Camping in smuggler territory

Next we headed towards Tucson. We stopped for a night at Picacho Peak state park--a lovely little campground right off Highway 10. For $12/night you can get a spot with no hook-ups, but access to water, a dump station, and a really nice clean bathroom complete with showers. Quite luxurious. If you want electricity, there are spots for $20/night. The park itself is pretty. The campground is situated under Picacho Peak in saguaro, palo verde desert and at this time of the year is all in bloom. the bird life is amazing--I added some more new birds to my life list--a black-tailed gnatcatcher and ash-throated flycatcher.

Despite how nice it was having showers, we decided to head down the road looking for cheaper (i.e. free) accommodations. If we spend less to live, we can spend more on seeing things (entrance fees and so forth). We decided to try Ironwood National Monument, BLM land just northwest of Tucson. Ironwood is curiously absent from most tourist information--we just happened across it looking on the Go-Arizona pages (www.go-arizona.com). I can understand why once getting here--although the road is freshly graded, you can't get an RV very far into the park. As it was, we wre lucky to have a fifth wheel, we almost took off our spare tire in the first steep wash the road crosses. we pulled in just inside the "park"--in quotes because there is no marked entrance, no marked "BLM" land--we are just guessing we are actually in the BLM area.

Ironwood National Monument is only accessible through two main routes--from the north off Hwy 10 from Red Rock Road, and from the east via Avra Valley Road to Silverbell Road. The main road circles a huge active mining operation, it appears that they are busy removing a mountain, for what purpose I haven't discovered. However, having said that--the actual desert is beautiful, made even more so by the fact that there are no people here. We hear about 5 cars pass during the entire day.

I have to tell the funny story of our arrival, even though it will freak out my family a bit. We pulled into our chosen campsite, a narrow pullout just past the Silverbell Road turnoff. We were a bit disturbed that a huge black helicopter marked "POLICE" was circling over our heads. We worriedly discussed what they might be looking for--fugitives? Illegal aliens? Was President Bush driving through? (don't laugh--he was in Tucson that day--who knows?) Soon enough, driving down the road comes an overloaded pickup truck with a flat tire absolutely full of Mexicans. Given the proximity to the border, one assumes illegal mexicans. Sure enough, as soon as they passes, the helicopter followed them out. Hmmm...should we stay? Hey--at least the fugitives are closely watched around here!

The next day a BLM ranger came by. He said it was safe to camp there, but there were smugglers using the road to take Mexican's back in. I still haven't figured out why they are smuggling Mexican's into Mexico? Please do fill me in if you know!

The next day we visited the Arizon-Sonora Desert museum. Phoebe and her parents had a blast. The museum boasts having representatives of all the reptiles, amphibians, and mammals that you can find in the Sonoran desert--and most of the birds and plants. They have an enormous grounds in the Western part of Saguaro National Park. Winding walkways take you through botanical gardens filled with Sonoran desert plants and enclosures with wildlife and bird aviaries. The highlight for me was seeing a wild Spiny-tailed iguana sunning on a rock in the grounds. These iguanas are huge lizards--see the photo of the man taking a photo of the big boy we were stalking.

Greg found a climbing partner for the next day, so Phoebe and I were on our own--we spent the day in and around Tucson, visiting the creek at Molina Vista point, then into town to Bookman's, a huge used bookstore, and "Trail Dust Town", touristy reproduction old town that was deserted when we arrived, presumably because all the features they advertise--a carousel, a stream train ride, etc were closed for the winter. Nevertheless, we had a blast, eating at a posh restaurant and playing in "Chinatown."