Irvin McDowell was born in 1818 in Columbus Ohio. McDowell was a career American army officer,and unfortunately for him and those who served under him, became famous for his defeat during the Battle of Bull Run.
For reasons unknown, the mountain range bordering Scottsdale on the northeast has been named after Irvin. We locals call them simply “The McDowells”, although “The Irvins” sounds much cooler. The range is composed of rock deposits left nearly five million years ago during the Miocene geological era. The foothills immediately below the mountains are called a “Bajada”. Bajadas are shallow slopes that lie at the base of rocky hills, where materials accumulate from the weathering of the rocks. They typically have a mixture of boulders, stones, gravel, sand and silt particles, creating a deep and complex soil structure that retains water and supports a rich vegetation. (I am not that brilliant. This came directly from Wikepedia.)
Have I bored all of you except my geologist friends? Have I bored them as well? Anyway , I give you this perspective so you will leave this blog with more information than you started with, and a few more scrabble words.
The McDowells look like sentinels guarding Northeast Scottsdale, rising nearly 3,500 feet above the desert floor. They are chameleons in the desert sun, changing from grey to brown, to red and even my favorite color, purple. They are alive with color. Every so often, the upper peaks are covered with snow.
For years I have watched Scottsdale lose more and more of its desert to development as it has become a Beverly Hills wannabe. Gratefully, about 15 years ago, a group of concerned citizens started a movement to stop the madness. Paula was one of the founders and early organizers of this group, humbly noted. The make-up of the city council was eventually changed due in large part to this movement, and as a result, the new powers in city government, with strong voter support, started buying up lots of land to preserve for future generations.
The result of all this ten years later is the recent opening of Scottsdale’s McDowell Mountain Preserve. The preserve is a gift to ourselves which will keep on giving for generations.
What a place! Just a few miles from downtown, and five minutes from my office, the preserve covers almost 40,000 acres of pristine desert with literally dozens of hiking trails. One can take a leisurely half mile stroll or do the fifteen mile round trip to the McDowell summit at nearly 4,500 feet. There is something for everyone. Once you depart the trail within minutes you are transformed into the Sonoran desert surrounded by all sorts of cactus, trees, washes and unusual rock formations.
I think this John Muir quote best describes my feelings each time I enter the preserve: “I only went out for a walk, and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in.”
I have taken to hiking in the preserve several times a week. On weekdays, after work, it’s a good way to decompress. Hiking by myself, with Laura Pausini or Van Morrison accompanying me on my MP3 player, it is rare that I will come across anyone else but a few other hikers. On the weekend, hiking with Paula and friends it is more social, but hardly crowded compared to the Pinnacle Peak Trail where everyone seem to be in a hurry.
Its hard to explain the comfortable feeling I get in the place, especially when I hike alone. I am fascinated by all the different rock formations and minerals surrounding the trail. What are they made of? How old are they? How did they get there? I think I need a geology tutor. Sometimes my mind wanders and I think about the ancient tribes who lived and walked on some of these same trails, or the animals who thrived here millions of years ago.
It’s funny, the older one gets, one begins to realize that finding enjoyment and peace in your life does not necessarily come from what you own or have accumulated or even what you have accomplished. Again, I quote from John Muir and leave my readers with his thoughts:
“Walk away quietly in any direction and taste the freedom . Camp out among the grasses and gentians of glacial meadows, in craggy garden nooks full of nature's darlings. Climb the mountains and get their good tidings, Nature's peace will flow into you as Sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves. As age comes on, one source of enjoyment after another is closed, but nature's sources never fail.”
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