Saturday, February 28, 2009

Bouquet Ranch Ride

We just did a small bit of Jeeping this morning. There's a nice area in Tonto Basin that we've been to on several occasions. It used to be an orchard owned by Charles Bouquet, one of the early settlers in Tonto Basin. Unfortunately, speculators bought the land and thought they would open it for development...HA...wrong decision, first, to get to the property, you have to ford a creek which at times is flowing too heavily to get vehicles across, second, the land sits way back in an unimproved area of Tonto Basin on a really rutted dirt road, so there didn't turn out to be much interest in buying lots and building homes. We're glad it didn't get developed, it's a natural, unspoiled desert spot and we'd hate to see it lose the natural beauty by clearing it off and building a load of new homes. We were surprised to see one new home there, it looks like someone's very expensive weekend getaway, sitting high on a hill overlooking the Tonto Basin below, nice place, sure can't blame anyone for wanting to live in such a beautiful isolated spot, but we hope there won't be any more building out there.
Fortunately, we're protected from development where we live. We're surrounded by the Tonto National Forest, so it's not likely that development will ever become an issue in our area. (Thankfully)




Giving the Jeep a workout on Bouquet Ranch Road


It would be a shame to see this bulldozed and replaced by new homes


This new home sits high on a hill, very isolated
but very nice. Probably someone's weekend getaway.
We came across this large grave, we're speculating it was
someone's horse, or cow...hmm... judging by the cross, maybe a holy cow?

This is our rancher neighbor chatting at our back fence,
he's truly the salt of the earth,
a REAL cowboy, one of the last of his kind.
We're so lucky to have him for our neighbor.



Monday, February 23, 2009

Gentle Jeeping to Camp Reno

It's been a while, between the rain and a back injury, we haven't done much Jeeping. Glad to say the rains have gone for now and my back injury is well on its way to mending. We decided to head to Camp Reno and take a trail that we've been on before and do a bit of walking around while we were there. The trail is a good one, just muddy in a few places and not as rocky or rough as other trails in the area. I didn't want to risk bouncing my back around just yet, so this particular trail is a good one for gentle Jeeping. I haven't got a clue how I injured my back, it could have been most anything, even stretching the wrong way or lifting something too heavy, whatever is was it made life difficult for a bit over a week. Man oh man, this getting older sure isn't for sissies.

Anyway, the trail was good, the weather spectacular, albeit a bit warm for February, 80 º would be better a temperature for Spring but it was nice to be out in the sunshine again. (I sure won't be saying that this summer) We went to the area of Camp Reno. Camp Reno was used as an outpost of Fort McDowell between 1867 to 1870 to protect the area's settlers from Apache attacks. Since the Camp was only operational for three years, one would assume that the necessity for it had ceased, however, it is speculated that because of the remoteness of the camp, the high cost of supplying the camp was more likely the reason for its demise. The 1st Cavalry proved to be effective in curtailing the murderous raids during the three years they were encamped at the foot of what is now Reno Pass. Camp Reno sat on a mesa overlooking a large valley. There was a Suttler's store below it, in an area alongside Reno Creek. (a Suttler's store is a general store established by private citizens to sell goods and provisions to the military in the field) Not much remains except for a few concrete slabs where the store was and the outline of rocks where the tents once stood. In the distance, we could see the stone wall that surrounded the area, probably built to delay the Indians from their sneak attacks. We found a road that we hadn't seen on previous trips which ran from the mesa where the soldiers camped down to the Suttler's store area. We'll return to check the road out and see if there are any remnants of the not-so-distant past remaining.

Standing on the mesa overlooking the valley below, we could imagine a cavalry soldier standing guard and listening to the eerie howl of a distant coyote. It must have been a very rugged, dangerous, lonely life.





This is the road we hadn't seen on previous

trips. It goes down to where the Suttler's store

once stood.



This is where the old Suttler's Store once stood,

alongside Reno Creek.



You can see the remains of the wall built to delay

the Apaches on their raids.





Ralph found a nice chunk of quartz to bring home for

our cactus garden.



Reno Creek rushing down the mountainside


on its way to Roosevelt Lake.







Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Roosevelt Dam, Then And Now

Roosevelt Dam was the brainchild of President Theodore Roosevelt who had the foresight to envision widening the Salt River and damming it to create Roosevelt Lake. Prior to completing a chain of lakes along the Salt River, Phoenix would periodically suffer from flooding during the winter and monsoon rains in the summer and then severe draughts during the hot summer months. Roosevelt Dam was completed in 1911 at which time it was dedicated by Teddy Roosevelt. At the dedication ceremony he said "If there could be any monument which would appeal to any man, surely this is it. You could not have done anything which would have pleased and touched me more than to name this great dam, this reservoir site, after me, and I thank you from my heart for having done so... "
During an extra heavy period of rainfall in 1993, it was determined that the dam wouldn't be able to handle a heavier rainfall, so an addition was made at that time adding an additional 77 feet to the height of the dam. The work was completed in 1995.
We drove to the dam today. SRP (Salt River Project) is releasing water slowly at the dam now that the lake is at capacity. The floodgates aren't opened but water can be seen flowing through pipes at the bottom of the dam.

Roosevelt Dam shortly after completion in 1911




This is some of the heavy equipment that was used to
build the addition of the dam. It's stored on private
property now, we've been told that the current owner will
probably eventually sell it off for scrap.




More leftover equipment.




Roosevelt Dam today.


This site has some interesting history and photos of Roosevelt Dam
Bureau of Reclamation: Lower Colorado Region



Roosevelt Winter 2009

We've had several days of rain here with snow in the higher elevations. The temperature this morning was down to 30º with heavy frost. Finally Winter has arrived. Spring is just around the corner and the wildflowers should be especially spectacular after the rainfall we've had so far this Winter. I know some of you from "back East" have had enough snow to last you a long time, but we're in the desert and for us, snowfall in any amount is a real treat. The trails are too muddy for any Jeeping right now, but Roosevelt Lake is at 100% capacity, the first time ever since it was built back in the early 1900's and that's a very good thing. It looks like there won't be any water shortages this year.
Here are a few shots taken this morning from different vantage points around the lake.


Snow in the Superstitions


Roosevelt Lake with snow in the Salome Wilderness


Roosevelt Lake with snow in the Sierra Anchas


Roosevelt Lake with snow in the Mazatzal Wilderness




Saturday, February 7, 2009

FR97 to FR262 Skirting The Wilderness

We headed out this morning to cover an area we had previously seen, but never attempted before. We've spotted the trail on several occasions when we were exploring the Jack Shoe Ranch and Sunset Mine area just below the Salome Wilderness.
The trail meandered out among the low scrub, hills surrounded us. To the North we could see we were as close to the Salome Wilderness as a vehicle could possibly go. The scenery got better and better the farther in we went. The trail began to get rocky and extremely bumpy, Jean and I both felt like we had shaken baby syndrome as we held our heads to keep them from snapping back and forth but the views and scenery more than made up for the bit of discomfort we felt as we crossed the worst of the rocky areas. The road climbed gradually as we headed up into the hills soon we were in the midst of Junipers and Manzanita, beautiful rock formations dotted the scenery. Eventually the road we were on ran out and we were forced to turn around but we could see a trail heading down into a deep ravine and up the mountain on the other side, but, that's a challenge we'll have to save for another day.
The weatherman says there's some heavy rain headed our way, so we're glad to have gotten some good Jeeping in before bad weather moved in and the trails once again became impassable.


That's where we're headed

Mr Mule & Ms Horse are usually seen in this area

Here's the rocky trail. Roosevelt Lake is
ever-present in the distance
The mountains of the Salome Wilderness to our North.

Jean, Ol' Blue and Larry (the mountain goat)