Las Cienegas National Conservation Area

Today we moved to a boondock campsite south of Tucson, Arizona, in the grasslands north of Patagonia, Arizona, on BLM land in the Las Cienegas National Conservation Area.  Here are some of the spectacular views just from our campsite:

The Las Cienegas National Conservation Area is a National Conservation Area of Arizona, located in the transitional zone between the Sonoran Desert and the Chihuahuan Desert.  Once facing an uncertain future that almost certainly included housing and commercial development, today more than 45,000 acres of rolling grasslands and woodlands in Arizona’s Pima and Santa Cruz counties are protected as a National Conservation Area. The region’s rolling grasslands, oak-studded hills that connect several "sky island" mountain ranges, and lush riparian corridors are irresistible to both people and wildlife. Ciénega Creek, with its perennial flow and lush riparian corridor, forms the lifeblood of the NCA and supports a diverse plant and animal community.

As we stood at our campsite, the wind arose and blew the grasses around us.  It was very dramatic:

A poem came to mind:

Waṣaʼi kch Hewel 

(Grass and Wind)

                                             I sometimes wish I were Paleo,

                                             Finding myself in the high grasslands, 

                                            Where the only sound is the wind,

                                            And the only motion is of the grasses in the wind.

                                            Great Spirit, blow wisdom into me.

                                            Let me laugh like the O'odham,

                                            Cry like the eagle,

                                            Embrace a tree the way a child does,

                                            Sigh for my loved ones like the ghosts

                                            Of the Southwest Plains.

                                            Let me know the spirits of plants and animals like kin.