01-29-12

I have been wondering about this road that I saw on a map some where. It went around the mountains east of the Eagles Eye

and connected with Vicksburg Road at the north east boundary of the Kofa refuge. I looked on all the maps that I had, even the topo one that came with my GPS but could not find it. Finally I decided that the only way I would know for sure where it went was to follow it.

We were playing cards at Becky and Dennis’s last evening and Becky asked Patti if she wanted to go to the venders today to do some shopping. Patty said she would so that left me with nothing to do. I asked Dennis if he would like to take a ride to check out this unknown road. He said he would like that as he had nothing else to do.

This morning at around 10:00 we headed east on I-10 to Highway 60, continued east to Ramsey Mine Rd, and headed south. When we got to the kiosk at the parking area on the south side of the freeway we took a left and followed the trail along I-10. The trail veered south away from I-10 toward the mountains.

We came to a cross road where there was another kiosk with a map that showed the trails in the area. Now I understood where I had seen the map with the mystery road. It was at the kiosk on Ramsey Mine Road. from there we took one of the trails that went toward the mountains.

One trail went up a steep hill and stopped at a spot that overlooked a beautiful valley.

We got out of the jeep to take a look at the scenery. I had taken a few steps when remembered that the camera was still in the jeep. Dennis, in a horse whisper said, “get mine too.” By his whisper, I figured that he had seen some sort of  wildlife. When I got back to him he said that there was a Big Horn Sheep just a little way off the trail.

Dennis got some good pictures of the sheep.

Most of mine were blurred but I did get one of the sheep running off.

We wandered into the valley a little to see if we could see any more sheep but that one was apparently alone.

We left there and followed another trail to its end in another valley.

We turned back to the main trail where we continued southeast along the mountains. As we went along we took some other trails into the mountains. They all ended in cul-de-sacs. One of the trails went into a pretty valley that had some interesting rock formations.

including this really cool Hoodoo.

We took a short walk up the valley but it became too steep so we returned to the jeep and continued our exploration. Eventually we came to a fence that marked the northern boundary of the Refuge. We followed the fence eastward. It was a very bumpy track that appeared to be a maintenance road for the fence. Eventually we arrived at the intersection with Vicksburg Road where we headed back to I-10 and home.

Now I know where the mystery road ends for sure.

01-27-12

Junior came back from the Wednesday ride and told us about a mine that he had visited. It sounded like a mine that we had been to earlier this year. We decided to go with him yesterday to check it out.

There were three jeeps on the trip; Junior led in his jeep with Dennis riding shotgun, Mary Ann and Randy drove their jeep

and Patti and I followed in Clifford.

I neglected to mention in previous blogs that, Mary Ann and Randy traded their Hummer H3 in and purchased a 2012 Jeep Rubicon.

They are very happy with the change and have been following us on several trips.

We drove out Plomosa Rd. to Mile 6 and turned right into the desert. We wound around through gullies and over hills until we got to the mine.

As soon as we pulled up we realized that we had in fact been there before but since Mary Ann and Randy hadn’t we went inside.

This was Mary Ann’s first mine experience and she enjoyed it.

This is one of my favorite tunnels because it is so colorful, with seams of Crisocola,

Iron Pyrite

and Quartz.

After we left that mine we went a little further around the mountain. and checked out another one. This one has a deep vertical shaft at the back with a scary looking ladder going down it.

From there we drove out to Plomosa Road and headed north toward Bouse. We turned west off Plomosa Rd and headed for the Four Peaks. We stopped to show Mary Ann and Randy the “big hole”. We have been there many times before so I neglected to take any pictures. Leaving the “big hole” we have to climb a steep bank. It was good practice for Randy as he is something of a novice at off roading.

His Rubi makes up for a lot of inexperience and after a little backing and filling he got around the tight right turn. We all had to do the same maneuvering by the way. From there we headed west and south toward Quartzsite. On the way we had to cross several sand dunes, another learning experience for Randy. The last dune in the group has a steep soft sandy incline. We went over it in Clifford with out a problem. A short time later Junior came over the top. We waited for a while and could hear the Rubicon's engine winding up on the other side of the hill. The Ruby was having trouble getting up the sandy incline.

The main problem was that Randy hadn’t lowered the tire pressure. This is something that new jeepers have trouble understanding. They are afraid that the tire will come off the rim if they lower the pressure and don’t understand that lower pressure gives them better traction in the soft stuff and a softer ride in the rocks. It also saves the tires from sharp rock ruptures.

We dropped the pressure in the Rubicon’s tires

and had Randy try the hill several times. Eventually he got the idea of keeping his speed steady and got over the sand hill.

Mary Ann wanted to try it and flew over the hill. She was very excited that she made it with no problem.

All in all it was a fun ride as well as being a good learning experience for Randy and Mary Ann.

01-24-12

Yesterday we took a ride to the north end of the Kofa refuge.

The party included Becky, Dennis, Suzanne and Roy with their Rhino’s. Missy, Junior, Jo Ann, Dave, Maryann and Randy in their new jeeps. Shirley and Bill in their 1997 Jeep Cherokee and Patti and I in Clifford.

There is a constant friendly rivalry going on between the Jeep drivers and the Rhino herders. Junior made this diorama to hang on his spare tire just to bug the Rhino guys.

 

We mustered at the RV park entrance at 8:55 and were on the road by 9:00.

We drove east on I-10 for 26 miles to the Vicksburg Road exit where we headed south on Vicksburg Rd for 7 miles to the pipeline road. We turned west on the pipeline road and went about 1 mile to intersection 14 where Dennis and Roy unloaded the Rhino’s. While they were unloading we found that Bill’s Cherokee had a flat tire.

He changed the tire with a lot of help.

We continued east on the pipeline road to intersection 16 where we turned south. We stopped to check out the Kofa cabin.

The Kofa cabin is one of the three cabins in the refuge that one can stay in.

On this trip we will stop at all three cabins. Bill decided there, that he and Shirley would return to Quartzsite rather than take a chance of having another flat some where in the back country. In hind site it was the proper decision as the trail we traveled was very rough with lots of rocks and the tires on his jeep were likely not tough enough to survive the trip.

Bill has decided to get some good off road tires for his Cherokee.

We left the Kofa cabin and continued south toward Bighorn pass. Along the way we stopped to check out a monument that we could see on a side road.

I was hoping to stop at the Hoodoo Hilton for lunch but it took us longer that I thought to get over Big Horne Pass

so we had lunch at the Willbanks cabin. 

At first we set up for lunch outside the cabin

but it began to rain so we retreated to the shelter of the cabin. There was not enough room for everyone inside the cabin

 

so some of us had lunch on the front porch.

Of course by the time we all got resettled the rain stopped.

After lunch we drove south west in hoodoo wash and eventually got to what we call the Hoodoo Hilton. The official name is the Hoodoo Cabin.

 

We spent a few minutes checking the cabin out, then got back on the trail. We went north over Red Rock pass. 

By 4:15 were back at the intersection 14 where Dennis, and Roy had parked their trailers.

We passed this trailer hauling the Batmobile.

Interesting sky on the way home.

It was another great ride.

01-22-12

Yesterday we took a ride to the Scull Rock canyon.

I just spent three hours working on this blog and Lost the whole thing due to my not paying attention. I aint going to do it again.

Here are some pictures for you.