Thursday, February 5, 2015

Montana Mountain Trail. 02-05-15

 

Tuesday:

Patti did laundry today. I cleaned house and washed the mud off the jeep.
The rest of the day we just hung out.

Wednesday:

JoAnn, Dave, Patti and I met Suzanne and Roy at the 76 station in Florence and once we had the gas tanks topped off we headed for the Montana Mountain Trail.
To get there we drove north on Highway 79 to Florence Junction where we turned east on Highway 60 to Queen Valley Rd. Here we crossed the highway and followed Queen Valley Road north.

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On Queen Valley Rd we saw a hawk on top of a Saguaro. I don’t know what kind of a hawk this is.

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After a couple of miles we turned onto a dirt road heading east toward the mountains.

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Once again we were driving through a Saguaro forest.DSCF0232

It is amazing where the Saguaro’s grow.

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Nature has a way of putting its plants in just the right place to impress us with its beauty.

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I am always blown away by the beauty of the desert as we drive along. People that say the desert is ugly just haven’t ever been there.

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This old Saguaro looks like it is directing traffic.

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Here is a rock giving us the one fingered sign of fertility.

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As we climb higher into the mountains we pass this rock arch.

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We stopped for a comfort break and Suzanne and Roy presented me with this sign. I thought it was so cool that I hung it on the back of Clifford.

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I don’t know how that will work out if I have to use the gas can.

Further along the trail we saw a good spot for lunch below us near a small creek so we turned off the main trail and drove to the flat area for lunch.

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After lunch we got back on the trail and climbed higher into the mountains.

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Eventually we left the Saguaro’s behind and entered an area of brush.

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Eventually we transitioned into an area of Juniper forest.

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The view behind us to the west is pretty spectacular.

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We drove through several gates. Suzanne did a good job wo-maning the gates so we could pass through them.

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We eventually crossed over the 5457 foot pass.
The view on the other side wasn’t bad either.

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Eventually we came to some really cool switchbacks going down the southeast side of the mountain.

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At the bottom of the mountain we crossed a small creek several times.

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At one place we had to drive for a ways in the creek.

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It was fun but now I will have to wash the jeep again.

We got back to the highway around 4:00 and headed for home. We stopped at the A&M Italian Pizza place. I’m not quite sure what other kind of Pizza there is but that is what their sign say’s.

This was an awesome ride with some fantastic scenery.

If you want additional information on the trails we are taking you can check out this web sight.

http://www.experience-az.com/adventures/4wd/ 

There is a list of trails with descriptions and maps.

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