The Big Red Stripe

Date: October 27, 2007
Location: Bulldog Canyon
Time and temperature: Start - 1405, 91
End - 1720, 83
Elevation change: 700 feet
The numbers:
79 Pictures taken
1 "Happy Birthday" balloon removed from the desert
1 WalMart bag removed from the desert

Ramblings: There's a red stripe on the side of the mountains in Bulldog Canyon. I always assumed that the rocks there had a lot of iron in them or something like that. A couple of weeks ago, I was hiking near the red stripe and found red spots on rocks, gravel, plants, etc. I thought that maybe it had rained a little, then some dust from the red stripe blew over and stuck where the raindrops had hit. I hiked up to the red stripe today to test that theory. Now I know what really happened, and you don't. Neener neener.

I doubt that it got over 93 out there, but it sure felt hot. I was stopping to rest is saguaro shadows. It's a pretty long walk from the road to the red stripe. With all the washes I had to cross, I climbed a lot more than 700 feet today.

It was unusually quiet out there today. There were some people on dirt bikes and a few trucks; even one of those desert tour hummers. I didn't hear much though. I usually enjoy the quiet. Today, on the way downhill, it was eerily quiet. It's like it was so quiet, the desert was sucking sound out of my ears, and it felt weird. It wasn't so quiet on the way uphill because I had the sound of myself gasping for air. There were hardly any birds chirping and I didn't hear any bugs. Strange.

Anyway, when I got closer to the red stripe, I saw that the rocks had red dots on them. When I got close enough to the red stripe, I could see that it looked like paint had been dump on the area. Of course it wasn't paint. It must have been fire retardant. You can see in the pictures that a lot of saguaros have darkened bases. That's from being burned. I could also see a lot of charred bush stumps. The fire retardant seems to be very persistent. I wish I knew when it had been dumped out there.

I climbed on up to the peak over the red stripe. The view was nice from up there. I kept looking for the truck but couldn't find it. I was getting worried and got the binoculars out. I found the truck, but I also discovered that it isn't a good idea to leave binoculars in your truck over the summer. There's $12 down the tubes.

I was thinking about leaving a golf ball at the peak, but when I got there I found a comb that somebody else had left. I didn't want the place to get cluttered, so I didn't leave anything.

While I was near the peak I saw a trail that I'll need to explore some day. It's going to be tough, though. I can't park anywhere near it.

I was watching a nice sunset as I drove out. I wasn't going to take any pictures, but then I remembered what Peg said. I jumped out of the truck, ran up a nearby hill, and snapped a couple of pictures for Peg.

BC_2007_10_27