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!

 

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 110º 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>

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'!

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.