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Tag: monsoon rain

03 August 2022

Active week of monsoon rain end of July

light & shadow Weaver Mts storm clouds Iron Springs Rd AZThe rumbles of possible monsoon rain brought water to the washes, toad song, puddle reflections, lower temperatures, and high humidity.  But mostly it just teased us with stormy skies that skirted around the valley I live in.

berm trees fog Skull Valley AZBrushy Mt obscured

Aridzona needs monsoon rain, yet there’s a fine line between not enough and too much.  A little over a week ago the rains came, sometimes harder and longer than others.  The ground tends to dry out rapidly.  On the ranch the soil is mostly decomposed granite, the kind of stuff people love for yard landscaping.  It provides for good drainage.  But of course the land isn’t flat around here so there are washes, usually dry, and both natural and human made drainages.

Cattle Skull Valley AZThe berm you see in many of my photos was created long ago when this was an active ranch with more cattle than the current three.  Natural water flow is encouraged to gather in a low spot.  I live opposite that low spot and haven’t yet seen water pool there.  Just cows.

flowers toad pond clouds Skull Valley AZI also hadn’t yet seen water flow in the wash that crosses my driveway.  So when the rain stopped I went to see and was drawn in like the pied-piper by a song I didn’t know, and here’s the video.

flowers pond Spadefoot toad Skull Valley AZ

flowers pond Spadefoot toad Skull Valley AZBack home I started researching the sound of frogs.  I wasn’t sure what they looked like but discovered they were Spadefoot Toads, capable of surviving underground for years until there’s enough rain.  Then they court, mate, lay eggs, and tadpoles grow within about a week to bury themselves digging in with their spade-like rear legs, then they wait.  They are a non-poisonous toad, lacking the parotoid gland that can produce toxins.  Though rarely seen being only 2-3 inches long, they inhabit a large territory in the western US.  There is also a European species of Spadefoot Toad.

spadefoottoad by Bruce TaubertOK, now you know more than you wanted, but I did the research.  And borrowed a photo because I couldn’t get any.  (Photograph by Bruce D. Taubert  https://brucetaubert.smugmug.com/ )

reflections Skull Valley AZSlices of a Cottonwood tree

I went out again later to no sound and discovered other puddles with reflections, not something I see often in the deserts of Arizona.  But bring on that monsoon rain and pretty soon there will be green grass and bugs.  After dark the toad song returned.  And the bugs were out, so hope those toads were hungry.

wash RV Skull Valley AZMy 5th-wheel (center), truck parked behind me

The next morning under sunny skies the ground was dry and hard so I figured it was a good time to move my truck and park on the uphill side of the driveway and currently dry-wash.  Nothing happening at the new to me toad pond.

grass bush low clouds Brushy Mt Skull Valley AZ

https://geogypsytraveler.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/09-heavy-rain-Skull-Valley-AZ.mp4

Just before 11am, the monsoon rain began, gentle at first with lots of rumbles all around.  Soon the tempo increased as the temperature dropped.  I could feel excitement building as I circled the windows to watch the show.  Suddenly lightning cracked right overhead and wind blown rain raced by sideways. I love the exhilaration!

Prickly Poppy flowers in pond Skull Valley AZBy 2:00pm when I walked to the toad pond the ground was dry and the air steamy.  No song, and only a wee bloated toad being pushed around by water beetles.

clouds over Brushy Mt Skull Valley AZSuch is life on the ranch.  Another day of clouds in motion, mostly teasing and grumbling but bringing very little monsoon rain.

Thunderhead over Brushy Mt Skull Valley AZYet heavy rain warnings continued for the week.

Bradshaw Mts low clouds Iron Springs Rd AZRain overnight left the surface ground moist and the 64° felt cool on my skin.  I had a morning doctor’s appointment, just routine checkup if I actually went routinely.  With a 90% chance of heavy rain I took my rubber goulashes along in case I had to ford the wash to get back home.

dead rattlesnake Ferguson Valley Rd Skull Valley AZrattle snake bones Ferguson Valley Rd Skull Valley AZ

Saw this dead rattlesnake (about 3 feet long) on my road on the way out and only bones on the way in later.

creek trees reflections redrock Prescott AZ

grass & creek Prescott AZAfter the doctor proclaimed me healthy, Joann met me and drove to the Granite Dells with Watson Lake.  Because monsoon rain began in buckets we didn’t hike.  But it stopped by the time we made another stop along a sweet little creek.  More reflections and flowing water.

Gaelyn in tophatBefore heading home I stopped at the thrift store and just couldn’t resist yet another hat.

Bradshaw Mts light on Thumb Butte storm clouds Prescott AZThe drive home was as cloudy beautiful as the morning drive in.

RV reverse sunset clouds rainbow Skull Valley AZAnd the day ended with a most colorful sight.

boulders low clouds Brushy Mt Skull Valley AZBack to life on the ranch and another day of afternoon monsoon rain with clouds dancing around the feet of Brushy Mountain.

mushrooms Skull Valley AZI can’t believe all the mushrooms popping everywhere.

shrinking pond Skull Valley AZNo toad action at the slowly shrinking pond, just well watered prickly flowers.

rainy Bradshaw Mts storm clouds Iron Springs Rd Prescott NF AZ

Prescott valley storm clouds Iron Springs Rd Prescott NF AZSadly I had to return to Prescott the next day, but for good reasons.  I picked up my new glasses, actually just replaced lenses, and had a bone density test.  I also grocery shopped and spent a lot of time in the truck waiting out the monsoon rain in between.

water in wash Ferguson Valley Rd Skull Valley AZFortunately, my wash didn’t look like this.  So I drove across to home for easier unpacking.  Besides, I didn’t figure to go out again for a while.  I took my chances.

storm clouds Skull Valley AZSo, once again, back to life on the ranch and more monsoon rain clouds.

last light cliffs Bradshaw Mts Skull Valley AZI took almost all day to create a 20 second video that will lead most all new YouTube videos.  It’s an intro of sorts.  Please let me know what you think.  I used it at the beginning of another video that took three days to create.  More later, but you can watch it here.   And PLEASE, Share, Like, and Subscribe.

Brushy Mt sunset clouds Skull Valley AZ

trees boulders sunset clouds Skull Valley AZ

trees sunset clouds rainbow Skull Valley AZThat night the sunset colors were 360° with a rainbow thrown in to the south.

storm clouds Skull Valley AZSuddenly it’s the last day of July. Where has this summer gone?

Kestrel bird metate Skull Valley AZI tried unsuccessfully to get shots of a Gray-breasted Jay bathing in the metate water and then a Kestrel flew in and I got lucky with that. WOW! My first closeup of this beautiful bird.

storm clouds Skull Valley AZThe month finished off with more monsoon rain that came down hard but didn’t usually last too long.  That’s a good thing.  That hard monsoon rain is what causes flooding which means I can’t drive across the wash.  The gentle female rain is just enough to make the grass weeds green.

boat Skull Valley AZBTW, This is on my side of wash.  Wonder if it floats?

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Arizona, monsoon, Places I've been, Prescott, Skull Valley, United States clouds, monsoon rain, photography, rainbow, wildlife 18 Comments
27 July 2022

Home again and hunkered into AC

Juniper tree canyon view Grandview Point South Rim Grand Canyon National Park ArizonaAfter a week and a half camped in forest and visiting the Grand Canyon I spent one more night camped in a different area then headed home again to high temps and AC.  Zapped by the heat, frozen by AC, I can’t seem to find a happy medium while waiting for monsoon rain.

Grand Canyon Chocolate Factory Tusyan Arizona

fudgeSunday after lunch with a friend I headed out of the park with the intent to camp not too far south of Tusyan, and no intent to stop in town.  Except, I saw a sign for Chocolate Factory and fudge, a weakness of mine.  Price was pretty good so I bought lots because it freezes well.  I only nibble tiny bits at a time to make it last.

Ponderosa Pines sunset clouds camp4 FR306Q Kaibab National Forest ArizonaI then pulled onto FR302 but didn’t have to go far before realizing it’s directly under the flight pattern for the airport. No thanks!  So I continued south and found a nice camp along FR306 instead.  Not very busy out there which is just fine by me.  I walked around sniffing pines to create a sensory image of that special scent.  I believe the area is used as a hunting camp and will share more of that in a future video.

San Fransisco Peaks stormy sky SR64 South Kaibab National Forest ArizonaEarly to bed and early to rise with a plan to stop for breakfast on the outskirts of Williams before heading home again.

Osprey birds in nest snag SR64 Williams ArizonaI became sidetracked by the sight of a huge nest filling the top of a snag and turned around to check it out.  Sure enough, an Osprey nest with an adult and one large chick visible.

Sadly, the preferred restaurant in Williams is permanently closed.  So I got on I40 West figuring my next stop would be Chino Valley, by then time for lunch somewhere.  I’m very bad about making food to eat on travel days.

Ranch House Cafe Ashfork ArizonaWasn’t far to Ashfork and my exit south on SR89.  At the last minute I went into Ashfork hoping to find a restaurant and ended up at the Ranch House Cafe.  Looks falling apart from the outside but is newly renovated inside. Chatted with a friendly regular at the next table. Food was adequately OK, though I ordered scrambled eggs and got sunny up for $12, plus tip. When I went to pay I didn’t have my wallet and panicked a little when I couldn’t find it in the camper or truck seat, so paid cash. Then remembered where I’d stashed it.

I finally headed south on SR89 and stopped in Chino Valley for fuel, once again $5.53 at Safeway, and bought a few groceries.  By 2:30 I was home again unpacking with the AC on and enjoyed getting sprinkled on.

minder tower stand IIAt 98° the next day, the poor AC struggled to keep it 85° inside so it was a rather lazy day.  Packages arrived while I was gone so felt kind of like Christmas, just not cold enough.  First to be opened, a tower stand for my laptop.  I mostly wanted this to set on a counter and stand at the computer as sitting gets old.  It’s a well made mostly heavy metal product and also works to raise the laptop at my desk so I’m looking more straight on to the monitor.  So far I’m liking it.   (If you want one use this link for me to make a few cents from Amazon at no extra cost to you.)

lilly brush pet hair scraper & 300w inverter & 2 1-2 gal water jugThe rest not very exciting, a 2 1/2 gallon refillable water jug to set on the bumper for solar heating and hand washing when I’m parked is really cheap plastic.  We’ll see how long that lasts.  The lilly brush is rubber edged for scraping pet hair off the carpet and works better than just my fingers.  Even “pet hair” vacuums don’t do the trick.  And the red box is a 300 watt power inverter I’ll use in the truckcamper to charge phone and laptop off my solar charged battery.

Gaelyn & SierraWednesday I had a morning eye appointment in Prescott.  Seems like I just got these glasses a year ago but they’re just not right, especially for close up.  Plus I have a few floaters and some fuzzyness, but still not ready for cataract surgery.  Using my existing frames for the new lenses that won’t be ready for about 1 1/2 weeks.  Thank goodness I had a pair of really old glasses in the camper that got me through the grocery store and home again.  The rest of the day was reflective as it was the fourth year anniversary since my dearest friend Berta died.

reverse sunset Skull Valley ArizonaOMG! Thursday 99°, Friday 100°.  The AC is working overtime and at least keeping it tolerable inside, because it’s not tolerable outside even in the shade.

grass trees boulders storm clouds Skull Valley Arizona

sunset clouds Skull Valley ArizonaOnly 92° Saturday under stormy skies with lots of rumbles but no rain.  Such a tease.

grass trees storm clouds Skull Valley Arizona

water in wash driveway trees Skull Valley ArizonaFinally, Sunday below 90°.  AC off and all windows open for the first time in almost a week. It’s humid but doable, cheaper, and not so noisy.  Later I had to close a bunch of windows because it rained hard and even created puddles.  That made me wonder if water flowed in the wash across my driveway, where it flows to, and if I leave will I be able to get back home again.

__________________________________________________

After the major struggle I went through editing the last Rambling Road Trip video I can only say thank you for letting me know about the loud music.  I deleted it completely.  My idea was soft music in the background throughout but also to fill the quiet gaps.  YouTube didn’t get my message.  Hopefully the more recent video about climbing the 80 foot Grandview Tower is better, and of course much shorter.  Super BIG thank you for watching these videos as I’m learning and really appreciate your suggestions and support.  Sadly, my subscriber numbers are not going up like I’d hoped.  Feel free to share them.

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Hi, I’m Gaelyn, the Geogypsy

I retired after 29 summer seasons as a Park Ranger, traveling solo for 40+ years. My passions include travel, connecting to nature, photography, and sharing stories.

I started exploring US National Parks in 1977 and 20 years later became a seasonal Park Ranger.  I’ve lived full-time in a RV for 30 years working summers and playing winters.  I’m still trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow old, other than grow up.

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