FAVORITE DESERT BOOKS

THE PINACATES

Ron, sorry I couldn't limit this to one book. All 4 are intertwined. By the way, I had an interesting phone conversation with a distant cousin of Hornaday'a last week and he has the book for sale. ---Gene The area addressed includes the peak that all DPSers are aware of but is a minor part of this discussion. Euseblo Francis Kino was the first to "rediscover" that Baja was part of the mainland. His travel, took him through the area known today as the Pinacate. This area extends slightly into the Cabeza Prieta area of Southern Arizona. This area remains today as a wild and little traveled region. However, it is getting a lot more attention than it has in the past. In order to appreciate the effort expended in the various explorations, a single book does not suffice. "Campfires on Desert and Lava", 1908 by William T. Hornaday was the first book published in English and is more of a diary than anything else, but is valuable in place names if you elect to explore the areas. "New Trails in Mexico", 1910 by Carl Lumholtz was the bible for many years. The maps associated with this book are excellent and covered a number of errors in Hornaday's book. 1989, a book titled "Land of Lava, Ash and Sand" was published by the Arizona Historical Society and consisted of many papers written by Ronald L. Ives. Ives spent much of his life in the Pinacate and is a recognized expert. This was the first in-depth study and comparison of the works of Kino, Hornaday and Lumholtz. Kino's works of course had to be translated. These papers were written over a lengthy period. Good information!! However, the best book out titled "Desert Heart" by William K. Hartman is outstanding. This was published in 1989 by Fisher Books in Tucson. Hartman has done an outstanding job in comparing the differences between Kino's translations, Hornaday, Lumholt; and Ives. He was assisted in many cases by some of the pictures now available of NASA. He does a good job of explaining why or who is correct in their descriptions and produces an entertaining as well as a very detailed book on the site locations of many of the areas described initially by Kino. This last book together with the Mexican topos of the area can be the start of some interesting exploring. I spent 3 days alone down there this spring and had a wonderful time! Camping just below the rim of Elegante Crater was a religious experience end I plan to go back. Some of the reference books are not easy to come by. I was lucky. ---Gene Olsen

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