Ride to Bull Canyon Trailhead

5/29/08

It was nice to get out this morning for some Jeeping...Oil companies be damned! We headed for Cherry Creek Road to continue checking out the roads and trails leading off of it. Larry & Jean told us about the six mile road leading to the Bull Canyon Trailhead, but since Jean mentioned the altitude, I'd always said "Naw...I don't wanna" this morning I guess I was feeling invincible so we decided to give it a try. The road began nice enough despite the sign posted warning of rough road. The views were spectacular and of course, VERY high. Jean wasn't kidding. There were a few places I couldn't look over the edge, but fortunately, I didn't have to. Ralph was driving and when I checked, his hands were cold and clammy as he gripped the wheel. Wow, what a ride! The road stayed pretty good by comparison to some we've been on, only a few minor washouts and some rocks in the road. We're glad we did it, it was well worth the drive.

 

Here's a link to a site with lots of information about hiking the Sierra Ancha Wilderness. (click your back button to return to this journal)

 

http://gorp.away.com/gorp/resource/us_wilderness_area/az_sierr.htm#140

 

Tags: Arizona, Sierra Anchas, Jeeping, Blogplugs, Hiking, Wildflowers, Ralph and Laura

Cactus Garden 2008

5/24/08

We've had an abundance of rainfall this year and our cactus garden is confused but thriving. The cacti are blooming their hearts out and putting on a spectacular show for us. Each morning there's something new to see. Some of our cacti have never bloomed for us before, but this year they're coming up with new surprises each day. We enjoy sitting on the patio next to the rock and cactus garden, watching the horses grazing in the pasture behind us and reminiscing about where each rock and memento came from. It's a very serene setting, it makes us forget there's a whole bustling world out there...thankfully, far far from where we are now.

Often when we visit an old mining camp, or just on a Jeep ride through the desert, we bring back a small souvenir.  What may look like rusted junk to others, are really small bits of history and treasures to us. Since Arizona is a rockhound's paradise, we have no problem finding great specimens to add to our collection.

Hope you enjoy our photos of Cactus Garden 2008.

 

 

 

Tags: blogplugs, cacti, cactus, Arizona

Up Workman Creek

5/17/08

Nice jaunt today. We headed up to Workman Creek with Jean & Larry. The road had been closed for the winter so we wanted to check out the conditions since it reopened.

Unfortunately, since the huge Coon Creek wildfire back in 2003, so many of the trees were damaged and have since rotted and are in the process of falling across the road in many places. Some of the roads were impassable because of fallen trees blocking the road. A few of the smaller trees we managed to crawl over in the Jeeps, but we had to turn back when a series of large pines blocked our way. We turned around and continued up to Aztec Peak and the fire lookout tower. Since the wildfire season is just beginning here, the tower was manned by a retired hotshot fire Ranger named Red and his dog, Roper. Roper was the official greeter and came running happily to say hello to us as we arrived. Red said that he'd retired from fighting forest fires and had landed his dream job of manning the lookout tower, a job he loves doing. If you want solitude and enjoy being alone in the midst of nature, it would be the ideal job indeed. Because of my fear of heights, I was glad to remain on the ground when Red invited everyone up the tower steps to take a look around from his bird's eye view on the tower platform. Ralph, Larry & Jean took him up on the offer, while I enjoyed the scenery on terra firma.

The air was crisp, clean and clear up there at the 7748 foot elevation, a nice change from the low desert where summer is slowly creeping up on us. (100º expected tomorrow) 

No critters were spotted today except a few lizards and a Red-tailed Hawk, unless we count the group of men and boys who were getting ready to rappel the 75 foot waterfall at Workman Creek.

Mother'Sssss Day

5/11/08

While the temperatures are still decently cool in the mornings, we headed out for a short run to Cherry Creek. We're going to try to hit all the trails off of Cherry Creek Road to see where they take us. The first one led just a short way back ending at a windmill and old corral. The second road was much more extensive. We went back a few miles but the road headed through an extremely rough and rugged lava field and since we were alone, we decided to turn around and head back. It was rough going, over some large rocks, but we made it through without any mishaps.

On the way back down Cherry Creek Road, we heard a loud, angry sounding buzzing as we passed an embankment. Stopping and backing the Jeep up, we spotted a fair-sized Rattlesnake wrapped around the base of a Staghorn Cactus. With a few small rocks tossed in his direction, we angered him enough to come out and have his picture taken. He turned out to be a Mojave Green Rattlesnake, a variety we've heard about but had never seen before. He was an ill tempered cuss (maybe the rock tossing didn't help his disposition), seemingly more aggressive than the usual Western Diamondbacks we are used to seeing. The venom from these snakes is much more dangerous and toxic than that of other Rattlers. We were excited to have seen him but I'm glad we didn't stumble upon him while hiking. Anyway, it was sure a nice way to spend Mother'Sssss Day!