wet winter called the flowers and leaves back early, a pair of cactus wren are building a nest in an abandoned woodpecker hole high up on a saguaro. They're lining it with mourning dove feathers. Just like they did in 1912. And 1812. And 1712.

The Arizona Republic, still the state's flagship newspaper despite the slight name change in 1930, celebrates the state's birthday again after 100 years. Read all about it!

Grand Canyon to Ban the Sale of Plastic Water Bottles

noreply@blogger.com (Eric) — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 03:51:00 +0000

The Grand Canyon is set to discontinue sales of plastic water bottles within the park. Shaun McKinnon of the Arizona Republic explains the whole decision and history here. Plastic water bottles account for 20% of the overall waste at the Grand Canyon and 30% of the recyclable material. It's good that people are getting the message that they need to drink when they visit the Canyon, but the Grand Canyon is a fragile environment that undergoes heavy traffic. Limiting the number of plastic water bottles in the park helps keep trails clean, animals safe, and the views unmarred. All national parks are set to eliminate sales of water bottles within park boundaries, but each park is free to establish its own time and method for getting the bottles out. The Park Service plans to sell refillable bottles and provide water stations so visitors can still stay hydrated.

Vanadanite

noreply@blogger.com (Eric) — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 23:57:00 +0000

A geologist friend of mine was kind enough to invite me a long on a mineral collecting trip. We were looking for vanadanite, a really neat, hexagon shaped, red mineral. We ended up finding some; the geologists said it's fairly easy to get.

The process of extracting the vanadanite was a bit more exciting than I expected. These folks pulled huge boulders off a rock wall to expose new material. The boulders crashed down a hill and broke up on a pile of previously dislodged rocks.

The spot was in or near Patagonia, Arizona. It's a beautiful, open place.

VICE: Peruvian Scissor Dancing

noreply@blogger.com (Eric) — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 16:49:00 +0000

The folks at VICE produce a lot of really great videos highlighting cultural practices around the world. I've been a fan of their Americana series for awhile now. Their new travel/adventure series "All the Wrong Places" features exactly what you'd expect from the title - visiting people doing some far out stuff. Take, for example, Peruvian scissor dancing. It's a dance, a test of strength, and a heavy dose of exhibitionism as men - dancers and musicians - perform acts of increasingly cringe-worthy self-mutilation. The part that got the hair on my neck up is when a dude lays down on some cholla cactus. I've felt those before myself - in my legs - and I'm not looking to run into them again, let alone drive dozens of their spikes into my back. Ouch!

Hopkinton State Park by Matt Faria

noreply@blogger.com (Eric) — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 05:32:00 +0000

I'm lucky enough to know many talented people. I think my buddy Matt's photos of Hopkinton State Park certainly exemplify what I mean. Anyone who's photographed in New England during the winter knows that it's not easy. Flat skies wash out easily, particularly when a reflective layer of snow covers everything. Matt certainly found good light and took advantage of it.

Check out more of Matt's photos over on his Flickr page or his Tumblr where you can view them at larger sizes.

Wild Horses in the Tortolita Mountains

noreply@blogger.com (Eric) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 02:59:00 +0000

The Sonoran Desert Mountain Bicyclists, based in Tucson, posted this video of wild horses in the Tortolita Mountains on their Youtube channel. Wild horses are not at all common in Arizona, so the trail builder who shot this video was very lucky. Hohokam people lived in the Tortolitas for seven-hundred years and there are accessible Hohokam sites there today.

Old Growth Forests

noreply@blogger.com (Eric) — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 03:17:00 +0000

In order to be considered "old growth," a forest must no have been logged for over two hundred years. Such forests can contain trees that are hundreds, and in some instances even thousands, of years old. Old growth forests aren't just novelties; they also unique ecosystems and windows into the past.

The key to this helpful (and profoundly sad) graphic explains that each dot represents 25,000 acres of forest. There are smaller stands of old growth throughout most of the country; this Wikipedia page lists the location of many pockets of old growth. Something worth checking out before it's gone.

Flagstaff Nordic Center

noreply@blogger.com (Eric) — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 17:31:00 +0000

I've driven by the Flagstaff Nordic Center quite a few times, so I was excited to finally make it up there to do some cross country skiing. It's in a beautiful spot beside the mountains, the trails are well groomed, the people are friendly, and they have yurts! Can't wait to go back.

Gordon Hirabayashi 1918-2012

noreply@blogger.com (Eric) — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 16:36:00 +0000

Gordon Hirabayashi died on January 2 at age 93. Though he enjoyed a successful career as a sociologist at the University of Alberta, Hirabayashi is best remembered as one of the few Japanese Americans who fought internment during World War II. Backed by the ACLU, Hirabayashi intentionally disregarded a curfew, was arrested, and eventually brought his case, Hirabayashi vs the United States, to the Supreme Court where (surprise! surprise!) he lost. The government didn't have the funding to transport him to a federal prison camp in Tucson, so he hitchhiked from Washington DC to voluntarily serve out his sentence. Keep in mind that his "crime" was not serving out a longer sentence in a different camp simply for being Japanese. The decision was overturned in 1987, a late vindication for Hirabayashi.

The prison camp that once held Hirabayashi and other Japanese Americans is now the Gordon Hirabayashi Campground located along the Catalina Highway in Coronado National Forest. The Forest Service website has more history and photos of the internment camps here. It's strange that we've chosen to honor Hirabayashi by naming the site of his unfair imprisonment after him, but I suppose lending his name to the location reminds us of the injustice that occurred there. I've walked around in the foundations of the old prison camp a few times. It's not much to see, but prisons never are much to see.

Remembering Gordon Hirabayashi and his stand against racial injustice and paranoia seems particularly apropos during our current moment. We watch as our president signs a bill (with "reservations") that allows military detention of citizens without trial and as would-be presidents circle the country promising more foreign wars and greater "domestic security." TSA scanners, unmanned drones patrolling the border, racial profiling, private prisons, GPS tracking without warrant, and the list goes on. Will Hirabayashi's legacy be a recognition that we should not sacrifice rights to security? That fear creates injustice? Or will we just name a pile of decaying prison rocks in the Catalina Mountains after him and go on committing the same foolish errors he fought against seventy years ago? At least we can always remember Hirabayashi's dignity and bravery as our government denied him his freedom be reminded of what being American is supposed to be about.

Archaeological Resources Protection Act of 1979

noreply@blogger.com (Eric) — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 01:57:00 +0000

I link to a lot of stuff in the sidebar on the blog. I've come to realize that it's part of what makes blogging "journalish" work, as most of the additions are perhaps more frequently a catalog of personal resources than content consciously offered to readers. But I thought these were neat so I'd point out that I added them. Hike Arizona posts a reminder to read the Archaeological Resources Protection Act of 1979 and a guide to Ruins Etiquette (well-composed by a fellow calling himself Rob del Desierto) on listings for hikes that encounter sites of archeological significance. Lots of great stuff at Hike AZ. Check it out if you're not already familiar.

Happy New Year!

noreply@blogger.com (Eric) — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 23:32:00 +0000

Hope you had a wicked rad 2011 and that 2012 is even wickeder and radder.

Sedona Psychic Vortexes

noreply@blogger.com (Eric) — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 20:39:00 +0000

Tourists flock to Sedona, AZ all seasons of the year and we're no different. We recently headed up to Sedona and Flagstaff for a little rest, relaxation, and cross-country skiing.

Though most people visit Sedona for the beautiful and iconic red rock formations that rise from all horizons, the small city also attracts many who adhere to or are curious about the New Age movement. Shops advertising healing crystals, faery and angel stuff, and other New Age and spiritual things line all major roads.

Probably the most iconic metaphysical attractions are several sites around town believed to be vortexes (though the plural of vortex is vortices, in Sedona, they say vortexes). Different people say that vortexes are different things - giant magnets or sites of spiritual energy for example. Some believe they heal, offer mental clarity, or give other-worldly visions. You can even take tours to the vortexes (all of which are pretty easily accessible without a tour; take one of the off-road Jeep tours instead ). Here's a description of the vortexes from the website for one tour group.

To say we're profoundly skeptical of all this would be an understatement, but Erin and I have visited Sedona many times and we've never checked out any of the vortex sites, so we swung by the Kachina Woman Vortex along Boyton Canyon. We found beautiful views, friendly people, and interesting geology, but no angels or faeries or supercharged-spirit-magnet-enlightenment-healing. We did meet a lady who claimed the vortex healed her knee, though, and she recommended the book pictured below. To each her own.

People built small cairns around the vortex site.

Kachina Woman Vortex overlooks Boyton Canyon. Not sure how a developer got the permit to drop this shitty resort in the middle the canyon...

Here's a Sedona vortex map. Go get healed (or just enjoy the views).

Happy Holidays!

noreply@blogger.com (Eric) — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 22:22:00 +0000

Happy Holidays to our friends, especially our families in chilly New England.

I might add this is my 300th post to Making Owls Cool.

Desert Gothic

noreply@blogger.com (Eric) — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 19:29:00 +0000

The clouds have been thick around the Catalina Mountains every morning this week. Today was the first chance I had to try to take some pictures, so I went to Catalina State Park up in Oro Valley. Not sure my busted old camera can handle difficult light anymore, but a few shots sort of caught the feeling of the cold, wet morning at the foot of the mountains.

One Very Important Thought

noreply@blogger.com (Eric) — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 04:18:00 +0000

I read a lot of great quality writing on blogs. User-driven communities online connect disparate people, creating common spaces for the consolidation of ideas and art around mutual interests. The blogrolls where we link to several, or many, other blogs spread out as we link to new blogs and interesting websites; they also reconnect inward as we inter-link to one another's blogs. We form an ever growing, ever solidifying body of writing and art around topics like outdoor pursuits, photography, music and more. And as we span out and interconnect, scores of others on the Internet are doing the same thing around other topics, interests, hobbies, professions, beliefs, and more. Just as the printing press shrunk our ancestors' world half a millennium ago by bringing together literate people, the Internet allows us to construct world-wide imagined communities, enriching our lives through the flow of fascinating information and conversations with one another.

It's important to understand that what we do - the harmless building of communities around common interests - is being threatened now in the United States. The introduction of a bill known as SOPA - or Stop Online Piracy Act - is currently under review by the U.S. House Judiciary Committee. The Wikipedia page seems up to date and explains SOPA and the controversy well. Under the provisions of this bill, sites that publish copyrighted information are liable to be shut down and those who published copyrighted material punished as felons. While the intent to stop online piracy sounds like a logical thing to support, this act is written in a nebulous and open-ended manner that, depending on how it is interpreted, could make sites like Youtube, Google, and others unusable. Google has come out against SOPA. The companies that host our various blogs could also find themselves facing problems under SOPA and our pastimes and communities could vanish while they're still forming. If the Internet is to continue to revolutionize the size, scope, and nature of what we call communities, it must remain free. Copyright law can easily become censorship with the right (or wrong) interpretation.

The following clever quote from this odd little Boards of Canada track is adapted from the end of a 1982 adult film called "A Brief Affair:"

"If you can be told what you can see or read, then it follows that you can be told what to say or think. Defend your constitutionally protected rights. No one else will do it for you."

How many copyrights am I violating by posting this video and quoting from the dialogue in the song? Could this post be taken down? How many of your posts might contain copyrighted material? Is what we're doing wrong?

Foggy Morning

noreply@blogger.com (Eric) — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 16:50:00 +0000

I woke up to another morning of dense fog. Fog offers uncommon lighting in the usually bright desert, so I grabbed my camera and shot a few pictures. A humid 39 degrees felt like an old friend to my New England bones.

I don't know if these little lacewings were taking shelter in the cholla fruit or eating it. Perhaps edible shelter?