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Thursday, March 19, 2009

The San Carlos Reservation

We are heading up there at oh-dark-thirty tomorrow. It's a four-hour drive and we are taking the faster route via I-10 east to Willcox, then north toward Safford and NW toward Globe. The visitor's center on the reservation is only open during the week until 5pm and we have to get there as soon as we can to pick up our permits to camp on tribal lands.

All three dogs are going with us and we are taking the "DogHouse" (the van) with us. The weekend weather looks pretty good despite the elevation there in the eastern White Mountain foothills:

Tonight: Partly cloudy skies. Low 52F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph.
Tomorrow: Mostly cloudy. Warm. High near 80F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph.
Tomorrow night: A few clouds. Low 51F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph.
Saturday: Intervals of clouds and sunshine. High 77F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph.
Sunday: Partly cloudy. Highs in the upper 70s and lows in the upper 40s.
Monday: Mainly sunny and windy. Highs in the upper 60s and lows in the upper 30s.

Our mission? I want to photograph some Apache culture and hopefully talk to a few, especially any stories they may have heard down the line about the Camp Grant Massacre of 1871. (The Aravaipa Apaches were all forced on the San Carlos Reservation after that massacre.)

I want to see the powwow that's happening there, although powwows are "For white people only" and more of a tourist thing.

I also want to take a shortish hike (about five miles) somewhere nearby on Saturday. Sunday we are driving back early via the River Road from Mammoth. Just north of there, where the Aravaipa Creek runs into the San Pedro River, is where the massacre took place. A grove of sycamores now stands on the spot. It's an unmarked spot but a sacred spot for the Apaches. I want to scout that place out before we get back home Sunday.

http://www.sancarlosapache.com/home.htm

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