Tag Archives: Granite Dells

The Road to 65, Mile 155: Oasis Within An Oasis

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Posted by on in Hiking and Nature, Personal goals, Social

May 2, 2015, Granite Dells-  I spent the day immersing myself in better health practices.  Around 10:30, I set out to this dazzling blend of rock, water and greenery, to pay a call on a natural healer and anthropologist, who calls herself Happy Oasis.  She lives with her husband, John, in a delightful two or three acres of land, known as Heaven on Earth.  Happy has been all over the planet, in the course of her twenty-five year career, yet she has chosen, and fought hard for, this sublime paradise.

Thanks to her efforts, there are trails aplenty where there could have been condos too many.  So, Happy and her associate, Jack, took thirty of us on a walk of discovery- to meet the wild plants which can be foraged for sustenance, in the ecosystem of the Dells. It rained a bit, as if to bless our jaunt.

Here are some scenes of this unique experience.

The home of our hosts is a work in progress, after a fire took out its predecessor.  They are nothing, if not multi-talented.

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Here is a slippery elm, with its full supply of salad greens.SAM_4879

I don’t remember what the next several plants are, but they are safe and taste very nice.

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Here is a mustard plant.SAM_4885

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THIS, however, is loco weed.  It is highly hallucinogenic, if ingested.

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Happy, in front, showed us about a dozen plants that can sustain a person, in the wilds of Granite Dells.SAM_4896

This flowering plant is often called prairie rose.  It tastes fine, flowers and all.SAM_4897

Here are some of my classmates, as we enjoyed the fruits of nature’s labours.

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It was one of the loveliest of days, so far this year.  In late afternoon and evening, I visited with a friend and  essential oils colleague, encouraging her in teaching a class on our oils. The day left me with the knowledge that there is more good in our future than not.

The Dells in My Backyard

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Posted by on in Hiking and Nature

I am going to translate a photo blog from Xanga, of a natural area near my home.  It is a western segment of Granite Dells, large boulder formations along the valleys of Willow Creek and Granite Creek, on the northern tier of Prescott, AZ.  The Dells extend south, almost to downtown Prescott, west to near Granite Mountain, which predates the Dells by about a million years, north to near the city’s boundary with Chino Valley and east to near Glassford Hill.

I’ve been to most parts of this amazing range of granite boulders.  The area shown below is largely in private hands, and is not on the usual hiker’s route, although cyclists are fond of the Pleasant Valley Drive route, on the south rim of Willow Creek Canyon.

As the weather is much improved here this week, I thought to venture outside and go somewhere which didn’t require use of the car. Between my house and downtown, there lies a segment of Granite Dells which I had not yet explored.  So, off we went, the pink Kodak digital and I.

Here’s the view, once past my back gate.

This great pasture extends from our lot to Willow Creek.

The clientele aren’t impressed by the pasture.

Here is the dry bed of Willow Creek.

Nevertheless, a bridge goes over it, just in case.

To the north, lies Pioneer Park.

Here are several shots of the Dells, in the area of Willow Creek Canyon.

 

 

 

At the end of the public road, there was the Yellow Brick Road, with no Munchkins,

but a playful puppy.

 

The puppy really didn’t want to be photographed.

Going back, I focused my attention a bit more on the short, but scenic Willow Creek Canyon.

 

 

Lastly, a lone sapling asked:  “Who did this to me?”

There is much to astonish, out one’s back gate!