05-23-13

Yesterday we went on a ride to Tusher Tunnel.

We drove north on highway191 to Mill Canyon Rd.
We followed Mill Canyon west to Bartlett Wash. Just a short way on Bartlett Wash we turned right onto the sandy road that goes to Tusher Tunnel.

I hadn’t aired down previously but still made it up the first couple of hills; but it was touch and go so I had to stop and let the air out of the tires.

After that, the sand was no problem.

When we got to Tusher Tunnel we realized that we had been there before.

Never the less we took the walk to

and through the tunnel. 

The view from the other end of the tunnel.

Patti waited in the shade

while I walked around and checked out some of the other small caves

and rock formations in the area.

After sitting in the shade and enjoying the view for a while we headed back through the cave.

We got back to the parking lot and drove back through the sand

to an intersection where there were several jeeps in our way.

We turned right and followed a narrow rocky trail

that went over the mountain.

 

At the top of the mountain we saw a couple in an ATV coming up the other side.

We pulled off the trail and when they got to the top
I stopped them to ask where the trail goes.
They said that they weren’t sure but said that eventually you could make it to the highway.

After they went by we continued down the other side of the mountain

and wandered around for a while on a couple of rocky trails

until we came to a main dirt road. 
We turned left on this road for a short distance until we saw a small trail going to the right. Of course we turned right onto this trail.

After wandering around on this trail for a while we found ourself on the main dirt road again. We turned right on this road and then turned right again onto another small trail.

  
Eventually we came to a parking area for a hiking trail that went into a beautiful valley.

After lunch we drove back to the main dirt road and followed it south for a while.
We stopped to check out an old Stage Station.

From there we continued south until we saw a sign that read Monitor and Merrimac and Uranium Arch jeep trail. We turned onto this trail and followed it over steps, rocks and slick rock.

The trail over the slick rock is marked with white paint.

We passed a rock formation that looked like the head of a big horn sheep.



At one place we came to a split in the trail. The left fork going to Uranium Arch and the right fork going to Monitor and Merrimac buttes. Since I tend to lean right anyway, we followed the trail to M&M buttes.

After traveling over a few miles of rock and sand trail we came to a large area of slick rock that took us between the buttes

 

and around to the back west of Merrimac.
When we got around the west side we saw in the valley below a bunch of vehicles in a parking area.

They were lining up to go through a very steep part of the trail one at a time.

We watched them for a while but it was taking them a long time. Also there was a very tippy spot on the trail down to the parking area that I didn’t feel comfortable with.

So after about a half hour of watching, we decided to head back the way we had come.

There was one spot that from inside the jeep looked pretty tight

but seen from the outside wasn’t much at all.

We followed the trail back the way we had come.

 

Eventually we came to the highway and headed for home.

It was a fun ride but we were very tired and decided to take today off.

We will be taking another ride tomorrow.