Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Springtime On A-Cross Road, 2008

4/16/08 
Ralph's been so busy doing projects around the house lately, we decided it was time to get back to basics and make a run to A-Cross Road, one of our favorite trails in the area. Spring has sprung on A-Cross. The wildflowers covered every hillside with a yellow blanket. The scent of them was intoxicating as a mild breeze blew through the canyons. We've never seen the area looking so lush and green. Roosevelt Lake is at history making levels, bathing the valley floor in brilliant, rippling blue.
We saw a pair of Javelinas and a couple of Buzzards along the way, but no rattlers yet. It's plenty warm, so it won't be long before we see them stretched out, sunning themselves in the roadways.
Anyway, it's good to get Ralph away from his projects, I need to keep reminding him that he's supposed to be retired and there's no deadline to get things done. Of course, he reminds me that summer will soon be upon us and working outside in 110ยบ temperatures isn't much fun either.
On the way home we indulged and stopped for breakfast at the Butcher Hook Restaurant...whew, those breakfast burros were HUGE! <groan>

Saturday, April 12, 2008

Return visit to the cave on 609

Great Jeeping day! Sunny and clear with a cool breeze. We headed back to the cave this morning with Jean & Larry. This time we were well armed with flashlights and boots so we could delve further into the cave interior. It's quite a bit larger than we first thought, there are several passages leading to fairly large cave rooms. Upon closer inspection, we could tell that Indians, probably ancients, once used the cave either as a dwelling or a cool place to store meats. We could see the remainders of stone walls which had been built using mud mortar to hold them together. There are smoke stains on the ceiling of the cave in an area off to one side, it looked like it would have been a good place to smoke or cook meats.
It's obvious that over the years, lots of people have explored the cave. We could imagine early Indians, settlers, ranchers and miners, all walking over the same rocks that we did today, probably all trying to speculate about events which might have taken place here.
There are so many places to see here in our little corner of Arizona, each with something different to offer, we haven't even begun to scratch the surface. We'll just have to keep on Jeepin'!










Saturday, April 5, 2008

Cave Exploring on FR 609

 4/5/08
Finally! We found the cave we'd been told about on FR609. I guess the fifth time was a charm. We went to look again for it this morning, having been given further vague directions on its location. "After the cattle guard, near a big Black Walnut Tree" yeah right, we didn't hold out a lot of hope but since the day was beautiful and the wildflowers are in full bloom, we didn't think the trip would be wasted even if we couldn't find the cave. Fortunately, we met a Warden from Arizona Game & Fish along FR609. He stopped to chat with us for a while, and we asked him if he knew of a cave in the area. "Why sure, as a matter of fact, I just found it today," he told us. He'd seen a vague trail leading through the scrub brush and decided to follow it and just happened upon the cave. Luckily for us, we came across him, because the directions we'd been give were way off (by about 5 miles) He told us to look for his footprints and even showed us the distinctive pattern on the soles of his boots. Sure enough, we were able to spot his prints and they led us directly to the cave.
The cave is fairly big, it eventually narrowed to a tunnel that we didn't follow today. By the time we'd found it, we were rather short on time so we explored it briefly on this trip, but we're planning to return and check it out a bit more to see how far it goes.
There weren't any critters in the cave, if there are bats present, they're probably deeper into the cave's tunnel. Along FR609, we spotted two huge flocks of wild turkeys, at least forty of them crossing the road in front of the Jeep. Other than the turkeys and a couple of deer, no other critters were spotted today. It's just as well, now that the temperatures are warming up, the rattlers are soon to follow.