Saguaro National Park East

In the last 2 days I've walked 11.49 miles on San Diego's sidewalks and around Lake Miramar in San Diego.  Lake Miramar has many picnic and grilling facilities and a 5 mile loop trail that is suitable for running, walking, biking, or roller blading.

On the virtual trail from San Diego to Washington D.C., that brings us into the heart of the Saguaro National Park East, which is East of Tucson, AZ.  Saguaro is the home of the largest cactus in the world, iconic of the West.  Here's a link to view the park webcam.  Sometimes you can see wildlife, like the javalina, a wild pig, on the the web cam.

Ta-ta, Tucson

I walked 11.22 miles in the last 3 days.  When I started this journey, one of my goals was to lose weight.  But, I haven't.  So, today I started a new more stringent approach; I am cutting out all grains, sugars, and dairy from my diet.  I take vitamin and mineral supplements, so, I'm not worried about missing out on any key nutrients.  But, I had to do something to change the course of my weight. 

My heart is doing well, though.  My resting heart rate is down to 58 beats a minute, and I don't breathe as hard when I walk quickly, and my heart rate while walking fast no longer hits my peak rate on my fitbit.  So, that's something.

On the mapped route to Washington D.C., we are now entering Saguaro National Park.  The park is in 2 sections on either side of the city of Tucson. The park is named for the large saguaro cactus, native to its desert environment. In the western Tucson Mountain District, Signal Hill Trail leads to petroglyphs of the ancient Hohokam people. In the eastern Rincon Mountain District, Cactus Forest Drive is a loop road with striking views of the desert landscape.

Well, I'm not really well liked by the trans community in Tucson, so I'll just leave them behind without further comment, as I virtually walk out of the city.  Ta-ta, Tucson. 

The Heart of Tucson

In the last 3 days I've walked 12.28 miles.  On the mapped route to Washington D.C. from San Diego, that put's us in the heart of Tucson.  Here's a brief history of Tucson.  Here are the top 10 things to do in Tucson.  Here's a guide for travelers to Tucson.

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There are resources available to transgender people in Tucson.  For example, there is the Southern Arizona Gender Alliance, the University of Arizona's LGBTQ Affairs website, and therapists who specialize in assisting transgender people.

Tucson prohibits discrimination based on gender identity in public and private employment.  However, there's still plenty of controversy in the schools over the transgender issue.

Tucson, AZ and Mammoth to Yosemite

I took some needed vacation time this last week since Sunday, 8/14.  But, since I last blogged on Thursday, 8/11, I still walked 27.26 miles.  On the mapped route to Washington D.C., that brings us into another major city, Tucson, Arizona.

While I was on vacation, I did some hiking on real trails, up and down in the Sierra Nevada.  First, we drove to Mammoth Mountain, which is a gateway to many back-country Sierra trails.

We took the shuttle bus down to the trail head for Devil's Postpile, an unusual igneous rock formation created when lava cooled quickly, cracking in hexagonal columns.

 After that, we walked on the Pacific Crest Trail.

 We eventually made it to Minaret Falls.

When we left the falls area, we encountered a California Conservation Corps crew that was repairing wooden bridges used for crossing Minaret Creek, which roars in the Spring, but is a pussy cat in August.

Finally, we drove through Yosemite.  We didn't linger in Yosemite Valley, because of the crowds.  Instead, we drove South on the road out of the Valley and toward Glacier Point, where we parked and hiked to the top of Sentinel Dome.  Yes, that's the same dome that I climbed a year ago that is the cover shot for this blog.

Red Rock, AZ

I walked 5.12 miles today in San Diego, visiting places like Sunset Cliffs, just South of Ocean Beach.

 

 

On the mapped route to from San Diego to Washington D.C., an additional 5.12 miles brings us to Red Rock, a small unincorporated area in South-Central Pinal County, Arizona, along Interstate 10. In 2010 it had a population of 2169. Elevation is 1,865 feet according to the water tower. Wikipedia

Progress to Picacho After Rest

12.7 miles sounds like a lot...but, that's all I've done in the last 4 days.  Basically, I had to take 3 days of medical leave, and today I was back with a vengeance, with 7.54 miles.  But, hey...I've still added 12.7 miles to my journey to Washington D.C.   So, onward!

On the mapped route to Washington D.C. we are right by Picacho Peak State Park (say that five times fast!).  At first I wondered whether this was a place where you could find Pokemon (but, that would be Pikachu).  Picacho Peak State Park includes the unmistakable 3,374 foot Picacho Peak that can be seen from the highway ("Picacho" in Spanish means "big peak"). Pechacho or Picacho Station was a stop on the Butterfield Overland Mail here until the 1870s.

"The park facilities include a visitor center with exhibits and a gift store, hiking trails, playground, historical markers, campground, picnic areas, ramadas, grills, dump station, restrooms, and showers. The group use areas, for day & overnight use, are available by reservation."  You can find a printable map of the trails of the park here.

The peak serves as sort of a landmark, just about the half-way point between Phoenix and Tucson.  It's about 43 miles from Picacho Peak to Tucson, about an 8 day walk for me.

Picacho Peak was the location of the only Civil War battle in Arizona.  Here's an interesting history about the battle, when In February 1862, a band of Confederate Rangers under Capt. Sherod Hunter raised the Stars and Bars over Tucson, Arizona.  On April 15, Union cavalry under Lt. James Barrett clashed with the Confederate Rangers near Picacho Peak.  The Rangers prevailed that day, but a month later, the Union cavalrymen, "Carleton's Californian's," took Tucson without firing a shot.  Every year during early March, there are reenactments of the battle and other demonstrations of Civil War military history. (Wikipedia)

Today it was only 93 degrees at Picacho Peak State Park.  But, sometimes it can get up to 110 degrees in the shade, and it can be very dry, so if you visit, be sure to bring and drink plenty of water.

"Frankenstein" walked 9.7 miles today

Yesterday, I only walked .64 miles.  So, today, I walked 9.7 miles, giving me a two-day total of 10.34 miles.  On the mapped route to Washington D.C., that brings us a bit past Eloy, AZ.  We're about half-way to Tucson from Phoenix now.

After walking about 8 miles on the "grand tour" through Hillcrest, Balboa Park, past the Zoo, and North on Park Ave., I had just started again after a rest at the "Trust" restaurant and bar, and 2 male motorcyclists were sitting there idly on their bikes watching me pass by.  One turned to the other and said derisively about me to his buddy, "There you go!"  His buddy then said..."Woah, no,... like Frankenstein." 

Ok, so I was a sweaty, tired, fat, homely trans woman...but, really?  How rude.  I had many thoughts of doing nasty things to them, but I kept walking and did nothing...but, I thought about it.  It does remind me that there are plenty of people out there who are viscerally repulsed by transgender women and that I should carry pepper spray while I do my walking.

Casa Grande AZ, and a look at transgender murders in Brazil

I walked 15.02 miles in the last three days in San Diego.

On the mapped route to Washington D.C., that takes us parallel with Casa Grande, named after the Casa Grande Ruins National Monument, which is actually located in Coolidge. 

Casa Grande was founded in 1879 during the Arizona mining boom, specifically due to the presence of the Southern Pacific Railroad. In January 1880, the community of Terminus, meaning "end-of-the-line," was established despite consisting of just five residents and three buildings.^[3] In September 1880, railroad executives renamed the settlement Casa Grande, after the Hohokam ruins at the nearby Casa Grande Ruins National Monument. 

Casa Grande grew slowly, and suffered several setbacks both in 1886 and 1893, when fires ravaged the town, destroying all wooden housing structures within it.^[3] When the mining boom slowed in the 1890s, the town was nearly abandoned, but with the advent of agriculture, the town remained alive and well, and was eventually incorporated in 1915.^[3]

One of the founding fathers of Casa Grande was Thompson Rodney Peart. Peart Road, Peart Park, and the Peart Center, all of which are notable fixtures of Casa Grande, are named after him.
Casa Grande was home to a collective farm society which was part of the New Deal.
According to historian David Leighton, during World War II, from 1942 to 1945, a Japanese-American relocation camp was set up outside of Casa Grande, known as the Gila River War Relocation Center. Two notable people that were interned there were future actor Pat Morita and baseball player Kenichi Zenimura, who constructed a baseball field and set up a league in the relocation camp.^[4]
(Wikipedia)

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As the world turns its eyes on Rio de Janeiro tonight for the Olympic opening ceremonies, I thought I might highlight how Brazil treats transgender people.

Changing legal gender assignment in Brazil is legal according to the Superior Court of Justice of Brazil, as stated in a decision rendered on October 17, 2009.^[1]  Unanimously, the 3rd Class of the Superior Court of Justice approved allowing the option of name and gender change on the birth certificate of a transsexual who has undergone gender reassignment surgery.  The understanding of the ministers was that it made no sense to allow people to have such surgery performed in the free federal health system, Sistema Único de Saúde, and not allow them to change their name and gender in the civil registry. (Wikipedia)

Although Brazil's laws seem to support the transgender community, the fact is that Brazil has the highest murder rate in the world of transgender people.  From 2008-2014, there were 689 murders of transgender people in Brazil.  Compare that with 108 in the USA (ranked 2nd for transphobic murders in the world) in the same time period, or 194 in Mexico (which ranks 3rd).  And these numbers may be the tip of the iceberg, because many transgender murders go unreported, particularly in Brazil.


According to a report by Transgender Europe, one of the reasons for such high murder rates in Brazil is widespread transphobia that emerged during Brazil's dictatorship from 1964 to 1985, after president João Goulart was deposed by a military coup.

"Gender-variant/trans people became a target of military repression, as they were seen to pose a threat to 'Brazilian family morals'," the report said.

Many transgender people were forced to resort to sex work because they were marginalized and discriminated against in the workplace, and given few other opportunities. As a result, sex workers make up the largest group of victims of violence in Central and South America, the report said.
While the term "travesti" had previously been associated with popular transgender theatre actors who were publicly accepted, the dictatorship realigned the term with prostitution and crime.
"Military police continued to hunt down gender variant/trans people, now with the support of so-called death squads and vigilante groups," the report continued.
 
It is estimated that the life expectancy for trans people in Brazil is about 30, according to Rio-based transgender rights group Transrevolução, while the average Brazilian lives to age 75.  ("Brazil Targeting Trans People With Impunity" Al Jazeera, 22 April 2015

It's not getting better, if anything it may be getting worse.  As many as 56 transgender people were murdered in Brazil in 2015 (2 of which were murdered in Rio de Janeiro), and one source said that at least 48 transgender people were murdered in Brazil recently in just one month, January of 2016.

So, while you are watching the "party" tonight and the games through the next 2 1/2 weeks, remember that if I were in Brazil, I, as a transgender woman, might be targeted by a hit squad because I might be regarded as a threat to "Brazilian family morals." 

 

Sacaton, AZ

I walked 5.23 miles today.

On the mapped route to D.C., that brings us past Sacaton.  Sacaton is one and a quarter miles west of the 1858-1861 location of the Socatoon Station of the Butterfield Overland Mail. The station was named for the nearby Maricopa village of Sacaton four miles down the Gila from the station. It was an adobe building established in 1858 on the Little Gila river also known as Capron's Rancho and was also a trading post. (Wikipedia)

Sacaton is also the home of the C. H. Cook Memorial Church that was built in 1918 and added to the National Register of historic places in 1975.  (Staff (2010-07-09). "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service)  

Back in the Saddle Again

I had 3 days of rest for my injured ankle, walking only 2.23 miles on Friday, 1.21 on Saturday, and 1.18 on Sunday.  But, today I felt better, so I walked 5.07 miles.  So, that is 7.46 miles beyond the last marking at the end of Friday. 

To remind you, so there is no confusion, I am doing my walking primarily in San Diego.  But, I am tracking the mileage on a mapped route between San Diego and Washington D.C.

One of the places where I have walked recently is Liberty Station, which used to be a naval training base, but is now a thriving community with homes, schools, churches, the arts, sports and play areas, restaurants, stores, shops, and markets.

 Here you can see a hallway that is still untouched from the days when the Navy was in charge of it, and on the right you can see what a similar hallway looks like after it was remodeled and refurbished.

Liberty Station still retains the flavor of its military heritage, with geometric precision in all its gardens and buildings.

But, Liberty Station is also filled with whimsy, as seen through the window of this children's barber shop.

We really enjoyed the new marketplace, where there are many different quality food vendors and shops, such as this fresh pasta vendor....ooo, it was good!

So, on the mapped route to Washington D.C. from San Diego, that takes us past the community of San Tan and almost up to crossing the Gila River again.

San Tan Valley is located in the unincorporated area between the towns of Queen Creek to the north and west, and Florence to the south. The area is also bound by the San Tan Mountains Regional Park on the west and the Gila River Indian Community on the southwest. The area consists largely of master planned communities, such as Johnson Ranch, Ironwood Crossing, Pecan Creek South, Morning Sun Farms, San Tan Heights, Skyline Ranch, Copper Basin and Circle Cross Ranch.  (Wikipedia)

Here's a map of the San Tan Mountains Regional Park.