Day 17-June 11, 2016-Saguaro National Park and Baseball
Got up to 97 today. The locals say it’s not hot, tomorrow will be 100. They also say it’s humid.
Went to Saguaro National Park (the east side) in the Sonoran Desert today. Drove by the Davis-Monthan Aircraft Boneyard, the largest military boneyard for excess aircraft in the world. No idea how many planes are here but it’s huge. I’m going to try to learn more, maybe we can get a tour. Stopped in the park’s visitor center and got some maps, then drove the 8 mile one-way road through the park. Beautiful saguaro cactus and other plants that we learned about in the visitor center. Palo Verde (green stick), which is the state tree and is really green, mesquite with its black bark (that’s used in BBQ wood), and creosote which smells like “desert rain” when you rub it, or a campfire if it’s dry out. The saguaro grows slowly and it doesn’t bloom ‘til it’s 35 years old and doesn’t get “arms” ‘til it’s 60-70 years old. We must have seen some really old ones today. They estimate some are over 150 years old. The cicadas were chirping and the birds, mostly white winged doves, flitted around the saguaro blossoms (the state flower). The birds nest in holes in the trees and in the fall they eat the seeds from the flowers. There’s an area called the “cactus forest”, wide open desert and a group of large boulders where the javelinas live. We took a walk on a nice trail that just opened today. It also had a nice picnic area. Back at the visitor center there was a video and talk called “Flash (lightning), Whoosh (wind) and Gush (rain)” about monsoon season which lasts from June 15-Sept. 30th although they said it’s a bit early this year and what we had last night was a little monsoon. But we were in the casino at the time. The monsoons last between 20-40 minutes and can dump 2-4” of rain and the temperature can drop 20-30 degrees in 30 minutes. The dips in the roads, called washes, fill up quickly and are dangerous to drive through. They’re looking forward to monsoon season because this area has been in a drought for the past 20 years and their water table has dropped 150’ killing some trees. In 1962 a freeze killed a lot of the saguaros and it’s taking a while for them to come back but we saw a lot of little ones. Anita, the volunteer who gave the talk was so interesting I wanted to take her with us and learn more. Took another way back to camp and passed Davis-Monthan Air Force Base. After dinner we went to Kino Sports Complex about 15 minutes away to watch the Tucson Saguaros baseball. They’re in the Pecos League (I don’t understand all the different divisions-I just like the game). Old, worn out stadium, hardly any fans, but they’re all loyal, avid fans. And they have two mascots, Sticky, a saguaro cactus and, my favorite, Sylvester the cat. The Saguaros played the Sante Fe Fuego and the home team trailed until the eighth inning when they beat the Fuego 10-7. Good game!