Cactus Garden 2009

Since we planted our cactus garden a few years ago, it's been growing, maturing and continuing to amaze us every day. Many cacti bloom only at night, the blooms quickly fade and die when the sun rises. Every morning in Spring and Summer we check the garden just after the sun rises to gather pictures before these fantastic flowers wither.
The aromas are intoxicating, we can smell them as we approach the garden. I wish we could upload the scent along with the pictures so we could share the entire experience with you.....

3-Bar to Oak Flat Trailhead

We headed out early this morning with Jean & Larry to check out a trail we've seen but never tried to follow. It's located just a few miles from our house, in an area overlooking Roosevelt Lake. We were hoping it would be a through road, although it's an unnumbered trail and doesn't show on the Forest Service maps. We put the Jeeps through their paces as we climbed steadily uphill. The road was off camber in places, rocky and rutted, but nothing the Jeeps couldn't handle. Unfortunately, the road wasn't a through road, ending just before the top of another mountain ahead. It was well worth the ride anyway, the scenery alone was breathtaking, added to by the wildflowers in bloom all over the mountainsides. After leaving there we headed down the trail to the Oak Flat Trailhead, a nice ride that took us across a couple of scenic creeks. We stopped there for a while just to chat and enjoy the scenery and cool breezes.

On the way home, the trail was blocked by a small Western Diamondback stretched out across the middle of the road, sunning himself. He refused to move so we tried to drive around him. He decided he didn't like being disturbed and crawled under the Jeep. Hmmm not knowing exactly where he was or how angry he might be, we decided to NOT get out of the Jeep to check. Ralph pulled the Jeep slowly forward so as not to run him over....Oops, he ran over his rattles. Needless to say, the snake was a little more than a bit perturbed as the Jeep parked on his tail. He repeatedly struck a the Jeep's tires, of course being such a small rattler, he didn't manage to sink his fangs in. Ralph rolled forward a bit and after giving his rattles a good shake, he slithered off, no worse for wear.

Nice ride, although our friend, the snake might say otherwise.

Looking down on the Jeeps from the mountain

high above

Cooling our tires

Roosevelt Lake far below

Spectacular scenery along the trail

These "crowned" or "crested" Saguaros are rather rare.

It's not known what causes them to crest on the top,

it's speculated that it's caused by a genetic mutation.

Parking on a rattler's tail adds a whole new meaning to

"road rage"...hey buddy, quit tailgating!

The downside of rural life

Sorry we haven't been posting much lately, we've taken some time out from the trails to do some well-procrastinated work here at home, but, hopefully, we'll hit the trails again soon, we're both going through trail withdrawal.
There's a downside to living in the boondocks, this morning's events showed it all to clearly. We couldn't sleep, so at around 2:30 AM we were sitting in the den in front of a cozy fire, having our morning coffee when suddenly, we were shaken by a loud boom, minutes later a second, even louder BOOM rattled the entire house. At first, we thought it was just an electrical transformer until we looked outside and saw the mobile home down the road, fully engulfed in flames. We tried to phone 911, the line was busy, probably from other people reporting the same fire. Ralph ran down the road to see if there was anyone who needed help, but by the time he got there, the place was obviously a total loss. The volunteer fire department took at least 45 minutes to arrive on the scene and when they did finally arrive, two more houses were burning. The pumper truck ran out of water quickly, when another pumper truck arrived, the pump wasn't working. Finally enough tanker trucks arrived, but by the time they were able to put some more water on the multi fires, it was too late, all three places were a total loss. From what we've been told, the fire was started by an electric heater igniting an elderly man's oxygen. The first boom was a small portable tank, the second boom, was a large oxygen tank. Luckily, nobody was injured, but it looks like the elderly man's dog was killed in the fire. Very sad. The only house that was occupied at the time was the one belonging to the elderly man, the others were vacation, weekend homes.
We take our chances to live the rural "quiet life", events like these tend to show us just how risky the chances can be, but all in all, people living in the peace and solitude of life in the boondocks, wouldn't change a thing, us included.

Fully engulfed

Tankers not working

The fire's last gasp

Total devistation

This is why we take the risks

FR 225 to mines

Great weather, although again, it's a bit hot for March, 82º as I write this, hopefully, our Winter isn't over yet.
This morning we rode up a dry-wash not far from home. It's an interesting area, old corrals and several old mines. We've checked out one of the mines on a previous visit, it's flooded and impassable. On this trip we parked in a different spot since there were cattle near the gate, we decided not to drive through and chance letting them out. After looking around a bit, we headed back to the Jeep and happened to glance over at a nearby hillside. We noticed a couple of more mine adits that we hadn't seen on previous visits. We weren't prepared today to check them out, but we'll return in the near future prepared with hiking boots (snakes are probably waking up since the temperatures have been so high) and flashlights. This particular area was known for gold mining, with some fairly rich strikes being claimed in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
Not to worry, if we strike it rich, we'll post it in our Journal...one last time.


We noticed this mine and tailings on a hillside as
we were leaving

An old windmill still pumping water

at this corral

This mine is flooded, no entry here

This bunker was once used to store the

explosives used in mining

The explosives bunker built into the hillside

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.

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.

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