“I have more than a dozen food caches buried all over the
American West. Each can last 1
month. Some day that will be more
valuable than gold… Gold is hard to chew you know.”
-Old Man I met in Flagstaff
All this end of world talk got me thinking about some of the
characters I have met while bumming around Arizona (and planet earth) during my
days off from work. Just last week while
visiting Cairns in Northern Queensland, I ran into a guy up in the World Heritage Listed rain forest a
few miles north of Cape Tribulation. He
had a backpack loaded to the brim with a fishing rod, a few kilos of rice, and
a few hardback books. He sat there on the side of the dirt road waiting for a 4wd vehicle to take him across Emmagen Creek.
His destination was a place called Cedar Bay. You and I have never heard of Cedar Bay so
let me tell you little about it.
Apparently, there is an abandoned commune there that is being kept alive
by a few hardcore group living enthusiasts.
Cedar Bay is unreachable by car.
It is possible to reach by boat but my friend only had the options of an arduous 28km round trip trek. In the 70’s, hippies planted groves of mango
and exotic fruits trees. Matt’s plan was
to spend a few days or longer there hanging out by the beach, gorging himself
with exotic fruits, and casting a few lines into the blue-green crocodile
infested waters in pursuit of fresh snapper. He is from Victoria but had spent the last few months in Malaysia
“working” before deciding to make the trip back to Australia for the
Eclipse. He appeared disappointed in me
that I had missed the eclipse.
Bagdadians…
Arizona, especially during the winter time, is home to all
sorts of free spirits. Fortunately, I didn't have to travel far from Bagdad to find some of these characters. The name says it all and if you haven’t seen
the movie Bagdad Café (doesn't take place in the real Bagdad Arizona) you
better go find a free version online at Hulu or Netflix.
The movie and its eccentric characters pretty much sums up my life for 3 years while i lived in the high desert. You just
never know what to expect out in the desert during winter especially given all
the hippies and vortex worshiping transients that roll into every nook and
cranny of the hilly high desert.
30 year No-Shave Guy. I have been pretty lucky to work in a unique industry with
some equally unique characters. I had a
co-worker in Arizona who hadn't been clean shaven since 1976. This guy is a legend. He had over 15 guns, 10000 rounds of
ammunition. His food cache was robust. The cache could last him up to one year. “Bullets
and beans.” He then told me to spend all
my money while it’s worth something. Or
better yet stock up on physical silver and gold. Most of my other co-workers held the same
sentiment. Maybe they are right and I’m the crazy one
for not listening?
In a Trailer Down by the River Brothers. There were two brothers (or cousins or friends?) who lived
out of a trailer next to a wash. They had been working
this stream bed for years, if not decades, panning for gold. I heard rumor that they would come into town
every few months and purchase fresh provisions from the Bashas Grocery store
and mail a few letters from the post office.
They would show off their sizable jar of gold flakes confirming that the
pickings were good and sustainable. The
location of their mining headquarters was about 15 miles due west of Bagdad
over a nearly impassable, seldom traveled single lane 4WD drive track. I occasionally had a chance to pass by their
trailer while riding around in a Polaris Ranger with
co-workers. I never saw anyone there but
was a bit envious of the simple life they were living tucked away in the
hills. Just panning for gold, hunting
quail, collecting freshwater, watching the sunrise every morning and having
fireside chats under the moonlight.
Negro Ed. Of course, there is the old tale of Negro Ben and Negro
Ed. There are two mesas and springs named
after them near Bagdad. Legend has it
that one of the two (I think Negro Ed) had a claim where he was pulling 12 oz
gold per ton of rock mined. To put that
number in perspective, the Boddington Gold mine in Western Australia has head
grades of approximately 1 gram per tonne on a good day. Negro Ed’s claim was nearly 400 times more
concentrated. If Negro Ed was alive today and only pulled 1
ton per week at current gold price of 1600 $/oz, he would see revenue of 19000
dollars per week. Not bad at all. However, no one knows where it is and no one
could ever confirm it as he kept it secret and blew the entry to his portal
with a few sticks of dynamite.
Machine Gun Militia Men. My co-workers and I used to ride mountain bikes around the
hills of Bagdad Arizona after work and on weekends when our schedules. One weekend, when I was off running a race or
something silly like that, they did a long ride from Bagdad through the desert
and had cars waiting at the other side near the highway to pick them up. They got off course and had to cross through
the Zanarapolis property. I heard horror
stories that this “militia” had machine guns, grenades, land mines, and even a
helicopter to spot you with. So it went
without saying that you should avoid their fenced off property at all
times. As the few coworkers slowly
rolled up to the gate they were greeted by a few armed men on quads. The men were kind, gave them directions and
even showed them around the property. I didn't believe them until I saw the pictures. Sure
enough, the pictures showed desk-bound engineering co-workers wearing biking
helmets and Camelbaks grinning ear to ear holding the same type of machine gun
Bruce Willis wielded in Die Hard while sprinting barefoot across broken
glass. It seems the “Militia” is just a
bunch of guys from Phoenix who use the property to live out their childhood
dreams. Good for them.
Gunner the Hitchiker. It’s not every day you see a long haired dude walking down the highway 3
miles from Bagdad with a skateboard strapped to his rucksack. I picked him up and had a good conversation
with him which I wrote about here (also wrote about the rainbow people and Bagdad Cafe at that link). It just goes to show, you
never know what you find in the desert.
(see Bagdad Café).
Rock House Elderly Couple. I lived in Bagdad for 3 years and it wasn't until the last 2
or 3 months that I really started to explore the local desert. It is filled with magical people and places
if you know where to look. The Rock
House elderly couple are the most interesting, simple people I have met. The 81 year old and his wife live alone in
the rock house during the winter 6 months when the temperatures are
tolerable. He built the house entirely
out of Santa Maria River Rocks which he loaded by hand into the back of his
pickup truck and drove 3.5 miles to his home site at the top of the ridge. He repeated the process load after grueling load until he erected a stunning 2 bedroom off grid rock house overlooking the
Santa Maria River Valley (and later added a “honeymoon” guest house). They collect rain water, solar power for the pumps
and power, a wood stove for heat, and a vent to draw hot air from the top part
of the house to warm the bottom. I was
quite impressed with the house and even more impressed with their lives in the
region. I spent the entire afternoon
there eating cookies and drinking tea while they told me about their lives in
Arizona and working at just about every mom and pop minesite within a 50 mile
radius. He knew all the history and
really should write a book about it but he is “too old and tired to do the necessary
research”. But he has penned three books
including one which he gave me to read “Barefoot in a Cactus Patch.” The other book is about the two years they
spent in Ghana with the Peace Corps.
Very awesome life they have lived indeed.
More Arizonans...
Scott the Seed Collector.
I met Scott in downtown Williams Arizona. I had just run for a hard 90 minutes up Bill
Williams Mountain and getting ready to get some food from town. I can’t remember how I started talking to
this guy but we ended up watching the Argentina-Mexico game in the world cup quarter final at
a coffee shop/ bar in Williams. He had
been living out of a Ford 150 for the last 1.5 years collecting wild seeds from
Coconino and Kaibab National forests. He would head into the town on weekends to have a few beers and catch up with
locals.
Blue Range Plant Collector.
This guy scared me a little bit with his aggressive anti-religion
discussion. I just asked how you were
doing, man. I didn't need the
dissertation on why all religions are made up by man and fictitious. We were in a parking lot at the Mount Baldy
trail head. It was raining and 7
am. I was getting ready to do an epic
trail run around Mount baldy and didn't appreciate standing in the rain and
cold at 9000 feet listening to his banter.
But I had to play the game because I didn't want to leave him and my car
alone on a sour note while I went off running.
The man told me he was collecting wild plants. What for?
I don’t know but he was clearly too tall and big to be living out of such
a small car in remote eastern Arizona.
For how long? I don’t know but my car was safe and sound when I got
back. It was probably one of my top 5
runs in AZ.
Verde Hot Springs Nudists.
My trip to Verde Hot Springs was fun one. I read about the springs and the old
abandoned resort so I decided to check it out.
To get there you must drive about one hour on dirt road to the camping
area, then hike about 30 minutes. I
wasn’t alone when I arrived. There were
about 3 people there. One was another
guy named Evan about my age and a mechanical engineer. He had shorts on. The other couple was nude soaking in the sun
and the warm water. Then another 4
people joined in, all significantly older and all nude. The situation got a bit weird so Evan and I
made scramble for it. You never know
what to expect out in the desert. I
actually soaked in the springs the day before running and winning the Jerome
Hill Climb so maybe there is something magical in the water?
Lake Havasu City Astroid Aficionado.
He started flipping through some astronomy magazines rather rapidly as
if he had already read through them before.
He asked, “Hey Is that you’re black Van out there? It looks like my buddy’s who comes down here
during the winter.” I was taken aback by
the question, I mean did you call the guy?, but soon realized he already knew
the answer to the question. He just
wanted to open up conversation with me because I “looked like a fellow hippie
with the beard and hair.” He went on to
tell me all about his history and how he sold his house and most his
possessions to take to the open road and be free. I have come to realize that the desolate
deserts of western AZ and Southern California, at winter time, fill with RV’ers
and full time travelers looking for mild weather and familiar friends. Towns like Quartzite double or triple in size
during the winter, forming neighborhoods of Rv’ers on the outskirts of this
once booming mining towns. After
that encounter at Hasting, I realized I was just another transient roamer of the US, except
limited to Saturdays and Sundays.
Gold Panner 1. I ran
into a gold prospector while out mountain biking in a place where no one would
ever think to mountain bike: Salome,
Arizona. He stopped me to ask me what
the hell I was doing. He had never seen
anyone mountain biking on that dirt track before...or anywhere. We chatted for a bit. I asked the man, the same way you would ask a
fisherman, if he had any luck to which he responded, “Well, I’m still driving
this piece of shit quad and not a Cadillac.”
In my experience meeting gold prospectors, it doesn't pay too well. But like any hobby, it is for the fun of
it.
Gold Panner 2. I met
this couple during an unplanned run along the little known Yankee doodle trail
heading into the wilderness from the base of Mount Union. It was my first time on the track and somehow
ended up 10 miles by trail back to my car already 70 minutes into the run. I could have made it back but it would have
been a slog without anything to drink in the heat. So I stopped by a van down by the stream to
ask for some water. Sure enough it was
some gold prospectors working a wash.
They gave me one of those 86 oz big gulp cups where I proceeded diminish their rations downing two full cups. Any Luck? "Nah, we've been
out here 3 weeks just panning and playing guitar by the campfire. Even though we have come up empty, you can’t
beat this lifestyle.”
Mt. Union Fire Tower Guy.
Working in a remote fire tower must be an interesting job. I approached the fire-tower that sits atop
Yavapai County Arizona’s highest point shirtless and fatigued having just ran
up Yankee Doodle trail to the summit. He
offered me a drink. It was green. It was chlorophyll with plant sterols or something. I thought about it for a second realizing
that I only had about 5 miles of downhill running back to the car so I sucked
down a glass. Anyone who drinks chlorophyll is a true winner and on that day I was a winner. This guy lead an interesting lifestyle
working 6 months of the year during the high fire season before heading to the
Philippines to relax and be with his wife.
Some of the Others...
Boy and Dog and a Summer in the Wilderness. A co-worker who was hunting in the Weminuche wilderness in
Colorado told me about a kid about 17 years old with his dog. He was entering the wilderness and my
co-worker was coming out after 2 weeks of fishing and camping. The kid asked how the fishing was to which my
co-worker explained awesome. “Well
that’s good news, I didn't bring much food.
Well, at least not enough to last all summer.” Just living off the land in probaly one of the best places in the country to do it: Southwest Colorado.
Troutbo. I mentioned
him in my post about life on the John Muir Trail.
Basically, this casino poker dealer from Reno heads into the Sierras for an
entire month every September to get away from it all and “ground himself”. He doesn't follow any trails, avoids people,
and lives off the trout he reels in from the high alpine lakes. I applaud this man.
Fish Zappers of the High Sierra. I also met these guys on the John Muir Trail
just a few miles south of Muir Pass in Le Conte canyon if memory serves me
right. They were camped out just below
10,000 feet next to an alpine lake. It
was dusk so they were just sitting next to the fire in silence reading books. They were working 10 days on in the wild shocking
fish, tagging them, and documenting their findings in an attempt to return the
waterways native fish only. Then they
had to hike 23 miles back towards Bishop for their 4 days off. Seemed like a dream job to me.
This post has gotten a lot longer than I thought. I just kept going and going because all these
memories keep coming back to me (and I love the mountain man lifestyle). At least the stories are documented now. Hope you enjoyed it.
----------------------------------------
I read John McPhee’s Coming into the Country earlier this
year and a lot of these characters remind me of those in that book. McPhee describes Alaska and its people in the 1970’s. These counter cultural souls who fled to Alaska
in search of the simple life. A life of
pristine wilderness and solitude free from obligation and government
control. I will have to post a book
review on that one at some point. I’m
behind on posts but then again I wonder what the point of it even keeping this blog is? Looking back at
old notes while writing this makes me realize how many fun times I have had and
how many posts I have half written and never shared.
Just noticed that the icon on VLC Music player (when opened and viewing the playlist) changed to have a Santa Hat on it for the holidays. Computer Programmers.
Merry Christmas Everyone. Really doesn't feel like it here with 90-100 degree temps.
 |
| View of the Honeymoon Rock House. Impeccable stone work! |
 |
| View into the Santa Maria River valley from the honeymoon house |
No comments:
Post a Comment