The winter weather has been phenomenal for our adventures. We hike a 6.8 mile loop the other day with quite a good amount of climbing though we aren’t sure how much. The Hiking Project app failed to record the appropriate gain…I doubt it was really 10,000′! The loop was sandy in some sections, but mostly the climb up was on good tread with rock stairs in a lot of the steeper sections. The views of Mica Mountain and in fact all of the Santa Catalina Range are phenomenal.
The dam you see in the pictures is Garwood Dam. Nelson Garwood purchased approximately 480 acres to build a residence in what is now Saguaro National Park East. Nelson built the first part of the dam in 1948 with stone masonry using a little cement mixer to mix the loads of cement. He built his ranch house in 1950 using mostly materials found on his property. The property has since been burned down by vandals unfortunately.
This guy didn’t stop there though. During World War II, Nelson Garwood was employed at Davis-Monthan Air Base where he worked on adjustable propellers on aircraft. He decided if he was going to work on airplanes, he would learn to fly them too so he got his pilot‘s license and bought an airplane. Of course, then he had to build an airstrip. He maintained the airstrip by dragging railroad ties and heavy steel beams, which attached with chains to his jeep.
We have hiked out here a few times over the years and there are a lot of good routes. Last time we did Bridal Falls and loved it though I doubt there is water now as rainfall has been at a record low.
Tonight we are celebrating the Georgia election results with a special peach themed cocktail. It’s important to celebrate the good.
Leave a Reply