The Cactus Trip Diaries

Today was another day of sightseeing with cacti as the incidental support cast.

S2551 was for the drive from Mexican Hat to the settlement (a Census Designated Place) of Many Farms in Apache County, Arizona, just before the Canyon de Chelly National Monument at Chinley with short stops to stretch our legs or to take a comfort break. In the past I have been asked to act as quiz master in quizes between BCSS branches and I thought that the name sign would be a good question- ‘How Many Farms are there in Many Farms, AZ?’ I had hoped to find the answer on Google, but only learned that at the 2000 census there were 1,458 inhabitants in 606 housing units. No cacti were photographed.

S2552 was for the scenic pictures taken at the Canyon de Chelly National Monument and S2553 for the plants photographed in the Park. This included Juniper trees infected by a parasitic plant that I have not yet found in the Canyon de Chelly Flora, found on the internet. The Echinocerei in flower were no doubt the Claret Cup – here E. triglochidiatus spp mojavensis, but E. coccineus and E. fendleri are also reported from the park and can be difficult to ID in nature when the plant photographed is at the end of the 200 mm range of my zoom lens and is located between the cracks in rocks or on isolated ledges. Opuntia are always difficult to ID in nature and the plant list still includes Cylindropuntia in the super genus Opuntia, so that I’ll have to see which of the following fits the plants in the images taken and see which are accepted names and which are synonyms and of what: O. erinacea – the grizzlybear prickley pear – O. fragilis, O. macrorhiza, O. phaeacantha, O. polyacantha, O. whipplei and O. x viridiflora. Coryphantha vivipara and Sclerocactus whiplei are also listed but not seen / photographed. There were also at least a couple of Yucca species – the flora lists Y. angustissima and Y. baccata.

We finished the day at Motel 6 and dinner at Denny’s next door, where Cliff & I finished the day with an ice cream eating competition that finished in a draw. Angie was the judge and event photographer.