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| the Little Colorado River in the Round Valley, an area surrounded by a landscape shaped by ancient volcanic activity |
We are still living in temporary quarters with two cats in the Round Valley of Arizona. The temporary quarters are confining, being a small, one-bedroom, modular home in an RV park, but we try to escape as often as possible into the public lands for which we are so grateful. Some of the lands are state-owned; others are federally-owned, supported by our (shrinking) tax dollars. Without these accessible natural areas, we would be more seriously second-guessing our move. Nothing clears the head more, I think, than being able to get away from the clamor of civilization, the jostling of strident voices trying to convert one to a particular view of the world. This past week, in a discussion of gun laws, a state senator from Snowflake, Arizona, suggested that perhaps we should have a law that requires people to attend the church of their choice. Either she has forgotten or willfully ignores the fact that folks settled this country to get away from governments with such religiously restrictive laws. (Of course, that didn't keep some of them from restricting local policies to
their own religious views.)
A morning climbing an ancient cinder cone and contemplating the hundreds of thousands--the millions--of years this landscape spewed lava and volcanic boulders before that legislator placed her feet on this ground helped put those ridiculous words in perspective. From Springerville to Show Low, one drives through
an ancient volcanic field of cinder cones, while to the south are Ponderosa pine and Douglas fir-covered mountains, the remains of older volcanoes.
Yesterday morning, a bright, cool and pleasant Sunday morning, we drove west on U.S. Highway 260 to Apache County Road 4128. From that county road, we turned into a dirt road which took us to the foot of a tall cinder cone covered with native grasses rooted in soil weathered from ancient basaltic rock. A trail labelled "foot access only" but originally created by some gas-powered vehicle, soon turns into an almost vertical ascent up the sides of the tall hill. Not having done any serious exercising since before Christmas, when I was on my elliptical machine almost every day, the hike was a strenuous one for me. I stopped often to catch my breath and made it to the top to survey the grassland-covered volcanic field to the north and west and the White Mountains to the south and southwest.
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| trail to the top of a cinder cone in the Springerville volcanic field |
Over 400 cinder cones and lava flows dot the Springerville volcanic field. According to an issue of the
Arizona Bureau of Geology and Mineral Technology Field Notes, the area that we now call the state of Arizona underwent about six episodes of volcanic activity, stretching over millions of years. The sixth and most recent episode created what's visible in the Springerville volcanic field, and some of these latest eruptions occurred within human history, one such eruption being
"at Sunset Crater near Flagstaff, between the growing seasons 1064 and 1065 A.D."
Today we had the trail to ourselves, and judging by the lack of footprints on the path, this particular trail is not traveled a lot. Below are some photos I took from the top of the cinder cone.
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| view of the Springerville volcanic field from the top of a cinder cone south of U.S. Highway 260 |
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| looking toward Springerville and Eagar, AZ, with Flat Top and Escudilla Mountains in the distance--note the basaltic boulders in the foreground that were spewed from the cinder cone and deposited here at the top rim |
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| Here I am standing on the rim of the ancient cinder cone, with the collapsed center (or caldera) of the cone visible in the foreground, from the center to the left of the photo. Beyond are the White Mountains, with snow still visible on some of the peaks. |
After spending some time at the top of the cinder cone, we decided to descend and drive further up the dirt road to a parking area and kiosk describing the Grassland Wildlife Area through which a 2.6 mile moderate trail loops.
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| description of the Grassland Wildlife Area |
The trail begins in flatter topography and ascends over juniper-covered hills, crossing dry creek beds before descending again to lower grasslands dotted with water tanks and what seemed to be natural springs. Numerous footprints in the dirt revealed this path to be more popular than the cinder cone path we climbed earlier, but we met no one on the trail. The evening before, on the trail along the Little Colorado River near town, we had encountered young people yelling "White Power!," but here we heard only bird song and the sound of the wind through pasture grasses and evergreen juniper. A pair of red-tailed hawks rose on updrafts, and mountain bluebirds lit up the landscape with their vibrant color and hovering flutter above the grass.
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| trail through the grasslands and over juniper-covered hills |
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| view from a higher spot on the trail--On the right, evidence of an enclosed water shed |
The trail descends into what must have been an old ranch home site, for a log-sided house and log-sided barn are located in the Grassland Wildlife Area, along with several water tanks. One water tank which seemed to be fed by a natural spring was fenced in, keeping out large animals but providing habitat for the mallards and the buffleheads that we saw there. At the home site, the trail joins a road that leads from the home site, past a closed gate that prevents vehicle access (except for land managers with the key), and then on to the parking lot and beyond.
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| corral and barn |
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| signs of a once-working ranch |
On our hike, we read some of the geological story that the rocks and erosion seemed to tell. Here we found in the dry stream beds and along eroded areas of the hillsides hints of a geological time before the last volcanic eruptions. Among the occasional volcanic rock were smaller, weathered rocks of sandstone, granite, and metamorphic slates and quartzite.
At the end of our hike through the grasslands, we decided to drive up Arizona Highway 261 toward Big Lake. The road is closed during winter, but we thought the road was now open. However, seven miles into the steep drive that switch-backs up the mountain, we discovered that the road was closed, though we noticed several vehicles going around the metal gate to continue to Big Lake. We stopped, however, at the picnic area and overlook that provides a wonderful view of Round Valley and the towns below, and then drove up to a parking lot and access to several trails in the Apache National Forest.
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| trails in the Apache National Forest, off of Arizona Highway 261, in the mountains above Eagar and Springerville |
We decided to walk the Apache Vista trail, which ends at an overlook to the valley below and the horizon beyond. The trail begins on a vehicular-created road and then diverges to a footpath which is at times a little difficult to follow. Once again, we had a trail to ourselves, and we wondered why more people weren't out this afternoon, now past usual Sunday-morning church hours, taking advantage of these public lands open to us all. The only other life forms we saw were birds and a lone pronghorn antelope curiously watching us at the edge of an open grassland area. (We saw a herd of pronghorn earlier as we were leaving the Grassland Wildlife Area.)
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| Beyond the rim, a view of the Round Valley below--here, an open area of grassland |
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| trail through Ponderosa pine |
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| At the end of the Apache Vista trail, with a view of Escudilla Mountain |
We returned to our two cats and our temporary quarters, refreshed after a morning and afternoon in the wonderful landscape of eastern central Arizona. Maybe we can be happy here.
More info on Arizona geology:
http://www.azgs.az.gov/arizona_geology/april09/arizonageology.html
http://bulletin.geoscienceworld.org/content/108/10/1225.abstract
http://mortonarboretumphotographicsociety.com/destinations/volcanoes-in-northern-arizona/
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| rocks from the Springerville volcanic field that illustrate geologic time: Top, volcanic rocks, some very light, from the top of a cinder cone, that tell the story of the latest volcanic eruptions; bottom, older rocks from an earlier geologic time, granite, sandstone, metamorphic rocks that have undergone immense pressure and heat |
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