On Monday morning we left the RV park for an overnighter in the Kofa. There was Kathi, Bob, Becky, Dennis, Patti and I. We drove east on I-10 for 26 miles until we came to Vicksburg Road where we topped off the gas tanks and headed south to enter the Kofa Refuge. At the North east corner we turned right on the Pipeline Road. We followed the pipeline for a couple of miles and stopped at intersection 14 where the road over Red Rock Pass begins. so that Dennis then unloaded the Rhino.
Along the way we passed Craven well, one of the many game watering station in the area.
We climbed the pass and turned off at intersection 36
to the Hoodoo Hilton (the cabin at Hoodoo well).
Red Rock Pass Road is very scenic and one of my many favorite drives.
Apparently Kathi was freaked out by the road and when we got to the top, said that she didn’t want to go back down that way. We arrived at Hoodoo Well in time for lunch and sat inside the cabin to eat, as it was much cooler in there.
After lunch we drove to intersection 34 and followed the trail east from there to where there is an old driveway that is lined with Saguaro and Ocotillo cactus.
Apparently there was a large dwelling at the sight but there is nothing left now but a couple of foundation blocks.
From there we drove back to Hoodoo well and arrived there at around 5:00 and decided to camp there for the night.
Bob was anxious to use his new tent so declined the offer to stay in the cabin.
Dennis and I flipped a coin to decide who would get the prime accommodations. I won the toss and moved my cots and sleeping bags into the Hilton while Dennis and Bob erected their tents.
Dennis was impressed with my portable toilet and had to check it out.
When the camps were all set up I started a cook fire with some wood that a neighbor at the RV park had given me. One of the logs was full of pitch so I split it up and used some of it as a fire starter. The wood ignited instantly but even though it blazed hotly it smoked as if I had started it with crude oil.
When the flames subsided a little I added a few of the other logs. By the time the pitch wood had stopped smoking and the other logs were burning the sun was setting
and we set about cooking hotdogs for dinner.
After dinner we sat around the fire discussing the day
and ribbing each other until around 9:00 when each couple wandered off to settle in for the night.
Patti woke up at dawn and since she doesn’t see many sun rises she decided to take some pictures of the sun reddening the eastern horizon.
By 7:30 we were having breakfast.
By around 9:30 we had the camps packed up.
We had decided that since Kathi didn’t want to go back down the 2 mile stretch of rough road on Red Rock pass, we would go south for about 20 miles then turn east making a loop through a section of the Yuma Proving Grounds, then head north until we came to the pipeline/power line road where we would go west and back into the Kofa where Dennis’s truck was parked a distance of about 80 miles. It all sounded fairly easy but since we aren’t familiar with the roads in that area it took us until 4:30 to get back to the truck.
Most of the trail was easy and flat
but there were many steep gullies to cross.
Patti saw a cotton tail hiding under a cactus along the road and was able to get a picture of it.
Becky got a picture of a hawk in a tree.
As we traveled through the proving grounds we passed some army vehicles that had been used for target practice either by the military or perhaps by some civilian travelers.
We found a shady spot in one wash outside of the military grounds where we stopped for lunch.
Eventually we got onto a road that went north east. We followed this road for a ways and as I thought we needed to go more toward the west so we took a track going in that direction. After a couple of miles we came to a track going north and turned onto it. Un fortunately this trail ended at a game watering station and we had to retrace our route. When we got back to the westerly trail I decided to go back to the main N/E road
and follow it to the power lines where we hit a wide graded road. We turned west and followed this road all the way back to Dennis’s truck.
It was an interesting ride and we are looking forward to doing more overnight or even longer trips.
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