Gold Canyon to Benson – 17 January 2023
Benson was a 3 hour drive south, east from Gold Canyon. While we could see impressive mountain ranges on all sides, the landscape changed from sparse desert with tall Saguaro and thorny Cholla everywhere to fields with yellow grass, tall Yukka desert plants and shorter fat barrel cacti. Even the species of Cholla was different. The Cholla here seemed less segmented and were covered with yellow small fruits.
Valley Visa Resort was a Thousand Trails resort. It was much smaller than the other resorts we had stayed in and had few amenities. In front of the resort was a gas station with a small store which was handy for the odd milk or drink. The first couple of days I met a couple in the dog park who had two female Dalmatians that Jax took a liking to. They played together until Jax proceeded to pee on the one dog’s face and then turned to me and peed on my pants as well. I think he was a little anxious with them both chasing him but I hope this isn’t something he is going to start doing on a regular basis. A cold front was moving through when we arrived and the weather was quite chilly in the day, dropping down to minus figures at night.
After some time catching up on work we went to the Kartchner Caverns State Part to do a foothills hike. It was quite tough with some scrambling up rocks but the view from the hill was lovely. Jax is not allowed in a lot of the State Parks but luckily he was on this particular trail.
The following afternoon we drove to Tombstone. Known as the “Town too tough to Die”, it is an old western town. We took a narrated Stagecoach drive with Jax and learned a bit about the history. Later we went to one of the saloons and had a beer. It was a little late in the afternoon so most places were closing when we left. On the way home we stopped at this unique Trump store we had spotted driving in. I have never seen anything like it. Full of Trump memorabilia. The guy running the store was obviously a huge Trump fan and was hoping that Trump would run again this year. He didn’t seem to mind me taking photos of everything and even took a photo of me standing next to Trump who had Hilary Clinton in a chokehold.
We took a Stagecoach tour around the town for fun. Jax was a little scared at first but once he had his head out of the window he was ok. There were about 6 others in the stagecoach as well so pretty cozy. After walking the town we went for a beer in the patio of one of the local saloons. Unfortunately we didn’t realize there was quite a neat graveyard to explore which will have to be on the list next time we venture into this area.
Derek had been looking forward to visiting the Pima Air and Space museum so that was next on the list. Very impressive with hundreds of aircraft and helicopters of all shapes and sizes. Some were in hangers and others lined up in rows outside. While we were there we were lucky enough to see a A10 Warthog fighter aircraft who was practicing manoeuvres above us. The space exhibit was smaller but equally interesting. Unfortunately, we were not able to have access to see the boneyard where tens of thousands of aircraft are being stored. Some for parts and others perhaps for future use.
The following day we visited Tuscon. Coming into Tuscon, we drove the scenic route that takes you to the top of a large hill overlooking the City on all sides. Quite the view. There was a rondavel structure on the side where we were able to take some neat photos. The City itself was extremely clean and filled with beautiful murals everywhere. It had a Turquoise trail (a painted Turquoise stripe on the ground) which I followed to view the major attractions – this ended at the St Augustine church which was stunning, but unfortunately closed. Another attraction we were very impressed with was the Courthouse. Beautifully built with a glass dome on the top. As we had Jax with us, I dog sat in the gardens while Derek went up to Courthouse #8 on the 2nd floor and learned that Dillinger had been arraigned there. We were hoping to have lunch at the Cup Café which had a good rating on Tripadvisor. unfortunately we arrived when it was closed for a couple of hours between the lunch and dinner run, so we went to the Hub café instead for a salad and some beer.
Another nice hike we did was in the San Pedro river preserve. This started at an old mining ghost town called Fairbank and ended up along the banks of the San Pedro river. There was not a soul in sight anywhere and as we got further and further into the trail, we saw more and more animal droppings. These were very large droppings which looked exactly like Bear scat. Getting a little nervous more for Jax then anything else, Derek took to whistling loudly as we approached each blind bend. At one point he thought he saw the Bear in the distance across the river, however it turned out to be a large black cow. Still, we were not sure what kind of wild animals were around us or even stalking us and we probably did the fastest hike I have ever done. Later back in the safety of the RV I read that there are many cows in that area so I doubt it was a resident Bear after all.
Benson was an interesting little town – very proud of their railway heritage. A key hub for trains going north and also south to Mexico. The Tourist center had been built as a replica of the old railway depot and had a controller you could operate which drove a miniature train around the top of the walls inside the center. In front of the controller was a TV which made it seem like you were driving a real train. Both Derek and I took turns driving the train and were both awarded an Engineer’s certificate for our efforts. Another significant part of the Benson history was the Explosives company. This company is still in business but unlike in the past where they would actually produce and sell the dynamite sticks, they now sell the explosive material separately. We visited the small Benson museum and were able to see a steamless locomotive that was used to transport dynamite safely within the factory. We also saw other artefacts from the explosives factory as well as dinosaur bones, ancient medical, communications, household and office equipment.
All in all, it was an interesting time in Benson. The RV park was nothing to write home about, but kept clean. I was able to walk Jax from the RV park up the road to a small cemetery which was quite interesting. A number of veterans and also a wall for cremated remains. The oldest grave from a lady that was born in 1889. She lived a long life and died in 1993. There was also a number of washes in the area which stretched on for miles. They were great for walking jax as well as throwing the ball to get him really tired. There was also a small walking area opposite the back of the RV resort in amongst some of the desert vegetation. The scenery in Benson was quite different to that in Arizona. Lots of Yuccas, Agaves and Buckhorn Chollas with lovely yellow fruit, also some prickly pear cacti. However, lots of yellow grass which we didn’t see in the Phoenix area. The town itself had mostly everything one needed including a Starbucks. The only real downside of staying there was the continuous trains (around 40 per day) which would continue throughout the night – blowing their horns loudly as they approached every crossing. Next time I will definitely stay closer to Tuscon as all the good stuff was at least a 40 mins drive away.
The Kartchner Caverns was nearby though we never got round to doing one of their Cave tours. Supposed to be quite something. We did however on two separate occasions do hikes in the area. One was at the base of the Caverns and the other in the Coronado national forest next door to it. The second hike was more arduous and I spent most of the time scanning the fields around us for mountain lions who were supposed to be in the area. On that hike, I was almost at the top of a high mountain when a locust flew straight at me. I let out the biggest scream and did a zulu dance on the spot with arms flailing. Needless to say I frightened all potential wildlife stalkers away and we had no incidents for the rest of the hike.
