Monday 11/23
We went for another ride out into the desert today in search of an old cabin that we didn't find. We had a problem with the Arctic Cat Wildcat Trail today. It started flashing an error code that indicated an erratic engine coolant temperature.. We really didn't want to take any chances of being stalled out. I'll check the connections to the sensor when we get back to the RV Park.
Lots of cactus (as usual), but still very interesting.. I remember a western movie where John Wayne extracted water from a Barrel Cactus.. This was movie madness and cacti are not to be used as a direct source of water. The fluid inside cactus is actually very noxious and high in alkalies which would make you sick.
Picture 1 - These little round guys in the first picture are called Prickly Pear cactus.. They are more prevalent than any other cactus in the area and grow very quickly as an invasive weed. Edible after a lot of effort to remove the spines and the outer sheath and further preparation I won't go into here..
The second picture is a Saguaro we found while on our ride. This guy has got to be 40-50' tall and possibly between 150 and 200 years old... Simply amazing with all its arms!
Third picture is of part of the trail we were on.
Rocky trails are the norm in most areas here.. Rocks are exposed by water washing out the sand when it rains. Many of the rocks are soft with round edges ,while other parts of the trail are loose and very sharp jagged rocks are all over. It's important to have good tires that will resist puncture and yet give you good traction while negotiating some of the steeper washes and small ravines..
The fourth picture is of a hill which lot of yellow moss / fungus on it - We found it to be rather strange and not characteristic of the area... Then again it may not be strange at all. We are still learning and will be for a very long time..
Pictures 5 & 6
These are some very interesting. They look like quartz that was melted a dripped into a rose like pattern. I have one of these rocks at home that is probably 2 x 3"... After a bit of Internet sleuthing, I've found that these rocks are actually called Chalcedony which is a cryptocrystalline (say that fast three times) form of quartz. These can be found growing in veins and hosted by a number of different types of rock as well as basalts.
We seem to be turning into Rock Hounds... We now have a small hammer and chisel in case we happen upon another area which may have turquoise!
No comments:
Post a Comment