Wildfire!

As of today, Sunday June 26th, officials say the Monument Fire south of Sierra Vista is 75% contained. Total containment is not expected until mid-July, but it seems certain the danger has passed. For the first time in two weeks no smoke can be seen wafting over the profile of the Huachuca Range to the West.

Cross survived ~ Chapel burned

The most anyone can venture regarding the origin of the fire is that it can be blamed on extremely dry conditions and someone's carelessness. Anyone except John McCain, who used the occasion to advance his own political agenda by publicly suggesting that the fire may have been started by illegal aliens. Shame on you, Senator!

Lone Star Cafe survived ~ Ricardo's burned

The fire started around 1:00 PM on Sunday, June 12th. On Monday and Tuesday all that could be seen during the daylight hours were billows of grey smoke, but at night the flames etched across the face of the mountains, creeping like open sore, a cancer. It was an eerie and ominous sight, reminiscent of scenes from the movie Blade Runner.

Plastic fencing doesn't survive well

By Wednesday, the fire was still ten miles away, high up in mountain terrain that made it difficult to combat. And then came the winds. My section of Hereford, six miles from Highway 92 was put under a pre-evacuation order. On Thursday, a Border Patrol agent enlisted to supplement the police informed me in no uncertain terms that I should pack up and evacuate as soon as possible.

Devastation everywhere

Whatever the cause of the fire, its effect was compounded exponentially by the wind. At near gale force the wind worked like a huge bellows, fueling and pushing the fire-line faster than a man can run.

According to one report a 10-ft wall of flames leapt over a line of firefighters who were trying to prevent the fire from crossing Highway 92 near Ash Canyon. Instead of fighting the conflagration head on, they found themselves chasing after it.

I  was permitted to return after five days. The aftermath: fifty-seven homes and five businesses destroyed, forty-seven square miles charred, 10,000 people evacuated, millions spent fighting the fire. Luckily no serious injuries or deaths. I am very thankful to have been spared the devastation you see in these pictures.

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Unhappy Trails

The so-called "Monument Fire," still burning today (June 20th) in the Huachuca Mountains, has devastated some wonderful hiking country–Ash and Carr Canyons. Miller Canyon with its peak of 9,466 ft, the highest in the Huachucas. As I ruminated over my personal loss resulting from the fire, I recalled a hike with my now ex-wife Judy.

As usual in our gender-crossed relationship, she chose the hike, Joe's Canyon Trail, and led the way. We parked at the Visitor's Center at base of the Coronado National Memorial, near where the Monument Fire would begin, and headed toward Montezuma Pass–3.1 miles away and 1,345 ft up. We didn't bring much with us, our day packs each with a bottle of water. Judy said we would only do part of the trail. I should have known better. We never planned to hike as far as Judy's singular determination would ultimately take us.

About half-way we ran out of water, but Judy insisted we press on. She was certain there was water at Montezuma Pass and since we were half-way, what would be the point of turning back? Never mind that the next half of the ascent was probably steeper than what we had accomplished thus far or that we'd really only hiked a quarter of the way since we'd have to turn around at the top and make our way back down the mountain.

     An historical note: The Montezuma Castle National Monument
     near Camp Verde in Northern Arizona is the last known habitat
     of the Sinagua, a pre-Columbian people who disappeared
     around 1425 AD. Their Spanish name derives from the fact that
     they survived in a land "without water". It was therefore altogether
     fitting and proper that, on this day at least, Montezuma Pass was  
     sin agua!

Seriously dehydrated, we did not finish the 290 ft ascent to the top of Coronado Peak (6,864 ft) nor did we dally to take in the view at the pass, but immediately began our descent along the winding dirt road that most people drive up to pay tribute to Coronado's memory. We had high hopes of engaging someone in a vehicle from whom to beg water or a ride down the mountain–perhaps a Forest Service Ranger or Border Patrol Agent.

No luck. It was middle-of-the-week, off-season and we were seriously on our own. We trudged a mile or so down the dusty, twisting road and then… a miracle! Judy produced two ripe plums from her day pack!

I like plums okay, but I made love to that one! I caressed it and kissed it and eventually devoured it with my passion. I believe to this day that those two plums are the reason we didn't become debilitatingly dehydrated. Though providing only a modest amount of moisture, the sweet juices of the fruit encouraged the cells of our bodies with the hope of more to come and permitted us to stumble down the mountain to safety.

It will be many years before Joe's Canyon Trail will be again as it was, but until then it will endure in our memories along with the trails of Ash, Carr and Miller Canyons.

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Monument Fire in AZ

I am currently a "refugee" from the Monument Fire near Sierra Vista, AZ. On Thursday last the fire reached within two miles of my property in Hereford. The Cochise County Sheriff's office issued a mandatory evacuation of Hereford, so I hitched up the fifth wheel and drove to the Turquoise Valley RV Park in Naco (near Bisbee, AZ).

The Monument Fire, which started near the Mexican border at the Coronado Monument, has destroyed over fifty homes and several businesses, including a couple of my favorite restaurants. It has also "displaced" an estimated 10,000 who have been evacuated from their homes, most of whom do not have wheel on their houses as I do.

The fire has burned its way from the Monument at the foot of the Huachuca Mountains through some beautiful hiking country in Carr and Miller Canyons. For more information and pictures, go to Facebook > Monument Fire in AZ.

 (Photos by Jim Adams)

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Pilgrim's Progress

At last, current pictures of my home-in-the-desert project! Sorry for the delay but work on the project was–as they say–overcome by events for several weeks.

The masonry work is essentially complete. The columns are filled with concrete and steel, ready for the two containers to be set in place.

Next, the scary part. lifting the 5,000 lb containers onto the block columns, which will be done by crane.

P.S.
I've not read Pilgrim's Progress, but like John Wayne I've always liked the word pilgrim, perhaps because I once had a girlfriend named Fay Pilgrim. I wonder where she is now… After looking over the synopsis of Pilgrim's Progress on Wikipedia, I'm not likely ever to read it. If I'm in the mood for religious allegory, I'll re-read Herman Hesse's Siddhartha or watch The Poseidon Adventure (1972 version). Click here for analysis.

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Sound Familiar?

    A quote:
            These days the chief executives in America move from
            company to company lightly, vote themselves bonuses
            just before bankruptcy, sell out the retirement fund,
            and so on.

Care to guess when this observation was made? Last week? Last year? Would you believe more than twenty years ago, say 1990? The quote was a passing comment in Robert Bly's seminal book, Iron John.

       Here's another:
               The best lack all conviction, while the worst
                      Are full of passionate intensity.

Sound familiar, like maybe Jon Stewart's analysis of our current political environment? Democrats fiddle away while Republicans rant about the deficit. Notice the poetic format? It's from a poem titled, The Second Coming by William Butler Yeats, published in 1916.

       Yet another:
              Those who don't know history are destined to repeat it.
                                                              –Edmund Burke

Hmmm... I don't know when Burke wrote this, but he died in 1797. Get the picture?

Remember "Where have all the flowers gone?" The Kingston Trio, 1961. Pete Seeger's verse was about the futility of wars but could well have been about the abuse of power. The refrain at the end of each verse asked, "When will they ever learn, when will they ever learn?"

When will we ever learn? The answer to this question has been blowing in the wind for fifty years. Isn't it time we finished forever with war? Isn't it time we insisted our leaders in business and government take the high road and do what's best for the country and its people rather than securing their own fortunes? Where are the "philosopher kings" of industry and government? Where are the true stewards of the country's welfare? They are sorely needed to shepherd us around the perils of the past.

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