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Archive for April, 2012

Friday, 20 April 2012 – around Kanab – to Zion and back

Although I had been in this area in 1997, we had somehow missed out on Zion National Park. Today I would make up for that omission.

As we drove to Zion, we passed a sign to the Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park. Why not take a look – we had plenty of time. There was an impressive coloured hillside to our left and we followed the first track towards it to take some pictures (S2507). As soon as we stepped out of the car, it became clear that the main purpose of this area was to allow people to tear up the countryside on scrambler bikes and ATV ‘doom buggies’. The usual tranquil peace and quiet usually found in parks was disrupted by the continuous sound of these bikes buzzing up and down the sand dunes like angry wasps. 9 images, including one of the local Yucca sp. and we had seen enough. We drove on to the official entrance in case there was more to this park, but learned that State Parks (or at least this one) was not covered by the annual pass that we had bought for the parks we hoped to visit was not valid here. The Ranger found it difficult to believe that we did not want to pay the admission and eventually allowed us to turn round on the Park’s premises.

The other stop of the day – S2508 – covers all images taken at Zion, mainly taken from the car as Cliff drove us through the impressive scenery, or from the many stops on lay-byes and later from the shuttle bus as it took us on the scenic route through the park. Unfortunately there were just 9 stop points where you could get off, take some pictures than jump on to the next shuttle bus along (if there was space). Pictures of the local Opuntia prevented this from being a ‘No Cactus Stop’. Right at our last stop in the park, Opuntia basilaris also showed up. Very enjoyable none the less.

Category:

USA, USA 2012

Thursday, 19 April 2012 – Marble Canyon to Kanab

Over breakfast, Charlie kindly pointed out that Kanab is pronounced Knab, but not like knee, where the k is silent. Confused? Breakfast at Lees Ferry Lodge can have that effect in the nicest possible way. Eunice rang to say that she had arrived home safely and to enquire after Angie’s shoulder after the chiropractor treatment – some improvement but full recovery will take a while.

Todays stops were:

S2501: This was along a track off Hwy 89-A and this time it took only three minutes from parking the car to finding our first Pedio, P. paradinei. I forgot to mention yesterday that P. bradyi had already finished flowering but had not yet set ripe seed. We assume that we were just too early and that the slow reduction in its numbers reported in the monitoring paper is not due to some other factor, such as a demise in the natural pollinator. We have learned by now that not all small globular cacti found in our search for Pedio are in fact members of that genus. A close inspection of the tubercles revealed a groove from the areole towards the axil, a feature found in Coryphantha but not in Pediocactus. The Coryphantha is likely to be C. vivipara, a highly variable species with a number of subspecies. It took another half an hour to find our first P. paradinei in flower, with only the flower visible above the gravely soil, just like Thelocephala in Chile.

It seemed that flowering plants had longer, softer spination than the smaller plants not seen in flower. The latter looked similar to P. bradyi. So, does P. paradinei have distinct juvenile and mature spination? [note to self to check this out in literature when I get home]. C. vivipara was here, forming multiheaded clumps and generally larger in appearance. Also seen Opuntia polyacantha, a Cylindropuntia sp. and Echinocereus engelmannii. 

As we drove back towards the 89-A we commented that there did not seem to be any reason why the Pedio should not grow all along the track, so to prove the point, we had a quick look around at S2502 which was covered with white daisy-like flowers. And sure enough, before too long we had found P. paradinei here as well.

S2503 was a stop at a scenic view spot, with the Antilope Trails Vendors Association displaying more Navajo pottery and jewelry. I might have to get a trailor for the pottery purchases!

The next set of coordinates suggested for Pediocactus surprised us. S2504 was in a forest setting rather than in open fields as the genus name implies. After being confused by some C. vivipara, we did find P. paradinei as well and here too we saw plantys in flower.

S2505 was for a location near Fredonia where P. sileri had been seen. Despite over an hour’s worth of searching (3 ‘man hours’, considering that there were three of us) we failed to find any Pediocactus. Were we in the right place? Coordinates were checked and double checked, but I might have written them down incorrectly while collecting data, or a transcription error at source can easily take you to the wrong place. [Since arriving home I have mapped the Stop data onto Google Earth and confirm that we were in the right place].

It seems that this area was used as a recreation area for young adults – plenty of broken beer bottles and spent shot gun cartridges plus dumped fridges that had been used for target practice plus tyre marks in unusually steep places suggesting that scrambler bikes had been here to tear up the ground. Or was it our unfamiliarity with the plants, rarely seen in cultivation in Europe, unless grafted? We photographed every cactus seen and have since identified them as Escobaria vivipara and Echinocereus engelmannii.

We had more luck at S2506 in more than one way. First of all we found small cacti that were clearly not those seen at the previous stop. They seemed quite abundant, although we did not stay too long. The reason for this was that we found a sign indicating that we were on State Land Trust terrain with a warning that trespassers would be prosecuted and that entry was only possible with written permission. Too late to scribble a note to ourselves granting us permission to enter? Anyway, P. sileri got a tick on my ‘plants seen in habitat’ checklist.

Category:

USA, USA 2012

Wednesday, 18 April 2012 – around Marble Canyon

Angie was still in a lot of pain with her pinched nerve, despite taking the maximum dosages of the pain killers that we had brough along. She would not have many good memories from this trip if this remained unchanged. Charlie, who served our breakfast and pulled our leg at the least excuse looked up details of doctors in Page and Eunice rang to make the appointment. As we headed off to Page, Eunice set off for her long trip back to Bellflower.

The visit to the health centre in Page was easy to find, had a very comfortable and friendly reception area and the treatment seems to be doing the trick, although there are still periods when the pains are bad.

S2497 was for pictures along the road from Marble Canyon to Page and back, with a quick stop at the scenic overview of the Marble Canyon area – no cacti found.

S2498 took me back to 1997 when Anton & Christiaan and I spent 5 days in the area. Anton was preparing a project for his A Level Geography course. The task was to study a stretch of a river and identify the issues surrounding it. His friends and all students at Dorking had produced projects based on the River Mole that flows near Dorking. Anton had decided on the Colorado River between Lake Powell and Lees Ferry, Mile Zero on the Colorado River. Christiaan had assisted him, leaving me to roam on my own in cactus country – heaven.

Things had been developed and the gravel track was now hardtop. A particularly slope where Opuntia basilaris had been spectacularly in full flower was probably still there, but plants were in bud rather than in flower. We concentrated on the area where the pinkish Paria River, having come through Bryce Canyon, joined the clear dark water of the Colorado River for a two-tone effect. Other cacti found were another Opuntia sp in flower with similar or somewhat lighter flower colour but with much stronger spination. A look at the Opuntiads of the US website, run by Joe Shaw, suggests that this is Opuntia nicholii, related to O. polyacantha. Echinocereus engelmannii was here again, in bud.

S2499 was for pictures taken at and of Navajo Bridge – no cacti photographed.

We had saved all our cactus photography for S2500, opposite our temporary residence at Lees Ferry Lodge. This is the location of a plant rescue and conservation exercise by the Navajo National Heritage Program. In addition to the endangered cactus – Pediocactus bradyi – we found quite a few Echinocactus polycephalus ssp xeramanthioides in spectacular locations, overlooking the Colorado River. Also recorded: Opuntia sp. Echinocereus engelmannii, and a Yucca sp.

Category:

USA

Tuesday 17 April, 2012 – Grand Canyon to Marble Canyon

We woke refreshed, although Angie was still in a lot of pain due to a pinched nerve in her right shoulder. Soon the spectacular views of the Grand Canyon distracted us from her pain. All images here – mostly scenic shots – are filed under S2494. A couple of large clumps of Coryphantha sp., one of which was protected by a wire cage, prevented this from being a ‘no cacti’ stop.

S2495 was at a view point over the Little Colorado River, an impressive deep and narrow canyon, but with very little water trickling through the treacle like silt. We recorded Yucca sp, Agave sp., two Opuntia sp., Cylindropuntia sp. Echinocereus engelmannii and a charming Daisy like plant in full flower that I’ll look up in the Flora of Arizona bought at the Grand Canyon’s visitors centre. There were the usual three to four tables with members of the Navajo Nation selling off their pottery and jewelry craft items. This was the same place where in 1997 I stopped with my sons Anton and Christiaan, then 17 and 14 years of age. The weather was quite different then even though it had been April again. Then, we had viewed the Grand Canyon standing up to our knees in snow and with a wind so strong that it had prevented helicopters from taking us for a ride through the Canyon. At this stop, the wind was so strong that Christiaan demonstrated this by leaning into the wind. Very nice, except that the wind was so strong that I was worried that he’d fly away – he was standing right at the edge of the Canyon and at that time there were no safety rails.

We moved on to S2496, a set of coordinates provided by friends from the UK (thanks guys – you know who you are!), but my heart sank when we turned off the main road into the Navajo market of the Little Colorado Scenic View point. P. peeblesianus was supposed to grow here but was this since the area had been developed for tourism? Angie, Eunice, Bosco and I took the walk to the canyon’s edge for more pictures and the walk back through the market where once again I had bought some more pottery. Back at the car, the search for Cliff was on. He was eventually spotted in the area behind the market ‘stomping around in search of cacti’. I joined him and found all the plants reported at the previous stop. Just as I reached him Cliff pointed at some clumps of larger cacti: Echinocactus polycephalus subsp. xeranthemoides. These were nice multiheaded clumps as the name suggests.

Eunice had planned to part company with us in Cameron, so a quick stop to say: ‘See you later this year when you come over to England, for our annual trip to the ELK cactus festival in Belgium and followed by a two month trip with us to South Africa and Namibia.’ We found a seat for Angie in our car amidst the collection of boxes and bags that had built up over the past three days.

About 45 minutes later, we were surprised by the hooting of a car horn and the flashing of lights. Eunice had decided that it was already too late for the drive back to Long Beach, so would spend another night with us at Marble Canyon, where we had booked rooms for the next two nights.

I had said earlier that she used to be indecisive!

 

Category:

USA

Monday 16 April, 2012 – Phoenix to the Grand Canyon

The jet lag caused by 8 hours time difference with the UK meant that we woke up bright and early, even though we had enjoyed some 9 hours of sleep – well, I had, Cliff and Angie have more trouble catching a good night’s sleep.

Eunice and her dog, Bosco, had decided to join us for the drive to the Grand Canyon today. Originally they would have been along for the full three weeks, but an injury to Bosco’s leg a few weeks earlier had caused a change of mind. She used to be indecisive, but know she is not so sure.

Angie had picked up her own injury, a pinched nerve in her shoulder caused her to be on maximum pain killers in the hope that things would improve. She decided to ride shot-gun with Eunice, as her navigator, even though neither had been here before – thanks go to SatNav.

First stop of this trip was at the Sunset Point Rest Area (around 11 a.m.) (S2488) where our first cacti of the trip were photographed: Echinocereus engelmannii (in flower), E. triglochidiatus (in flower) and Cylindropuntia bigelovii (Teddy Bear Cholla) and where signs reminded us to be aware that poisonous snakes and insects inhabit the area.

As we approached Flagstaff and had climbed to a higher altitude, we were now surrounded by an impressive landscape still partially covered in snow. Californian Bosco has never seen snow before and enjoyed a walk around while we took pictures of the scenery – S2489. No cacti photographed here.

S2490 was another ‘no cacti’ stop for some pictures of ancient planes at an airline museum near the Grand Canyon.

We took a track to the west, onto land managed by the USDA: the Kaibab National Forest and I recorded S2491 (shots along the track – no cacti) S2492 (Opuntia sp, Cylindropuntia sp, and some Mule Deer (?)) before we hit our first target at S2493. The theme for this trip is photographing Pediocactus in as many locations as we can find and access – some grow on Native American reservations where access can be an issue. The name for this trip is therefore a Pediocactus-athon, or Pediothon for short.

Wikipedia says:

Pediocactus (Greek: πεδίον (pedion) means “plain”, “flat”, “field”) is a genus of cacti. The genus comprises between 6 and 11 species, depending upon the authority. Species of this genus are referred to as hedgehog cacti, though that name is also applied to plants from the genera Echinocereus and Echinopsis.

S2493 gave us Echinocereus fendleri was here, as well as Cylindropuntia sp., Opuntia sp., and Coryphantha vivipara ssp kaibabensis (?).  Then, after 37 minutes of searching, it was Bosco who pulled Eunice to a place where Cliff and I had already walked over and there it was, our first Pedio of the trip. As always, onced our eyes had picked up the first plant, others soon followed.the first taxon in the genus: Pediocactus peeblesianus ssp fickeiseniorum ‘menzeli’, a form named for our friend Juergen Menzel, who will be pleased to know that ‘his’ plant survives and seems to be in good health. No flowers or fruits here. Were we too early or too late? Eventually we found one or two plants in bud – so too early this time.

After we left this location we discovered a feature of my SatNav whereby it is unable to suggest making a U-turn on a single track, instead sending us on a wild goose chase of some 40 miles in a figure of 8 to return to where we had started. Oh well, these things are supposed to be tools after all, not to be followed blindly.

The bonus was that we came across a small herd of semi wild horses who approached us just in case we had brought food.

It was dark by the time that we arrived at the Best Western in Tusayan and gratefully found our beds.

Tomorrow we drive to Marble Canyon in search for our next Pedio.

Category:

USA

Sunday 15 April, 2012 – Amesbury, UK to Phoenix, AZ, USA

This is how I like to start my cactus trips – uneventful, unlike the start of the Bolivia 2011 adventure. Angie and I met Cliff Thompson at Heathrow Terminal 5, the flight left and arrived on time, we caught the shuttle to the car rental centre and after some discussion picked up our car for the next three weeks, a Ford Escape. ‘Are you sure that this will be large enough?’ the helpful rep asked. After the 10 hour flight we were briefly a soft option and agreed to upgrade to the similarly sounding, but alledgedly larger and more powerful (and US$ 300 more expensive) Ford Explorer. As we walked to the row of cars from which we could select our home for the next 20 days, we spotted a Ford Escape on the way. Seeing it in the flesh (? – metal!) confirmed that this was the same model that I had used last year and that was plenty spacious and powerful, so back to the desk we went, where the rep was bitterly disappointed to miss out on his upgrade bonus.

After some searching for Motel 6 near the airport – my SatNav was buried deep in my luggage – we arrived to find Eunice and Bosco already safely installed in their room on the ground floor.

We had some pizza delivered and I fell asleep almost as soon as my head hit the pillow.

Category:

USA