Last Stop in Arizona – Petrified Forest

Petrified Wood

Petrified Wood ©2013 Bo Mackison

On my second day of travel, I headed north and east so I could visit one of my favorite destinations – Petrified Forest National Park. Not only am I fascinated by the petrified wood – from tree chunks to tiny pebbles – dotting the barren landscape, I also love to wander throughout the rooms of the Painted Desert Inn, a National Historic Landmark, dating from the 1920s. (To be featured in the next post!)

Chucks of Petrified Wood

Chunks of Petrified Wood ©2013 Bo Mackison

Petrified wood is deep with color, patterns, even textures. No longer wood, these relics are fossils, once ancient wood turned into rock crystals.

The petrified fossils are scattered about the park, but they are protected by federal laws. There are reminders throughout the park, reminding visitors to look, not touch.

Petrified Forest National Park

Petrified Forest National Park ©2013 Bo Mackison

Petrified rocks are available for sale in nearby towns, specimens mined from privately owned land. Of course, I had to stop at my favorite petrified rock shop, Jim Gray’s in Holbrook, Arizona.  There is something ancient and sacred about a carrying a small piece of rock in my pocket that is a 100 million years old.

So I added a few last-chance talismans to this year’s Arizona collection of trinkets.

Painted Desert

Painted Desert ©2013 Bo Mackison

The Petrified Forest is only a small part of the Painted Desert, an irregularly formed crescent that stretches from western Arizona to central New Mexico.

Pale purple, gray blue and off white striations in the rock at the Petrified Forest add interest to the badlands scenery. These colors came from iron deposits in places with no oxygen, typically submerged in stagnant water in prehistoric marshes. The deep red layers indicate a dry and hot climate in the presence of oxygen. The various layers date from 50 to 200 million years ago, time enough for oceans and swamps to turn to desert a few times over.

Painted Teepees

Painted Teepees ©2013 Bo Mackison

I drove through the park, and stopped at every pull-off and a few extra middle-of-the-road photographs. Happily, the park had few visitors on an early morning in late April, and so there were few cars to worry about. And then I drove on the entrance ramp that leads directly from the Visitor Center to I-40 and headed towards New Mexico!

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC.    She is traveling cross-country and blogging about her travels — whenever she is in a motel with internet and awake, concurrently.

Traveling in Arizona

Santa Rita Prickly Pear

Santa Rita Prickly Pear © 2013 Bo Mackison

Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

The neighborhood cactus, a lovely Prickly Pear named for Santa Rita Mountains where they grow abundantly, threw this goodbye party for me – a massive show of yellow blossoms amidst a multitude of purple pads. A finer sending-off gift I have never received!

It was sunny and a mild 71˚F when I left my home situated between the Sonoran Desert to the west and the Santa Rita Mountains to the east. The highest temperatures of the year were predicted for  the next few days — nearing 100˚ — and  so it was time to return to the Midwest for the summer.

Copper Country

Copper Basin Railway © 2013 Bo Mackison

All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.
~ J.R.R. Tolkien

Though I love Tolkien’s writings, his words didn’t quite apply to my meanderings on my first travel day. I was wandering and I did get lost, but it was not for nought. I missed a turn and so ended up in copper country east of Phoenix instead of at my mid-day destination, the Boyce Thompson Arboretum. I did see some interesting countryside that I otherwise would never have seen – the benefits of wandering.

No worries. I did enjoy the sights on some new-to-me roads as I circled back towards Boyce Thompson Arboretum, and though my picnic lunch was delayed, the blooming gardens lived up to all expectations!

This view is of the Picket Post Mountains, one of the first Arizona sights that were etched in my psyche on my first visit to the area. Friends introduced Sherpa and I to the diversity and beauty of the desert at Boyce Thompson, and it was like coming home. Four years later, this view still evokes fond memories of my realization that I had found “my place”. And I hadn’t been aware that there was a place I needed to find!

Salt River Canyon

Salt River Canyon © 2013 Bo Mackison

One travels more usefully when alone, because he reflects more.
~ Thomas Jefferson

I drove from Globe to Show Low, Arizona on the last part of the day’s journey, driving on sharp turns through the mountains, dropping deep into the Salt River Canyon, and then rising into the White Mountains. The views were spectacular, and since I was following my own schedule that allowed for plenty of interruptions, I pulled off at nearly every overlook, just to take in the scenery.

Nothing like standing on the edge of a mountain cliff, studying masses of white flowers on climbing vines that cover the white rock of the White Mountains, viewing a white rapids river thousands of feet below, watching the red tail hawks soar overhead, to remind me that I am but a speck of dust in this mighty Universe.

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC.    She is traveling cross-country, and thinking about the Universe.

Cross Country Adventure

Cactus Flower Wreath

Cactus Flower Wreath © 2013 Bo Mackison

I locked the doors, left a note in my neighbor’s mail box, and gave the mountain view from my door a lingering look. A red-tailed hawk swooped towards the arroyo, then caught an uplifting current and soared into the deep blue sky.

Months ago, when I was pondering a solo road trip half way across the country, I questioned my sanity. But today, it feels right. I’ve crammed everything into the car — mostly boxes of books and art supplies, a couple of pieces of art I purchased for re-location to the Midwest, and a box of newly acquired book-making paraphernalia. Camera bags and my suitcase occupy the back seat. My bag of travel food – peanut butter, vegetable juice, apples, almonds, baby carrots – is in the front seat within easy reach. So is a cooler of ice, a jug of iced tea, and several cases of water. My goal is to do the trip without any fast food stops.

My other travel objective is to drive over 2,000 miles while (mostly) avoiding the interstate system and stopping at every National Park or monument within a half hour drive. That is the part of my plan that makes this travel plan sensible, doable, and sane. And the fact that I’m limiting my road travel to 350 miles a day. It’s not a lot, it will take me a week to get to Wisconsin, but it is doable. Even enjoyable. I’ve already promised myself that when I see a photo opportunity, I will take the time and stop.

What’s not to love about this kind of road trip!

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC.    She will report in with travel updates, as time and  internet connections allow.

 

Saguaro in Bloom

Saguaro Cactus Blooms

Saguaro Cactus Blossoms © 2013 Bo Mackison

“The poetry of the earth is never dead….”  ~ John Keats

What a joyful experience to walk through the Sonoran Desert when the saguaro are in bloom! After craning my neck to see the very top of each saguaro, I felt as tipsy as the bees that were swarming the flowers  while doing the pollination dance.

I spent much of today packing, and tomorrow I begin my travels to the Midwest. I hear that spring is just about ready to burst in Wisconsin and I am ready to be home.

But still, I will miss my other home in the desert.

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC.

Reverence – A Desert Wisdom Card

Saguaro Cactus - Saguaro National Park

Saguaro Cactus Crone © 2013 Bo Mackison

By having a reverence for life, we enter into a spiritual relation with the world. By practicing reverence for life, we become good, deep, and alive. ~ Albert Schweitzer

 What is reverence?

It is deep respect. It honors the presence of the sacred in everything – people, animals, plants. This includes respect for the land and for those sustained by the land.

When I look at this photograph of this aged saguaro, I see an ancient saguaro crone. There are small flower buds on the tips of her arms. She surveys the desert earth, thankful for the earth that sustains her, thankful for the flowers soon to bloom, for the bees and bats which will pollinate her flowers, for the fruit that will set, and for the birds and animals that will eat her fruits and spread the saguaro seeds, seeds of potential new life.

Reverence generates a simultaneous movement upward and downward within the interior of the subtle body, our deepest place of perception. The Upward movement brings recognition of a spiritual essence. The more mysterious Downward movement entails descent into the deep ground of Being. To inhabit both movements at once equates with reverence.
~ Karen Jaenke

The saguaro, one of the largest life forms in the desert, has wide roots in the desert earth.

Her arms stretch high into the sky; she connects the earth and the sky. We admire these plants, the connectors of earth and the heavens. Yet, we too stand rooted upon the earth. We raise our arms into the air, our fingertips touch the sky. There is no line of demarcation between the blue skies we gaze at with awe and the skies that swirl about our very beings. We, with reverence, connect earth and sky.

Always and in everything, let there be reverence. ~ Confucius

REVERENCE offers questions/reflections for journal writing, art prompts, and calls to action:

  • Imagine yourself in the pose of the ancient saguaro crone. What are you holding in reverence?
  • How can you show reverence for yourself, other people, and the plants, animals and things that are present in your ordinary life?
  • Barry Lopez, in his book, Journeys on the Threshold of Memory, writes about his history by documenting the things his hands have done in his life. How might you tell a part of your story using the same idea as a creative seed? What might you use to document the exquisite miracles that your hands have performed? Would you use written words, an oral history, still photographs, a short video, or other media?

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC.  Bo is creating a deck of Desert Wisdom Cards for exploration and discovery, using photography and a Sonoran Desert theme – its myths and stories, cultures and heritage, and the desert’s remarkable natural beauty and resources.