#$%@ing Pack Rats!

A few days ago, I started my Rubicon up in the morning and the sway bar light started flashing at me. Strange. I must have hit the button when I parked it the other night. I pressed the button. Nothing. I pressed it again. No go. Maybe it needs to go into 4WD. I shifted it into 4WD high. It didn't go (at least the indicator light didn't come on). Hmmm. Not sure what's going on.

Took it to the dealer today. They called me a few hours later. Pack rats had been busy chewing up my wiring. They need to order some parts. Won't be done until next week and will end up costing me about $300. #$%&ing pack rats.

We've had issues with them in the Sentra and are old RV. One time I packed up the RV and we set out for a weekend of camping. My wife was following me in the 4WD truck. I turned off our street and went down a hill. The RV started back firing. It had never done that before. It was running terrible. I turned around and headed back up the hill to take it back home so I could look into the problem. Going up the hill, I had to jamb on the accelerator to make it up. My wife told me that when I did, a few sparks came out of the exhaust, then bam, a huge pack rat nest blew out. No more problem after that (at least for that trip).

They got me later when they made a nest on top of the gas tank and I had to spend $700 to get the tank dropped and the fuel pump replaced.

Pack rats are so cute, but they so destructive!

Hopefully, I will be able to park the Rubicon in the garage and they won't be able to chew it up any more. Just goes to figure. The Rubicon can best just about any size hill or rock, but a little rodent takes it down like a wet sack of cement!

Have fun and be safe!

New Rain Gauge Links published on Experience AZ website



The Pools at Chiva Falls after a nice rain

 Want to see how much rain your favorite trail received during the latest storm? It's easy to do (as long as your favorite trail resides in Pima or Maricopa counties). I've added a couple of very handy links to the Experience Arizona Weather page: rain gauge maps for Pima and Maricopa Counties. These maps display real-time rain gauge information. I've used the Pima County site with great results. One of the best times to go to Chiva Falls is after a summer monsoon. Previously, it was difficult to know if the area around Chiva actually received any significant amount of rain. Now, I just go to the website, click on the gauge near Chiva Tank and know for sure. It's awesome. No more guess work.

I have only found this data available for Pima and Maricopa Counties. If anyone knows were I can find this for Arizona's other counties, please send me the links.

Coronado National Forest Partially Reopens

Portions of the Coronado National Forest reopen today. This includes the Santa Catalina Mountains (Mt. Lemmon), Redington Pass and Happy Valley (though there are still fire restrictions). This is great news for hikers, bikers and four-wheelers around the Tucson area. The hiking and biking trails in the cool Catalina Mountains are once again a nice respite from the desert heat. See www.experience-az.com for the latest news.

If we get some more rain in the Redington Pass area, it's an awesome time to go out to Chiva Falls. You may even catch me out there or Saturday!

Have fun and be safe!

Experience Arizona Website Debut

I've just kicked off my new website: www.experience-az.com. I'm so excited. This has been over two years of hard work putting all this information together and six months of creating the website. It's loaded with hiking, biking and four-wheeling adventures, all with detailed information, interactive maps, photos, videos, latest news, events and whole lot more. If you're looking for something a little different, I've also compiled a huge list of things to do in Arizona. In addition, I've added things I've always wanted on an adventure website: info on weather, Geocaching, Arizona, gear, reviews, online magazine and tons of links to places of interest. Check it out and keep coming back. Updates and new adventures will be added on a regular basis!

Empire Ranch Open House

Had a nice time at the Empire Ranch open house neare Sonoita (N 31 47.121 W 110 38.548) last weekend. Great weather, good food, nice scenery and some interesting displays. If you're at all interested in this stuff, I'd recommend going next year.

Cutting horses

Miniature horses

Arizona Adventurer, youngest adventurer daughter and cat-dog

Cool grasshopper

Empire Ranch from a distance

Wester author's booths

Topo! © 2008 National Geographic

Walk a labyrinth

During a recent bike ride in Oro Valley (32 23.863 N, 110 58.027 W), we discovered a labyrinth to walk. A labyrinth is sort of like a maze, but there's only one way to go. You walk a labyrinth to clear your mind. Very cool. Go here for some more information on labyrinths.

A wild and spooky canyon

This canyon is hard to find. And it takes skill not to go on private property. But it's worth it. If you go, it's a unique, challenging and different hike. And you will get wet. And you will meet some fairly scary critters. Just be careful of those huge waterbugs. They're hungry :-)


View down the canyon


Spider holes--filled with hundreds of daddy longlegs. Creepy


Trying not to get wet. Good luck.


A boulder wedged in the canyon


A wall of beautiful ferns. Doesn't look like southern Arizona, does it?


Another type of critter you might meet on your journey. Be careful, there are lots of these guys out there


Watch out for those huge waterbugs!


The waterbugs got another poor soul


Topo! © 2008 National Geographic