This week, the halfway point in our program, we started things off with an inside tour of South Mountain with Park Ranger Liz, arranged by Tice. We saw some awesome petroglyphs and did soil testing down in the wash. Since we can’t get enough of educational opportunities, on Tuesday Mel took the Fantastic Four to the Pueblo Grande Museum, where Tice met up with us. This was a great place to learn about the history of the place we live. We got to see replicas of ancient structures, such as adobe living structures, and also the real ruins of a centuries-old ballcourt and platform mound. Afterwards, we had a well deserved meal at LoLo’s Chicken and Waffles. On Wednesday we headed up to the Agua Fria National Monument to help Tice with a yellow-billed cuckoo vegetation survey. The western subspecies has just been listed as an endangered species! — Breaking news!! We interrupt what you are reading to inform you that the government shut down is over!! We should be able to get back to our regular schedule soon!! —- We then had the opportunity to return to Dreamy Draw on Thursday and Friday. We worked with Paul and the other rangers Mike and Jessica from the City again. We were able to look at the work we had done two weeks prior and see how it was holding up. The Texas two step was holding up very well after the little bit of rain we had. Feeling confident as rip-rap professionals, we tackled two new sections of the trail that needed repair – a switchback and a wash crossing. We set rocks, crushed rocks, scattered rocks. We can’t wait to bring our families and friends to this trail to admire our hard work.
