Lazily made my way down the mountainous highway eastward to Arizona. Along the way were too many Federal Border Patrol vehicles to count, and a couple of check-points. They weren't anything like the Baja stops, as I was just slowed down, then waived through each one.
Another research stop, and I had my objective for the day. There was an interesting archaeological site about 150 miles West of Tucson that looked promising. There was also a rest area not too far from it, so that's where I'd spend the night.
I stopped for food & gas, and finally arrived at the rest area around 8:00. I'd be there a little longer than hoped, but it wasn't busy. Great, not too many trucks = quiet night's sleep. Though after a week in the deafening silence of Corral Canyon (did I mention there was only 2 nights anyone else was camped there?), even the highway noise may be too much.
Day 42Take my time getting going, only had a short drive and it was a little chilly in the morning. Got in a good breakfast, then made the short drive to Painted Rocks State Park. A small site within the park contains an oddly placed small hill of boulders, which are covered in petroglyphs.
Short aside for a definition clarification on the two commonly found forms of ancient rock art.
Petroglyph: created by etching or carving into rock
Pictograph: created by painting the rock
So, why is a site of petroglyphs called "Painted" Rocks State Park? No idea.
This site was used extensively by the Hohokam people, a group of farmers who lived in Southern Arizona between about 300 BC and 1450 AD. Their artwork is known as the "Gila Style". It typically includes shapes of animals, insects, people, plants, circles, and zigzags.
The site also contains some older petroglyphs in the "Western Archaic Style". They were created by a separate group of peoples who lived in the region between 7500 BC and 1 AD. These are typically geometric & abstract shapes such as grids, circles, and both parallel & wavy lines.
Only vehicle in the parking lot
Macro view of the boulder pile
Arizona loves their geckos
First of the petroglyphs.
You can't walk up the hill, by some like this one were right next to the path.
Some boulders resembled modern graffiti
Petroglyphs appear on just about every boulder
Can you spot the two different styles?
It's a small site, so only took about 20 minutes for pictures and reading the sign boards. Time to roll.
Stopped again at Gila Bend, a small town a few miles down the road. Still had a few grocery items to grab that I didn't find the previous day. Also wanted to refill one of the propane tanks on the trailer.
The only grocery store in town told the story of recent times. It was a decent sized store, that could easily support a town of a few thousand. Lots of long, tall shelves, and, what appeared to be a a distance, a deli and bakery. As I stepped into the store, I couldn't find one of those small plastic shopping baskets, that I noticed two other gentlemen carrying. I asked the sole cashier, and the response was "We only have two, looks like they're both being used." Really? Ok. I grab one of the handful of shopping carts, and head to the produce area. It's fairly large, but the selection is sparse. Of the items they do have, most look only a few days away from rotting. I decide to pass on that, and move onto the first aisle.
More oddity. I traverse this aisle, and the next, and the next. Each tells the same story. Every aisle is about 50 feet long, and is about two percent full (if that). The selection is reasonable, but there is only a couple of each item. Entire five foot sections are completely empty. I also see that both the deli and bakery areas are bare. There is only one employee, and three customers - one with a ridiculously large cart for only two items.
This town must have been doing well not too long ago. Now it's days looked to be numbered.
It's another quick drive from here to my destination for the next couple of nights - Picacho State Park. I was planning on spending a week in Tucson, but still needed to work out the accommodations. More on that later.
Checked into the park, filled up the water tank in the trailer, then set it up. It would be nice to have full-time power for a few days. Time to recharge everything. Also had decent mobile phone coverage, at my site, so the next couple of days looked promising.
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