Sweet Creek Trail and waterfalls

 After being "out of touch" (very limited internet when we could use our hotspot and no TV) for 2 weeks, it was nice to wake up and watch "Sunday Morning" on CBS. We don't watch much TV but that is one we enjoy. Where we are staying now has great WIFI which gave me a little time to catch up on some of our blog. We only buy 6 gigs of data and downloading photos would take that in no time. When we would get to a high spot on a hike, I would find a G or two and be able to make sure everyone at home was ok. That's the only concern I have when we are out of touch.

Oregon has plenty of waterfalls to be found. The Sweetwater Trail was a 25 mile drive along the Siuslaw River through some winding roads with plenty of hairpin curves. The hike along the creek was only 3/4 mile until it went straight up the mountain but gave us some beautiful sights with so many bird sounds that were unfamiliar. Hiking in the lush trees reminded us of our time in Costa Rica, only cooler. There were plenty of options for longer hikes. Can't beat lunch with a view.

Oregon has really taken the Monarch Butterflies plight personal and is investing in their habitat by planting milkweed and other flowers for them. We saw plenty of caterpillars on the path along with a few snails. That was the extent of our wildlife sightings.

Darlingtonia State Natural Site is the only Oregon state park property dedicated to the protection of a single plant species. The plants it protects are the only carnivorous flora in the system.

This 18-acre botanical park provides parking and a boardwalk trail out into a fen that is home to Darlingtonia californica. Also called a cobra lily, the rare, strangely-shaped plant is the only member of the pitcher plant family in Oregon. We had to stop and check it out.

The resort we are staying at has a nice unlevel pickleball court that we got a chance to play a couple of games on. It had been a while since we had our paddles out and felt pretty good. We weren't even that bad but that also depends on who we are comparing ourselves to.

Calavera Preserve

Lauren Marquardt (who is quite witty) wrote "Who decided what the “American Dream” is? The preconceived belief that one way of living fits all is no longer the case for many of us. Once you start living in the mindset that there is no right way of doing something, you become capable of doing anything and can create your version of the American Dream." I guess that is what we and many other people are trying live in many different ways.

 

Lake Calavera Preserve has wetlands, a lake, coastal sage-scrub, and extinct volcanic Mt. Calavera with an easy 3.5 mile hiking trail. One of the guys at the hospital told me about the mountain biking here and we had to check it out. It turns out that there are many miles of trails throughout the preserve.

 

The lake is pretty low but improved with the moisture this spring.

You can see where the volcano was above.

I was a bit leery about some of the trail that narrowed and was covered with dried brush. There have been several people bitten by rattle snakes in the foothills. We stayed on the trails with wider paths. 

Mike has been "getting things ready to go" with new brakes and windshield on the truck. The Ford garage in Colorado Springs had changed the brakes because they would vibrate sometimes but didn't improve with the change. It felt unsafe. Rather have a problem going over mountain passes, he took it into Gary's brake service in Oceanside. They were cut too much and overheating. He replaced them for $360 and now they work great.

 

Every person we meet and every place we experience holds a lesson that changes us.

It snowed on us in Joshua Tree National Park

Joshua Tree is made up of the  Colorado Desert which part of the Sonoran Desert and Mojave Desert. The vegetation is very different without Saguaros.

Grinding was done here. I could imagine the ladies working away.

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The amazing geological formations were formed by molten liquid, heated by the continuous movement of Earth’s crust, oozed upward and cooled while still below the surface.

They grew some interesting rocks out here.

Skull Rock

A wealthy rancher from Montana, J.D. Ryan's ranch to supply food for the workers for his gold mine.

I had to put the coyote in after Mike followed him determined to get a picture.

Looks like it might fall if I kick the rock holding everything up.

There were so many short interesting  hikes. We would imagine being "back in the day" as we walked.

Cattle grazed throughout the park from the 1870s until 1945. The cattle companies located springs, dug wells, and developed rainwater impoundments called “tanks,” which can be seen today at places like Barker Dam.

The cattle's water troughs.

Petroglyphs

I have a hard time being the driver as we go through the wind farms. They were all moving and mesmerizing, I was watching them instead of the road. Good thing I was off driving duty.

Sonoran Preserve and Old Scottsdale

We had not been to this part of the Sonoran Preserve and decided to get out early since it was the weekend and the trails can get busy here.

The Gateway Trail was a nice new one for us with so many options and looks like we will be returning to check out Bell Pass in the future.

 

Heading down after reaching the saddle.

We had originally planned to visit old Scottsdale in the morning but put it off after the hike and found this mission from the early 1900s.

A Boy Scout had preserved the confessionals for his Eagle badge and were pretty small.

We had lunch at this restaurant that was built by the same family that built the mission. The prices reminded us that we were in Scottsdale of our time.

 The nights get chilly and make for good sleeping. Our neighbors like to put notes on our door and let us know that they are barbecuing and what time to be there. Several couples show up with side dishes and we all dig in and tell out stories for the evening. This is working out pretty well for us.