Pronouncing Arizona: A How-To Guide

This is meant to be a tongue-in-cheek post stemming from good-natured humor and the observations of a native Arizonan. I promise not to name names or point fingers...this is all in good fun. ;) 

A Public Service Announcement: "You're saying it wrong."

A source of almost-constant amusement for me is the pronunciations and inevitable mispronunciations of the names of places and things around the state of Arizona. You can almost always tell if someone is from out of state by how they pronounce certain names. Many names around the state can be attributed to either the Spanish language influence ('double-l' makes a 'y'/'ee' sound, for example) or Native American names and language.

Here's just a few of my favorites...


Spelled "Prescott," it's actually pronounced "Pres-kit." It was Arizona's original territorial capital, and is still a very fun city that has retained a ton of its Old West charm and character. Off the top of my head, this is probably one of the most mis-pronounced cities in AZ. (Although Tempe, just two cities over from me, is a close second. It's "Tem-pee" with a long 'e', not "Tempeh" or "Temp-ay".

Behind the pony is just one part of the Sierra Estrella range. That's "Es-tray-yuh." Not "Es-trail-la" or "Aus-trail-a." I have also heard "Es-tray-lee-ya". (They're a truly rugged, magnificent range and I cant seem to find a good overview shot of them within easy access in my photos. I've done a number of rides out here -- phenomenal trails.)

This is just one of many varieties of cholla cactus. "Choy-yuh." Have most commonly heard "chawl-la" but also it is also frequently associated with the phrase "Ouch, dammit, get it off, it's stuck to me!"

And this is an ocotillo, often crowned with bright red blossoms on the ends. When it's green, it looks sort of soft and fluffy from a distance, but like all things in the desert...it is sharp and pointy. "Ock-oh-tee-yo"...I think the worst I've heard on this one is "ock-oh-till-oh."

The big, tall cactus with the arms is a saguaro, unique to the Sonoran desert. "Saw-whar-ro", not "sag-you-are-ro" or "sa-garrow." That's 'The Bulldogs' behind it, part of the Goldfield Mtns...stare at it long enough and it's supposed to look like a bulldog's head. I'm bad at seeing-eye type of things, so I've yet to really see it.

The Mogollon Rim is one I'll give to people, because it's not pronounced anywhere near how it's spelled; at least, not really. It's "Mug-ee-on." This is a doozy: I've gotten "Mug-a-lon", "Mongolian", and many "not even gonna try it" attempts. Insider tip: Most of us just call it "The Rim." There's only one place like it, so if you refer to "the Rim" we will know you're talking about the large plateau above Payson. Also considered the "gateway to saner temperatures in the summer."

riding below The Rim, which is the flat mountain plateau above;
there are trails that you can ride/hike that take you up to the top

western edge of The Rim

Some other things I can think of off the top of my head are the bougainvillea plant ("bow-gan-vee-ya"), Aravaipa (wilderness canyon located southwest of the Valley whose name inspired the name of the group I run with: "air-uh-vie-pa"), Mazatzal Mountains (which is a funny one: technically, it's "mah-zat-zal" but locally, in ends up being shortened to "mat-a-zal"), and Galiuro (which should be "gal-oor-o" and I jsut learned I've been saying it wrong, as I've always refered to is as "gal-uh-roo-uh").

I'm sure there's a ton more I'm missing...we are a state of interesting names...but this concludes Lesson One in our primer of "How To Talk Arizona". ;)

a week in pictures

It's been one of those weeks where nothing has happened that warrants its own full blog post...just a lot of random little stuff here and there.

The Man Against Horse ride is next weekend and I can't wait! Liberty and I are going to be doing the 25. It's been four years since I've done this ride and I've been on pins and needles for the past month, just wanting the ride weekend to Be Here already.

Gina sent this to me. Liberty went out all by
herself like a big girl and was very good. :)

This amusing face got worked last weekend, her first time since her massage. I could tell a big difference under saddle. She was moving well, and it wasn't like trying to steer a 2x4.

"Behold me, in my innocence."

Innocent-face got a sloppy mash...

...which she proceeded to drool all over my
suburban. Which had just gone through the
car wash the day before.

I've been doing ride prep for Man Against Horse here and there in the evenings as I think about stuff that needs done. The other night, I made a new fancy red tail ribbon for Liberty to wear, since the first one I made got sacrificed to the manzanita at the Prescott Chaparral ride. Trying not to get too attached to this one, since there is also more manzanita along this trail. Lots of manzanita.

She didn't end up needing it at the last ride,
but I'm still using it as a precaution. Young
horses are unpredictable.

And somewhere along the way, fall happened:

Running errands mid-morning. Nice.

Display of multi-functionality:

Hoof boot. Water bottle holder.

And finally, it's the weekend. Let's make some trail dust.

good life philosophy

Prescott wildfires

19 Prescott Granite Mountain Hotshot firefighters killed in Yarnell fire

It's a heart-breaking tragedy. I have no words beyond, "May these heroes be remembered."

the groundhog lied

I'm sorry, but what part of the last several days of dropping down to the 50s in the day and freezing at night can possibly constitute "early spring"?

Oh, and did I mention the rain?

Riding was the fun part.
Clean-up afterwards, not so much.

Still, it was a great excuse to finally do some mud-slinging with my boots. Contrary to popular belief, not every inch of space around here is covered in sand. 

And as much as I sometimes grumble about pulling out every marginally-water-resistant article of clothing I own to function through the winter rainy season...it is good for the water table, especially when the mountains get their fair share of fluffy white stuff.

Still, if the groundhog could be temporarily right for the two weekends following this next, that would be great. Last weekend of February, I'm heading out to the 20 Mule Team ride in Ridgecrest to crew for friend Kaity, riding the 100-miler, as well as be on hand to do my Renegade thing. Southern CA is even more notorious for unpredictable weather during the winter, so I've been giving the AccuWeather month-out predictions as much credence as the damn groundhog. (And packing my rain gear.)

Then the first weekend in March, I'm heading down to the Sonoita ride...to ride! 50-miler on day one on a friend's horse (who I met and rode last weekend...12 miles later, the horse and I still liked each other, so the ride was declared a 'go'), then the possibility of the LD on either day two or three on another friend's horse (who I will meet this weekend).

Busy, busy...I love it.

And I'm currently completely surrounded by bits-n-bobbles of various ride stuffs. A sampler pack of various GU products (energy gels, energy chomps, e'lyte drinks) sits on my overflow desk. Two boxes of boots are sitting in the middle of my bedroom. One pair of boots is in the process of having cables adjusted and straps changed out. I'm currently experimenting with tying my own tailing line...see photo below. 

Purple is existing, lightweight yacht rope.
Orange is 4mm climbing rope.
Tan is 5mm climbing rope.

Will experiment with the tailing lines and report my findings later. 

Making things slightly more interesting is the fact I'm flying out for 20 Mule Team, so am limited by what I can cram into a suitcase, versus filling all available space of a suburban. Ah, well. I'm not riding, so that's easier...and I do love a challenge.

some days...

"Pony" is said as a term of endearment.

Some days, it's a four-letter word.

Today was kind of the latter, at least for part of the time.

I took advantage of getting up early and forced myself to get. out. the. door. in a decent time fashion, versus frittering away the time on the computer.  It paid off...it was 86* driving down to the barn.  Windows down weather!

And it stayed somewhat overcast and not unbearable right up until I was ready to depart the barn.  We even got misted-dripped-dribbled on for about two minutes while riding.  Hard to call it rain, since I think it evaporated before it even hit the ground.  But it was enough "wet" to piss off the pony.  I sort of wish I had a picture of it...we're cantering along, I'm grinning like a loon because it feels good, and she has her ears pinned and the pissiest look on her face, since she is getting wet.

Think "Princess and the Pea" only with water instead of hard little vegetables.

Never mind that 30 minutes later, she was absolutely loving her bath.

She also wasn't thrilled about doing arena work today.  Just for kicks, I turned on one of the GPD apps I have and tracked our time and speed, and to see just what all those circles amounted to.

One hour of riding, walk/trot/canter, 3.7 miles, with approximately the same average speed.  And it's a sand arena...guess those years of circles actually have been good for something.

And she did the whole thing barefoot...without being gimpy.  Which is quite good, for her.  I think I'm finally getting it on her trimming.

It's a sand arena, yes...but it's not necessarily a "clean" sand arena...there's random rocks and deeper spots and harder-packed shallow spots.  Arena, yes...perfectly groomed show arena, nope.  Which makes it a good workout and a good test on the hooves.

And when I say we rode for an hour, we rode.  Circles, gait changes, more circles, stop-go transitions...my show background is never far removed from the surface.  Oh, yeah, and I made her really work at carrying herself in a frame, since she wanted to keep being lazy.  When she's lazy, she really embraces her daisy-clipper movement, which is a polite way for saying she doesn't pick up her feet.

Which means she then trips on one of those aforementioned rocks, or a deeper patch of sand.  Since I'm not a fan of the whole -trip-fall-squish thing, I made her work and actually pick up those little legs.

And then I made it up to her at the end.

Pony swilling Gatorade...her second-favorite
flavor, "Cool Blue"
I kinda love how she's giving me the hairy
eyeball as she grabs for it

Her Gatorade habit started back in my show days, before I had a clue what electrolytes were all about...all of us kids tended to do the "bite for me, bite for my pony" approach to food, and our ponies usually partook on whatever we were munching.  Only Mimi really loved Gatorade, especially the orange flavor.  Her preferred method of getting it was licking it right out of Mom's hand...much better than out of a bucket.

It's actually been years since I've given her any Gatorade, but I had gotten some for me last week during the worst of the heat wave, and brought the last of it down to the barn this morning.  And just for old times' sake, I shared.

Yes, she got the last of it; No, I didn't drink from that bottle afterwards.

Gatorade + a very refreshing bath and Pony Spa session made up for whatever ills she might have been feeling towards me.  Summer itchies + bugs + sweat + layers of fly spray mean that a bath is pretty much a weekly necessity from June-September.  She was lovely and clean when I left, although I'm sure an hour later, she wandered back into the arena and rolled in the sand.  And rolled.  And rolled.

Because she's not happy unless she resembles a pigpen.

Whirlwind; or, Catch-Up, Redux

Even after 5 years of blogging, I still have some issues with consistency.  I don't blog for a bit, say due to life circumstances and lack of time.  So I get out of the habit.  And I don't blog.  And I don't blog.  And suddenly, I've got all this stuff that's happened, and I feel overwhelmed trying to catch up on everything...so I figure, I just won't.

And then I can't figure out what to blog about.

Ugh.

I haven't really been up to anything monumentally exciting.  This is Arizona hibernation weather, the time of year where the pony thanks me for not riding her.  The closest national forest trailheads -- and 20* cooler weather -- are currently closed (at least as of last week) due to the extreme fire danger, and probably won't open again until we get some more rain, so that put the kibosh on the vague "let's go ride in the mountains" plans we had floating around at the barn.

I did have to go out of town a couple of weeks ago.  My grandmother passed away, and we all went back to Pennsylvania for her funeral.  Was not impressed with East Coast humidity.  My hat's off to all endurance riders back there who successfully cope with it.

Work continues on...in short, I LOVE IT.  Finalizing Tevis plans for next month.  Rough schedule is I'll be in Auburn Tuesday/Wednesday, then up to Robie Park Thursday/Friday for booting.  Ride Day Saturday, the plan is to be at the Hwy 89 crossing in the morning to shoot some video, then up to Robinson Flat, then back down to Foresthill, then to the Finish.  Yeah, I'm going to try to be a die-hard and stay up til the wee hours of the morning.  I just might be a bit crazy.  Massive quantities of caffeine will be involved.

Plans to try to meet up with several blog buddies...definitely looking forward to that!  One of my favorite things about endurance has been all of the great people I've met and friends I've made...that alone has been a major motivating factor to still keep my foot in the door of the sport, even during my competition-hiatus period -- I would really hate to lose contact with so many of the great people I've met.

I'm also starting to put together a blog list that I'll be putting on the Renegade news page -- a list of "affiliates" of sorts, such as distributors or riders who use the boots that keep a blog and talk about the boots.  If you're interested in having your blog or web page put on the list, let me know!

Tevis is a month away...let the countdown begin.

I still need to do an updated hoof post...will get photos this weekend when I'm down at the barn.

Fire Season

In the grand scheme of natural disasters, Arizona gets off pretty light.  We don't have tornadoes, hurricanes, major earthquakes, or mudslides.  We sometimes feel aftershocks coming up from Mexico or over from CA, but those are rare.  We have monsoon rains, which occasionally flood washes and require a couple idiots every year to be rescued after mistakenly believing they could drive across said flooded wash.  Despite the "Do Not Cross When Flooded" signs.  We have microbursts, concentrated areas of wind and rain that are capable of causing as much damage as a low-lever tornado.

But we do have fires.  Big ones.  "Make national headlines and get declared a federal emergency area" kind of fires.

On one hand, I've been relatively insulated from them.  I live in suburbia, where the only fire danger comes from my chain-smoking neighbors.

But outside of suburbia?  Better have a fire evac. plan.

Some years are worse than others.  The last two years have been relatively minor, fire-wise.  We always get a few small ones here and there...Arizona is still a lot of open, uninhabited land.  Surprisingly, about half the state is actually treed forest.  Treed forests that burn really well.  And necessary forest maintenance -- removing deadfall and all the stuff that fuels a fire really well, doing controlled burns -- is always an unhill battle between those that don't want to see a single pine needle touched and those that recognize the value of preventative measures.

But this year is already shaping up to possibly be a bad one.  Two major fires currently burning, one partway between Mesa and Payson (NE of Phoenix, close enough for me to see the smoke in the distance), and one south of the Mayer/Dewey/Humboldt area just before Prescott.  That one has required evacuations.  :(

I always worry about my horsey friends that live in fire-danger areas, and not just in this state.

Stay safe, everyone.  Have an evac plan, and hopefully you don't have to use it.

Here's hoping everyone stays safe and fire-free!

Yep, we're in Arizona...

I'm now feeling the need to go back and re-read my own lovely, picture-filled post of all the areas of my state and remind myself again How. Much. I. Like. It. Here.


Because this is coming up:

*whine*

Not. Ready. For. Summer.

On the plus side, this means Mimi will finally get a bath.  I haven't bathed her since the fall, mostly because she is such a royal pain when it comes to getting a bath with cold water.  She's a princess all the way, and if I dare bathe her with cold water, she does everything in her power to make sure I end up just as wet (and cold) as her.  So really, it's just not worth it when there's not an overwhelming need (such as a ride) that necessitates a bath and clean pony.

Fortunately, timing was such that when we were competing, I had an endurance friend that lived about a mile or so away from the barn...and she had a wash rack equipped with hot water.  It made the whole bathing drama go so much smoother that it was worth hitching up the trailer and dragging the ponies down to her place and back.

But she's since moved...I'm on competition hiatus...so bath time waits until the weather gets warmer.

100* definitely qualifies.

Why I Love Arizona

Well, it's certainly not because of my allergies.

Pretty.  And sneezy.

Sometimes I think living in Arizona is like a badge of honor.  We complain about the heat in the summer, the humidity during monsoons (everyone east of the Rockies scoffs at this..."Girl, you have no idea what real humidity is..."), the allergens during the spring, the dust, the traffic...

So why the heck do we stay?

I can't speak for the rest of the residents, but based on what I feel is the current over-population, obviously something is keeping us here.

Me, I'm an Arizona native.  I've been fortunate enough to have had the opportunity to do some pretty awesome traveling, and as much as I love going to other places...I love coming home.  I honestly don't feel an overwhelming desire to move out of the state, despite falling in love with a select few other areas in the country.  (None of them have yet managed to put up enough pros to outweigh staying in this state.)

The horse thing is a large part of why I stay.  Arizona is a big state.  And I've had the chance to ride in many different parts of it.  (Pretty much all but the far northern part...such as the Grand Canyon...one of these days...)

And it always amazes me how different the state is, even within the span of 50 miles of a ride.  So with that, I give you the Tour de Places-Ashley-Has-Ridden.

I love having all of my photos organized and accessible.  It means I tend to actually blog with pictures a lot more readily.

And because I'm easily amused and need no excuse to play around with Google Earth, I'm including relevant  approximate elevations.

Salt River and part of the Goldfield Mountains.
Located directly east of Phoenix about an hour, give or take.
~1400' elevation

The Salt River area has Bulldog Canyon and the trails around the Blue Point Recreation Area.  Immediately on the south side of these mountains is Usery Mtn Park:

"Standard" desert. And cholla cactus. Lots of cholla.
~1900'

A little to the south by another half an hour or so, and my typical riding stomping grounds, is the San Tan Park in Queen Creek.

I only have a couple hundred variations of this photo.
~1700'

Keep on heading south...waaaay south (like, just-north-of-the-Mexican-border-south) and you run into Sonoita and the Old Pueblo/Las Cienegas endurance rides down there.

Beautiful, rolling grasslands surrounded by mountains.
It's always windy here.  Non-stop.
~4600'

Re-centering on Phoenix and heading west, there's Estrella Mountain Park.  Back to what I consider "normal" desert with all the usual suspects...lots of washes, lots of cactus, and in certain times of the year, if you're really lucky, a few wisps of desert grass.

Grass.  Thoroughly interwoven with toxic weeds.  This is the desert.
~1000'

I did quite a bit of riding between the three parks: Usery, San Tan, and Estrella.  They have civilized trailheads with water, trailer parking, and signed trails.  Which also means they host a plethora of hikers and mountain bikers.  Good desensitization training.

Bouncing back to the east side, another hour or so past the previously explored area of Usery Mtn and the Salt River, is a beautiful trailhead called Picketpost Mountain.  It's the host of the section of The Arizona Trail that runs right through the area.  If you follow the trail to the north, you see this:

But if you go south, you ride right up against this:

Picketpost Mountain proper
~2400'

Back into the Valley, just northeast of Phoenix, there's the area that I call the North Scottsdale/Fountain Hills/Rio Verde confluence.  Dad's first horse came from the Rio Verde area, we spent quite a lot of time trail riding in the Rio Verde Foothills area, and McDowell Mtn Park is located there.

McDowell is like most other Valley parks: sand, cactus, and
more sand and cactus.
~1700'

In the northwestern part of the Valley, there's Wickenburg, site of quite a few rides we've done: 2 NATRC and 4 endurance.

Similar to "my" desert, but typically slightly cooler.
~2200'

Head out of the Valley northeast about 2 hours, and you'll hit Payson.  It's in the mountains, so it's much cooler, and a good summer option.  Payson itself has very little by way of trails, but if you head due east, you quickly run into several trail options.

"Red dirt" elevation, ~6700'.  This particular trail runs
right below the Mogollan Rim, which rises a vertical
1000' above this point.

Head northwest from Payson, and you run into the little towns of Pine and Strawberry.  They're also right below the Rim, and actually at a lower elevation than the more easterly-located Payson area trailheads.

Lower elevation, less red dirt.  (Which results in cleaner
pony legs and tails.)
~5400'

Now we're in the mountains, which are something of a fascination and novel concept to this long-time desert rat.  North of Phoenix by a couple of hours is Prescott, which is an amazing range of micro-climates within a very short span of time.  Exhibit A, Man Against Horse 50:

Gorgeous mountain sunrises.  Not that they're shabby down
in the Valley, either.  There is a plus to the dust pollution
in the air.

Ridecamp, down in the rolling grasslands.
~5300'

Wind up in the pine trees at ~7700' halfway through before
descending through red-dirt elevation and back to ridecamp.

Another hour or so north of Prescott is Flagstaff.  Flagstaff is pine trees and snow skis (for at least a couple of months in the winter).  And the best summer escape destination.  Fortunately, there are some nice horse camps up there to accommodate the droves of Valley-dwellers that make frequent weekend pilgrimages.

Flagstaff is green and gorgeous...but I wouldn't live there.  Too much of that white, fluffy stuff in the winter.

Greenery...pony-eating downed logs...
7300' (to start)

Aspen grove, which means the elevation went up...
to ~8900'
(Another pesky feature of mountains...I am a low-lander...
I cannot breathe properly at high elevation.)

One of my favorite features...mountain lakes!
~8000'

West of Flagstaff is the "gateway to the Grand Canyon": Williams.  My overwhelming takeaway impressions of Williams are if your horse doesn't trip on the rocks and fall and squish you, then you'll both be eaten alive by the vampire-alike no-see-ums.

That innocuous-looking meadow of grass in the background?
Not so much.  The grass hides the fact it is completely covered
in softball-sized (at minmum) volcanic rock.
~6600'

Williams is also the location of Al-Marah Arabians' Hat Ranch, where they let the babies run around and grow up for a couple of years, which goes a long way towards explaining why they seem to produce some outstanding endurance horses.

Maybe there is something to survival of the fittest?

Finally, just for kicks...Y'all want to know where I live?

In the middle of suburbia, surrounded by a sea of tile roofs.

(Question: If the plural of "hoof" is "hooves," wouldn't it make sense for the plural of "roof" to be "rooves"?  This is why I didn't become an English major.)

Elevation: Just over 1200'.  No wonder my respiratory system protests 5000'+.

Looking at where I get to ride, sometimes I forget I still live in suburbia.

And that riding variety is probably the Number One reason why I love Arizona.

(The sand washes make for good conditioning, too.)

Wild One

Someone really needs to remind my pony that: 1) She's 18 years old and 2) Despite the fact that she lives surrounded by them, she is not actually an Arabian.

Friday's day-long dust storm ushered in an overnight rain storm, and with it, and significant drop in temperatures.  Last week it was still in the high 80s.  Saturday, it was in the 50s.  Overall, I'm a fair-weather desert rat...but this weather change feels SO good.  Storm clouds lingered on the higher peaks of the Mazatzal Mountains and Four Peaks, which lie to the northeast of the Valley, and once they cleared off, a light dusting of white powder could be seen from miles away.  (Yes, we do get snow in the desert.)

Today was slightly warmer -- in the 60s.  Absolutely perfect fall weather.  Mimi felt really good with the cooler temperatures.  She's a funny little thing in that she really doesn't like the cold, especially if it's also wet.  But this kind of weather, particularly in the middle of a sunny day, makes her very happy.

She was super-energetic for our ride today, and I know I'm going to have to bum a ride from someone in fairly short order and get her out again...she needs ten miles or so to wear her out!  She had some issues with the idea of "walk" today, even offering a jig several times.  A jig!  In the arena!

What happened to my show-trained arena pony???

She is fun to ride when she's that energetic, though.  Very forward and surprisingly easy to ride.  And it warms my heart to see her have that much energy and forwardness even for something like arena work.

(Today was a picture fail day...I actually needed two hands on the reins.  But I'll leave you with an amusing mental image of my "confused cowgirl" look I'm currently rocking: western-style shirt, blue jeans, cowboy boots...English-style endurance saddle, helmet, and western leather headstall and rope reins for today's schooling session.  Is it any wonder endurance is a good fit for me?)