Saguaro National Park..........27th Feb

Sorry folks for the amount of cacti pics but they are so photogenic .......
Yup 'tis me in this one to show the height (no comments please I'm 5ft 4and the all important half !!) and majesty of these incredible saguaro cactus....
We are in Saguaro National Park East (area 91,440 acres) there is also SNP West with Tucson sitting in the middle. The Parks were established in 1933 to protect the saguaro, one of the great icons of the American West, it is the only place in Arizona or the USA where these cacti grow.........

There are many species of cacti in the park apart from the saguaro, this fellow has some pretty blooms/flowers... 

A woodpecker at the top of a saguaro......they drill holes and make nests in the trunks of the cacti, the woodpeckers make a new nest each year, the old ones being taken over by cactus wrens, elf owls, mice and other desert creatures......

Monument Wash....... there are many washes due the very heavy summer rains.....

The Park has an 8.5 one way drive to the various overlooks and trail heads.......

We stop at the Loma Verde Trailhead and hike the 2 hour, 3 & half mile loop trail, mostly sand trail, some rocks and slight elevation, it's so quiet and peaceful beautiful views across the valley of the suburbs of Tucson to the mountains on one side and the park and mountains on the other sides, a few other folk on the trails, some horse back riders but mainly just us......

Saguaros grow slowly and take 50-70 years to reach 6 ft.....they can grow to 50 feet 

Lunch break at the Javelina Picnic area, again very quiet and peaceful,......we have all sorts of visitors to our picnic table and no we DID NOT feed them......

A beautiful Red Cardinal....

A Gila Woodpecker

Several of these small thrush like chaps who stay mostly on the ground....

Have not yet discovered what bird this is.........

More variety of cacti

Very rarely one of the saguaro grow in this misshapen way, the  cause is unknown but it is felt that damage to the growing tip causes a fanlike growth, this Crested or cristate saguaro is thought to occur once every 200,000 plants
We have had a fabulous day rounded off by a bit of retail therapy in Bed Bath and Beyond there happens to be one about 3 miles from the park and I wanted to get some bits to take back to UK.......
Tomorrow Tombstone...watch this space.....

Carlsbad to Benson AZ via Deming NM....23rd Feb

Leaving Carlsbad NM and back along the 62/180 through the Guadeloupe Mountain Range across to El Paso. We have been monitoring  NOAA.com as the Guadeloupe Mountain area can be very risky with strong gusting side winds but all ok for today and we again pass through this stunning area.....

After the Guadeloupe Mountains the landscape changes first to salt pans then back to flat plains/prairies. We drove 87 miles in a straight line through the prairies and saw not just cattle and horses but also antelope which of course got YorkieMan singing the song for today "Home Home On The Range" !!
The fascinating thing to us about these flat plains areas is that you feel you are at sea level but we are in fact at an elevation of 4000/5000ft !

Another shot of the salt pan area....

A water tower and listening to Willie Nelson singing On The Road Again one of my favourite country songs and one of my most favourite line dances...I'm a happy bunny......and no I wasn't dancing in the truck :0

This was taken just after passing by El Paso, we chose the loop road as several folk have said do not go into or stay in El Paso. A slight hiccup as the loop road we discovered is not yet finished, there's a big chunk in the middle that is under construction !!!!
Luckily the diversion route is a road along the side of the new loop road and apart from heavy traffic and lots of traffic lights we get back up on to the loop and merge with the I-10.....

The New Mexico Welcome Centre on the 1-10 just after El Paso I chose this photo rather than a closer shot to try to show the sand dunes......we didn't venture into the dunes after reading the beware of rattle snakes signs !!!
A few miles farther down the I-10  there is about 5/6 miles of cattle markets/pens......

And a train to complete the picture......the railroad runs along side of the I-10 :) 

Over-night at Deming NM and back on the road to Benson AZ......todays journey was not particularly pleasant as we had buffeting winds, dust/sand storms for most of journey plus rain, sleet and sunshine...... 

But hey the busy railroad line runs alongside the I-10 for the whole of the journey so I'm happy !!

One of the many dust/sand storms, there were warning signs and advise on the radio what to do if it zero visibility.........

Welcome to Arizona, more dust/sand storms.......

Our home on wheels at The Texas Canyon rest area, Arizona...... beautiful but a quick photo and back into the truck as the wind was strong and cold !!!!!!!
We are now at Butterfield RV Resort in Benson Arizona, a really nice campsite, 40 miles from Tucson and Saguaro National Parks.......today we had some retail therapy, we hit the malls in Tucson....
For our golfing friends you will have seen that the first day of the World Match Play in Tucson was stopped due to snow and Sunday the players were looking extremely cold, well it's still really cold at night and not that warm during the day but it is blue sky and sunny and the locals say it will be in the 80's by the weekend :) Our furnace is working well but we did wonder why the a/c kicked in at 5am this morning when the inside temp was 47F........
On that note I'll say more soon from the Happy but not so hot Campers......

Carlsbad Caverns...........21st Feb

The main reason we came to this area was to visit The Carlsbad Caverns
This is part of the 7 mile scenic drive from the main highway to get to the Caverns.....

Our truck at one of the many viewing points......

This is The Natural Entrance to The Carlsbad Caverns
In 1915 pictures taken by the main explorer, Jim White, created a sensation, people clamoured to see it for themselves  and descended 170ft in a bucket once used to haul bat guano !
There are still thousands of bats living in the cave........their evening flight is one of the visitor attractions....

The descent to the main cave area is now either by lift/elevator or the route we took which is a one-mile, self guided, steep, winding and narrow paved trail descending 750ft into the earth......

Hard on the knees and calf muscles but absolutely fantastic an amazing descent, the cave is huge really high "ceilings"  some formations but those are mainly in the main cave the "Big Room" It took the best part of an hour to get down to the Big Room 

One of the formations in the Big Room,   I have just a few of pics as I left my small "cave" lens back in UK, it's still packed after moving house !!!

One of the many and varied formations in the Big Room, another one-mile self guided route, some steep areas and steps, which took us approx 1 & 1/2 hours. The Big Room is immense at 8.2 acres.  We hadn't realised the enormity of Carlsbad having visited Mammoth Caves in Kentucky we thought these would not compare but they do. They are totally different although both are awesome and I use that word in it's true sense, Mammoth is wide low tunnels and miles and miles of them "stacked" upon each other whereas Carlsbad is so immense and has far more formations a fabulous day and once again we can't praise the Rangers and the National Parks enough......

Big Bend NP to Carlsbad New Mexico via Van Horn.....19th/20th Feb

It's a cloudy morning as we leave Big Bend and head back north through Alpine to Van Horn.  We passed muster at the Border Control Post about 50 miles north of the Mexican border, the sniffer dog and border control police checked us out for stowaways, we were ready with our passports etc as we had passed the inspection point on the way down, we rounded a bend in the road and there is this bank of cameras mounted on poles all flashing away as we passed on down to BBNP..........
We did have a scary moment when leaving Alpine on the only road to Van Horn a 13ft 7in bridge !!! I remembered we had just cleared the same height on our way to Chattanooga last year.....well I had fingers crossed and holding my breath that I had remembered correctly !!!!!!!
And hey I thought you all might be having water tower withdrawal symptoms, this was in one of the 2 small towns we passed through on route !!!  Most of the journey up was flat plains, mountains on the horizon dead straight roads that went on for miles, telegraph poles and of course the railroad running along side of the road.......only saw one train though....

Because the terrain is so flat we could see this for miles before we got up close, at first it looked like a water tower suddenly we realise it's an airship, it was at a military research station.....
It's raining by the time we get to our overnight campsite at Van Horn and soooo cold but we get cosy and the next morning it's blue sky again and we are hitched and back on the road to Carlsbad, New Mexico....

Leaving Van Horn, not only another water tower but also a railroad crossing......

The first half of today's journey is on Texas 54 a minor road, lots of dips and flood run off areas......really interesting scenery, very pretty mountains and of course long straight roads........we shall have to get used to traffic again at some point !!

Hey there is snow on that mountain that we are heading towards.....we have to pass through the Guadeloupe Mountain Range which can be risky if there are strong winds but all ok today....

Our home on wheels parked at the picnic spot opposite El Capitan Mountain, next photo, in the Guadeloupe Mountain National Park, at elevation 8085 ft it is the 8th highest peak in Texas......

El Capitan......we are now in the Mountain Time Zone so 7 hours behind GB.
We shortly cross into New Mexico, a disappointing sign so small I didn't have time to take a pic......
Carlsbad is quite a big town so we can replenish our dwindling store cupboards including YorkieMan's beer !!!!
We also had a good chat with our "neighbours" for the night here at Carlsbad RV Park, full time RVers from California, what a nice guy, Jim, he burnt a disc for us and gave us the website info for low bridges in USA and other helpful hints......

Boquillas Canyon and The Red Rock Hike.........17th/18th Feb

Back into the National Park, 80 mile drive from the campsite to  Rio Grande Village which is not so much a village as a campsite but again stunning landscape,  no "West Texan Wind" today so very hot.......
On route we stopped at The Hot Springs and hiked the mile loop trail and the mile Village Nature Trail........ 

The Rio Grande floodplain looking out towards Mexico's Sierra del Carmen......

Our last hike of the day is the Boquillas Canyon, not as dramatic as Santa Elena but well worth a look, we did have to run the gauntlet of the singing Mexican but luckily he stopped singing when we didn't give him any money !!!

Another day another hike......today we decide to stay local and hike up to the Mesa at the back of the campsite, a 2 hour round trip. There are a variety of hikes we could have done but we go for the Red Rock Hike...........

Quiet Canyon....they have approx 10 inches of rain here a year but it falls usually within one day......it would be fascinating to be here during/after the rains to see the changes .....

From a distance this rock face looks a man-made structure..... 

The red rocks which we can see from the campsite and look quite small from down there !!!

I think he's thinking stop with the photos I want to get back for a beer !!! 

Another canyon and my last pic for this area......we have had a fabulous time here but it's time to move on, we are running out of food and more importantly running dry of beer and wine !!!! We need to move back to "civilisation"
Tomorrow we are over-nighting at Van Horn then crossing into New Mexico to Carlsbad.......
Stay tuned for more adventures from The Happy Campers.........