Books Read:
- The Botany of Desire by Michael Pollan
- Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by JK Rowling
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by JK Rowling
- White Trash: The 400-year untold history of class in America
by Nancy Isenberg
- Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
- Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro
Trails Walked:
- McDowells Thompson Peak (Dec 5th)
- Superstitions Garden Valley Hackberry Spring Loop (Dec 12th)
- Big Jim and Walkin’ Jim Trail loop to peak 3465 near Lake
Pleasant (Dec 19th)
I remember the month of December being particularly
stressful when we had young kids to raise and careers we were trying to grow.
There were presents to buy and ship, decorations to be strung, an overabundance
of food to be cooked, the same amount of work had to get done with far fewer
days in which to do it. Thankfully that
level of stress has reduced somewhat with the kids being older, careers being
retired from or more settled, and the recent decision to eliminate nearly all
gift giving among the family (we could be a very bad trend for the economy of
this country if everyone follows suit…but I find it relieving and more
enjoyable).
I was
able to reach my goal of finishing the Harry Potter series this year. This month I read the last two installments; Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,
and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
In the Half-Blood Prince, they went and killed off my favorite character,
so I was not pleased. I will not give
this away to protect those 3 people in the world who’ve neither read the books
nor seen the movies. As I expected
however, there was a reason for this, and it was revealed in the series finale;
The Deathly Hallows. In Harry's last adventure, he, Ron, and Hermione skip their
last year of school at Hogwarts in order to pursue and destroy Lord
Voldemort...as you can imagine, this was no easy task and like the theme of all
the books, it required extreme friendship, help from many others, some luck,
and of course bravery and love. Along
the way, many of the characters and adventures from the previous 6 books played
a role in a very nice way to wrap it all up.
Thompson Peak hovers
over the northeast part of town with its huge radio, radar and satellite
towers. I’ve always wanted to climb it
but never got around to it until this month.
Hiking Buddy (HB) and I decided to approach it from the east via
Fountain Hills (Dixie Mine Trailhead) rather than from the west via NE
Scottsdale. That cuts it down from a
16-mile trek to a more manageable 10-mile hike.
The trailhead parking is small and is situated just outside the gate of a very
wealthy looking gated community near Fountain Hills. It was nice of them to allow this parking
area which also includes a nice restroom.
You must walk through the community for a bit along a well signed path
(they definitely don’t want us riff raff wandering around aimlessly through
their fancy neighborhood). After about a
quarter mile you finally run into the actual trailhead…or as they spell it here
Trail Head…. which, when you think about it, could mean something very very
different! We had a good laugh about
that for about a mile. The trail wanders
through typical Sonoran Desert vegetation for about 3 miles, mostly on the
Dixie Mine Trail until it meets the maintenance road for the towers. You then follow this road the rest of the way;
the last mile and half goes up 1500 feet so it’s a thigh burner! The views from up top are nice, but mostly
ruined by all the equipment up here. A
much better viewpoint in the McDowells is The Lookout which is reached from the
Tom’s Thumb trailhead.
 |
| Trail Head seems inappropriate for Fountain Hills |
 |
| Steep Maintenance road to Thompson Peak with great clouds |
 |
| Nice view of Camelback |
The 2 non-fiction books I read this month are The Botany of Desire by Michael Pollan,
and White Trash: The 400-year untold
history of class in America by Nancy Isenberg. There was a time when all I read were
non-fiction books, especially history books.
I thought that reading fiction was a waste of time. I’ve come to regret that viewpoint because I
missed out on so many great fiction books over the years. I’m making up for it now and have grown a
stronger attachment to fiction than to non-fiction these days. But I still throw in non-fiction when I
can. Michael Pollan wrote "The
Omnivore's Dilemma" in 2006 which made him famous, but he wrote Botany of
Desire a few years before. Very interesting
stories about 4 different plants, describing their impact on humans and their
scientific properties and cultural impacts.
I've always been fascinated by the interesting stories of simple
everyday things. In this case, the 4
plants are: Apple Tree, Tulip, Marijuana, and Potato. You learn a lot about general plant biology,
gardening, history, culture, etc. You
will learn about the real Johnny Appleseed and how he created all these apple
orchards, not only so pioneers had sweet apples, but more likely so that they
could make hard cider from the apples for liquor. And that a single tulip in the 1600s sold for
the price of a house due to its beauty. You learn about the Irish potato famine and
why it happened, and you learn where all these plants originated and how they
migrated. You also learn that the
marijuana you smoked in high school (I say you, but I really mean me) is not
the same plant (nor part of the plant) as the current, much stronger, version
used today.
I'd read positive reviews of “White Trash”. Certainly, it was interesting…all history is
interesting to me. But it dragged quite
a bit, especially describing the class distinction issues in the 1600s through
1800s. The 20th century section was more
interesting and much less dry. The basic
idea was that, no matter what our founders said and what our country is
supposed to stand for, there always has been, always will be lower class whites
in America due to several unclear reasons.
Initially Britain sent many vagrants and criminals to the original
colonies; from there, the colonies got rid of their vagrants by moving them to
the more dangerous frontiers where they then were kicked out by more hard
working and "acceptable" farmers once the dangers were removed. Then they ended up in the swamps of the south
and mountains of West Virginia and Kentucky.
In the south, the rich white plantation owners took all the land and ran
it with black slaves, making the poor whites even more poor. The reconstruction after the Civil War was
hard on the poor whites as the rich whites took everything back. Then came the Eugenics movement of the early
20th century, the Jim Crow Laws, the movie Deliverance, the Beverly Hillbillies,
Honey Boo Boo, Duck Dynasty, Jimmy Carter (and his brother Billy), and then Bill
Clinton and his poor white trash beginnings in Arkansas. Pretty interesting in the 20th century....
I’ve used the First Water Trailhead in the Superstitions to
start many hikes eastward into the wilderness.
But I had never hiked north into the Hackberry Spring area. HB and I decided on the Garden Valley Hackberry Spring Loop.
It’s a great easy to moderate
introduction to the western Superstitions.
Starting out on the Dutchman trail for a quarter mile or so, you then head
north on the Second Water trail through a large arroyo with nice open views,
and then walk through Garden Valley which is a really pretty flat spot with
lots of desert vegetation and some Indian Ruins to explore. Just past the Black Mesa trail junction, you
head west into the Hackberry spring area where you climb down a beautiful bluff
canyon and into a nice riparian area where there’s a great shady spot for lunch
near Hackberry Spring. On your way south
to the trailhead you pass an old ranch area with and old broken-down windmill
and corral which are always interesting to explore and ponder about. It’s a real nice 5.5-mile loop that would be
a good introduction for visitors.
 |
| Broken metate and pottery sherds in Garden Valley |
 |
| Garden Valley flats |
 |
| Hackberry Spring |
 |
| Small canyon with lots of vegetation |
 |
| Same canyon with view behind me |
 |
| Old abandoned ranch |
 |
| Broken windmill |
After
falling in love with “100 Years of Solitude” earlier in the year, I decided to
read Gabriel Garcia Marquez’ other masterpiece, Love in the Time of Cholera (translation by Edith Grossman). I just love the way this man writes. He puts you in a different time and place (I
guess you can say that about all great writers). There are so many quotable lines and
beautiful descriptions, I can't even imagine how great it must be in its
original language. The story is about
Florentino Ariza and his undying love for Fermina Daza. The storytelling begins near the end, with
the life of Dr Urbino who is 80 and his wife Fermina Daza who is 72. It gives you a sense of who the man Dr.
Urbino is, and then poof, he dies in a bizarre accident and on the night of his
death, Florentino Ariza tells Fermina Daza that he has come to proclaim his
eternal fidelity and everlasting love for her! How’s that for an offer of
condolence!? She kicks him out of the
house, and the book goes on to tell the story of their past up until that
moment and beyond. Just wonderful
storytelling and you can hear, smell, and taste the Colombian port city of the
late 1800s, and early 1900s (the city is never named, but some think it's based
on Cartagena, or maybe on Barranquilla).
I’ve not seen the movie, but I guess maybe I will.
I’ve always wanted to explore the hills around Lake Pleasant
which is northwest of Phoenix. You can
see them west of I-17 as you drive north of Phoenix near New River. There are few developed trailheads and the
mountains don’t have the allure that the Superstitions have. However, HB and I really enjoyed the Big Jim and Walkin’ Jim loop trail this
month. Burros! We saw lots of them on the hike (not the
edible ones wrapped in tortillas, but the 4-legged ones with big ears). It’s
not something you see every day on a hike.
These curious animals are the progeny of burros left behind by the many
miners and pioneers in the Arizona Territory in the 1800s. They thrive in this part of the desert (so
much so that there have been many calls for their capture and reduction). Our goal for this hike was to reach what’s
unromantically called peak 3465 (its elevation in feet). I had heard there was a notepad in a jar at
the peak where you can record your name if you can find it. We did and added our names to the 3 others
that were there during 2018.
 |
| Burros! |
 |
| That squared off peak is the destination |
 |
| Moon over Lake Pleasant |
 |
| I found Dumbo |
 |
| Rugged views to the west |
 |
| Cholla and flowers looking up to the peak |
 |
| Peak register |
I had read
Kazuo Ishiguro’s “Never Let Me Go” last year and it really stuck to me. It’s a great read and I highly recommend
it. You are dropped in the middle of
this fancy school for kids in England and by the end of the movie you are
horrified at what is happening. It’s
haunting. So, I decided to read his more
famous book, Remains of the Day. And I was not disappointed. It’s a very easy read, about 250 pages. It's sort of written in memoir form by an
English butler who is reminiscing about his past as he's taking a road trip
through southwest England in 1956. I
have no idea where Ishiguro was able to find this voice of the butler, but it's
everything you would expect of an English butler. Formal, precise, unemotional, efficient. But buried in this formality and lack of
emotion is an explosive story of unrequited love, political intrigue, and
social commentary. I’ve also not seen
this movie adaptation but now I will (I have some movies to catch up on!).
I was
able to reach my goal of finishing the Harry Potter series this year. This month I read the last two installments; Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,
and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
In the Half-Blood Prince, they went and killed off my favorite character,
so I was not pleased. I will not give
this away to protect those 3 people in the world who’ve neither read the books
nor seen the movies. As I expected
however, there was a reason for this, and it was revealed in the series finale;
The Deathly Hallows. In Harry's last adventure, he, Ron, and Hermione skip their
last year of school at Hogwarts in order to pursue and destroy Lord
Voldemort...as you can imagine, this was no easy task and like the theme of all
the books, it required extreme friendship, help from many others, some luck,
and of course bravery and love. Along
the way, many of the characters and adventures from the previous 6 books played
a role in a very nice way to wrap it all up.
The 2 non-fiction books I read this month are The Botany of Desire by Michael Pollan,
and White Trash: The 400-year untold
history of class in America by Nancy Isenberg. There was a time when all I read were
non-fiction books, especially history books.
I thought that reading fiction was a waste of time. I’ve come to regret that viewpoint because I
missed out on so many great fiction books over the years. I’m making up for it now and have grown a
stronger attachment to fiction than to non-fiction these days. But I still throw in non-fiction when I
can. Michael Pollan wrote "The
Omnivore's Dilemma" in 2006 which made him famous, but he wrote Botany of
Desire a few years before. Very interesting
stories about 4 different plants, describing their impact on humans and their
scientific properties and cultural impacts.
I've always been fascinated by the interesting stories of simple
everyday things. In this case, the 4
plants are: Apple Tree, Tulip, Marijuana, and Potato. You learn a lot about general plant biology,
gardening, history, culture, etc. You
will learn about the real Johnny Appleseed and how he created all these apple
orchards, not only so pioneers had sweet apples, but more likely so that they
could make hard cider from the apples for liquor. And that a single tulip in the 1600s sold for
the price of a house due to its beauty. You learn about the Irish potato famine and
why it happened, and you learn where all these plants originated and how they
migrated. You also learn that the
marijuana you smoked in high school (I say you, but I really mean me) is not
the same plant (nor part of the plant) as the current, much stronger, version
used today. 
After
falling in love with “100 Years of Solitude” earlier in the year, I decided to
read Gabriel Garcia Marquez’ other masterpiece, Love in the Time of Cholera (translation by Edith Grossman). I just love the way this man writes. He puts you in a different time and place (I
guess you can say that about all great writers). There are so many quotable lines and
beautiful descriptions, I can't even imagine how great it must be in its
original language. The story is about
Florentino Ariza and his undying love for Fermina Daza. The storytelling begins near the end, with
the life of Dr Urbino who is 80 and his wife Fermina Daza who is 72. It gives you a sense of who the man Dr.
Urbino is, and then poof, he dies in a bizarre accident and on the night of his
death, Florentino Ariza tells Fermina Daza that he has come to proclaim his
eternal fidelity and everlasting love for her! How’s that for an offer of
condolence!? She kicks him out of the
house, and the book goes on to tell the story of their past up until that
moment and beyond. Just wonderful
storytelling and you can hear, smell, and taste the Colombian port city of the
late 1800s, and early 1900s (the city is never named, but some think it's based
on Cartagena, or maybe on Barranquilla).
I’ve not seen the movie, but I guess maybe I will. 
I had read
Kazuo Ishiguro’s “Never Let Me Go” last year and it really stuck to me. It’s a great read and I highly recommend
it. You are dropped in the middle of
this fancy school for kids in England and by the end of the movie you are
horrified at what is happening. It’s
haunting. So, I decided to read his more
famous book, Remains of the Day. And I was not disappointed. It’s a very easy read, about 250 pages. It's sort of written in memoir form by an
English butler who is reminiscing about his past as he's taking a road trip
through southwest England in 1956. I
have no idea where Ishiguro was able to find this voice of the butler, but it's
everything you would expect of an English butler. Formal, precise, unemotional, efficient. But buried in this formality and lack of
emotion is an explosive story of unrequited love, political intrigue, and
social commentary. I’ve also not seen
this movie adaptation but now I will (I have some movies to catch up on!).