Category: Uncategorized

Spent a week in Terlingua, Texas and explored both the Big Bend National Park and the Big Bend Ranch State Park. Got to float down a portion of the Rio Grande inside the state park and took a number of hikes in both parks.

Talk about a border wall!! Don’t think there is any chance of folks crossing the border legally or illegally near here.

Although the signage said a $5000 fine for crossing the border Laurie figured just touching the Mexican side would not land her in deep trouble.

Scouted out a nice place to put the kayaks in the water and eventually take them out. We did cheat a bit by asking the local outfitters where they were putting in and taking out on their tours.

For the most part the water level was okay for a nice paddle but I did have to exit the kayak for a portage or 15 while Laurie only needed about half as many. Wonder why?

Simply beautiful out here in the desert. Amazing how the water creates an oasis of sorts all along its path. Nothing but brown and dusty except for the river corridor.

Needed our trusty scooter to get ourselves back from the end of the paddle to the truck. It really did need the exercise as we have not found many places to use it recently. The park was good as they did not require an extra fee for us to use it. Should have purchased the $70 annual state park pass for Texas but who was to know that we would use it so many times, here and other parks toward Dallas and Texarkana.

This fabulous animal is a classic Texas longhorn steer. He welcomed us back into Terlingua each day after our excursions. Man those horns look sharp.

This particular hike was in the national park and led us through a nice slot canyon. Not too many folks out on this March afternoon but the scenery was fabulous.

Much of the trail looked like this. We heard about the recent earthquake to rock the NYC area and hoped that we would avoid such a natural disaster here. I think we would have been in trouble with these canyon walls surrounding us if the earth started to shake.

Came across this patch of prickly pear cactus and noted that each of the lobes appeared to have been chomped on by something. Looked it up later to find the local pig like animal called a javelina (pronounced with an h sound for the j) likes to eat them. Cannot imagine trying to avoid the needles whilst chomping into them.

Who would have guessed that a cactus could flower like this? Amazing the resemblance between this and a yellow rose. Not sure if they bloom every year but we happened to see all different types of cactus blooming this trip.

What a beautiful backdrop to be walking into for the day’s hike. The desert is a grand place to visit.

The parks often give you a glimpse of the Rio Grande from some of the remote roads going through the area.

Took another slot canyon hike but this time it was in the state park. This hike wandered from the road toward the Rio Grande but never actually made it there.

Figured we were getting toward the end of our journey at this point. We did get around this pool of water with steep canyon walls to impede our progress.

When you reach a sign that says “End of Trail” , you know your walk is over. We did have to peek to see why and there was no way to drop down to the next level of the canyon without some serious equipment.

We did run into another couple about our age at the end of the road and asked them to take our picture. You can tell it was a slot canyon with all sorts of rock scrambles as my trusty hiking poles are put away in my pack.

Our last hike in the area was called “hoodoos”. We are familiar with this geological phenomenon in the Arizona area and around the Grand Canyon. Cool structures indeed. Amazing it does not come crashing down on someone poking it with a stick!

Check out how pristine and clear this water supply was out in the middle of the desert. If it were more than 70 degrees we probably would have been tempted to take a dip.

You do have to wonder how and why some things get abandoned where there are no roads nearby. The desert climate did not encourage any rust or deterioration to the metal but we noticed that most of the useable parts had been removed long ago.

Folks around here must have enjoyed the Mad Max movies. This is a sampling of the “lawn art” in the town of Terlingua.

We will leave this post with a picture of a “limp” but healthy yucca tree. Kind of an arch beckoning us to walk under it and into the desert.

Did not know what to expect in White Sands NP but we did figure on a lot of white sand! A surreal and out of this world place it is. It is right in the middle of two USAF bombing ranges so that added a bit to the mystique of the place. We felt a bit like driving in the northeast mid-winter with a dusting of snow on the road.

The trail head for the Alkali Flats Trail. The sign is quick to point out that the Flats trail is not at all flat. Sand dunes are very hard to walk up and down even when the sand is made of gypsum.

This was the first large dune we had to walk over. We should have brought our scree gators along as the sand was very fine and was constantly filling our shoes up. Why not go barefoot you say? Probably should have but to us, 5 miles of hiking seemed a bit long for barefoot.

As with a number of the trail markers here this one was almost completely covered with the plentiful white sand. Usually these carsonite posts are a good 4 feet tall above ground.

Hard to mark a trail like this but the park crew had done a good job keeping most of the carsonite posts from being buried. Each time we got to a post the next one was visible in the distance.

As the sand here is gypsum powder I got to thinking that it must be similar to wallboard or joint compound. Tough to see here but the rain has caused the character of the surface to mimic a poorly sanded joint compound joint. If you have ever tried to patch and sand wallboard you will know what I am talking about.

It was only in the low 70s but the sun was fairly intense so the trusty bucket hat to the rescue. I have never worn sunglasses while hiking but without them, the sun really did hurt the eyes with the intense glare of the white sand.

This “hedge row” must be made of the sturdiest plants alive. The wind just keeps pummeling them with the fine grit and they somehow seem to have a decent existence.

Made it to the top of the loop hike and found this signage. Gotta love the warning to avoid the unexploded ordinance in the area! We opted to stay in this side of the sign. Evidently when the bombing air raids are going on every now and again, not only is the park closed but so is the only highway leading to it, US Route 70.

Walking the border of the missile range and ready to head back on our loop we found the gypsum to be easier to walk on when it was not piled up in dunes. The park literature said that the sand actually holds water and stays moist even though we are in a desert.

Our shadows seem happy after a good 3 hour day in the national park. Might be back to this one some day.

Spent a few days near this strangely named town in New Mexico. We found out that it really is named after the radio game show “Truth or Consequences” back in the 40s. The network airing the popular show had a contest of sorts that if a town changed its name to Truth or Consequences they would air the 10th anniversary (1950) show from that town. Guess the town previously called Hot Springs wanted the notoriety and maybe potential tourist money so they legally changed their name. Eventually the radio show became a TV show and was hosted for 17 years by Bob Barker long before he did the Price is Right.

We have had the pleasure of seeing these roadrunners out on the road a few times during this trip. Only thing missing each time was the coyote. While in the area we got in a few good paddles in our kayaks as well as a nice hike through the desert.

This trail through the desert was not very well marked. We did see a few other folks out for a nice springtime walk but had to use our gps a few times just to make sure we did not get too lost. Is there such a thing as “too lost”?

The prickly pear cactus were in great abundance here. We noted that many of them had “bite marks” taken out of many of their paddles. We looked it up later and found out that the elusive javelinas do eat these cactus. We have not seen a javelina during our travels but wikipedia shows them to look much like a wild boar.

There were two different lakes to paddle on in the area. Both days we cut our paddles a bit on the short side as the wind made it difficult to enjoy the peaceful scenery.

Nice to have the lakes to ourselves. Not sure which mountain is off in the distance but it looks like a good hike for the future.

We did find a nice and almost wind free cove to paddle around. Still amazes us that the desert has so much water.

We could not tell who got pushed around by the wind more. My larger body versus her smaller one or the fact that my boat was deeper in the water causing more drag. Either way, only half our paddle was against the wind.

Sunsets from our camping spot were a beautiful way to end each day here in central New Mexico.

How many of these giant saguaro can you count here. Can certainly see why they named the park after this behemouth.

Our path for the day seems like it will lead to somewhere amongst the clouds in the desert.

Right time, right place to see this barrel cactus in bloom. We saw some of the blooms detached and partially eaten along the trail. Maybe there are seeds in the flowers that other animals eat and then excrete somewhere else for germination?

We noticed that these teddy bear cholla cactus seem to be dropping some “arms” this time of year. Maybe they are dropping them so they can root themselves and become viable new cacti? The one on the left seems to have sprouted 2 or 3 of these offspring.

What would a good walk in the Arizona desert be without some good ocotillo cactus to keep the saguaro company?

Many of these ocotillo cactus were also in bloom this time of year. Very pretty indeed.

Not sure whether this two headed monster is a barrel or a saguaro. Either way, the saying goes “two heads are better than one”.

The end of the official trail found us staring at this small but impressive waterfall in the desert. Not even enough water to keep the pool from stagnating.

Imagine the complete silence in the desert and then hearing this waterfall. Almost felt like laying down and taking a nap.

Saguaro National Park has two units but we only visited the eastern one near Tucson. There is a nice 8 mile loop along the park road that I took a bike ride on but no pictures. Very cool ride as the road is one way and there is not much traffic either.

Our friends in the Salton Sea area of California clued us in on the Superstitions and said it was a must see if in the area an hour east of Phoenix. We found the hiking, and especially the kayaking, were absolutely fabulous.

A picture of us with our friend from New Zealand, Charlie. He is spending the month of March in Arizona looking for the spring blooms in the desert. Charlie is a horticulturalist and is very interesting to walk with as he knows quite a bit about the local plants and is a fun guy all around to spend time with. May get to see him in the Adirondacks this summer as he has rented a place there.

A lunch spot with a view of the surrounding desert. Even the clouds in the desert are interesting to look at.

Up close and personal with these wonderfully scenic mountains.

A different hike in the Superstitions. Cacti galore!

This 150 year old (or so) saguaro is being guarded by a patch of prickly pear cactus.

More of a jeep track to start this hike out but check out the potential for street lights if you put one on top of each saguaro.

Not only were the saguaro cactus plentiful but the ocotillo and teddy bear cactus made quite a showing on this fine day.

After a few days of nice desert hiking we drove up to Canyon Lake to see how the paddling would be. You can tell by Laurie’s expression that she approves of our venue.

We could tell this would be a nice paddle but up ahead on the right was the entrance to what we would call a fjord. Very reminiscent of our float in the Grand Canyon last year.

Not sure how tall the cliffs were but they certainly dwarfed us as we paddled by.

There were all sorts of little caves to paddle into and explore.

Gotta love the cactus hanging on for dear life here.

More beautiful scenery with the obligatory saguaro dotting the hillside. Did I mention that it was 72 degrees on this fine early March day.

We know that we will return to this area as it intrigued us quite a bit. The weather, the people and most of all the scenery with its abundance of activities for anyone interested in being outdoors.

Those are the actual names of the road, valley and lake. Not sure if someone intended the connection among the names but we found it perfectly apt.

Kayaking on Lake Pleasant in February! 75 degrees and sunny but no more New Zealand sun to sting your skin. There seem to be more boats in the desert than anywhere else we have been. There is even a yacht club on Lake Pleasant.

Of course the Happy Valley area is home to the cactus league for MLB spring training. We went to a few games and got a kick out of the mascot here at the stadium where the World Series champ Texas Rangers were playing.

Now that I am over 60 I get to do the “Senior Stroll” around the bases after the game ends. Laurie did not have her fake ID to get onto the field. Maybe sometime soon. It was actually fairly fun to walk around the bases with all the other geezers.

On our almost daily hike we found this beauty. It is a crested saguaro cactus. No one really knows what makes this phenomenon happen to only a few of these cacti but it is really cool.

When the saguaro cactus dies it leaves behind a wooden skeleton. Did not know this. Not all cacti have this anatomy. Some just slump over into a heap like the barrel cacti dotting this desert.

This cute little guy is called the Teddy Bear Cholla. They are about as abundant as the Saguaro. Don’t let the fluffiness of the tops fool you. They hurt like hell when you bump into them.

Made it to the top of Dixie Summit and watched the military planes doing their exercises. Boy the desert has a big sky!

Rule number one in photography: Do not point your camera directly into the sun. Fun to break the rules sometimes. I think the sun adds something to the scenery here.

In we go. Our first hike in the area was the Ladders hike in Painted Canyon. The 5 mile approach road was a bit bumpy but we made it and found this stone arrow leading us in the right direction. Would not have known to enter here without the arrow. Notice the ladder leaning up against the big boulder in the middle of the photo. The first of many aluminum ladders to traverse today.

The beginning of the hike looks like there is no where for the path to take you. As this is a slot canyon hike we knew to expect the walls to close in around us.

Just this short little ladder? Must be more up ahead if the trail is called the Ladder Trail.

The places a good ladder will take you! This is one of the widest portions. Good thing I did not eat a full lunch or I might not fit.

Where to now? I initially thought that up and to the left might work but….

Hard to believe that this ladder and opening was right around the corner.

Figured I would spare y’all a few bigger pictures of my butt by putting the next few ladders in a gallery and not a stand alone picture. What a cool place!

After a while we “popped out” to this nice barren ridgeline. A few miles of ridge walking is always nice for views of the surrounding valleys and scenery.

After a while we were repelling down a few spots with ropes as the ladders would not safely work in these areas. Kind of cool.

The walk back to the car was in what folks around here call a “wash”. Basically a dry river bed that is there to carry heavy rain runoff during the few major rain events that hit the area. Not as exciting to walk a wash as to walk through slot canyons but the colors and general scenery is out of this world.

Just a few pics of the walk out. Love the line of demarcation on the right photo.

On the left we were not sure what mineral caused the white in the rocks and on the right we were racing to get out of the canyon before the sun set.

Next we took a separate hike up near Joshua Tree National Park. We were not expecting much but we got a good workout and got some surprisingly good views:

So nice to have to protect yourself from the sun in February.

Oh, the life of a desert cactus! What a view it has all day long. In the distance is the Salton Sea. California’s largest lake. It was formed due to an accident on the canal system for the Colorado River Basin. The river breached the levee and poured into the valley here for a few years creating the lake. It has no natural water feeding into it so it is slowly evaporating away. The salinity of the lake is about twice that of the ocean and getting worse every day.

With views like this we could hike the many paths for days. Only ran into one other couple from the DC area during this hike so plenty of solitude for us.

We love hiking, or bike riding as the sun is beginning to set as our shadows appear and seem to follow us. Funny how we can never beat them in a race!

We spent our first day in the city of Christchurch walking around and getting acquainted with our surroundings. This is New Regent Street which was developed not too long ago as a type of outdoor mall complete with trams running through it.

Found this picture of New Regent Street in the “Quake Center”, a museum in downtown Christchurch. Not much activity on the mall this day.

Got to sit outside and see all the street action including a couple of musicians to entertain us. The sandwich is called a toastie. Like a grilled cheese of sorts. The iced coffee was just that but a few times I have ordered it a scoop of ice cream was added before blending it like a milkshake.

Instead of a walking tour of the city we opted for an all day tram pass. The conductor played the role of tour guide and filled us in on the local history and hot spots. The trams were very nicely renovated. Cool experience.

The city is doing a bang up job of reinventing itself after the earthquake in 2011 pretty much demolished the old city. Cool tram stops were located all throughout the central business district.

One tram stop left us at an indoor food court and shopping area. There was a large bar area for us to taste the local craft beer scene. Many of the area’s breweries came together to lease this entire space so once you get a beer you can wander freely throughout the building with it and leave your glass anywhere within the shopping center.

We found the locally brewed beer to be fairly good. We learned that an APA is an American Pale Ale. We figured we did not really need to sample that. The XPA is an extra pale ale and tasted somewhere between an APA and IPA. Great conversation with the guy tending bar who was part owner of the place. Lots of good recommendations for what to do on the south island. Also talked to a young couple from Tokyo, Japan for a while. He was a math major and she was in advertising. Just vacationing here in NZ for a few weeks.

Notice the guy with the backpack trying to gain some of the other folks hard earned cash. He did this not 10 feet from the signage on the right. Not sure whether to classify him as a beggar, a vagrant or a rough sleeper? What is a rough sleeper anyway?

One of the city’s most iconic cathedrals was heavily damaged 12 years ago in that devastating earthquake. So much work and red tape to get through before it can be reopened as a working church.

Click the above video to see the moment the quake hit the city back in 2011. Crazy!

Crazy amount of earth movement to cause these tracks to be so deformed.

Not only are the Kiwis adaptable to disasters like an earthquake but they seem to have a unique sense of humor regarding these things. When the plumbing/sewers were not up and working the city ran a kind of contest called “Show us Your Long Drop”. Homemade outhouses were made all over the city with the one with the longest “drop” winning the prize.

New Zealanders also have commemorated the event in a number of ways. Above find the wine called “The Day The Earth Moved Like Jelly”. The beer named “Aftershock” and a souvenir pair of “Aftersocks”.

As cyclists ourselves we are very aware of the dangers caused by rail tracks crossing a bike path. The diagram on the sign seems to be an accurate depiction of these dangers.

Not a half hour drive from the city is the Banks Peninsula. Alltrails came up with hundreds of cool looking hikes in the mountains and/or along the seashore.

This hike was at a place called “Taylor’s Mistake”. It is beautiful enough for folks to plan their weddings like this one getting ready to start. Hope the “mistake” in Taylor’s Mistake has nothing to do with the wedding?

As with many of the hikes in New Zealand, the trails are accessed by many right of ways through private property. New Zealanders have the expectation that if they want to walk the coast or along a river, they are allowed to do this. We did not see a single no trespassing sign during our 2 month visit.

This beautiful spot is situated right at the end of a dead end road. Beautiful spot for us to start our last hike of the trip.

Very appropriate for us to leave you with a final video of sheep being herded to market along the public roads. So cute!!

This one lane driveway to our off the grid cabin was only 1.7 miles long! Never did “run into” anyone coming the other way from the only house at the end of the road. Believe it or not, this driveway was wider than some of the public roads in New Zealand.

We kind of figured it was off the grid when we pulled up to the house and found a large array of solar panels and a whole lot of firewood. Some spit already for next winter and some not.

Next we saw a very small but tall wind turbine spinning wildly. As there is an incredible amount of wind in New Zealand, these should become more popular. The spinning action of the blades made quite a bit of noise but nothing that annoyed us. Just white noise in the background after a while.

A tank for collection of rain water over the wet months. The wooden cabinet underneath housed 10 lithium ion batteries for storage of the solar and wind energy. The solar panels were over 20 years old and still kicking but the wind turbine was a bit newer. The owner is actually able to charge here electric vehicle with the energy the sun and wind provide. I asked her why not just run a line from the road? She said the neighbors, many of them, would have all had to agree to “add” her on at the end of the current line. She said it was easier to simply supply the electric herself!

The hot water heater is one of those “on-demand” gas fired units. We were not too impressed with it trying to keep up with our small demand but many of the homes we have stayed in here in NZ had similar, but newer and usually electric versions. We see one in our future back home.

Here is a picture of our 3 bed and 1 bath cottage. It also had great wifi supplied by the satellite dish shown here. The other house in the back is the owners. She was quite the character and enjoyed chatting with us and her granddaughter Esther.

Cool picture of the view from our back porch. We were up high enough to be able to see the Pacific Ocean on a clear day.

On our drive to the cabin in what folks call “Hunters Hills” we ran into our first glimpse of a pig farm. Neatly arranged with plenty of room to roam these pigs had it made, well, until they were the ones being “made”. Tons of sheep, cows and deer but not many chickens or pigs in New Zealand.

We were told by our previous hosts that we had to go a few Kilometers off the main drag to a nice small harbor town to try the blue cod fish fry at the “Fishwife” restaurant on the shore.

Once again, the blue cod did not disappoint! Wish we could get some of that back home in the States. This was our third round of fish and chips so far and it was also the best.

They did not have any seating inside but the view from the bench outside was very peaceful. Most of the boats here are used to go fishing for the elusive blue cod.

We started by driving up a cool mountain pass from the city of Christchurch to the Banks Peninsula. Alltrails came up with at least a half a billion cool looking hikes on the peninsula so, as usual, we wished we had more time to explore. The hike was called “Gibralter Rock” and gave us a nice workout with views like the one above.

We had to do some scrambling to get up to the top of the rock so to speak. The views were awesome as usual. Notice no sheep in the fields. This is very rare around here.

This hike was interesting as it had views from the top of a mountain as well as what we would call “regular” hiking that took us into the bush and along a nice stream for quite a while. The bush was a welcome sight as the sun gets devastatingly intense in New Zealand.

Had to take a picture of this signage on our way out of the bush part of the walk. Seems pretty random but New Zealanders take their fire danger very seriously. Never would have thought people would go out hiking, trying to commune with nature while lighting up a cigarette?

Caught Laurie trying to grab a few minutes of shut eye up here on top of the world. It was so peaceful a nap would not be out of the question!

In search of what locals call “A Puffer”, or a hike that gets you breathing hard, we found a dead end road with a kiosk describing a nice hike up the hills for a good view of the lake. The water was once again, a fabulous color and it was warm enough for Laurie to don her summer shorts.

As we are now becoming veterans of the New Zealand driving scene, this sign was not only not a deterrent but a big “welcome to an adventure” advertisement.

This fabulous road wound along the lakeshore for almost 12 miles. Very rarely was there a guard rail and many times the drop to the lake was at least 50 feet. No oopsies here!

We figured that were there is a cattle stop sign, there should be some cattle to get a moo-on with.

Who is speaking the more fluent NZ cow language? Me or my friend? Fabulous creature!

If you look closely you can see the road winding along the shore. The hike up a farmers path was a good workout but no views for pics and the wind almost blew us off the mountain. All in a good days hike.