Arizona Joe and the doll house

I was out riding trail 8 just trying to locate the Rock Circles I blogged about last August. I didn't find them, but I did come across a little doll house someone put up next to the trail.

It's a bit fascinating. The person(s) who built the doll house are probably the same person(s) who built the rock circles. It's somewhat of a remote location (for being in the middle of the city) so the situation seems a bit mysterious.

Anyway, I continued onward.  I climbed a bit more and came across wild life photographer Arizona Joe.

We talked about wild life, photography, mountain biking, conservation and other topics. He determined that the hawk that swooped down on Xena, me and one of our chickens Sunday was a red tailed hawk. Check out his site for a photo of one.

I also experimented a bit more with video. New method. Didn't turn out so well. Looks like I am riding on Mars.



Check it out if you dare. Don't blame me if your bored. It's only a couple minutes long.

December trails

trTrails in Season for the Month of DECEMBER. Dec

Trail	Area	State	Effort	skill	Primo
Thumper Trail Loop (dead horse park)	Cottonwood	Arizona	Moderate	Intermediate
Soldiers Trail Loop	Flagstaff	Arizona	Easy	Beginner
Six Shooter Canyon	Globe	Arizona	no whiners	XX Expert
Greene Haven Slickrock	Greene Haven	Arizona	moderate	Intermediate
Arizona Trail	Jacob Lake to Patagonia	Arizona	Long ride	Expert
Badger Trail	Kingman	Arizona	difficult	Advanced
Camp Beale Loop	Kingman	Arizona	moderate	Intermediate
Moss Wash Mines	Kingman	Arizona	Moderate	Intermediate
Slaughterhouse Canyon	Kingman	Arizona	moderate	Intermediate
Valley Drive	Monument Valley	Arizona	Moderate	Intermediate
Page rimview trail	Page	Arizona	Easy	Beginner
Patagonia Ghost towns loop	Patagonia	Arizona	long ride	Novice
Cypress Thicket	Payson	Arizona	moderate	Intermediate
Doll Baby Ranch	Payson	Arizona	moderate	Intermediate
El Oso rd	Payson	Arizona	tough	Intermediate
Houston Mesa	Payson	Arizona	Moderate	Intermediate
Little Pine Flat	Payson	Arizona	moderate	Intermediate
mt peely road	Payson	Arizona	tough	Intermediate
Slate Creek Divide	Payson	Arizona	tough	Intermediate
Alta trail - Soutn Mountain	Phoenix	Arizona	Tough	Expert
Black Canyon Trail System	Phoenix	Arizona	Long ride	Advanced
Bulldog Canyon - Goldfield mtns	Phoenix	Arizona	moderate	intermediate
Coast to Coast - South Mountain	Phoenix	Arizona	Very Tough	xxx expert
DESERT CLASSIC - South Mountain	Phoenix	Arizona	Moderate	Advanced
Double Bypass - McDowell mtn preserve	Phoenix	Arizona	tough	Advanced
FINS (Fantasy Island North Singletrack)	Phoenix	Arizona	Moderate	Advanced
Helipad tt	Phoenix	Arizona	tough	climb
National Trail - south mountain	Phoenix	Arizona	severe	Expert
Papago Park	Phoenix	Arizona	Easy	Beginner
Phoenix Canals	Phoenix	Arizona	easy	Beginner
Phoenix Mtns Secret Trails	Phoenix	Arizona	All	All
Phoenix mtns trail 100	Phoenix	Arizona	very hard work	expert
Phoenix Mtns Trail 1A	Phoenix	Arizona	Tough	Expert
Phoenix mtns trail 8	Phoenix	Arizona	moderate	Advanced
Ridgeline Loops - South Mountain	Phoenix	Arizona	tough	Expert
Apache Trail	Phoenix - Apache Jct	Arizona	tough	Intermediate
Lost Duchman trail loops	Phoenix - Apache Jct	Arizona	Moderate	Intermediate
Lost Goldmine Trail	Phoenix - Apache Jct	Arizona	Moderate	Advanced
Queen Creek	Phoenix - Apache Jct	Arizona	easy	Beginner
Silly Mtn	Phoenix - Apache Jct	Arizona	Moderate	Intermediate
White Canyon	Phoenix - Apache Jct	Arizona	Tough	Intermediate
Woodbury Rd	Phoenix - Apache Jct	Arizona	Tough	Intermediate
Devils Hole	Phoenix - Carefree	Arizona	tough	Intermediate
hombolt mtn	Phoenix - Carefree	Arizona	difficult	Intermediate
new River Headwaters	Phoenix - Carefree	Arizona	moderate	Intermediate
New River Mesa	Phoenix - Carefree	Arizona	easy	Beginner
New River West	Phoenix - Carefree	Arizona	moderate	advanced
Sheep Bridge	Phoenix - Carefree	Arizona	moderate	Intermediate
Trail 4 - cave creek trail - Seven Springs	Phoenix - Carefree	Arizona	Difficult	Expert
Casa Grande Mtn	Phoenix - Casa Grande	Arizona	Moderate	Intermediate
Area 52	Phoenix - Florence	Arizona	tough	Advanced
Thunderbird park h1 - h5	Phoenix - Glendale	Arizona	easy	intermediate
Estrella Mtn Park (race loops)	Phoenix - Goodyear	Arizona	Good Workout	Advanced
Margies Cove	Phoenix - Goodyear	Arizona	Easy	Beginner
Blevins Loop - Usery park	Phoenix - Mesa	Arizona	easy	Beginner
Cottonwood Camp	Phoenix - Mesa	Arizona	moderate	Intermediate
four peaks	Phoenix - Mesa	Arizona	tough	Intermediate
Hawes rd - red mountain	Phoenix - Mesa	Arizona	tough	advanced
Moon Rock Loop - Usery park	Phoenix - Mesa	Arizona	easy	Beginner
Usery Pass	Phoenix - Mesa	Arizona	No Sweat	Advanced
White Tank Mountains Goat Camp Loop	Phoenix - Peoria	Arizona	Tough	Expert
White Tank Mountains Sonoran Loop	Phoenix - Peoria	Arizona	Easy	Beginner
San Tan Loops	Phoenix - Queen Creek	Arizona	moderate	Beginner
Cave Creek	Phoenix - Scottsdale	Arizona	Heap O work	Advanced
Dynamite and Pima	Phoenix - Scottsdale	Arizona	Not too tough	Intermediate
McDowell mts Pemberton Trail	Phoenix - Scottsdale	Arizona	moderate	Beginner
McDowell mts Race Loops	Phoenix - Scottsdale	Arizona	race pace	Advanced
Sonoran Mtn Preserve	Phoenix - Scottsdale	Arizona	Tough	Intermediate
Union Hills Loop	Phoenix - Scottsdale	Arizona	Long Ride	Beginner
Granite Basin Loops	Prescott	Arizona	easy to difficult	Advanced
Thumb Butte Loops	Prescott	Arizona	nothing too tough	All levels
White Rock loop trails	Prescott	Arizona	Moderate	Intermediate
Airport Mesa Loop	Sedona	Arizona	Pretty tough	XXX Expert
Bell Rock Loops	Sedona	Arizona	fairly easy	Beginner
Boyton Pass	Sedona	Arizona	Long easy roll	Beginner
Cathederal Rock Loop	Sedona	Arizona	Moderate	Advanced
CocksCOMB LOOP	Sedona	Arizona	medium work	Beginner
Deadmans Pass Loop	Sedona	Arizona	Moderate	Intermediate
Dry Creek	Sedona	Arizona	Moderate	Intermediate
Huckaby Loop	Sedona	Arizona	Hard	Expert
Llama Trail Loop	Sedona	Arizona	Hard	Expert
Robbers Roost	Sedona	Arizona	easy as pie	Beginner
schnebly hill trails	Sedona	Arizona	a good sweat	Intermediate
Secret Trails	Sedona	Arizona	tough	Advanced
Submarine Rock Loop	Sedona	Arizona	hard work	Expert
Brown Canyon Loop	Sierra Vista	Arizona	moderate	Beginner
Carr Canyon Loop	Sierra Vista	Arizona	Fairly tough	Advanced
50 Year trail (the chutes)	Tucson	Arizona	A good sweat	Advanced
Butterfly Trail	Tucson	Arizona	hard work	Expert
Chiva Falls	Tucson	Arizona	tough	Expert
Cobre Ridge	Tucson	Arizona	moderate	Intermediate
Elephant Head	Tucson	Arizona	tough	Intermediate
Fantasy Island	Tucson	Arizona	easy	all levels
La Milagrosa	Tucson	Arizona	tough	xxx expert
Molino Basin	Tucson	Arizona	tough	Advanced
Peppersauce Loop	Tucson	Arizona	severe	Expert
Saguaro National Monument East	Tucson	Arizona	Fairly Easy	Beginner
Starr Pass - Yetman wash	Tucson	Arizona	moderate	Intermediate
Sweetwater Preserve	Tucson	Arizona	Fairly Easy	Beginner
the Tortolitas	Tucson	Arizona	easy	Beginner
Tucson Mnts	Tucson	Arizona	Moderate	Intermediate
Gila Mountain	Yuma	Arizona	moderate	Intermediate
Martys Ridge to Liberty Bell	Yuma	Arizona	easy	Beginner
Gabrielino Trail	Los Angeles	California	moderate	Advanced
Borrego dessert state park	San Diego	California	moderate	intermediate
Florida Canyon	San Diego	California	Easy	Beginner
Miners Ridge Trail	San Diego	California	Good Workout	Intermediate
Sun Devil way	San Diego	California	good workout	all levels
Anderson truck trail	San Diego - Alpine	California	Tough	Expert
Marys Loop	Fruita	Colorado	Moderate	Intermediate
Munro trail	Lanai	Hawaii	tough	intermediate
Secret Trails	Maui	Hawaii	moderate	Intermediate
Mt Haleakala	Maui - Kula Forrest preserve	Hawaii	Tough	Expert
Kaaawa Valley	Oahu	Hawaii	Moderate	Beginner
B & A trail	Baltimore - Annapolis	MD	Easy	Beginner
Baby steps	Moab	Utah	moderate	Advanced
Porcupine Rim	Moab	Utah	Tough	Advanced
Sovereign Trail	Moab	Utah	intermediate	intermediate
Gooseberry Mesa	Zion	Utah	Moderat	Intermediate
Greenline #6

Red Mountain - Hawes trail

Hawes Red Mountain - Fat Tire.Net

I just love the trails in this area. The red dirt reminds me of Sedona.

Easy to get to too. From downtown Phoenix area just drive 20 miles East on the Red Mountain (202) freeway to Power Road. Then 1 mile north just past the canal. Park on the left or go further down to the park near the river. Fee area there though.

Click on the link at the top very for maps, more information, wait a wee bit for the current weather forecast.(Hawes Red Mountain - Fat Tire.Net)

Trail	Hawes rd - red mountain
Area	Phoenix - Mesa,   Arizona
Description	giant saguaro; ridge trails and mine shafts. Nice view of the river and red mountain. Sedona lite.
Distance	7.1 Miles
Primo Trail
Find Route	Moderate
skill	advanced
Effort	tough
Time To Ride	1.5 to 2 Hours
Directions	Take Red Mountain (202) to Power road and head one mile north

Average Speed	4.34659628073374
Slowest Speed	3.137255
Fastest Speed	6.025994

Season Months

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

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Oct

Nov

Dec

Map	Hawes
Trail Information	Mountain Bike Arizona
Trail Information	Mt. Bike AZ: Hawes Road
Photos	Phoenix trails
Videos	where the streets have no name
GPS graphs	hawes gps

Sep 17, 09	took a couple of really great HD videos and pasted on website. Check them out!
Aug 01, 09	Up Up Up Hawes to the ^^^Hike-a-bike^^^ to the Microwave tower. Down Down Down the pavement...over to new connector section of Wild Horse thru NRA pit to WH proper>>up Big Rock (sweet climb)>>Twisted Sister (rocks!)>>Saguaro>>CAP>>Chocolate Milk. Goo
Jul 13, 09	Since we got a late start on Hawes we didn’t get to complete the planned loop, though we sure tried. Good thing we bailed when we did because it got dark fast. Temps were friggin hot today, but by 7:15 it felt good to be out even though it was 102. H
Jul 01, 09	As I started down the backside of Mine I saw the Lenz rider again. This time he asked me “are you TheBarqsMan” to which I replied “I sure am.” He said he reads my blog. Cool. It’s fun to get recognized out on the trail. That plus the magnificent clou
Jun 16, 09	This morning’s ride was all about loving the ride. I didn’t plan on any specific route, I left it up to whims at each junction. I ended up riding the exact loop I did my first time riding Hawes years ago “plus a wee bit more that be nay thar aft then” (read in your best pirate voice).Riding Hawes always puts my love of the bike into perspective. Today I could see myself still on the bike at 70 years old. I want to be an old man that still shreds.
Mar 14, 09	Gary from Ohio arrived on Friday. We tweeked on bikes Sat morning and then horned in on a ride with Dale&Sonia and Beth&Randy out at Hawes in the afternoon. It was a designated ?flower sniffer? ride with a relaxed pace but somehow I still managed to be all tuckered out at the end. Fun times!!!
Mar 13, 09	Today I learned what happens if you take a roadie into the mountains?He will perform a spectacular endo for you. First; after his rear real bounced off a rock on a steep descent; he rode a full front wheelie for at least 10 feet; then just as the whe
Mar 08, 09	First 2 miles had a couple of killer (for me and Steve) climbs. We took shortcut home through story book - Ridgeline. Fun fun fun. Except Steve wrecked once and I did as well. Handle took the brunt of my wreck as it smacked a large boulder. Steve dro
Mar 08, 09	Met Frank near canal lot. Tough workout; then the reward of scenery & rolling downhill. Going a bit too fast & front tire caught some sand; sending me off the bike; unharmed. Camelback cusioned the fall and I rolled over a bit. Met a lot of interesti
Mar 08, 09	this trail kicked my butt. One tough climb up then wrecked on the screamer down. Felt like I been skiing all weeknd. Even my abs were sore.
Oct 27, 08	Ridge loop saw the park today. Nice shady area near the river. Something not expected in this area.
Oct 13, 08	Red rocks; Blue Water; Blue sky - Twisty; turney; rollie pollie breath taking fun.

Place	MESA	AZ	85201
Coordinates	Longitude: 111.8469	Latitude: 33.43174
Today's Forcast	High 80 fahranheit	27 Celcius
	Low 48 f	9 c
Current conditions	Currently 82 fahranheit	P/SUNNY	8 % humidity
November 26, 2009 15:13	Wind E	at 17 MPH	Pressure 30.05

6 Day Forcast

Day	Thursday, November 26, 2009	Friday, November 27, 2009	Saturday, November 28, 2009	Sunday, November 29, 2009	Monday, November 30, 2009	Tuesday, December 01, 2009
Forcast High Fahrenheit	80	78	70	63	65	68
Forcast Low Fahrenheit	48	49	44	40	41	40
Forcast High Celcius	27	26	21	17	18	20
Forcast Low Celcius	9	9	7	4	5	4
Conditions	Thunder Storms	Partly Cloudy	Sunny	Mostly Cloudy	Mostly Cloudy	N/A

Rockets and Robots

This post is for my Nephew, who loves both Rockets and Robots.

Here in Phoenix Arizona, model rocket enthusiasts are fortunate in that we have multitudes of rocket clubs, as well as the rainbow valley launch site (land designated for the sport close by Estrella park) .

One of the founding fathers of the sport, G. Harry Stine lived here in Phoenix. I recommend that anyone who has children with any interest in science pick up a copy of his book, "The Handbook of Model Rocketry". The book is a must for anyone who plans to participate in the sport.

In the photos you will note that my launch pad and ignition system are all hand built. Some variations of plans presented in the Handbook. There is free software available at the N.A.R. that helps determine your CP, how high your rocket will fly etc.

The Robot was a Lego Mindstorm unit  my team put together while attending CSE101 at Arizona State University.This class was the most work for a 3 credit course I have ever experienced. However, the work was also the most rewarding and fun. I have heard that Dr. Chen conducts courses outside of ASU for young children. In these courses children can learn how to program a robot in a weekend. The Microsoft Robotics Studio is a free download from Microsoft. Coding is very similar to coding microsoft SSIS packages.

Robotics clubs also are abundant in town. We have an older nephew who participates in one.

I love working with robots as the programs you write get to work in three dimensions, rather than just two.

Some day soon amputees will gain the use of new robotic limbs that will be indistinguishable from their natural ones.

The lessons these children learn from these hobbies will open up possibilities that have not yet imagined.

Anyhoo, enjoy the videos. Stuff shooting up into the sky.





big daddy

frank | MySpace Video