Taking My Life in My Own Hands (on the Camino Del Diablo)

Camino del Diablo translates to Road of the Devil.

Doesn't sound too appealing... unless you like to 4-wheel drive or you live along the US-Mexico border. Well, I was living in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument in a house only 4 miles north of the border and this road , or camino, was legendary.

This road was first made famous by Spanish soldier Melchior Diaz and Padre Kino in the 1500s. These Spaniards followed the road made by prehistoric Hohokam people and historic Tohono O'odham people. It was considered the only way to cross the driest part of the southwestern desert due to large tinajas (earthen bowls filled with water) that could be found in the mountains. During the gold rush of the 1840s, many men died along this route trying to get to California. This ancient road is literally lined with the graves of adventurers passed.

Now do you understand why this road got its name? Let me tell you about the two times I crossed it and hiked into its wild mountains.

When I first decided to drive the road, I knew I needed a companion... preferably one with a gun and the ability to use it. Seriously the only time I've EVER felt this way while traveling. My friend Leo was my first choice. He's a lot of fun to hang with, great experience in the desert, a federal law enforcement officer (federal LEO, hence the name I've given him), and has a Spot personal locator beacon.


Such a good book!

Leo and I began looking into the road. We found out that we needed a free permit from the local bombing range (you know, just in case they decided to bomb the day we were driving by. no worries here!). We also started reading random books written about the area to learn about the regional history. I chose "The Devil's Highway", an aptly named book about immigrants walking across the Arizona desert and the tragedy that ensued. Basically this book taught me all I never wanted to know about dying of thirst in the desert.

Needless to say, we packed some extra water, snacks, left notes for everyone telling them where we were and when we hoped to return, gassed up, got our "don't bomb us" permit, and took off!

The road starts out just south of town as a very nice dirt road. I've seen octogenarians in sedans driving it while bird-watching. It gets a little bumpy as it travels into Organ Pipe and passes Bates Well, an old ranching homestead.

not a lot left of the ranch

Due to the water resources that undoubtedly brought the Bates Well ranchers to the area, it is also a great place for illegals crossing the desert. So, this is the first place we will see evidence of Border Patrol. These 3 metals boxes, which must feel like ovens in the 120 degree summer, are housing units for the BP and are probably mostly used during marijuana  crop season.

My second trip down CdD, I ran into these BP guys.... got stuck behind them for several miles before they pulled over and let me by. The CdD is a two-way one-lane road. Passing is tough and meeting on-coming traffic is tougher.

Once the road exits the park and heads west, it gets pretty sandy so someone, I'm assuming BP, put down metal runners. These are slippery and loud and interesting to drive on. They only run for a few miles.

Seriously wanted to slam on my brakes at a high speed to see how far we would skid...



A lot of the drive was spent watching for graves on the side of the road - we saw a few but didn't get photos. Not gonna lie - a lot of the drive was spent watching the south side of the road for humans hiding in the bushes or running across the desert. We never saw anyone suspicious. We did, however, see this....

the astroturf is a nice touch... we know you're
scared and dying of thirst and possibly heatstroke
or tuberculosis, but here is some
astroturf to remind you of civilization.

This is one of several beacons that save lives. Written in English, Spanish, and Tohono O'odham, instructions state that by pushing the button, help will arrive within one hour and you should stay in place. The button not only sends signal to the nearest Border Patrol outpost but it also lights up a flashing beacon for anyone to see.

There is a large BP outpost set up out there along the way. Its not at all inviting but it did ease my mind as Leo and I drove by it. We had been traveling on hard packed dirt but up ahead was a very large valley, and valleys mean one thing: Sand. Sand is not a 4-wheeler's friend. I wanted to stop and have Leo drive but he refused, saying I needed to drive to prove to myself that I could do it. (Later he admitted that he didn't want to get us stuck and then have all of his LEO co-workers find out. So there! Now they all know. :-)  )

Not only was there sand, but the road was so entrenched that I was grateful for all 10 inches of clearance my Xterra provided us. Imagine being forced, at 30mph, to choose one of several paths, all the while knowing that you'd be stuck with the path chosen no matter what because your vehicle literally wouldn't be able to get out of it. That's exactly what happened; only oh wait! Don't forget the sand - powder-fine sand was billowing up all around the car so much that I had to turn on my windshield wipers. (Yes, I have indeed used windshield wipers in one of the driest places in north america - for sand, not water.) The wipers only marginally helped but never fear, the horrid trenched road kept us on path - remember those old timey model T cars at AstroWorld that straddled an iron bar, bouncing you back onto the path every time you tried to steer away? Yeah, same theory here. So here we are, driving blind at 30 mph in a trench filled with powder-fine sand, when it dawned on me that this is a two-way road and anyone coming directly at us would be in exactly the same predicament we were in. The constant scare of a head-on collision really did wonders for my other nagging concern for traversing the Camino in the first place. Thanks!

Of course Leo and I survived the trenches... and continued onto the flats. A lot of flats...

Eventually we hit the next series of mountains (the Camino crosses through a series of Basin and Range-style mountain ranges. This is where the water is and this is what made the desert cross-able ) The next mountain pass was pretty cool. There was a  primitive campground and a few small buildings. I guess one was a house or small store or something. Whatever, it was shade! We stopped in to take a look around. Someone a while back had stashed a composition notebook in there and all Camino-crossers had signed it. As I sat there and read all the entries over the last few years, I recognized a few names and had a few laughs. I was reminded of the notebooks left in huts all along the Appalachian Trail. Those are filled with some good reading!

The road splits around a few of the mountains several times, is filled with lots of dead-ends, and lots of beckoning places. Leo and I chose to take a side-road south, for reasons I can't remember. We traveled a pretty route between two mountains that was twisty-turny, steep-walled, and had been described in a book as 'a great place for banditos to hide and hijack a vehicle'. Awesome and I definitely agree. I was very uncomfortable with the idea of parking and walking away from the car in search of petroglyphs. The last thing we needed was to lose our vehicle in the middle of desert nowhere! Once we were out of Tinajas Altas Pass, we were soon stopped by BP. (It wouldn't be the last time we took a road less traveled and were stopped by BP. More on that another time.) It was nice to see someone along that section of road because we weren't exactly sure where we were. He pointed us up a road that led through another pass and back to the main route.

The road became very wide and flat, and we ran across a military training - I don't know what branch or what you call a group of military people because I simply don't care. Here was an encampment, training and exercising along the Camino. It was pretty disconcerting to see tanks and military weapons moving around out here in the beautiful wilderness. We were approaching Yuma so I'm guessing they come out of there to strafe and train and whatnot. The road soon dumped us unceremoniously out onto the highway and back into civilization. Our 13-hour trek along the Camino had come to an end. Its so odd to think that just miles south of Interstate 8 where people are whizzing by on their way to the Pacific Ocean, there is a whole other world waiting to be explored. (and it took more than a month for all of the powder sand to disappear from my vehicle.)

On a Camino trip the following year, my friend S and I went in search of Tinajas Altas - an infamous canyon filled with water, petroglyphs, and probably illegals. Past the mind-numbing flats, the powder sands, the campground... We knew how to sniff out rock art - go into the desert and find water... not so tough!

Looking north out of Tinajas Altas Canyon

We found Tinajas Altas, climbed up into it a bit but didn't want to get stuck like so many unfortunate animals have done. We spent a few hours looking around for petroglyphs, found a few but not the main ones we were hoping to see.

S standing lower left, climbing up around the canyons

All in all, both Camino trips were packed with adventure and wilderness. I draw happiness from knowing that there are still wild and dangerous places out there in the U.S., places to still head out into the unknown.

Happy Thanksgiving (although I confess this has historically been one of my least favorite holidays)

Today I am thankful for the long hard road that has led me to my first completely compassionate Thanksgiving Day. I am thankful for my friends and family who may not always agree or understand but are supportive nonetheless. I am thankful for a fantastic boyfriend who loves me as much for our differences as for our similarities. I am thankful for the Vegetarian Society of El Paso, a group of people who I never expected to meet and never expected to have such an impact in my life.

There are many other things in this world I'm thankful for, like sunlight soaking into my skin or the smell of the air in a pine forest or for my grandma Joy and all her undying support of me throughout my life. But, for today, I'll stick with the short list above. The rest are just for me.

The Kritzler clan of Texas, Ohio, and a bit of Canada (c. 2009)

The Hines clan of Texas and Iowa (c.2006)

What are you thankful for today? (Please don't say Black Friday Sales or I will Punch You in Your Throat!)

Devil's Hall with the boys

This last weekend I headed out to Guadalupe Mountains National Park with M and his boys for a Veteran's Day hike. Guadalupe contains the highest peak in Texas as well as some world-renown geological specimens from the Permian Era. In the fall, people migrate there in droves to see the only fall colors around this region. Most people head to the more famous McKittrick Canyon but we were hitting M's favorite place - Devil's Hall.

Last week a local newscast aired an interview on location they did with M in Devil's Hall and since then the place has had more El Pasoan foot traffic than ever before! So I guess mass media really does still work.

I have done this hike many years ago but I barely remember it and half of hiking is the company you keep, so this trip would be fun.

The forecast was a bit dismal for my south Texan bones... windy (50mph) and cold (high of 50). I dressed as warmly as I could, brought extra stuff for the kids in case they're as wimpy as I am, and still froze my ass off. Even with the hiking, I was cold. (blood flows to muscle, leaving fatty tissue to stay cold.... read: my ass, my thighs)

We started hiking after lunch so that the weather was a bit warmer. However, we were hiking in a canyon so we also had no sun.... brrrr! Thank you weather gods for the absence of wind. The Guads are known for their incredible wind storms.

The hike started off sunny...

However, we were headed into a canyon and
would soon lose our light and solar-warmth

We did see lots of great fall color. This isn't New England fall color but when one or two trees are brilliant red and surrounded by white rock, it really stands out. Most of the time I couldn't photograph the color due to the shadowy canyon light.

Bright red big-toothed maples were everywhere

Texas Madrone berries added great color, but
taste awful!

White is a color.... There were several
yuccas blooming along the trail. They
bring in the bats and moths. Yay!

There were other kinds of color too - brilliant purple
colored all the rocks from Ringtail urine - probably
purple from eating berries

After a bit of trail hiking, in which the boys took turns looking for cougars with binoculars and spilling water on their shirts, we headed into a rocky wash to hike for a mile to Devil's Hall. This is what we like to call "kid nirvana"....

Jumbly awesome rocks to climb on!

And climb them, they did!

At one point, in the narrow rock-strewn canyon, I heard rustling in the bushes high overhead. I shushed the boys (have you ever tried to shush 10 year olds? its not an easy task) so we wouldn't scare off whatever animal was up there. Turned out to be a deer family of 4 eating an afternoon meal. They stared at us; we stared at them. Once the boys had a good look at the deer in their natural habitat, we were off for more rock climbing.

Towards the end of the hike, the trail goes up what's known as Devil's Stairs. These are fun but the odd way they tilt create a dizzying optical illusion.

One runs to the Devil's Stairs while the other surveys the path

Posing for photos for dad

After the Devil's Stairs, the canyon narrows even more. M and I walked in front of the boys, allowing them time to be alone with nature, and time for us to jump out and scare them from behind our hiding places.  :-)

Also gave us time to pose
for our own pictures

The canyon narrows down to almost a slot canyon.... if we were on the Colorado Plateau we'd call it a "slot canyon" but we aren't so we call it "Devil's Hall"!

M enjoying geology and fall colors at the
mouth of Devil's Hall

Devil's Hall is the end of the trail. I guess you could bushwhack up a few more yards but not with kids... Another day perhaps. So we turned around and headed back out. We saw the deer in the same spot as where we left them. I even found the boys' lost binoculars in the same spot they left them... All in all, a good day out in the wilderness, a good 4 miles of fall color, a good time!

Traveling Ancient Roads in New Mexico (or Our Urination Vacation) Part 3: Heading Home and Looking Back

One of the coolest things about Chaco Culture National Historic Site is that you can enter a few of the sites and walk around at your leisure. Many sites with ancient dwellings have rules that you can look but you can't touch. At Chaco, a few of the sites have become the sacrificial sites that visitors can enter and touch and learn from.

Enter if you want... unless you see this sign

So later in the afternoon, once we'd had lunch and recovered from our 6-mile morning hike, we toured Pueblo Bonito. This one is huge and you can walk through all of it! I think we counted 27 kivas - Kivas are circular underground ceremonial meeting spaces. Most of them are small, holding 10 people or so. Chaco's Great Houses boast the biggest kivas I've ever seen, big enough to hold 60+ people. Its like little league fields vs. NFL fields.

Large kiva at Chetro Ketl - those large circular holes in the
ground held ponderosa pine trunks which held the roof up.

The National Park Service has worked pretty hard to maintain these Great Houses, sometimes rebuilding parts of them for our education, and sometimes keeping them unexcavated until future archaeological techniques are perfected. However, some of the maintenance we saw on the Great Houses were pretty funny...


a rain gutter?! Those Chacoans really
were advanced!

support beams holding up an
unprecedented 3-story 1,000 year old wall

Perspective.... the ancient Chacoans were
shorter than my 5ft, 9in self but this was pretty
short!
It is possible that they kept doorways short to
keep warmer air from escaping in the cold
winter months. - M's photo

M checking out the one room that remains dark to maintain
original murals painted on the wall.

Personally, I love petroglyphs and pictographs - rock art to the layperson. More than just graffiti, rock art panels are the enduring words carved by our ancestors, by the caretakers of many of the places that are now part of the National Park Service. I am drawn to them like Homer Simpson to donuts and beer. I photograph every thing I see, catalogue what I can, and listen to what they tell me.

M's photo: petroglyphs are pecked into rock, like this swirl above

We found rock art next to almost every single Great House we came across. Most of the art is well known to visitors of the site but I still got a thrill each time I came across some. Its like reading a book - the book has been read by others but you still read it and take away your own meaning.


The canyon itself, Chaco Canyon, had 10+ Great Houses within it's 1,000 foot rock walls. Chaco Wash runs through the middle of it and this may have played a major role in why this area was chosen for such construction.

Looking down on newer smaller Great House from the top of the canyon

The canyon served as a crossroads for travelers from the four far-flung corners of the world. To the southwest there were openings heading to Monument Valley, to the northeast the great Chaco Road headed towards the ponderosa-covered mountains of northern New Mexico and Colorado.

M's photo - the famous Fajada Butte stands
at the entrance to Chaco Canyon, welcoming travelers
for the last 1,000 years.

The canyon still serves as a crossroads of culture. People from all over the world, for all types of reasons, come to Chaco. Some are searching for answers to one of North America's mysteries (where did the Ancestral Puebloans go?), some come for a love of the southwest, and some simply come because they want to check off Chaco on their National Parks Passport book. Whatever the reason, we all leave with the same thing: more questions than answers. Isn't that what travel is really all about?

Never Stop Exploring

Traveling Ancient Roads in New Mexico (or Our Urination Vacation) Part 2: All Roads Lead to Chaco Canyon

Besides finding the perfect book on rock art at Chaco Culture National Historic Site, M and I were blessed with the most random animal sightings on this trip. While walking to the breakfasty-awesomeness that is the Happy Belly Deli, we heard the craziest squawking in the air.

just barely visible from upper left diagonally down to
lower right.... hundreds of geese flying south for winter

The drive from TorC to Chaco was long, but interesting. Lots of music was listened to, lots of places found on the map, a quick detour into Albuquerque for Indian food, and discussion of the new spaceport in New Mexico.


My view for the whole ride... looking good, M!

As we entered the park (after a long and washboarded road off the highway), we saw a sign for elk. I made some smart-ass comment about always seeing Watch for Animal signs but never seeing the animals. Just as the words left my mouth, I spotted not 1, not 2, but 7 elk about 60 yards away! Big tall antlered males and cow-looking females. I'm pretty sure M got to hear me say in my most baby-talk voice how I loved the cute little elk (and to his credit, he still loves me). Ok, so I did get a photo of the 7 cute little big-antlered elk but it looks like every other tourists' animal photos; the kind where you show people and have to back it up with "see? right there? I swear that brown bump is an elk butt!"

After hitting the visitor center for our park passport stamps, we found the perfect campsite and set up shop. I'm typically a low-key car camper or backpacker.... tiny stove, tiny tent, no pillow. M is a bit more luxurious. We packed my feather bed, two big sleeping pads, several pillows, Coleman two-burner stove, and awesome food. We were set to hit the loop road that takes visitors by 8+ great houses that are about 1,000 years old.

Our sweet-ass campsite set-up - M's photo



Exuding excitement! Seriously, I was in nerdy archaeology
and photography heaven! (M's photo)

I quickly discovered that I was traveling with Ansel Adams....

M's photo - the clouds rock!

M's photo - but the blue sky rocks hard too!

M's photo - Checking out 1,000 year-old
masonry work as the sun goes down

We made it to two Great Houses, walking all around and photo-documenting every inch, before we lost the sun and had to head back to camp. Once the sun went down, my southern-ass began to freeze. I had 3 layers, gloves and a hat, and STILL was cold! We had forgotten firewood so there was no fire to keep warm by. We ate a quick meal and hit the tent, snuggling down in our sleeping bags.

In the middle of the night, I was pulled from sleep by an odd sound that I hadn't heard in years.... Coyotes! Click here for random video of coyote sounds. (Lennox was very interested in my computer as it suddenly began speaking coyote to him). Coyotes are such a wonderful part of any desert camping experience. I can't believe that in Texas people hunt them for sport and the state kills them as nuisance wildlife.

Another amazing thing about camping at Chaco? The un-freaking-believable night sky! I got up to pee in the middle of the night. Stepping outside the tent, I looked up and stopped dead in my tracks. I swear I reached up to try and touch the stars, they were so bright and so close!

[Totally dorky side note: most of Chaco's Great Houses were built in relation to the stars and the movements of the sun. If my night sky were this gorgeous, I would do the same!]

A not-so-amazing thing about camping at Chaco? At some point in the night, M heard something walking through our campsite. He says it sounded like human footsteps and there was a trail connecting several tent sites together. That's normal and a totally cool camping thing... but me finding a large puddle of urine not 10 yards from our tent and M realizing that it was the guy he heard walking in the middle of the night? not cool. I'm hoping that the dude was simply walking down the trail away from his tent and found a great bush to relieve himself by, not realizing that he was actually in our tent site.



Anyone who has ever camped knows how horribly cold it is in the morning when your need for coffee (or a toilet) overrides your need to stay in your warm bag. Anyone who's camped with me knows that I will bargain almost anything for YOU to make the coffee and let me stay in my bag.

making my own coffee... M's photo

The good thing about the desert is it'll warm up quickly once the sun rises. We had breakfast and hit the trail - Pueblo Alto Trail leading up out of the canyon onto the plateau and offering great views!

M's photo - me climbing up a crack in the rock wall to get up
out of the canyon and onto the plateau

Fantastic snacktime view of Pueblo Bonito, the most visited site at Chaco

M getting his own shots of Pueblo Bonito - love the brilliant yellow
cottonwoods lining the creek down below!

Continuing the trail along the edge of the canyon, we passed over one of the many ancient roads leading out of the canyon to the north.

Chaco Road steps carved into the cliff edge carried
millions of humans and tons of trade-goods to
present-day Colorado and Utah - M's photo

Our trail was a bit smaller, and the steps were
a bit rougher. The upside is that I love
my ass in this photo... it looks pretty good!

ok, stop looking at my ass

Goofing around on the trail - definitely a great part
of hiking! Learning to use the continuous shutter
on my camera makes it even better!



black-on-white pottery sherd... holding a 1,000 year
old lithic leftover in my hand

Somewhere along the trail, my spidey-senses began tingling and I spotted this! After examining it, we hid it under a rock right where we found it. [Never take artifacts back to the rangers. Leave it where you found it, in situ, for nature to reclaim or another hiker to 'discover'.]



A ways on down the trail, still along the cliff edge, we came across another Great House down below. As I stood there focusing my lens to get a birds-eye shot, I realized that one of the NPS masonry workers was PEEING. He had his back to the wall, which meant he was facing me, and after furtive glances to the left and the right, let loose. Even with my awesome zoom lens, I couldn't spot his little manhood (thankyoubabyjesus). The best part of it was after he zipped up, he happened to look up my way. So I waved....

After 6 miles up on the plateau, we made our way down the rock crack back to our car.


Sorry mom but I have to post all afraid-of-heights
photos. Down below is another Great House, and just up
the road is our car. - M's photo

We headed to the visitor center to watch the park's video, play with some antelope ground squirrels, and then back to camp to make dinner. We had an amazing dinner - brown rice with bell peppers, mushrooms, and broccoli. Definitely better than my pbj that I usually eat while camping.

The chef and his work space

Oh! and while we were making dinner, I spotted our other neighbor (not Midnight Pee Man) with his back to the parking lot and the rest of the tent sites, PEEING onto a bush behind his tent. Men have no shame! (For those of you counting, this makes the 3rd man in two days to whip it out in the wild and urinate in my vicinity)

See you in Part 3 when we'll conclude our Chaco adventure and take a look back at things we learned... besides the fact that men will pee whenever, wherever. Whatever....