Madera Canyon

While on a recent drive south of Tucson along I-19 we turned off to explore Madera Canyon.  Madera Canyon is part of the Santa Rita Mountains, located within Coronado National Forest.  One enters the canyon at the desert floor and reaches the peak turnabout at an elevation of slightly over 5000 feet.   As one ascends,the scenery changes from cactus to pine trees! Picnic areas and hiking trails are common. There is even a Bed and Breakfast, and a few private homes located within the forest area.

   One feature that caught our attention were what appeared to be "ghost trees".  Located along a creek bed at one of the picnic areas were a number of these unusual trees...they were tall, the bark was smooth and white, and they had no leaves.  From a park sign we learned they were sycamore trees...riparian, deciduous hardwoods that grow to 60-100 feet tall; found along river banks, creeks and streams; the smooth white bark is characteristic. These trees were just starting to form leaf buds in the early spring...

Titan Missile Museum

The Titan II missile is the largest missile built by the United States.  During the Cold War period in the 1960's as many as 54 of these missiles were built and placed in underground silos (18 each near Wichita, Kansas, Little Rock, Arkansas, and Tucson, Arizona); missiles were active and ready to launch if state of war was declared.  In 1982 Titan Missile sites were decommissioned and all operational silos were demolished, except one...located south of Tucson this site has been preserved as a National Historic Landmark.  Public tours are now available.
   We visited the site, starting out with a video presentation about the Titan Missile Program. After that we walked into the yard and descended 55 steps to the control room doors...massive amounts of steel and cement protected the control room.  Walls at least 4 feet thick and 3-ton, 2 feet thick blast doors sealed various areas of the site from the surface. Huge springs and shock absorbers were built into the underground structures to help them withstand explosions from above ground.  Along the way were three stations where persons entering the site would have stopped to call from a wall mounted phone and give their security information in order to proceed further into the tunnels.

   Once in the control room we watched as our guide took us through the steps involved for a missile launch: Two-person teams worked together if the call to launch was received. It came in secret code; both persons took their key and opened the double locked file cabinet to remove the secret files used to interpret the code.  The code told which of three pre-programed sites was the intended target. Once the target was chosen, again two keys were turned in separate areas of the control room and a red button flashed...at this point there was no turning back!

   From the control room we walked through one cableway, or tunnel, to the silo where a Titan II Missile stands; no fuel remains in the rockets and the warhead is absent, allowing it to be safely displayed to visitors.  Huge concrete doors above the silo are partially open, so from outside you can look down into the 150 foot deep silo.  Also outside were various antenna towers for communication and motion detecting devices used for security.

   During the tour one was reminded of how much technology changes...secret codes, double turn keys, locked file cabinets, computer programs on reels of tape, data hard drives the size of refrigerators...what a different time it was!

Gallery in the Sun

Gallery in the Sun is a 10 acre historic landmark located in the foothills of the Santa Catalina Mountains near Tucson.  The Gallery is a complex of hand-made buildings and structures designed and built by Arizona artist Ettore "Ted" DeGrazia.  DeGrazia is well known for his paintings of native cultures of the Southwest, many of which are on display in the Gallery.

Also on the grounds is Mission in the Sun, built in 1952 of native adobe, and dedicated to Father Kino (early missionary) and Our Lady of Guadalupe (patron saint of Mexico). DeGrazia's original home and his gravesite are located near the mission church.

Likely most well known of DeGrazia's paintings is "Los Ninos", which was chosen in 1960 as the artwork for a UNICEF greeting card.

Sabino Canyon

 We recently visited Sabino Canyon, located in the Coronado National Forest northeast of Tucson.  The park features shuttle buses that provide narrated tours through the canyon.  The buses follow about 4 miles of dirt road and cross 9 bridges on the way up into the Santa Catalina Mountains.  The road and bridges were built by CCC workers during the 1930's.  Along the way are 9 stops where one can depart the bus and enjoy hiking trails, picnic areas, and even swimming holes (but the water is pretty cold!).
 
Original inhabitants of this canyon area included the Hohokam Indians, who lived near the creek about 1200 AD and used the water to irrigate crops.  Rocks along the creek still have indentations and holes worn in them, formed by grinding stones as grains were prepared for food. The swimming holes are known to have been used back in the 1870's by soldiers from nearby Fort Lowell.  And today the canyon is popular with hikers of all abilities, as the trails are graded according to ease of climb and distance.

Water Management

An assured supply of Water is one priority for those living in Arizona.  On a recent field trip, we toured a pump station and learned about the Central Arizona Project (CAP), a project appropriated by federal and state authority to bring water from the Colorado River to Central Arizona.
    Central Arizona obtains water from three sources: groundwater, runoff from surrounding watersheds, and the CAP.  At first, groundwater use was mostly unregulated.  As a result, this source was overused, which led to empty aquifers and fissures developing as the ground sank into the voids created. Since 1980, state regulations have managed groundwater use. 
    Surface water runoff is managed by Salt River Project, where runoff water and snow melt from nearby mountainous areas collects in the Salt River and Verde River.  The river water is then captured in reservoirs behind a series of dams so the flow can be managed.
    CAP delivers Colorado River water from Lake Havasu, on the state's western border, to Maricopa, Pinal, and Pima counties in Central Arizona through a 336 mile system of pumping stations, concrete-lined canals, and aqueducts. Computer controlled commands send signals to various parts of the system to regulate water flow.  There is even a means to store excess water in underground "banks" for future use.  In addition, CAP is working with other groups to develop alternative water supplies, including desalination of ocean water.
     Awareness, management, and conservation will continue to play important roles in the future of Arizona's water sources.
   

MAC Farm Desert Ag-Ventures

We recently spent a day at the Maricopa Agricultural Center (MAC), a 2100 acre research and educational center operated by the University of Arizona. We watched videos and listened to lectures about desert agriculture, had a question & answer session with one of the faculty members, and toured a couple areas of the complex, including the cotton gin, vegetable garden, and siphon irrigation field.
     MAC research focuses on plants currently grown in this area, including cotton, small grains, and alfalfa, plus potential new specialty crops for arid land including guayule, hesperaloe, jojoba, and lesquerella.  Quayale is a desert native shrub which can be used for rubber production; it has less protein than natural rubber and makes a latex rubber that can better tolerated by persons with latex allergies.  Hesperaloe is a long-lived perennial plant native to Mexico; it produces long thin fibers useful in paper production and is being studied as a new crop for the desert southwest. Jojoba is a native evergreen plant whose seeds contain a liquid wax used in cosmetics and for industries that require heat resistant lubricants. Lesquerella is being studied as a potential oilseed crop, similar to castor beans; it grows with very little water use.
    The irrigation program at MAC deals with all facets of agricultural irrigation from water delivery to how crops use that water.  The research acres have both ground water wells and irrigation canals, so they can replicate most any method used by local farmers.  MAC maintains a weather station that records temperature, wind speed & direction, rainfall, etc. on an hourly basis, then stores that information for historical uses.
    One researcher described how important GPS is to farming...from crop yield reports generated row-by-row as the farmer harvests a crop they can determine which parts of a field need more or less moisture, pesticides, or fertilizer.  Sensors on equipment can then accurately deliver those based on the GPS locations of the areas identified.  GPS also allows accurate planting and weed control...machines can get closer to the plants during cultivation to remove weeds, so less spraying is needed.
    Besides entertaining "snowbirds", the facility hosts visitors and researchers from across the nation, and internationally.

December 2013 Day Trips

In December, we took several day trips while the kids were here to visit. One day was spent near Tucson, visiting the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. This site is a combination of botanical garden and zoo, featuring desert plants and animals in natural habitat settings. The hummingbird enclosure was fun, as the tiny birds buzzed by your head as they flew from flowers to feeders.  If you were wearing red or pink, they would even stop momentarily and explore your clothing. Trails, surrounded by cacti and brush, led to enclosures of bobcats, coyotes, prairie dogs, javelins, desert tortoise, etc. The Earth Sciences Center had a limestone cave and hands-on mineral and meteor displays. An art gallery, aquarium, and restaurants are also part of the complex.



On the way to the Desert Museum, we drove through parts of Saguaro National Park.   This park preserves some of the densest stands of giant saguaro cactus, a symbol of the desert southwest.  These giant cacti can live up to 200 years; they reach heights of 50 feet, with arms reaching out in unusual configurations.  They are slow growing plants, taking up to 15 years to grow a foot high, and up to 75 years to form their first "arm".



Another trip was to Rooster Cogburn's Ostrich Ranch just south of Casa Grande. An hour or so of fun was had by all, feeding and interacting with the animals on the ranch...including donkeys, deer, goats, ostrich, prairie dogs,and geese. Most exciting was the Rainbow Lorikeet Forest, an enclosure of noisy colorful birds, the lorikeet, These birds would fly to you and eat nectar out of the cups you were holding (even removing the lid from the cup if you hadn't already done so).


On the way to the airport in Phoenix, we spent a while walking in Papago Park and climbed up for a close view of landmark "Hole-in-the Rock".  Hole in the Rock is a natural geological formation where the sandstone hill has been eroded to create a hole clear through the rock. It was a fairly easy climb on rough trails up the back side of the hill and into the hole. Historically the formation was likely an observatory used by early inhabitants to record positions of the sun during different seasons. Markings on surrounding rock correspond to seasonal solstices and equinoxes, creating a type of calendar system.