[pct-l] The Road West....

[Jim and/or Ginny Owen]

was different this year. It's been almost a month since we left home.  We managed to skip out of 
Maryland just before another winter storm hit and have mostly enjoyed nice 60-70 degree weather 
and lots of sunshine - perfect for hiking and camping.  The big rains in Florida hit when we were indoors, and though 
they affected our plans a bit, we've only had one day of hiking in the rain.  We seem to have forgotten 
what snow looks like. But I suspect we'll be reminded soon.  
 
The first stage of the trip was to head south.  Unfortunately we missed connecting with family in South 
Carolina and Austin, but we did manage to connect with Sandy (Navigator) and her husband Rob, and Linda 
(Earthworm) in Florida and Ginny's father and stepmother in Texas. We also managed to get in a short 
hike nearly every day as well as a lot of sightseeing in places like St Augustine (Castillo de San Marcos), 
Merritt Island (the Wildlife Refuge), Tallahassee (Mission San Luis), the Gulf Island National Seashore, New 
Orleans and San Antonio (the Alamo). 
 
Florida was an interesting mixture.  The hiking was better than expected. That soft sandy soil makes for easy walking 
and it was interesting wandering through mixed pine, oak and palm forests.  We saw lots of birds, especially 
hawks, egrets, pelicans, ibis, herons, egrets and even some spoonbills.  Only saw one alligator, two snakes 
and two families of feral pigs, as well as a few deer dozing in the shade. We enjoyed watching the lunar eclipse from a 
campground in the Ocala Forest as we listened to a couple of owls serenade each other.  A family of racoons tried very hard 
to climb into the truck with us when we camped at Davis Bayou in Mississippi. The ocean and gulf were beautiful -- 
but the shorelines are way too developed.  It was hard to get a glimpse of the water through all the 
condos.  You'd never know this is hurricane country, except that so much is brand new.   And that's the 
down side of Florida - lots and lots of development. 
We didn't get very far south into Florida - just enogugh to know we'll be back to explore some more.  Next time 
we head this way, we'll check out the Everglades, Big Cypress  and southwestern Florida.  There are lots of Indian mounds, which 
we missed almost entirely this time around.  And Jim wants to see if he can get some information on his grandfather who lived in 
Florida 80 years ago. Flooding in northern Florida meant that Florida Caverns was closed, so we'll catch that next time 
too.  In Texas  we camped and hiked in Big Thicket NM - after the Civil War it was a haven for several years for 
ex-Confederate soldiers who were declared outlaw by the Union carpetbagger government.  After visiting Ginny's 
father we moved on to San Antonio and the Alamo - and were once again reminded of the price of freedom.  
 
West Texas has a number of archeological sites. Unfortunately most of them are on private land and not open 
to public access.  At Amistad NRA we listened to a presentation by the Park archeologist, and then toured the 
pictographs at Seminole State Park. Tours are the only way to see some the archeology in Texas  - mainly due to 
the infantile behavior of those who think it's "fun" to get drunk and/or destructive.  The best part of West Texas 
was the tour at Hueco Tanks State Park - our tour guide was a volunteer named Bob White, who's been there 
for about 3 years as a guide, but has spent the past 20 or more exploring the area.  He's extremely knowledgable 
and enthusiatic.  He also gave us information re: another archaeological site in New Mexico that was really fantastic.  
It's one that  we'll return to. We spent a full day there and only left because we had insufficient water to stay longer.  
 
Crossing New Mexico we spent some time at the Pony Hills site and then dropped south to check out the 
"state of the trail" (the CDT) in the New Mexico bootheel.  Seems the BLM has done a relocation somewhere 
south of Rte 81 that takes the trail away from a major water source near the intersection of Rt 81 and Granite Pass 
Road.  I believe that makes for a long, long waterless section of trail (probably between 17 and 27 miles - or more).  
Dumb and dumber.  
 
Arizona has a gaggle of archeological sites - some of them near Tucson - that we hadn't previously visited.  
So we spent a couple days near Tucson - and when we were headed north to Phoenix, we discovered that 
there were even more that we'd missed.  That seems to be the story of our travels - whether hiking or 
archeology, we always discover more that we haven't done or seen.  S'OK - it gives us reason to come back 
to places that we love.  
 
There were more arch sites near Phoenix - including Casa Grande and Deer Valley.  And then we went north to 
Agua Fria NM with Ginny's brother for a long, long day of hunting Indian ruins and petroglyphs - and a few of 
those ultimately elusive pictoglyphs.  

So far, none of our hikes have been all that long, but there have been a lot of them.  Tomorrow that changes - 
24 hours from now we'll be headed for a 200+ mile section of the Grand Enchantment Trail.  In some ways, we 
don't feel all that ready for it, but it'll also be really good to get back on the trail for a while.  
 
When we get back in a couple weeks, we'll head north to Cedar Mesa in Utah (among other places) for some 
more hiking and archaeology lessons.  Eventually, I think we'll find ourselves back in Range Creek again.  We 
aren't finished there yet.  And I know we'll somehow find an excuse to hike some part of the CDT again this year.  
 
 
So - bottom line is we're  having a lot of fun wandering the country, hiking, exploring and learning about the past.  
 
Y'all take care - 
 
Walk softly,
Jim & Ginny
http://www.spiriteaglehome.com/