Saturday, February 15, 2014

A ride in the Plomosa Mountains 02-15-14

We took a little ride to the Plomosa Mountains yesterday.

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Shirley and Bill came with us in Bill’s new 1993 Jeep YJ.

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They had not been to this part of the Plomosa’s so that made it more fun.

We left the Park around 10:00 and drove to Highway 95 where we went north for 10 miles to Plomosa Road. There we turned east and drove until we came to milepost 8. Here we turned right at a small trail and stopped to air down.
The trail heads southeast for a while and comes to another trail that goes around the end of a small range of rocky hills. We followed this trail until we came to the trail that leads toward Preachers Pass.  We turned east here.
A mile or so down this road we came to another trail that goes off to the right and dead ends in a beautiful canyon. While driving down this track we saw a nice mob of Bighorn sheep. There were six animals in the group.

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Even though they were apparently scared out of their wits being confronted with humans, they stuck around and posed for some pictures.

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After molesting the sheep we continued to the end of the trail and enjoyed the views.

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The sheep were still feeding in the same place when we came back.

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They must have really been frightened when we drove by because they acted like we weren’t even there.

We got back on the main track, drove past the turnoff to Preachers Pass and continued on to the Climax mine. 
We stopped here to check out the area.
There is a lot of Crysocolla in the rocks.

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There are several deep vertical shafts here. They have been fenced off to keep people from falling in.

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We left the climax mine area and found a nice shady spot for lunch.

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After lunch we continued north over the mountain and wandered around the desert for a while.

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Eventually we came to Plomosa road. We headed south until we came to the pass where one of my favorite trails goes off to the south. The trail follows the south side of the road for a little bit and then drops into a narrow wash with steep sides.

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We snaked our way through the wash until we came to a track going to the right.
I had passed this turnoff several times before and never took it.
This time we turned onto it. Unfortunately the track took us right back to the pavement. Oh well, it was time to head for home anyway so we got on Plomosa road and went back to Q.

In the evening Dennis and Becky had a card party at their place.

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We went over to their place and played cards until around 8:00.

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As usual we had a good time playing cards and socializing.

It is so good to be back in Q with all our friends.

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