Posts by: fdevalera

Plan Bee

Plan Bee

Plan Bee has been in operation and increasingly refined since Maryann of LF Ranch told us that all Arizona bees were africanised to one degree or another and, therefore, potential killer bees. Plan A is to avoid getting in a fight with the bees in the first place: no swatting at them or killing them, so they don't send off…
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  • Summerhaven to Gordon Hirabayashi
  • Summerhaven to Gordon Hirabayashi
  • Summerhaven to Gordon Hirabayashi
  • Summerhaven to Gordon Hirabayashi
  • Summerhaven to Gordon Hirabayashi
  • Summerhaven to Gordon Hirabayashi
  • Summerhaven to Gordon Hirabayashi
  • Summerhaven to Gordon Hirabayashi
  • Summerhaven to Gordon Hirabayashi
  • Summerhaven to Gordon Hirabayashi
  • Summerhaven to Gordon Hirabayashi
  • Summerhaven to Gordon Hirabayashi
  • Summerhaven to Gordon Hirabayashi
  • Summerhaven to Gordon Hirabayashi
  • Summerhaven to Gordon Hirabayashi
  • Summerhaven to Gordon Hirabayashi
  • Summerhaven to Gordon Hirabayashi
  • Summerhaven to Gordon Hirabayashi
  • Summerhaven to Gordon Hirabayashi
  • Summerhaven to Gordon Hirabayashi
  • Summerhaven to Gordon Hirabayashi
  • Summerhaven to Gordon Hirabayashi
  • Summerhaven to Gordon Hirabayashi
  • Summerhaven to Gordon Hirabayashi
  • Summerhaven to Gordon Hirabayashi
  • Summerhaven to Gordon Hirabayashi
  • Summerhaven to Gordon Hirabayashi
  • Summerhaven to Gordon Hirabayashi
  • Summerhaven to Gordon Hirabayashi

Summerhaven to Gordon Hirabayashi

Christmas came early this year. After a night's unconsciousness in the Apache Junction Best Western, we came around stiff and sore, our clothes and boots worn into holes, the boots, once our best friends, now offering about as much support as jelly to a spoon, our water reservoirs boasting cultures labs would die for, our hips resenting the loss of…
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  • Roosevelt Lake to Roger’s Trough
  • Roosevelt Lake to Roger’s Trough
  • Roosevelt Lake to Roger’s Trough
  • Roosevelt Lake to Roger’s Trough
  • Roosevelt Lake to Roger’s Trough
  • Roosevelt Lake to Roger’s Trough
  • Roosevelt Lake to Roger’s Trough
  • Roosevelt Lake to Roger’s Trough
  • Roosevelt Lake to Roger’s Trough
  • Roosevelt Lake to Roger’s Trough
  • Roosevelt Lake to Roger’s Trough
  • Roosevelt Lake to Roger’s Trough
  • Roosevelt Lake to Roger’s Trough
  • Roosevelt Lake to Roger’s Trough
  • Roosevelt Lake to Roger’s Trough
  • Roosevelt Lake to Roger’s Trough
  • Roosevelt Lake to Roger’s Trough
  • Roosevelt Lake to Roger’s Trough
  • Roosevelt Lake to Roger’s Trough
  • Roosevelt Lake to Roger’s Trough
  • Roosevelt Lake to Roger’s Trough
  • Roosevelt Lake to Roger’s Trough
  • Roosevelt Lake to Roger’s Trough
  • Roosevelt Lake to Roger’s Trough
  • Roosevelt Lake to Roger’s Trough
  • Roosevelt Lake to Roger’s Trough
  • Roosevelt Lake to Roger’s Trough
  • Roosevelt Lake to Roger’s Trough

Roosevelt Lake to Roger’s Trough

We're looking forward to ecstatic recognition and applause from the international scientific community. Our research in the Superstition Wilderness has allowed us to establish with 100% certainty that the Superstition bees are irresistibly attracted to bright blue. Our methodical experiments with blue-zipped Zip Lock bags, the blue tubes on our water reservoirs, bright blue M & Ms and the TP's…
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  • LF Ranch to Highway 87
  • LF Ranch to Highway 87
  • LF Ranch to Highway 87
  • LF Ranch to Highway 87
  • LF Ranch to Highway 87
  • LF Ranch to Highway 87
  • LF Ranch to Highway 87
  • LF Ranch to Highway 87
  • LF Ranch to Highway 87
  • LF Ranch to Highway 87
  • LF Ranch to Highway 87
  • LF Ranch to Highway 87
  • LF Ranch to Highway 87
  • LF Ranch to Highway 87
  • LF Ranch to Highway 87
  • LF Ranch to Highway 87
  • LF Ranch to Highway 87
  • LF Ranch to Highway 87
  • LF Ranch to Highway 87
  • LF Ranch to Highway 87
  • LF Ranch to Highway 87
  • LF Ranch to Highway 87
  • LF Ranch to Highway 87
  • LF Ranch to Highway 87
  • LF Ranch to Highway 87
  • LF Ranch to Highway 87
  • LF Ranch to Highway 87
  • LF Ranch to Highway 87
  • LF Ranch to Highway 87
  • LF Ranch to Highway 87
  • LF Ranch to Highway 87
  • LF Ranch to Highway 87
  • LF Ranch to Highway 87
  • LF Ranch to Highway 87
  • LF Ranch to Highway 87
  • LF Ranch to Highway 87
  • LF Ranch to Highway 87
  • LF Ranch to Highway 87
  • LF Ranch to Highway 87
  • LF Ranch to Highway 87
  • LF Ranch to Highway 87

LF Ranch to Highway 87

In 5.5 days, we only saw 1 human being: I saw Glenn and Glenn saw me. For all we know, for most of that time we were the only humans in the 252,500 acres (1022 km2) Mazatzal Wilderness (Mazatzal meaning Land of Deer in Aztec, even though the Aztecs aren't supposed to have come this far north), especially given that…
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Pine to LF Ranch

Pine is a strange place. Yes, there are large expanses of pine forests to its north justifying its name, the ladies volunteering at the library were very helpful and chatty, a bakery served good espressos, the hiker-friendly brewery served excellent thin-crust pizza and beer, the Pine Creek Cabins where we stayed were clean and cosy and provided more horseshoe-throwing entertainment,…
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  • Flagstaff to Mormon Lake: Back on the trail!
  • Flagstaff to Mormon Lake: Back on the trail!
  • Flagstaff to Mormon Lake: Back on the trail!
  • Flagstaff to Mormon Lake: Back on the trail!
  • Flagstaff to Mormon Lake: Back on the trail!
  • Flagstaff to Mormon Lake: Back on the trail!
  • Flagstaff to Mormon Lake: Back on the trail!
  • Flagstaff to Mormon Lake: Back on the trail!
  • Flagstaff to Mormon Lake: Back on the trail!
  • Flagstaff to Mormon Lake: Back on the trail!

Flagstaff to Mormon Lake: Back on the trail!

Not only are we back on the trail, but we've actually made good progress; unintentionally to some extent. With Glenn's shin splints driven into hiding, we stocked up with food, filled our bellies with copious Greek carbs and walked across the Flagstaff railway tracks to re-join the Arizona Trail. We agreed when we started the trail back in September to…
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  • Sideways (Week 3: Hopi Mesas back to Flagstaff)
  • Sideways (Week 3: Hopi Mesas back to Flagstaff)
  • Sideways (Week 3: Hopi Mesas back to Flagstaff)
  • Sideways (Week 3: Hopi Mesas back to Flagstaff)
  • Sideways (Week 3: Hopi Mesas back to Flagstaff)
  • Sideways (Week 3: Hopi Mesas back to Flagstaff)
  • Sideways (Week 3: Hopi Mesas back to Flagstaff)
  • Sideways (Week 3: Hopi Mesas back to Flagstaff)
  • Sideways (Week 3: Hopi Mesas back to Flagstaff)
  • Sideways (Week 3: Hopi Mesas back to Flagstaff)
  • Sideways (Week 3: Hopi Mesas back to Flagstaff)
  • Sideways (Week 3: Hopi Mesas back to Flagstaff)
  • Sideways (Week 3: Hopi Mesas back to Flagstaff)
  • Sideways (Week 3: Hopi Mesas back to Flagstaff)
  • Sideways (Week 3: Hopi Mesas back to Flagstaff)
  • Sideways (Week 3: Hopi Mesas back to Flagstaff)
  • Sideways (Week 3: Hopi Mesas back to Flagstaff)
  • Sideways (Week 3: Hopi Mesas back to Flagstaff)
  • Sideways (Week 3: Hopi Mesas back to Flagstaff)
  • Sideways (Week 3: Hopi Mesas back to Flagstaff)
  • Sideways (Week 3: Hopi Mesas back to Flagstaff)
  • Sideways (Week 3: Hopi Mesas back to Flagstaff)
  • Sideways (Week 3: Hopi Mesas back to Flagstaff)
  • Sideways (Week 3: Hopi Mesas back to Flagstaff)
  • Sideways (Week 3: Hopi Mesas back to Flagstaff)
  • Sideways (Week 3: Hopi Mesas back to Flagstaff)

Sideways (Week 3: Hopi Mesas back to Flagstaff)

We decided to take the back, unsignposted and largely missing-from-the-map dirt track from the Hopi Mesas to Kayenta, the cheap place to stay if you're visiting Monument Valley, via Pinon (probably originally Piñón or "pine nut" in Spanish), crossing a small part of the Navajo Nation which few other whiteys visit. The track produced a lady with a pick-up full…
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  • Sideways (Week 2: Winslow to the Hopi Mesas)
  • Sideways (Week 2: Winslow to the Hopi Mesas)
  • Sideways (Week 2: Winslow to the Hopi Mesas)
  • Sideways (Week 2: Winslow to the Hopi Mesas)
  • Sideways (Week 2: Winslow to the Hopi Mesas)
  • Sideways (Week 2: Winslow to the Hopi Mesas)
  • Sideways (Week 2: Winslow to the Hopi Mesas)
  • Sideways (Week 2: Winslow to the Hopi Mesas)
  • Sideways (Week 2: Winslow to the Hopi Mesas)
  • Sideways (Week 2: Winslow to the Hopi Mesas)
  • Sideways (Week 2: Winslow to the Hopi Mesas)
  • Sideways (Week 2: Winslow to the Hopi Mesas)
  • Sideways (Week 2: Winslow to the Hopi Mesas)
  • Sideways (Week 2: Winslow to the Hopi Mesas)
  • Sideways (Week 2: Winslow to the Hopi Mesas)
  • Sideways (Week 2: Winslow to the Hopi Mesas)
  • Sideways (Week 2: Winslow to the Hopi Mesas)
  • Sideways (Week 2: Winslow to the Hopi Mesas)
  • Sideways (Week 2: Winslow to the Hopi Mesas)
  • Sideways (Week 2: Winslow to the Hopi Mesas)
  • Sideways (Week 2: Winslow to the Hopi Mesas)
  • Sideways (Week 2: Winslow to the Hopi Mesas)
  • Sideways (Week 2: Winslow to the Hopi Mesas)
  • Sideways (Week 2: Winslow to the Hopi Mesas)
  • Sideways (Week 2: Winslow to the Hopi Mesas)
  • Sideways (Week 2: Winslow to the Hopi Mesas)

Sideways (Week 2: Winslow to the Hopi Mesas)

We propelled ourselves 20 miles back towards Flagstaff and 50,000 years into the past to visit Meteor Crater which, yes, is just a big hole in the ground, made by a fairly small meteorite which hit the earth at between 24,000 and 40,000 miles an hour, depending on which of the museum signs you choose to believe. Useless fact of…
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  • Sideways (Week 1: Flagstaff to Winslow)
  • Sideways (Week 1: Flagstaff to Winslow)
  • Sideways (Week 1: Flagstaff to Winslow)
  • Sideways (Week 1: Flagstaff to Winslow)
  • Sideways (Week 1: Flagstaff to Winslow)
  • Sideways (Week 1: Flagstaff to Winslow)
  • Sideways (Week 1: Flagstaff to Winslow)
  • Sideways (Week 1: Flagstaff to Winslow)
  • Sideways (Week 1: Flagstaff to Winslow)
  • Sideways (Week 1: Flagstaff to Winslow)
  • Sideways (Week 1: Flagstaff to Winslow)
  • Sideways (Week 1: Flagstaff to Winslow)
  • Sideways (Week 1: Flagstaff to Winslow)
  • Sideways (Week 1: Flagstaff to Winslow)
  • Sideways (Week 1: Flagstaff to Winslow)
  • Sideways (Week 1: Flagstaff to Winslow)
  • Sideways (Week 1: Flagstaff to Winslow)
  • Sideways (Week 1: Flagstaff to Winslow)
  • Sideways (Week 1: Flagstaff to Winslow)

Sideways (Week 1: Flagstaff to Winslow)

Well, at least we're not going backwards this time. Not quite, anyway. When we arrived in Flagstaff, bruising and pain down the front of Glenn's leg screamed "SHIN SPLINTS" (or a "hiccup in his giddy-up", as he calls it). Knowing from bitter personal experience that trying to tough them out just makes them braver, we decided to act grown up,…
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Thank you, Mitzi!

A special thank you to Mitzi, who went out of her way to drive into the centre of Flagstaff, which is not even where she lives, to buy two surprise beers for us at the Weatherford Hotel, where we had a reservation. They were waiting for us behind the bar when we arrived tired and thirsty that evening. Thank you!…
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