Today we're just watching the clouds move in - a storm is brewing...
But yesterday we hiked about 6 miles along the beautiful Painted Rocks Mountains. We came upon an abandoned well and stockyard with a weathered cattle shute, explored down into washes where shrubs were flowering (and butterflies were feasting!), and lunched sitting on black volcanic rocks beneath some saguaros.
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| Abandoned stock yard fence and cattle shute |
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| The shute from a different direction - each viewpoint here reveals a new and striking mountain range! |
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| A weird plant growing at the edge of a wash |
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| Close up of a spiky fruit - no idea what this is! |
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| Here's where we ate lunch |
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| The trail home |
The weird plant is DEFINITELY weird. It is called Jimson Weed and has gorgeous flowers but a strange effect on what eats it (It't other name is Loco Weed and it grows in Michigan, too) Has pretty flowers though:http://www.4perspectives.com/Jimson%20weed.jpg
ReplyDeleteInteresting! I've heard of Jimson Weed, but I didn't know it looked like this!
DeleteDoes the writer in you ever wonder what happened to that cattle ranch? Did the rancher die, or just move on? Was he forced out? Did his water hole run dry? What made him want to start a cattle ranch in that inhospitable environment in the first place?
ReplyDeleteI do wonder what happened, but usually in these publicly-owned parts, the abandoned buildings are from when the gov't. leased the land to public parties, and then the land either reverted to public for preservation purposes, or technology or roads changed and the land was no longer viable as a commercial concern. But I always wonder what it must have been like for people to live their lives in places that then just drift back into natural states. It's fascinating!
DeleteHow about an Apache massacre (much more interesting than an expired land lease)?
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