AZT/ Mile 115 to La Sevilla Campground

 

Day 11

7.5 easy miles

We call Uber and go back to where we left the trail.  My knee seems a bit better and my back barely sore.  It's a brilliant sunny day and we are in the land of Saguaros. I'm in love with these cactus.   They are huge and stand like sentinels watching over the land. I ooh and aah around every corner.  

 

All too soon we arrive at Collassal Cave Mountain Park and folks are horseback riding and children giggle.  Mountain bike riders zip by.  We chat with a cyclist from Flagstaff.  They are all snowed in up there.  We chat with some RVers from Cali out for a year long adventure.  Don and Kate.  They take our photo for their blog: rocinante3.blogspot.com.  A fun couple.  We bump into them off and on in this lovely little park.  We people watch and eat food from the outdoor cafe and drink a few beers and a lemonade tea.   We watch the sky. 

The cave building the CCC built in the 1930's is amazing. 

 

This park is one of Roosevelt's projects to create jobs.  The cave is also part of that project.  Men from all over came and worked for a dollar a day to make this place accessible for tourists. They got room and board and were allowed to keep 5 dollars a month for entertainment.  The other 25 dollars was sent home to their families.  This was non negotiable.  

The tour was okay.  It's a dormant cave, so no new stalagmites or stalactites.  Many of the ones that are there are broken off, as way back in its history,  for a fee, people were allowed to take souvenirs.  Sad.   It really is a huge cave though, and we only saw a wee bit.  The best thing about our tour is all the kids and their questions.  The tour guide is patient and non condescending.  "Can frogs stick to the ceiling in here?" asks the two foot tall, male child. The guide answers, "Yes, I think a frog can, but I've never seen any.  I've heard stories of other animals in here."   Quickly came another question, "cheetahs?"

"No" answered the guide, "no cheetahs, cheetahs in the cave would be bad."  

Mark, with his curiosity, finds a rock painted like a baseball in the waiting area.  Turning it over he finds out it is a Tacoma rock and he gets to hide it somewhere else, so he chooses the nice CCC statue.  I think it looks good placed there and wonder who will find it.  

We camp in the La Sevilla area of the campground and it is right on the trail.  There are garbage cans, pit toilet and a armada with a working water spigot.   It's a warm evening, in the 60's. 

 

Today's takeaway:  Even on a trip about getting from point A to point B, time spent in one place has value.