Wednesday, February 18, 2015

A weenie roast at the Gila River. 02-17-15

 

When we came back from our last ride it was decided that our next outing should be a weenie roast. It was also decided that the weenie roast should be held at the Gila River.

With that in mind; Jo Ann, Dave, Patti and I left the park and headed to Florence to meet Suzanne, Roy, Denis and Sue at the Desert Gardens RV Park where they are staying.
We got to their place at 10:00 and shortly after we were back on the road.
We headed east on the Florence/Kelvin Hwy. until we saw the Boulders near Cochran Road.

DSCF0928

We turned left onto Cochran Rd and traveled north enjoying the desert scenery.

DSCF0944 

Our original intention was to go to the river near the old railroad trestle where we had crossed the river a few days ago when we went to the Coke Ovens.
As we were traveling along we decided to go to the end of Cochran Road and see what was at the old town site and maybe get to the river there.

Every turn in the road presented us with another breath taking view.

DSCF0947 

As we traveled along we came to a place where we could see to the west and there against the mountains a few miles away were the Coke Ovens.

DSCF0953 

South of the ovens and across the river we also could see the top of the old train trestle.

DSCF0957 

We continued along the road getting closer to the river and the mountains on the other side.

DSCF0956

After crossing a large flat that we assumed to be the old Cochran Town site we entered a tree tunnel.
DSCF0963

The tunnel lead us to the south bank of the river.

DSCF0979

It was a perfect spot for a weenie roast so in a short time we had our chairs set up and a fire going.

DSCF0967

As we were waiting for the fire to go down and a bed of coals to develop, a few Arizona moose came to the river to frolic in the cool water.

DSCF0976

Once the flames died down a bit and we had a good bed of coals going, we put the dogs on.

DSCF0977

Soon the aroma of searing sausages filled the air and we salivated in anticipation of our repast.

We spent a couple of hours down by the river eating, joking and laughing, but all good things have to end so eventually we packed up our gear, put out the fire and headed back through the tree tunnels to the flats.

DSCF0983

We drove around for a while looking for the possibility of a trail that would take us down stream to the train trestle and the river crossing near there. Jo Ann and Dave were not with us on the trip to the Coke Ovens last Tuesday and we thought they would like to see the trestle.
After trying a couple of avenues that ended in col-de-sac’s we got back on Cochran Road heading south. Near a windmill we found a promising trail and turned onto it. The trail wound through the brush for a while and eventually dumped us out onto a large wash.

DSCF0986

We turned north in the wash and followed it until we came to a gate near some ruins that we had seen on our trip last Tuesday. We went through the gate and drove under the trestle. We poked around on a couple trails and came to the river and came to a deep hole in the river near some neat looking rocks.

DSCF0987 

After poking around a little more we decided that it was time to head for home.

We drove back through the wash until we came to Cochran Road again and headed south until we came to The Florence/Kelvin Hwy and drove west. We stopped at Suzanne and Roy’s for a cold one and then after more laughs headed for Coolidge.

It was another excellent adventure.

No comments:

Post a Comment