Wet Desert

The rain we’d had for the previous days stopped so it was off to Saguaro East National Park. If we were to recommend one of these parks, it would certainly be the West. There were nowhere near the wildflowers here and the terrain was predominately flat. However, we found a couple of interesting walks which included traversing a couple of creek crossings that were flowing quite strongly after all the rain.

This is a popular park for tourists and locals so, when the locals take their shoes and socks off to get over one of the creek crossings, so did we. And if you were wondering how cold it was? It was like ice water!

That afternoon we drove to Oracle, a town northeast of Phoenix to visit Biosphere 2.

What is Biosphere 2? I’m glad you asked.

In the 1991 a group of 4 men and 4 women (pseudo academics – their words, not mine) were isolated in Biosphere 2 with 3,800 species of plants and a few farm animals for 2 years. It was an experiment to see if they could remain self-sustaining, provide all their own food, water and oxygen for the entire 2 years. (Think The Martian with Matt Damon).

It was a small version of Earth, complete with its ecosystems. They were effectively guinea pigs and funded by a Texan oil baron, through his company Space Biospheres Ventures and costing $150 million.

The Arizona Daily Star newspaper called it a “latter-day Noah’s ark” and reported that 500 people attended the official shutting of the airlock door. “For the next two years, or at least until something goes seriously wrong, they will tend the self-sustaining miniworld, with its tropical rainforest, savannah, marsh, marine and desert habitats.” Unfortunately something did go wrong. According to our self-guided tour information, when the sphere was built they didn’t seal the concrete so their oxygen was gradually depleted to levels that became unsustainable. They also struggled to produce enough sustenance for 8 people from predominately plant based produce. While they lasted the 2 years, increased oxygen levels were required externally to sustain them. Although records were set and many experiments were groundbreaking, at its conclusion the external assistance was not acknowledged and this tarnished the entire project.

There were however, 2,000 people who attended the official return of the 8 Biospherians.

A subsequent experiment was undertaken for seven months in 1994 which alleged the sustenance and oxygen problems had been rectified.

Since then the property has undergone several private owners, but in 2011 was gifted to the University of Arizona. It now provides a research facility for experimenting and studying in large-scale ecosystems. It’s information brochure states it is “the world’s largest controlled environment dedicated to understanding the impacts of climate change.” Their website at biosphere2.org gives a full outline of their current research.

It certainly was a fascinating place. We were able to go inside the domes, view the spaces where the original, dare I call them guinea pigs, lived and worked and see the current ecosystems. We also did a “lung tour” where we went underground to see the technology that regulated the air inside the main dome.

These are some of the habitats they’ve created inside the dome.

They also have an ocean ecology system and current experiments are studying the impact of increased ocean water temperature on coral reef habitats.

Th left picture was one of the tunnels into the lung of the dome. The right, the bladder which helped to regulate oxygen. It’s a giant aluminum dome with a rubber bladder above that rises and falls to manage Oxygen levels between the dome and the outside environment.

The 2 1/2 hours we spent here were incredibly interesting and worth the time and money to see the biosphere. It will be interesting to see how it progresses in coming years.

Our next day was back in Phoenix and a chance to catch up with some wonderful friends. We had 16 years to catch up on! When our children were in primary school and the internet was a relatively new phenomenon, we thought it would be great for them to have a pen pal somewhere else in the world. I had pen pals when I was in school and it really gave me a great perspective of our place in the world. A wonderful family in America also had the same thought and their son and Elyse became writing buddies for several years. We visited them when we all came to America in 1998, again when we came in 2008 and now in 2024. Their boys and our girls are now all married and have families of their own, so we hope that someday soon they’ll all be able to meet.

One thing we’re particularly looking forward to is visiting as many of the natural wonders that America has to offer. So, next on our list was Tonto Natural Bridge.

The brochure told us it is “the largest natural travertine bridge in the world” (Travertine being limestone) at 183 feet high and 400 with a foot long tunnel, 150 feet at its broadest point. Joey was faced with traversing several kilometers of downhill road that the signposts warned were between 14 – 18 % gradient! Needless to say we were in low gear and inched our way down the winding road very slowly!

Descriptions are wonderful but this was one of those open mouthed, chin on the floor, wow experiences. It was worth the drive!

These pictures don’t do its magnificence justice. There was a small veil of water flowing over the edge which isn’t visible in these photos, but the wind was blowing so strongly the water was falling sideways and upwards!

Next on our itinerary was the Petrified Forest National Park, which is east of Flagstaff in Arizona. While travelling, we see many interesting, strange and quirky things and because we’ve given ourselves no end date to finish our US odyssey, we can stop or detour whenever we want.

On the way to the Petrified Forest we travelled through several interesting and quirky towns. We’ve crisscrossed the famous Route 66 a few times and this was an hotel from back in the day when it was the major highway. Still operating today, they had several people staying there. “Glamping” has clearly been around a while!

Holiday Road, didn’t see the Griswald’s.

We drove half way along Strawberry’s main street (yes, that’s the name of the town) and decided to have a quick walk. We visited the Gingerbread house Candy Shop and bought some saltwater taffy. We also went into a wood carving shop that had the most exquisite furniture all carved from local timber. I would have bought a bear if I thought we could bring it back!

Not long after leaving Strawberry we happened across Superior, another interesting town.

Being pescatarian, I won’t be trying the ground bison any time soon. Believe it or not, the gun was painted on a building advertising a realtor. In fact, many towns we’ve visited have advertised gun shows coming up.

There were only only a dozen or so streets in Surprise, nestled among the Apache Leap Mountains and Tonto Forest. But apparently it has featured in several movies over the years, from The Gauntlet with Clint Eastwood to Eight Legged Freaks! The townsfolk have painted numerous blank walls with colourful and unique murals and if it hadn’t been so late in the day, we might have ventured into one of the quirky cafes .

The following day we entered the Petrified Forest National Park. It can really be split into two distinct areas. The Petrified Forest and the Painted Desert. We entered at the southern end from the Rainbow Forest Museum which has some amazing petrified wood carved and sealed artifacts and hundreds of different gemstones. We assumed the dinosaurs were to encourage people to stop.

The petrified forest is quite amazing. Not a forest but rather logs that are now stone on the ground of different shapes and sizes. Some, almost as big around as I am tall and strewn around as if someone had chopped them down and left them. Some were beautifully coloured like opal and others a rich red or cream. The road winds through 26 miles (42kms) of landscape barren of any foliage more than a few grasses or small shrubs. The day we were there they had 30-40 mph winds, the day before, upwards of 50 mph winds! It’s no wonder nothing above a foot high can grow here.

And yes, it really was that cold! The 30-40 mph winds tearing through here were freezing and being so open and exposed made it even more cold!

The landscape changes constantly and although the colours are muted, they are no less striking. The Painted Desert has hills of banded colours and the walks in and amongst them give you different views of the geological strata that form the colours.

There are also pueblos that the Indians constructed of the petrified wood blocks which are quite impressive and several groups of petroglyphs. Parks with natural phenomena are often labelled with appropriate epithets and this was no exception. So we visited Blue Mesa, Jasper and Crystal Forests, Agate Bridge, and below, the aptly named Newspaper Rock.

We arrived at the end of our trail with just 10 minutes to visit the Painted Desert Inn. It was built by Fred Harvey who, after travelling through the area on numerous business trips for the railways and being unhappy with the accommodation and meals en route, began building “Harvey Houses” along the Santa Fe rail line, beginning in 1876. In 1947 his company assumed the operation of the Painted Desert Inn and refurbished it as it is today. The girls (and they were all girls) who worked in his establishments were known as “Harvey Girls.” A position as a Harvey Girl was quite sought after according to the history, because the pay and the conditions were good.

Today it is a museum and gift shop, (there’s always a gift shop!) but it’s as fresh as the day the refurbishment was completed and stands as a testament to Fred Harvey “the Civilizer of the West.”

Shortly after leaving the Petrified Forest we crossed the border into New Mexico and spent the night in Gallop, another fascinating town.

Gallop, according to the tourist info, is the “epicenter of Native American art”, being situated between Navajo and Zuni Indian reservations. It established after the discovery of coal in the 1880s and the southern transcontinental rail line passes through the town. Not that you could miss it! We were there on a Sunday when you’d think the trains wouldn’t be running, but it appears they run 7 days a week! Goods trains, double stacked with containers and so long they needed not one or two or even three engines, but six engines to pull them! Did I mention they blow their horns at every intersection they pass? At least as many times as there are engines! And to say they’re loud is a major understatement! Deafening would be a better description.

Have a guess what these beautiful paintings below were on? You’ll never guess! I’ll let you have some thinking time and tell you at the end.

It wasn’t just the murals that decorated Gallop. There were statues, artworks, large urns, old mining carts and wagons, all adorning the streets and buildings (which were, unfortunately, all shut because, Sunday).

It certainly was worth the hour walk around the town. Now, have you got a clue what those paintings were on? They were square cement containers on most street corners and each of the 4 sides were painted differently, but in a theme. So the flowers were 4 sides of one container and they were about 2 feet square.

Rubbish bins! And they were just as exquisitely painted as the wall murals.

But, it’s not just the towns we drive through that are interesting. Something that’s very noticeable while driving is the varied and changing landscape. In a matter of hours we traverse up and over snow lined mountains, across barren plains, through spruce forests and see some of the most varied and unusual geology.

One place we remember visiting on our last trip was Mese Verde National Park, with its amazing Pueblos. It’s just over the New Mexico border into Colorado. We debated about the weather, knowing that Colorado is still subject to very cold and snowy conditions but the next few days promised clear skies so we decided to head north from Gallop.

The brochure informed us that the Mesa Verde National Park was “created in 1906 to preserve the archaeological heritage of the Ancestral Pueblo people.” There are excess of 4,500 archeological sites across a wide area but the sites open for public viewing consist of 5 main areas. We stopped at all of the sites on the main 46km drive which included climbing to 8040 feet above sea level.

The cliff dwellings are quite astounding, not so much for their building but for their locations. The Pueblo people traversed the cliffs using rope ladders and cut small notches into the cliffs. From AD 550 for over 700 years they grew corn, squash and beans, hunted deer and rabbits, fashioned pottery and basketry, wore sandals and tanned leather and luckily for archeologists, threw any unwanted items over the edge of the cliff. They were also very adept at damming and rerouting water and snow.

We were on top of the opposite cliff and these pueblo were set about 100 feet above ground level and perhaps 20 feet from the top mesa.

The dwellings we visited were built between AD 1150 and 1300, some with up to 150 rooms. Many internal walls were also plastered and decorated with painting. However, for reasons still open to speculation, they inhabited the cliff dwellings for less than 100 years.

These are the 4 significant areas where extensive pueblos can still be viewed in the cliffs and many partial archeological ruins along the route.

Unfortunately, the guided tours don’t begin until mid-May and until November it’s possible to walk through 4 of these amazing buildings.

Some of the larger dwellings contained 120 or 150 rooms. The smaller ones, 30 – 40 rooms. Cliff Palace, which is the largest at 150 rooms was built in an alcove in the cliff 215 feet wide x 90 feet deep x 60 feet high. Construction occurred between AD 1190 and AD 1200 and it was inhabited by up to 120 people. All living their lives precariously in and around the cliffs.

There were living rooms, storage rooms, open courtyards and kivas which were round structures used for ceremonial and social gatherings enclosed with a roof where access was from above down a rope or wooden ladder.

These remnants of kivas have been excavated and are housed in large sheds to protect them from further degradation.

We were on a roll visiting the pueblo ruins around the area so next on the recommended list was Hovenweep (deserted valley), These dwellings were built on the edge of cliff tops and teetering on boulders. Discovered in 1854 and protected in 1923, archeologists have dated this site between AD 1100 and AD 1230.

As with the Mesa Verde cliff dwellings, archaeologists are unsure whether they were built in such precarious situations for the ability to defend them, or merely because the terrain offered these situations. The people who lived here carved niches in the rocks to climb up and down.

This dwelling certainly uses the existing rock formation to its best advantage and is not perched atop the cliff but on the valley below.

This dwelling, built atop the boulders on the valley floor was still 20 feet above the ground and with little room left around the exterior walls for missteps!

The following day we slipped back into Colorado and visited the Canyons of the Ancients. Set among 170,000 acres of “high desert” thousands of archeological sites have been excavated here with an expectation of many thousands more. Our brochure tells us that this region has “the highest recorded density of prehistoric and historic sites in North America”.

Built in more hospitable terrain, these ruins are also freely accessible. The most extensive, the Lowry Pueblo was constructed about AD 1160 and inhabited for 165 years. Archeologists have determined that it began as a small village with only a few rooms and a kiva and was expanded to 40 rooms with 3 kivas.

Excavated in 1930, except for some stabilisation of the masonry walls, it remains exactly as it would have stood when first discovered.

Something we’ve noticed when walking around is how small the doorways and passageways are. If Peter hadn’t been wearing his hat, he would have had quite the scrapes on his head after several boofs! This was because the average height of adult female Puebloans was approx. 5’1″ (156cm) and 5’3″ (163cm) for men. I’m 5’4″ and Peter is 6’2″ so they were significantly shorter.

These walls and the timber lintels are original

Archeologists estimate up to 40 people lived in Lowry Pueblo and that while they resided indoors there is little evidence that they cooked indoors, cooking hearths were outdoors. They were also 2 or 3 stories high with access through the rooftops. Evidence from dating tree rings used in the construction, the masonry used and wall construction indicate that over 25 years there were 6 periods where building occurred.

The Great Kiva was 47 feet in diameter and its construction dates from AD 1086. When completed, there were no doors or windows in the walls with access being through a central hole in the roof.

By now we had spent several days exploring these Puebloan sites and learning about the people who built and lived here. Their skill in building and obvious dexterity in living in these dwellings was amazing. They were clearly not afraid of heights or claustrophobic! We debated about continuing through Colorado or heading south through New Mexico, but after three nights of below 0 temperatures and the third morning having frozen Joey’s batteries so nothing worked until the outside temperature warmed up, we decided on the warmer climate of New Mexico.