Bailey's Birthday Ride

10/30/07

Just a short local ride this morning. Bailey, our mini Schnauzer turned twelve years old on Sunday, so we thought we'd treat him to a short ride up Pinto Creek Wash to FR242. Unfortunately, he tends to get carsick, so we don't take him with us on longer trips. He loved going with us this morning and he had a great time sniffing all the exciting smells along the way. We gathered some more rocks and found a cute little Hedgehog cactus for our garden.

A good time was had by all, Bailey included. He's sound asleep and snoring as I write this....it's a dog's life indeed.

 

 

FR895, Thompson Mesa to FR97 to Jack Shoe

 10/27/07

Great run this morning!  We took A-Cross Road to FR 895 all the way up to Thompson Mesa and then FR 97 across the mountains to Jack Shoe Ranch and back out on A-Cross Road, a great big loop. We'd tried this trip before but had to turn back because the road leading to the bottom of a steep canyon was made impassable by huge boulders. This time we made it all the way through. The Forest Service had cleared the boulders and the road leading down into and out of the canyon. The road was still very steep, but certainly doable with four wheel and skillful driving.

It's deer hunting season here, so we passed and saw more hunters than we'd like to see. Matter of fact, we did irritate at least a couple of them. We carry walkie-talkie radios to communicate with Larry and Jean and we overheard a couple of hunters on the same frequency saying, "with all this racket, we may as well quit watching this %$#&*! ridge."   Awwwww too bad fellas, maybe you'll have to find someplace else to drop your empty beer cans.    

:::::insert exasperated snort here::::: dang city slickers.....

No car sickness to report today...a super trip, great weather, great friends, great temperatures and great Jeeping.

 

                                 

 

 

Spring Creek Mine

10/26/07

A nice long jaunt today. We went to Young with pals, Larry & Jean to follow directions given to us by an online buddy. Thanks Ernie! Your directions were spot on! 

Hwy 288 proved to be the roughest part of the trip. They're paving part of the highway and basically ignoring the rest of it, so it was like driving on a dusty washboard for a large portion of the trip. I have to admit to a bit of carsickness from the ride on SR 288, sure hope they get the #&*!$% road finished soon!

Upon reaching Young we followed directions over the river and through the woods and had no problem locating our destination, the remains of the Spring Creek Mine, also called the Yankee Dollar Mine. It was a small gold mining operation for a short period of time between 1926 and 1931.  Unfortunately, the roof of the mine was collapsed about 25 feet in, so it couldn't be fully explored. Judging by the difficulty accessing the mine alongside Spring Creek, it had to be a Herculeon task to remove ore from that location.

 

"Turn yonder by the big ol' Black Walnut Tree"

10/20/07

The rancher who has land adjoining our property told us about a cave up in the mountains but the directions he gave us were rather vague. "Turn at the big ol' Black Walnut Tree about seven miles in from the main highway"....those directions just didn't have enough details. So, Larry & Jean and Ralph & I set out to search for the cave. We found what we think is the correct road, (FR 609) clocked ourselves going in about seven miles, but there wasn't a Black Walnut tree to be found, nor a road, path or trail leading to a cave. Since we were already in, off the main highway so far, we decided to take the road all the way through. It runs from SR 288 (Desert to Tall Pines Scenic Highway) through to Greenback Valley, coming out in Punkin Center and Tonto Basin...quaint names huh. The road passes through vast areas of burned pine trees and the fallen pines littered the road in front of us. Fortunately, someone, probably the Forest Service, had moved and cut the trees that were blocking the trail. The trail was extremely rocky and bumpy almost the entire way. Like the Pope, I almost got out to kiss the pavement once we landed on the blacktop highway. The air was cool, fresh and pine scented in the mountains and the trip, as always, was super....even though we didn't find the cave this time.

FR 225 And Beyond

 10/18/07

We were trying to find a couple of mines we had been told about, so we headed up a couple of dry washes we'd traveled before, this time, leaving the main trail and trying some smaller and even rougher trails. The bushes and trees were growing over the trail, making it difficult, slow going, but we did find some Quartz scattered on top of a small hill and on closer inspection, sure enough, someone had done some surface mining there at one time. Quartz in these parts usually means it's a good spot to look for gold. We don't know if they found any, but they certainly scattered some chunks of Quartz around while they were looking.  We gathered a few prettier pieces of Quartz and then went looking for more mines.

We don't usually like to go too far into the boondocks without another Jeep along, but we threw caution to the wind and headed up a pretty rough trail. Nope, we didn't find any more mines today, but the trip was worthwhile just for the scenery. We passed a few free-range, Longhorn cattle, some nifty old corrals and some fantastic views before we headed back home. Fortunately, there weren't any mechanical breakdowns, it would have been a long long walk back to civilization. 

We got back home, just in time for a nap!

All that glitters....

10/17/07

Just a short trip this morning up Pinto Creek near our house, to gather some more rocks for our rock and cactus garden. We didn't realize we could go as far up the Pinto Creek Wash as we did this morning. The best place to find a good assortment of rocks are in the dry washes and riverbeds. We call the rocks we find our "desert jewels," prettier than diamonds or other precious stones in their variety and intricacy. The colors would have to be seen to be appreciated.

We saw a recent claim marker, someone has staked a claim along the wash, probably hoping to find some gold. Some of the rocks we found further up had some shiny golden flecks in them, but we're not sure if it's gold or not...either way, we won't get rich over the little flecks we found...although, come to think of it, we're already rich in so many other ways. 

Wranglers wrangle a Wrangler

 10/13/07

Nice day, nice ride!  We headed for FR 225 again this morning. We'd been there before but turned back when the going got a bit rough. This time we took the road to where it ended at a natural spring near a cattle tank. The road was a bit tippy and a challenge, but we had no problems. On the way out, we came across some cowboys on horseback, wrangling a herd of cattle up into the mountains. It was the highlight of our trip as they stopped to chat with us and fill us in on the woes of the modern day rancher. It seems the Forest Service is pretty strict on how many head of cattle can be grazed on Forest Service land. They've really tied the hands of the smaller western ranchers by eliminating much of their grazing land. We've always enjoyed seeing free range cattle while we're out on our excursions, it's a shame to see such an All-American industry becoming a thing of the past. Ah well, I suppose we can always buy our beef from China, maybe the Chinese have found a way to recycle the lead from children's toys and add it to cattle feed.  

The cowboys also told us about another trail, so after passing some exceptionally pleasant time with them, we headed for the trail they told us about.  It was a treat seeing the cowboys on horses checking out our Jeeps. Wranglers checking out the Wranglers ... The wild west still lives in Arizona!  

The trail the cowboys told us about began in a dry riverbed and then headed upward. We traveled up the bumpy, rocky road for a couple of miles before we stopped at the ruins of what appeared to be the foundation of an old house. Whoever lived there must have enjoyed extreme isolation because the place was on a road that was little more than a cow path.  The road appeared to go futher, but we were running short on time, so we'll go back another day to see where it winds up.

Lone grave, lone bull, curious deer

 10/12/07

A local trip today to finish checking out the roads off of Hwy 188. I guess now we can say we've done them all, this being the last one. We took FR83 which heads toward the Superstition Wilderness. Since it's a designated wilderness area, we figured the road wouldn't go all the way through since motor vehicle traffic is prohibited in wilderness areas. That's okay with us, it's nice to leave some pristine land reserved for future generations.

Anyway, FR83 heads out across the desert floor and soon begins a fairly steep climb up into the mountains. We came across a marked grave and couldn't help but wonder about the person buried in such an out of the way location. We figure he was probably a cowboy since there are a few isolated ranches out in this area.

We saw three White-tail deer, a coyote and some sort of huge red hawk. One of the smaller male deer was curious about us and didn't run off as quickly as the other two did. On the way back out, we passed a couple of hunters on an ATV, hopefully, the curious deer was long gone before the hunters arrived. We've done all the roads on the southside of Hwy 188, now we'll expand our horizons...

Not all roads lead to Rome

10/9/07

I guess not all roads lead to Rome, or even to a destination for that matter. This morning we decided to check out a few roads on the south side of Hwy. 188. We've been on all of them except these few remaining roads. Nothing spectacular to report, the roads lead nowhere. There was one road that took off in an almost vertical climb, but we decided to wait 'til we've got another Jeep along before attempting it. We did find an area that made us a bit curious. Rocks had been carefully placed in squares along the ground. We're theorizing perhaps early soldiers in the area might have used the area for an encampment when the old Camp Reno was being used to fight off Apaches in the area. We'll go back there to look a bit further with our metal detector. We're trying to find a road that might have run along the foothills near where the Reno Pass road once connected Camp Reno to Fort McDowell. There were quite a few Indian skirmishes in this area, along with some early gold mining, so we'd like to find the remains of the road or wagon trail which must have been there at one time. There's always something to look for in the area, but not necessarily a road leading to it....

Whew! What a trip!

 

10/6/07

Holy smoke...we're tired! We took a fairly long Jeep ride this morning, back up SR288 to FR486 and then onto an unnumbered road, all culminating with a long hike over the river and through the woods to get to a cabin way off the beaten path...matter of fact, there was a path made by free range cattle, but that was the only trail leading up the rocky hillside. The cabin could be seen far below our hilltop perch.  Larry had hiked to it on a previous trip and wanted us to see it as well. When Larry went, there was a gate blocking the trail, so he had to walk. However, this time someone had knocked the gate down, opening the downward trail to four wheel drive travel. The road (and that's using the word loosely) clung to the side of an extremely rocky mountainside. Fallen rocks and boulders along the way made the road even more precarious, but we made it to the bottom where we had to forge a creek. You could hear our happy "YEEEHAWWWS" echoing throughout the canyon as we finally parked our Jeeps. From there, the rest was on foot, climbing over rocks and fallen trees and then upward to the cabin. We don't know the history or name of the cabin, but it's sure isolated. There are no roads at all. We theorized that any supplies had to be packed in by mule or carried, no easy task judging by the strenuous hike we took to get there.

It was a great trip and we're very happy to have done it, but now, it's time to rest our old, weary bones, we earned it!   

No Men In Black....Whew!

10/5/07

We headed up SR288 to FR609 this morning with Larry, Jean and Ida. Nice cool ride up into the pines. Pine scented mountain air can't be beat to clear the head of morning fog.

We took a road we hadn't been on before, FR486. We'd been told by a Forest Ranger friend to be careful if we did decide to head in that direction. The road leads to a very isolated ranch, supposedly home to some sort of a group of automatic rifle carrying, dressed in black,  militants. After a few very scenic miles, the road was barred by a gate with lots of "No Trespassing" signs posted all around. Being the law-abiding citizens we are (and having a healthy respect for armed-to-the-teeth fanatics), we took a few photos, read the posted signs and turned around. Hey, we didn't get to be our ages by taking too many chances!

We didn't see any men in black toting weapons, no shots were fired and no damage was done....a good trip indeed.

 

Just "rattling" along....

10/4/07

Since we had another coolish morning, we headed out early to do a bit of looking around. We decided to head towards the Quartz Ledge gold mine vicinity on FR604, we had passed a couple of roads on previous trips we wanted to check out. The first was FR649, warning signs told us the road could be in rough condition due to monsoon rains, they weren't kidding...it was bbbummmpppyyy but lots of fun. We came to a large dry riverbed and decided not to go any further, we'll wait until our friends are with us before heading that far out into parts unknown. Forest Service signs and maps don't show it as a through road, but judging from past experiences, many times the Forest Service maps are inaccurate, so it'll be worth another trip to find out what's out there. The second road we tried was FR1702, it too was rocky and a bit more than bumpy and soon ended atop a mountain plateau. The scenery was beautiful as usual and well worth the constant bumps. There were some claim markers along the way, there's gold in 'them thar hills' and people are still trying to find it. Next we headed towards Quartz Ledge gold mine, but the road was pretty badly eroded and some rock stacking to repair the road would be required to get back to the mine, we'll reserve the return trip for Winter when it'll be cool enough to spend some time.

Along the way, we heard the unmistakable buzzzz of a Rattlesnake, sure enough, we backed the Jeep up as he gave us another warning rattle and slithered off under a Prickly Pear, we couldn't entice him to come out and smile for the camera, so we satisfied ourselves with a picture of his striped, rattle-clad butt! He was a big guy and wasn't in the mood to be messed with so we bid him adieu and headed home. Another nice trip through our desert.