Feb 27 Hike in Ajo BLM

We went for a 7 k walk yesterday and these are just some random pictures along the way

All of this BLM land was once used for cattle ranching or mining. Windmills can still be seen 
where at one time there was a ranch or a camp .

This wind mill is no longer in use , but a solar panel has been installed on it
 to pump water into this trough. Not sure what it is for as we didn't
 see any signs of domestic animals around.

This appeared to be an old ranch

These roads or paths meander all over the area, leading to camping spots 

The wind must have done its job on this one

This cactus is getting ready to bloom

 

Feb 26 Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument

Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument is a U.S. national monument and UNESCO biosphere reserve located in extreme southern Arizona that shares a border with the Mexican state 

of Sonora. The park is the only place in the United States where the senita and organ pipe

 cactus grow wild.

The park has numerous trails that you can hike as well as roads for vehicles.
We did the 20 mile loop on the right side.

For a desert, this was very green. Much greener than any desert area that we have been in before.

The organ pipe cactus

a closer view of the organ pipe cactus

A few miles before the entrance to the park there is a small town called WHY

Apparently it was at a Y in the road and when they built highway #85 they they had to come up with a name for the village. It had always been know as Y, but the rules were that the name had to have at least 3 letters, thus WHY

My good friend Gerry D always used to rag on me for saying "WHY" to every thing that was said. I couldn't pass up on this chance to have a souvenir of all of those conversations.
RIP my friend. 

 

Feb 24 Ajo AZ

 

. The population of Ajo is around 3500 and is  just 40 miles from the Mexican border. It has a very interesting town square and historic district. Great place to visit with lots of BLM land around it to camp and hike. It was built around the mining industry, at one time it had the third largest copper mine in the USA. To day the mine is closed.

entrance to town town square

originally a school , to day it has artistes work areas

3 nations market

view of the mountain from the town square

open pit copper mine, 1200 feet deep. The lake at the bottom is an additional 120 feet deep
the ore was hauled to the surface by trains that circled the interior of the pit as they made their way to the top.

Feb 21 Scottdale Arabian Horse show

 We visited the Scottsdale Arabian Horse show yesterday , the largest arabinan horse show in the world, with our friends Josee and Denis. There were over 2000 horses competing and lasted for 10 days.

Rose visiting one of the show horses

After the show we attended an open house at Rae Dawn Farms in Scottsdale, the largest Arabian Horse breeder in Canada. Their main farm is in Saskatoon Saskatchewan Canada, but they maintain  a beautiful spot  Arizona that houses about 36 horses.

Their website is well worth the visit

http://www.raedawnarabians.com/

The barns are beautiful, they look more like a house

Murray the owner showing of one of the horses,
a 17 year old stallion

.

 

Feb 16 Saddle Mountain

 Saddle Mountain is on BLM land about 20 minutes west of Phoenix.  High of 24 degrees low of 10

 degrees

Rose and Judes. Judes is travelling with us since we left Fortuna Pond. 

In this area of the mountains a lot of people come to collect rocks. 
The red part of this rock is a fire agate

A view from near the peak

We hiked this wash to get to the top

Spring has arrived ! When you look across the landscape you don't 

see many flowers, but when you walk there is a huge variety 

Barrel cactus

This guy was flying around. He must have been lost as we only saw one. 
There are not many birds around.

Rose and I hiked to with in about 50 feet of the top of this one.
The last 50 feet were pretty much vertical.