Weekend in Overgaard

Suzanne and I spent a relaxing weekend in Overgaard. It's up on the Mogollon Rim. It's a few miles back from the rim, so Suzanne didn't feel like she was going to fall off a cliff the whole time. Click below to open a new window with the pictures.

Overgaard

The first couple of pictures show the cabin. It was nice. I didn't take many pictures of it, though.

One afternoon, we drove down Black Canyon Road. It was pretty. I realized how accustomed I am to taking pictures in the desert. I would stop to take a picture and get frustrated because of all the trees in the way. I finally gave up and took pictures of trees. Also, I found some places where there weren't so many trees, or they didn't get in the way.

The next picture is of Black Canyon Lake, which is a small man-made mud puddle at the end of Black Canyon Road. As you can see, many of the trees are just blackened trunks. They were burned in the Rodeo Chediski fire in the summer of 2002. You can also see some snow on the slope on the other side of the lake. There was still a lot of snow around, especially above about 6700 feet. It was very peaceful out at the lake. Even the kids there were sitting peacefully. Maybe the air was too thin for them.

The next picture shows what is being done with some of the dead trees. I guess you will find them in the mulch department of Home Depot soon. Next is more burnt trees. It's astounding how many burned. There were miles and miles and miles of burned trees, and I'm sure we saw only a small portion of them. You can also see that there are patches of green here and there, so it wasn't total devastation.

Next is a tree growing out of a rock. Looks like a natural bonsai. It seemed so unusual and unique. I took pictures of it from all angles. None turned out too good, though. Bad lighting, and no matter what the angle, there were trees and rocks in the background into which the subject blended. The next picture is of another tree growing out of a rock about 50 feet further down the road. Big whoop.

We came across some 800 to 2000 year old petroglyphs. The plaque near them listed several ideas about what their meaning could be, and at least one of those ideas is probably right. As I stood there contemplating the petroglyphs, I tried to imagine the people that had made them. I thought about what drove them to put those pictures there, about what important message they were trying to communicate to their people, to future generations, or to the gods. One image kept coming to mind, of teenagers drinking loco weed tea and messing around with some paint until their mother or father told them to quit goofing off and go pick some corn or catch a rabbit for dinner. Do we try to attach significance to the images just because they've survived for so long? Surely random grafitti would not be our only link to a civilization that vanished hundreds of years ago. They would not want their society to be remember for the "contributions" of their delinquents. I'm really starting to ramble. I don't know anything about petroglyphs, so don't pay any attention to my silly ideas.

They last picture is the side of Black Canyon. I felt like I had finally found a spot that the trees weren't in the way. Trees are nice, and I like them. I guess I've gotten used to taking pictures in the desert, though. Also, pine-covered landscapes look extremely boring to me. When Lindsey goes to northern Arizona with me, about the time that I'm thinking the scenery has gotten really boring, she says, "Oh, it's so beautiful out here". Mountains that are rocky have character. Pine covered mountains all look the same. I have a picture of one, and that's all I need. I guess I should challenge myself to take an interesting picture of a pine covered mountain. I'll work on it, but don't hold your breath.