The Neighborhood Walk

As most of you know, I was recently diagnosed as having lung cancer (mesothelioma, stage 4).

After my second session of chemotherapy, I was feeling well enough that I decided to incorporate a walk around the neighborhood in my daily schedule. I walk the same 1.5-mile route each day, starting at the mailbox on the street in front of our house and heading south on S Arroya Vista Drive.

The walk takes me past Mescal Drive, the street that fronts our property on the south, across Christina Draw, past Brook Hollow Drive and to the south end of S Arroya Vista at the top of the hill. There the street turns right (west), becoming Meadowlark Drive. The view from our house to the end of S Arroya Vista Drive is shown here (below).

Looking from our mailbox across Christina Draw and on to the end 

of S Arroya Vista Drive at the top of the hill.

Although it is not immediately obvious from the above photograph, a substantial wash runs down Christina Draw and under S Arroya Vista Drive. The wash is normally dry; however, it drains a large section of the eastern slope of Mingus Mountain south of Allen Spring and north of Black Canyon. Heavy heavy rains on the mountain above can turn it into a raging monster of a stream. The below photograph was taken in March 2007.

Christina Draw Wash in March 2007

The distance to the turn onto Meadowlark Drive is 0.2 miles. Meadowlark Drive then leads along a level ridge for a short distance before descending to end at Christina Draw Wash, about 0.4 miles upstream from the S Arroya Vista Drive crossing. The view while walking west on Meadowlark extends to the top of Mingus Mountain.

View looking west on Meadowlark Drive – Mingus Mountain on the horizon

Just 0.3 miles from Arroya Vista Drive Meadowlark comes to an abrupt end (right) at the wash.

There, I was faced with a dilemma. If I turned back here, my walk will be only about a mile long. And all of that would be on paved surfaces. I really wanted to walk a bit farther and wanted to include some distance along a rougher surface to give my ankles a workout. Nothing is more irritating to me than a sprained ankle.

After examining the wash and determining it to be open and relatively easy hiking, I decided to give it a try.

Christina Draw Wash from the end of Meadowlark Drive

The wash turned out to be the most interesting part of the walk. It is open and free of large boulders all the way from Meadowlark to Brook Hollow Drive, a distance of 0.3 miles. Below Brook Hollow it tends to close in a bit with overhanging growth and a less open path. Since it is rattlesnake season and I would be traveling alone, I decided to avoid the section between Brook Hollow Drive and Arroya Vista Drive, leaving the wash at Brook Hollow.

The wash , except perhaps for changes in stream flow caused by the construction of houses in recent years, remains in its natural state with the exception of some erosion prevention measures along a single property.

Rock wall built for erosion protection along Christina Draw Wash

On my way past that property, I found the owner out working in his back yard and stopped to chat. Angel Vargas, a widower, has lived there and battled the wash for some thirty years. Angel served in the Navajo Army during the Korean War and in the National Guard; he retired from the Navajo Army Depot in Bellemont in the 1980s.

The stone wall seen above roughly corresponds with the location of the bank when he moved in. His battle continues as he reinforces the bank with various materials salvaged from a variety of sources, including discarded WWII practice bombs (left) from the Army depot where he worked.

In the photograph below a line of these old practice bombs can be seen serving as the base of a section of retaining wall.

Practice bombs serving as the foundation for a section of Angel's retaining 

wall

Angel's accumulation of treasures rescued over the years include an old 6-cylinder engine and a horse-drawn turning plow, both once used on the Alvarez Ranch in Sycamore Canyon where Angel grew up.

Old 6-cylinder engine

Old horse-drawn turning plow

The engine could have been used to drive a water pump for irrigation. The owner of a small portable sawmill where I once worked as a teenager used an engine very much like this one to power his mill. AS for the old turning plow, I spent many youthful hours following behind one of those pulled by a team of mules.

Another memory from long ago was brought to mind by an old horse-drawn scoop. I used one of these when I was about 14 years old to clean out a pond on our farm.

A horse-drawn scoop

I really do not look back on the days Angel's collection of equipment called to mind with a lot of longing. I never learned to actually enjoy such work. At the time, I thought it was just because I was rather lazy. However, in retrospect, I think that I just wasn't interested. The best thing I can say is that such hard labor led me to join the Navy.

Angel's front yard, in contrast to the collection of artifacts in the back yard, is quite neat and orderly.

Angel's front yard

High on the bluff just across the wash from Angel's home is a large house (right) that is presently for sale and he is making an effort to, in his words, “clean up my back yard” so as to present a better view to prospective buyers. In my opinion almost everything he has collected has long since entered the status of “artifact” and can by no means be called junk. I call the place Angel's Museum; I certainly hope that he doesn't go too far in his clean-up efforts.

My feelings about “junk” may be influenced by memories of my Grandpaw Wicker's junk yard. Grandpaw was a farmer, a carpenter and a sawmill operator who also owned a thresher that he used during wheat and oat harvesting season to thresh grain for other farmers, collecting a toll for the service.

He bought all of his equipment second hand and repaired and maintained it himself. He seemed always to have a tractor, a truck or some other piece of equipment under repair. When something was simply beyond its useful life, it was never completely discarded but was instead moved to a location under a large oak tree that was called the “junk pile.” There it would reside just in case some part of it became useful for repairing some other piece of machinery. As a result I have always thought of old machinery as stuff that might be useful someday.

From the wash at Angels Museum, the bridge where Brook Hollow Drive crosses the wash is clearly visible. Our house can also be seen beyond the bridge.

Brook Hollow Bridge across Christina Draw Wash 

– Price home visible in the distance

The bridge marks 0.8 miles of my 1.5-mile walk. If I turned right (east) on Brook Hollow at the bridge, another 0.2 miles would bring me back home. However, still wanting more than a one mile walk, I turn left (west) and walk to the end of the street.

Heading west on Brook Hollow Drive

At the end of Brook Hollow Drive, I pause for a view across a wash (unnamed) and the houses along Quail Run to Mingus Mountain.

View to Mingus from the end of Brook Hollow Drive

I then retrace my steps for about 100 yards and turn left (northeast) on Agua Fria Drive.

Looking northeast on Agua Fria Drive

Agua Fria Drive is 0.3 miles long, running from Brook Hollow Drive to Del Mar Drive. Del Mar Drive then runs for 0.1 miles from Agua Fria Drive to Mescal Drive. From the junction of Del Mar and Mescal, it is just another 50 yards to the Mescal Drive side of our house.

Our house seen from Mescal Drive

The total walk as shown on the map (below) is 1.5 miles long; the highest elevation is 3560 feet and the total ascent is 266 feet.

The Neighborhood Walk

Eventually I decided to extend my walk and found that by turning right on Acoma Drive when I reached the end of Brook Hollow Drive and continuing to the end of that street and returning, I could extend the hike distance to an even two miles. Then, a little additional experimentation disclosed that by taking S Arrowhead Ln from Del Mar back to Brook Hollow and then proceeding to S Arroya Vista and back home I could extend the walk to 2.3 miles. This is shown below.

2.3-mile walk route