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Heat hase over the desert
Things were warming up, or maybe just my eyes were going...Left Sorocco at a leisurely 9am this morning after a bit of route and activity planning.
Wanting to slow the pace down a bit now that I am now out west , instead of taking the interstate to Arizona I used highway 60 which starts at Sorocco and heads west over the main divide.
At the highest point the road was about 7300ft high, but it didn’t seem like that as there no towering mountains around like in other areas and no long steep grades in the road, just a steady climb.
It was nice and cool in the mountains about mid twenties, it was 27Degrees C in Socorro when I left there.
It quickly got hotter as I came down out of the mountains.
I passed through a couple of quaint (in a western way) little settlements in the mountains and saw some of the local wildlife as 4 deer crossed the road in front of me (mmmmm dinner).
At a town in Arizona called Slow Low (I kid you not) I turned off onto highway 77 which was to take me to my destination for the night Holbrook.
Mind you it is still far from the most unusual town
Firewood anybody??
Wouldn't burn well as has been rock for millions of years, worth a try though..... name I have come across on my travels to place, that must got to a place called Truth or Consequences, I didn’t stop, didn’t fancy the consequences.
Holbrook a town which still has its old west feel and look still firmly in place, plus the added attractions for the tourists of the trinket stores and many life size fake (I hope) dinosaurs.
I set up camp at the local camping ground, first use of my new tent, self inflating mattress (ok I’m getting soft), and a couple of other assorted items hurriedly assembled before the trip.
However as it was only early afternoon I set off on my main mission of the day.
To visit the petrified forest and the painted desert, only a few miles from Holbrook.
The trip out to them was made a bit more “authentic” by the tumble weeds blowing across the road in a strong wind blown up before another thunderstorm.
Upon paying my $10 fee which gives you 7 days entry to the national park I set forth to find out what scared the forest so much.
I still have to get used to the idea of paying to get into national parks etc
Nice puppy...
More than likely cost an arm and a leg to feed, literally. here as coming from a country where you can go into as many national parks etc as you want as much as you want without paying a cent.
As for the park, what a magical place it is.
I went in from the south end where most of the petrified trees are, the northern end has most of the Painted Desert.
They have a nice visitor centre at the south end with a couple of fossilised dinosaurs there.
There was a lot more trees than I ever imagined there would be, so much you can get it for free in the town, you just can’t take it from the park.
Unfortunately a couple of looming storms shaded the area from the sunlight while I was at that end of the park, in the full sunlight the colours are brilliant.
I took the time to stop at all the stopping points and take some of the walks, it is really worth the effort.
I particularly enjoyed the walk in the blue mesa.
There weren’t a lot of tourists around in the park and at times I was the only one around, the combined views and silence were great.
It has so
Nice stripes
Got that 1970's coloured stripes thing going on....... much in a relatively small area, Petrified Forest, Painted Desert, Indian ruins and ancient rock drawings.
The low angle of the sun with the shadows that it made just made it that much better at the end of the day.
Back to my $30 tent, which isn’t bad for the price, it’s just lightly built and I wouldn’t like my chances in one of the thunder storms that lurk around here, but it should fend off the scorpions, snakes and tarantulas.
Not sure about the dinosaurs though......
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