Box Wash, Requiem aeternum dona eis
Yet another day of beautiful warm weather, and the 10-day forecast is full of nothing but 70s and 80s. These are great days for walking in a dry wash somewhere.
Only a couple miles down the road from the Arizona trust lands where I boondock nowadays is what was once a place I always boondocked, which was on BLM land in an area called Box Wash. Box Wash was the greatest boondocking area in Arizona, and I always felt happy and blessed whenever I was lucky enough to be there.
A mixture of mountains and desert, dry washes and Saguaros. Everyone was welcome there: boondockers, horses, bicycles, hikers, off-road vehicles, and, of course, dirt motorcycles, which is why I loved the place so much. And what did it cost to enjoy this mountainous desert paradise? Absolutely nothing! It was all free.
But as I've written about before in my blog, the BLM gave Box Wash to the state of Arizona, and for the last couple of years, the state has been turning it into a State Park that will probably be named either Box Wash State Park or Vulture Peak State Park.
I almost hate to drive by Box Wash now to see how things are going with the park because, from what I've seen recently, the state is turning It into an imitation desert environment suitable only for "flatlanders" and "city slickers."
They are moving the Cactus to make way for roads and trails, destroying the natural beauty of what used to be desert the way nature Intended it. But we can't have cacti, which are a hazard for kids, pets, and adults with no more common sense than God gave a goose, so the offending Cactus must be moved or plowed under. And heaven forbid a challenging hiking trail should exist without being graded smooth and mostly paved.
I've been to Disney World in Orlando, Florida, a dozen or more times, and what I see going on at Vulture Peak State Park, if that's what It’s going to be called, reminds me of the fake nature that Disney made famous, it looks real, but it's not. It's an imaginary desert surrounded by realistic-looking mountains designed by Imagineers to make you feel like you're somewhere when you're not, giving you the feeling you're in nature when nature has been twisted, transformed, and replaced until it’s nowhere to be found.
Of course, most folks will be thrilled to visit this sham of a desert. They will happily reserve a spot months ahead of time for $35 or $40 a night to say they've spent a night or two in the Sonoran desert listening to loud music, the neighbor’s TV, people arguing, and dogs barking... Except for those of us who feel the new State Park opening should be a funeral instead of a celebration. Many of us spent years walking amongst the Cactus at Box Wash, admiring the mighty Saguaro, dodging the cholla, and remembering when Box Wash was beautiful, challenging, and, most of all, real….Rest in peace, Box Wash, Rest in peace.
Theboondork
My boondocking spot on some Arizona trust lands just outside of Wickenburg.
It wasn’t much of a sunset last night; there wasn’t a cloud in the sky, so this was the best it got.
In all the years I’ve been using these trust lands, I’ve never been checked, but I buy the permit anyway.