Clover Spring Trail, Williams, AZ

Turn off from Bill Williams Lookout Trail

Took the Li'l Guy up to Williams (AZ) the other day, for some hiking.  We stopped at the Williams District Ranger Station, off Interstate 40, exit 161.  The office was closed, as it was a Saturday, but the trail head was open.  In spite of there being five other vehicles parked, we didn't encounter anyone on our trail until we were nearly back to our car.

Clover Spring Trail Map

The trail to Clover Spring starts at the Williams Ranger Station.  You can also start from Buckskinner Park in Williams, or Sheridan St. downtown.  From the Ranger Station, take the Bill Williams Mountain Trail, #21, for about 1/4 mile, then make a left onto the Clover Spring Trail, #46.  That's your turnoff sign, pictured above.  The 3/4 mile trail meanders through ponderosa pines, oaks, and rare alligator junipers.

The trail is easy, with just a few rock steps set into the path, but it showed me how quickly I can get out of shape.  Even my hiking boots felt heavy!  Note to self - do NOT wear tight denim skirt for hiking - full skirt is a must.  It feels so wonderful to be back in the pines after 4-1/2 months in the city.   Up near the spring, we startled a young deer and enjoyed the sight of it bounding away.

Clover Spring

Clover Spring is a natural spring, once used for domestic purposes, but now only safe for wildlife.  Bring your water purifier if you want to drink!  The water level was almost a foot below the drip pipe when we were there, and didn't look too appealing.

The return trip was all downhill.  Lots of big rocks for young-uns to climb, and side attractions for them to explore.  We were out early enough to hear the Grand Canyon Railway down in Williams blast its farewell for its daily run up to the canyon.

If you want a longer hike, you can continue past Clover Spring to Buckskinner Park - bring your picnic - or take the loop back to the junction with Trail #124, City of Williams Link Trail, and explore downtown Williams.  There are several great restaurants and lots of shops offering everything from Indian jewelry to custom leatherwork to Route 66 souvenirs.  When you're ready to go back to your car, take Trail #124 back to #46 and end up at the Ranger Station.

The Sword - Review

Most of the world has been destroyed by a deadly virus, followed by a nuclear war. Technology is useless without the utilities and infrastructure to support it. Survivors are so widely dispersed that nearly all "modern" knowledge and convenience has disappeared. 400 years later, groups of people have organized into medieval style villages and countries, producing food on small farms and manufacturing all their clothing, tools, and weapons by hand.  If you're a prepper, a survivalist, or just a fan of the fantasy genre like myself, you will truly enjoy "The Sword", by Bryan M Litfin.

To these future humans, we are "the ancients".  Worship of idols and corruption are not only rampant, but taught as the state religion.  While trying to escape from "outsiders", Teo, a royal guardsman for the king of Chiveis, and Ana, a farm girl who saves his life, stumble upon an ancient book that turns out to be the Holy Bible.  As it is translated into their language, they come to know a new God, the Creator, whom they come to understand as the One True God.  Meanwhile, the High Priestess of the common religion takes steps to eliminate the new religion.  The ending is a compelling set up for Book 2 in this trilogy, The Gift.

The deep, resonant voice of narrator Ray Porter captures and holds the attention, while his softer, higher pitched female renditions are a bit humorous, while the listener adjusts to them.  Author Litfin succeeds in creating a future world that stands on its own in a genre which includes some tough competition.  His characters play convincingly, with all their flaws, admirable qualities, and inner struggles.  Ana eagerly embraces the new God, but Teo, accustomed to relying on his own strength and cunning, takes more than simple persuasion.  His road to conversion is fraught with disaster, and when he does come to believe, it may be too late for the fledgling community.

This book does have some mature scenes (without being explicit), so I would not recommend it for the family bookshelf, but I think it is appropriate for a mature 16 year old, and older, use your discretion.  It is entertaining, suspenseful, and illustrates what Christians must sometimes endure, especially in areas where the Word of God has never been heard.

The Sword, The Gift, and the third book in the trilogy, The Kingdom, are all available from www.christianaudio.com for $14.98 each.

Thanks to www.christianaudio.com  for providing me with a free review copy of "The Sword".  No other compensation was received for this review.

The Atheist Inquisition

By Tribunal del Santo Oficio de la Inquisición (Enciclopedia Española) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

So Happy 4th of July!  Before I even left for 6:30a.m. Mass yesterday, I saw the ad headline in the Los Angeles Times:   "Quit The Catholic Church". I was miffed, but it had to wait until after Mass.  In fact, I made it wait until after breakfast, when I read the whole ad.  Then I just rolled my eyes. 

Somehow, a group that has only been able to amass (pun intended) 18,000 members since its founding in 1978, is running this full page ad as they are able to raise funds.  It appeared in the New York Times way back in March, so obviously, they don't have a lot of support. Still, they are launching the same tired arguments about why the Catholic Church is such a bad guy. I say "tired", because they are calling women, like me, who are loyal to the church "ignorant", while they apparently refuse to acknowledge scientific evidence contrary to their primary argument, which is women's "reproductive rights".  I'm sorry, but as a mother of 4 children, I vote for the right of every woman to practice abstinence if she does not want to conceive, acquire an STD, or be a slave to her hormones.  To lower a woman's dignity so far that you have to call it "reproductive rights", is to say that she does not have the choice not to engage in sexual activity.  It is to say that she is too stupid to realize how babies are made.  That it is better for her to pump herself full of chemicals or extra hormones which will raise her risk of cancer, than it is for her to abstain from sex, or to have a baby. How can a woman possibly be happy and fulfilled if she is not having sex? Personally, that is more of a Dark Ages mentality than what the ad is accusing the church of.

Their other argument is that US healthcare reform is being held hostage by the Catholic Church. Not so. The church has worked hard towards affordable health care for all for years. The current health care law, in fact, coerces a faction of society, Catholics and Catholic Institutions, to pay for what they regard as murder, female oppression and religious persecution. In fact, if a non-Catholic, working at a Catholic Institution, wants free or low cost contraceptives, there are hundreds of family planning clinics they can get them from.

As for the sex-scandal issue, sex scandals and pedophilia, complicity, collusion and cover-ups are not exclusive to the Catholic Church. They are rampant at every level of society and in every institution in the United States.  Pointing the finger at the Catholic Church is just a smokescreen, using the currently popular bad guy, to cover up the fact that this is just an organization, like any other, trying to get more money to promote their agenda, which according to their own website is to educate the public on matters of non-theism.

We Catholics stopped murdering folks that refused to convert to our religion over a century ago. Don't shove your atheism down our throats just because you don't want to have kids to pass it on to.

They say "humanity above dogma".

I say "the truth shall set you free"!