History – Page 2 – a curious nature

Sabino Canyon History not easily “Forgotten”

June 16, 2023

Sabino Canyon Open Space, a scenic area for a hike, is found just south of the town of Tijeras in the Manzano Mountains. with less than 120 acres of gently sloping meadows, surrounded by piñon pine and juniper trees, the area has been inhabited since 5500 B.C.

Needless to say, Sabino Canyon has “history,” some of which is on display by walking a short distance uphill from the parking area.

Between the 1600s and 1800s, the meadows of today were actively farmed for pinto beans and potatoes to support the small village of Sabino, of which little is known. However, the area became map worthy when in the 1920s, the Riedling family of musical fame, owned and operated the Riedmont Silver Fox Farm located within the west half of today’s Sabino Canyon Open Space property. Fur coats and capes were all the rage in the 1920s, and the farm raised between 300-500 silver fox, along with minx and rabbit to help supply the demand. When the fur market crashed in the late 1930s, the fox farm was abandoned. What remains are the fox, minx and rabbit enclosures, a water tower, and several outbuildings, all of which seem to be melting back into the landscape.

Visiting this historic area, it was hard to think about such beautiful animals living their lives out in small cages, only to be killed for their fur.

As we walked around the rapidly deteriorating farm buildings (it doesn’t appear any effort is being made to restore the structures), I unwittingly plowed through large patches of gnarly dried out cheatgrass hiding thickets of heavily seeded forget-me-nots. Ouch! When looking down at my socks, boots and boot laces, I wasn’t surprised to find hundreds of seeds had seemingly “jumped” and clamped snugly aboard! So for the next 30 minutes, I plucked and pulled enough of those pesky hitchhikers to allow me to hike on out of there!

A memorable hike back into history….. one I won’t soon “Forget!”

March “Littles” ….. Looking for Spring Amidst March Madness

April 3, 2023

March came in like a passive lion, allowing a few signs of Spring to peek through. My collection of nature snippets and decorative trail rocks was going well, until ……. Before long we were once again shoveling drifts and piles of snow, dumped on New Mexico thanks to California’s 13 atmospheric rivers that flowed from coast to coast. This was looking like the winter that would never end.

It was truly and literally “March Madness” out there. So, in the spirit of the crazy seasonal weather, an emergency road trip became necessary to search for some “Littles” filler. And I knew the perfect route to take …..

The Turquoise Trail Scenic Byway winds around the Ortiz Mountains and Cerrillos Hills, while passing through the historic mining towns of Golden, Madrid (MAH-drid) and Cerrillos (sir-REE-yoose). Today, there’s minimal mining taking place in them there hills. Today it’s all about art, and there’s some really weird stuff on display out there.

From Golden to just north of Cerrillos, the hillsides are adorned with metal sculptures like a Trojan horse, three boned fish on sticks, a scuba diver fleeing a curious dolphin, two-story tall origami made of folded metal, butterflies as big as pterodactyls, a squadron of green parrots, and a fleet of racing bicycles. You have to look around every bend in the road ….. they’re all there, and more!

It was fun “collecting” these images for my March “Littles” collection, but I needed one more. We had heard the story of Ethyl the Whale somehow living out of water, somewhere in Santa Fe. Sounded like the perfect weird addition to that blank spot on my page.

And there she was! Around the back side of the Santa Fe Community College, in a large, flat field was Ethyl, the 82-foot long blue whale sculpted out of single use plastics. Ethyl is HUGE! She not only holds the Guinness Book of Records for the World’s largest recycled plastic sculpture, she also delivers an important message about the health of our oceans.

Well, there you have it; my eclectic assortment of “Littles” to remember this March of 2023. Let me know what you think! I’m already looking forward to true Spring in April. Wildflowers should be popping up everywhere and maybe a few more bugs will make an appearance for my April “Littles.”

Thanks again to “Made by Fay” for the “Littles” inspiration!

A Festive Anniversary Week in the Sonoran Desert. Part 4: King of Cowboys, Casa Grande Ruins, the Hohokam, and One Very Weird Fungus

(December 11-17, 2022)

December 13, 2022

This day we explored areas as far as 50 miles north of la Casita. Following the old highway between Tucson and Phoenix, we first came upon a roadside rest area and memorial to the legendary cowboy, Tom Mix, who died at this spot 83 years ago. Tom who? Of course we had to stop and learn more about this interesting bit of history.

Then on to Casa Grande Ruins National Monument where history dates back more than 1700 years, well before the first Spanish explorers showed up, exploring. Even Luna was permitted to wander around this cultural monument, but we may have appreciated the stories surrounding the Hohokam more than she did.

Then to complete our tour for the day, we came upon a lonely ranch road on the way back to la Casita, where the saguaro stood tall over countless cholla, barrel cactus, iron trees and palo verde. It was here, in the middle of “where-are-we-now?” that I peered under a creosote bush and found the weirdest puffball fungus ever.

Read on for a snapshot of our day.

Escapito #5: Public Lands Boondocking through central New Mexico

“The Felix” was loaded and ready for a fun boondocking adventure through forest and desert, ghost towns and lava flows, rainbow colored ridges and badlands.
Central New Mexico is a splendid place to explore and discover wildlife, geology and spectacular scenery.

Come on along with us for 4 days of camping fun in the Land of Enchantment.

Summer Bugs and Botany: Cochineal Dye Making

It was a rainy day in most of NM, but what a welcome relief to be getting moisture! As we hastily hiked the lower Copper Trails, we noticed the prickly pear seemed to be draped in a more-than-usual white fuzz, and it wasn’t cotton ball shaped but dripping and running down hundreds of cactus pads. Every direction we turned we found nearly every prickly pear to be covered………………….
And then we spotted hundreds of thousands of brilliant scarlet red bodies of the cochineal insect ….. exposed, naked and frantically trying to hold onto their food source, the vertical surfaces of prickly pear pads. The rain had “melted” their protective coats of fine white wax and the green pads of the cactus looked white washed.

Opportunity!

Escapito #4: Reservoir Hopping thru Georgia O’Keefe Country

On the road again with “The Felix” reservoir hopping through spectacular Georgia O’Keefe country in north-central New Mexico.

Come along and see what we discovered!

Escapito #3: Wildlife and Geology of Catron County

“The Felix” was back in action for another camping adventure into the wilds of New Mexico. For a few days we enjoyed spending time at one of our favorite dry campgrounds, Datil Well. Then on one day we unhooked truck from trailer and headed further afield to explore a seldom visited area of the Cibola National Forest ….. the Sawtooth Mountains.

Come along and see what we discovered!

Dispatches From New Mexico: Lazy R Welding

One of my favorite bumper stickers is, ”I chose the road less traveled. Now where the hell am I?” This reminds me a lot of what it’s like traveling about rural New Mexico. It’s always beautifully remote, ghostly quiet except for the sound of pointlessly spinning vanes of a long-abandoned windmill, and you never know what you’ll find around the next bend in the road.

So there we were navigating the back roads to Quarai …….

Visiting Quarai, Salinas Pueblos/Missions National Monument

New Mexico is such a culturally and historically rich state. Combine this with gorgeous scenery and outrageously blue skies, and you have the perfect ingredients for fun and educational day trips.

We woke to a sunny day and decided to hit the road less travelled. Our destination was only a few hours south of home, following along an old trade route called the Salt Missions Trail. Winding rural roads took us through Spanish settlements and villages of stone and adobe, mostly old and crumbling, as we paralleled the eastern flank of the Manzanita and Manzano Mountains in central NM.