Abbey's "A Walk in the Desert Hills"

hippiepunkpirate · Post by **hippiepunkpirate** » May 10 2010 5:07 pm

I am currently reading Edward Abbey's Beyond the Wall. The first chapter, titled A Walk in the Desert Hills chronicles a 115 mile backpacking trip across the Barry M. Goldwater Gunnery Range in southeastern Arizona. The chapter was originally published as an essay in GEO magazine in 1983, but presented at the University of California San Deigo in April 1982. I cannot figure out when the actual trip took place. Much of Abbey's trek follows the El Camino del Diablo jeep trail that our own Randal Schulhauser has so kindly written a description for. Abbey describes many mountain ranges, springs, wells, gravesites and other landmarks along his route. Looking a the TrailDEX I can find a few of the landmarks, but most I cannot. Also some of the landmarks seem to be named slightly different than Abbey's description, such as his "Pinto Range" seems to coincide with "Sierra Pinta" on the map. Perhaps the most confusing is the mention of his endpoint being the small town of "Bagdad". The only Bagdad I know of in Arizona is located due west of Prescott, approximately 150 miles north from the present-day eastern terminus of El Camino del Diablo at Ajo. Anyone know anything more about Abbey's trek or the naming of the landmarks in this seldom seen corner of the state? I personally have a specific interest in this area just from driving Interstate 8 and being awestruck by the Mohawk Mountains. Here is a rundown of the landmarks mentioned by Abbey, which I’ve noted in parenthesis whether or not I have found them either on the map or in Randal’s description. Plotting Randal’s GPS route on the TrailDEX map proved helpful in finding the approximate route:

Abbey was picked up by friends in at a bus-stop in Why (found).
Dropped off in the desert "north of the highway" before Stone Tanks (?)
Abbey walks east on a jeep road, destination = "Bagdad" (?)
Enters USAF Gunnery Range (found = Barry M. Goldwater Range).
Mentions nearby possible water sources: Buck Tank (?), Cabeza Tank (? - maybe Cabeza Prieta Tanks) and Tule Tank(found - in Cabeza Prieta) which are in the Gran Cabezon Mountains (? - 99% sure it is on the map as Cabeza Prieta Range), described as "volcanic dome".
After passing through the Gran Cabezon, Abbey reaches El Camino del Diablo.
Mentions Tule Peak (?) looming above.
Heads to Pozo Nuevo Well (? - the only one nearby about 40 miles east of where Abbey should be at this point)
Abbey heads east past the Tule Mountains (found), across the Tule Desert (found) across the Malpais Lava Field (must be the Pinacate Lava Flow), across the Pinto Sands (found as Pinta Sands) and past the Pinto Mountains (found as Sierra Pinta).
Along the the way, finds Nameer's Grave (found - see Randal's description).
Heads toward the O'Brian Hills (? - nearby is the Bryan Mountains but are well north of Camino, maybe O’Neill Hills)
Can see the Seco Mountains (?), finds O'Brian's Grave (?).
Reaches Pozo Viejo Well (?) which is off-trail from El Camino del Diablo.
Shortcuts through a pass between Bighorn Mountain (? – possibly Sheep Mountain) and the Antelope Hills (found) to rejoin El Camino del Diablo in the Mohawk Valley (found).
Leaves Gunnery Range, can see Hatchet Peak (?).
Reaches Gray’s Well (?).
Reaches “Bagdad”.
Early in the essay he mentions Sweetwater Mountains (?), Charlie Bell Mountains (?) and Pinnacle Mountains (found - Pinnacle Peak is a peak near Ajo)

base871 · Post by **base871** » May 10 2010 5:28 pm

Been wanting to do this hike since I read first read it also. I too wondered this same question. I think Abby did this sometimes to maybe throw people off from finding his favorite spots. If I recall, there is a few places around Moab he mentions in Desert Solitude that dont quite add up either.

azbackpackr · Post by **azbackpackr** » May 10 2010 5:55 pm

Whoa whoa whoa, that story is FAMOUS amongst Abbey-lovers as being deliberately obfuscating! You cannot follow his route because he does not describe it accurately, and he did that completely on purpose. So put any thoughts out of your head about following it exactly!

hippiepunkpirate · Post by **hippiepunkpirate** » May 10 2010 6:02 pm

I'm not concerned with following his route, just curious about it. Trying to put together the pieces was fun though. As with any Abbey adventure, it's not about the exact place where he was, but rather the emotion he felt from the landscape. If I ever make it down there, which hopefully I will someday, it would be as a 4x4 trip with some shorter hikes interspersed.

azbackpackr · Post by **azbackpackr** » May 10 2010 6:41 pm

I have spent a bit of time in western AZ, but haven't yet explored the Goldwater. Should be fun. There are other areas where you don't need to get the govt permit, though, such as in the Imperial and Kofa national wildlife refuges, and in the various wilderness areas, such as Muggins Mtns, you can freely come and go without the permit. All along the river is interesting, too.

Randal_Schulhauser · Post by **Randal_Schulhauser** » May 10 2010 8:39 pm

Check out hike description for nearby "Charlie Bell Road" http://hikearizona.com/decoder.php?ZTN=1445 Probably some clues for Charlie Bell Mountains...

Tough_Boots · Post by **Tough_Boots** » May 13 2010 11:01 am

Abbey's one of the great all-time yarn spinners. I don't think you can take most of his writings as being accurate. I'm currently reading About a Mountain by John D'Agata about the federal government trying to store nuclear waste inside Yucca Mountain outside of Las Vegas. At one point he meets one of Abbey's sons who has some pretty nasty things to say about his father. I often point readers' to Abbey's introduction in The Journey Home for his own explanation of his writing.

azbackpackr · Post by **azbackpackr** » May 13 2010 12:13 pm

Yeah, you have to remember the terms "curmudgeon," "iconoclast," and just plain "drunk."

I have met two people in Tucson who met Abbey. One was my son's English teacher at Amphi, who had enrolled in a seminar taught by Abbey at UA, and she told me she had to drop the class because Abbey always showed up drunk, unprepared, and babbled incoherently.

The other was Linwood Smith, a respected Tucson wildlife biologist/ornithologist, who attended a function where Abbey was a keynote speaker. He said the talk was terrible and Abbey was rude and unfriendly and not at all easy to talk to or ask questions of.

PaleoRob · Post by **PaleoRob** » May 13 2010 3:57 pm

I often wonder how much was cultivated in public, how much was swagger in writing, and how much was really real. He has a near-mythic status among some...and is deeply reviled by others.

azbackpackr · Post by **azbackpackr** » May 13 2010 4:49 pm

I have read all his books as far as I know, most of them several times--even the very bad ones. He originally wanted to be the great American novelist, but at times succeeded only in being tediously maudlin and sappy. His real success, of course, was non-fiction, Monkeywrench Gang notwithstanding. Many of his essays are great, and of course, Desert Solitaire is his outstanding work. I read it the first time when I was 17, 40 years ago. It definitely had an impact on who I am.

A guy I know, a sober alcoholic, who holds a PhD in literature, said it very well--that Abbey's brilliant passages, which occur in all of his books, likely were written at a certain level of drunkenness, one which brought out the brilliance in him. This PhD fellow remarked that it looked to him like Abbey would be drinking and writing, and writing and drinking, and that you could sort of tell when he got too drunk to be brilliant any longer, and just sank into sappiness. I know other sober alcoholics (I have several members of the extended family and their friends who are long-time AA members) who can relate well to Abbey--his melancholy, his sudden brilliant passages, and then the sinking into the maudlin.

I love to read Abbey, but don't know that I would have enjoyed knowing him. I have suffered far too much due to having so many family members who at one time were drunks. I have no desire to spend time with drunks--they lie to you, they belittle you, and they will always always always try to make you feel like you are a totally worthless person. I wish all alcoholics would find AA or other sobriety program so their families no longer have to suffer. I have no real sympathy for drunks, only for their long-suffering families. There has been help for alcoholism for many years, so do something about it, is what I think. Why kill yourself with that crap?

And as for "worshiping at the alter of Abbey," I think I am past that type of reverence for anyone these days. You start having these big heroes, putting people on pedestals, then you lose who you are. It took me a long time to find who I am, I don't need no stinkin' heroes.

Al_HikesAZ · Post by **Al_HikesAZ** » May 13 2010 6:14 pm

azbackpackr wrote: I don't need no stinkin' heroes.

We don't need to find the way home.
All the Children say. . .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1FPK5-Rm38

Sorry. Just couldn't resist. We now return you to your regularly scheduled Thread

rwstorm · Post by **rwstorm** » May 13 2010 9:08 pm

Be your own hero.

azbackpackr · Post by **azbackpackr** » May 14 2010 4:55 am

Amen.

My mother once said to me, after a couple of my kids were already born, "Take care of yourself, girl, because it looks like no one is going to take care of you." Boy, did she hit the nail on the head.

Randal_Schulhauser · Post by **Randal_Schulhauser** » May 20 2010 7:51 am

Found Abbey's "A Walk in the Desert Hills" reference text online => http://books.google.com/books?id=VRueIq ... ls&f=false

hippiepunkpirate · Post by **hippiepunkpirate** » May 20 2010 11:07 am

Randal Schulhauser wrote:Found Abbey's "A Walk in the Desert Hills" reference text online => http://books.google.com/books?id=VRueIq ... ls&f=false

Interesting...in his notes he mentions Cabeza Prieta, but not in the essay.

Randal_Schulhauser · Post by **Randal_Schulhauser** » May 20 2010 11:28 am

Suspected his notes would be "unedited" providing some insight into the final essay "disguised" wording...

azbackpackr · Post by **azbackpackr** » May 21 2010 5:20 am

Started reading this off the screen, pain in the butt on my old computer to try to scroll through it all, I will just have to get the book. Library can get it for me if they don't have it.

He was 54 at the time of the Cabeza walk, not that old to be in such bad shape. I suppose he was already somewhat ill. I doubt he went to the gym or "worked out" like some of us do to stay in shape, unless it was exercising his arm with moving the bottle up and down.

azbackpackr · Post by **azbackpackr** » May 22 2010 7:18 am

One thing interesting: I checked the signature in the autographed copy of Desert Solitaire I have, against the one on the cover page of Confessions of a Barbarian shown in the link. It matches! WOOHOO! I had always wondered if it was real. I bought the book for $5 at Stuart Books in Springerville, now closed. The owner is a friend of mine, and she saved it for me. It is a very tattered paperback copy. The signature says only: "Ed Abbey" with no other inscription.

PaleoRob · Post by **PaleoRob** » May 22 2010 10:28 am

According to Ken Sanders booklist prices, that's probably worth a grand at least!

azbackpackr · Post by **azbackpackr** » May 22 2010 11:26 am

Nah, you're kiddin' right? This is a very battered copy. It looks like someone took it backpacking--there is a little corner torn off the front cover.

So, where do I put it up for auction? Seriously, I am not all that attached to it. I would rather not have to work this summer!

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