Box Canyon and Woodpecker Trail.

Box Canyon.

We did two trails yesterday. The first one was a drive through the Box Canyon. This is one of my favorite scenic trails.

We met Sue, Denis, Lise and Frank at the 76 station in Florence around 10:00 and took the road that goes east from the station.

We turned off at a large staging area on the left side of the road and aired down.

Denis was the leader today so we followed him out of the staging area onto the road that goes through the Box Canyon. It took a few turnarounds to get oriented but we eventually got headed in the right direction. These dirt roads can become a bit confusing sometimes as things change over the years.
This particular road gets a lot of ATV traffic and has become very rough with a lot of washboard and dust.

Of course the scenery is spectacular as always.

The road goes through a forest of Saguaro's.

Some are more interesting than others. This one is in the middle of the road.

As we drove along we noticed what looked like a triple arch far off near the top of a ridge. Patti zoomed in on it and here is what it looked like.

Eventually we got to the entrance to Box Canyon.

Box canyon is fun because it is narrow and scenic with high walls on each side.

There are also several fun rocks to negotiate.

 The Step. 

A mile or so past the canyon you come to this interesting Saguaro.

Here there is a trail that goes left. A right turn here takes you to one of the funnest obstacles on the trail.  Of course, we went to the right and came to the large step.

We decided to stop here to have lunch before attempting the climb.

After lunch Denis was the first to give it  a try. He decided to take the harder line with me spotting for him. There were a bunch of ATV'ers taking pictures of the attempt. I don't think they thought he could make it.

Here are a couple pictures of his attempt.

 

 

 

He made it look easy.

 

Next it was time for Frank and I to try it. We took a little easier line on the left side.
Here is Frank's climb.
This picture was taken by Sue.

 

Frank did fine also.

Here is my attempt as seen from inside the jeep.

Uh, where did the rocks go?

Here is another of Sue's pictures.

Easy peesy.

Woodpecker Trail.

After negotiating the STEP we continued along the trail.

 
We went over Granny's Pass.

Great views from up here.
Looking east.

Looking north.

We continued the north side of the pass heading for Woodpecker Trail.

Eventually we turned to the right onto Woodpecker Trail.
Woodpecker Trail basically goes up a wash with lots of obstacles and boulders to negotiate.

Some of the obstacles are easy, some are a bit harder. This one you have to be sure you don't get to far to the right to stay out of the big hole on that side.

This one is a bit tight.

Here is a look at it from the other side.
Sue's picture.

Here is another kind of bumpy spot.

The Highway to Hell

We continued along like this for a couple of miles until we came to the entrance to the "Highway to Hell" This trail is rated Extreme and not for us.
All the stuff on this 'Sculpture' are parts of jeeps that attempted this trail.

 Needles to say we didn't try it. We turned right and went up a steep hill and took pictures of the bowing Saguaro.

Even though we were out of the wash we still had some obstacles to negotiate.

On this obstacle I actually got a little air under my left front tire.
This picture is from Lise.

Ajax Mine.

Further along the trial became a bit smoother.

Eventually we came to the Ajax Mine.

We hung out for a short tima and then headed out the same trail that Patti and I took to Hwy 60 last Friday.

This was a very fun ride. Thanks Denis for your leadership.

Today March 9th.

Today is laundry day and house work. It is 12:00 noon and I just finished writing this post.

After completing this trail and looking back at the pictures, I don't think my old jeep Clifford could have made it over some of the obstacles.
Snoopy Rules!!

Tomorrow we are going on another Challenging ride.