On the road–secret places in Arizona’s ‘Sky Islands’

Greetings from Patagonia Public Library in southern Arizona! Thank the gods for libraries such as this. Serving a small population of 850 or so permanent residents, this heart of the community was recognized in 2018 by the Library Journal as “…one of only two libraries receiving an honorable mention award at the Association for Rural & Small Libraries…” which “…most profoundly demonstrate outstanding service to populations of 25,000 or less.”

That being said, we have spent the past week camping in two of Arizona’s ‘sky island’ campgrounds. Sky islands are mountain ranges that rise up above desert valleys.

We pulled in to a sparsely populated Sky Island community in southeastern Arizona on Oct. 29. Stopping first at its local library, we sat at a table shared with a retired school librarian from Lynwood WA. When asked where we learned of this remote place, we told her read about it in Arizona Highways. 

She frowned, saying she wished media wouldn’t attract attention to the place, fearing it would be overrun and loved to death, like it’s happened in Moab CO and Sedona AZ. She got me to promise I wouldn’t write about it on Facebook. So I promised. Her attitude clung to us like a dark cloud a as we left the library. We loved our campsite, surrounded by rhyolite towers. Taking a hike along a birding trail later that afternoon, we saw the woman again. I told her I was curious why she took her position. “I’m a NIMBY–not in my backyard–” she admitted. But after talking with her, I came to see her perspective, about how places that are pure and beautiful can have that very quality blown apart by visitors who love it to death. So, in keeping my promise, I will not say where this sky island is. I will say it, like other quiet and seemingly untouched places we’ve visited, enriches the body, mind and spirit, and encourages reverence.

On Halloween we drove around Forest Service roads finding inspiration along the way:

Leaving this quiet and rugged place, we drove next to get groceries and stop for lunch at the revitalized copper mining town of Bisbee, AZ. We remembered the High Desert Market and Cafe from two years ago, and again ate a healthy and tasty lunch. Its gift store provided me with gifts for folks we plan to visit along the way home.

Our home until Nov. 6 is the Patagonia Lake State Park nearby Patagonia.

We attended a fundraiser for the Patagonia Youth Enrichment Center, founded by elementary school teacher Anna Coleman. Delicious lasagna and salad was enjoyed on the center’s deck. We were entertained by the good music of the Band Wanted, a couple from Tombstone AZ, who sing covers and original tunes. They’re living the dream. Anna the center’s director, founded the program to provide a place for middle and high schoolers  to hang out after school. Some of the students said how the center has given them a sense of place and purpose. They grow a garden and harvest its vegetables, make meals and visit. We chatted with Anna a moment after dinner. She told us she heads to the center after finishing teaching at 3:30 each week day. The center is open until 8 PM.

Patagonia has some similarities to Langley WA, in that we found it is peopled with creative seniors, dedicated to caring for the community, and folks who march to their own beat. An example is Velvet Elvis Restaurant, with its homage to velvet Elvis paintings, Frida Kahlo, art honoring saints, and deities from around the world.

Afterward with a rainstorm pending, we stopped in at Grayce’s Gift & Candle Shop, admiring the collections within, and buying a beeswax candle. While Grayce has since passed into spirit, her son John Arnold PhD, has married a Nigerian princess, and is founder of PPEP, a non-profit dedicated to, among other things: helping businesses become self sufficient, helping migrant farmworkers, providing relief for rural poverty, and help for folks with disabilities. This positivity was reported to us by Barbara, who hosts the store and told us we are “all connected by our heart strings.”  Our candle lit our afternoon as rain pounded on Beatrix. My sympathies to folks camping in tents that afternoon. Our camp neighbor left her tent to work in Nogales and returned this morning.

Today, I’m writing this story, Bill got a nice haircut from Andrea at the local Ponytail Salon, and we visited a roadside shrine dedicated in part to a family’s beloved mother. A shrine further up is dedicated to a man lost in the war. This is a place of deep faith. It’s also a center of global significance for birders. Check it out.

Adios from Cactus Kate and Bajada Bill. By the next blog, we ought to know who won this election. Fingers crossed we will enter a new era where honesty, kindness and justice are revered.