A short ride to the Royal Arch.

 

The Last Time.

About a week ago I lead Sue, Denis, Lise, Frank, Jo Ann and Dave over Red Rock Pass and made a loop through the Hovatter Ranch.
I tried to find The Royal Arch on that drive but it was getting late and I wasn’t sure if I was on the correct trail at that time so decided to turn around and head for home.

Lets Go Back.

I talked to Denis later and he expressed a desire to go back and find the arch. We decided to go there on Thursday (yesterday). We decided to meet at the Arco Station at 12:30.

New People.

Patti is still sick with this bad cold she has been fighting for almost a week now so I had to go alone.

I got to the Arco around 12:15, topped off the fuel and went across the street where three jeeps awaited my arrival.
I didn’t recognize one of the jeeps, a red four door XJ.
This jeep belonged to another French Canadian couple, Marcelle and Pierre. Also there was Lise, Frank, Sue and Denis; all speaking French.
This is going to be a long “short” day.

The Ride.

Once we were introduced we headed out.
We took I-10 to Vicksburg Road where we stopped to air down.
Once we were done with that we continued south on Vicksburg Road for 7 miles to the pipeline road. Here we turned east and followed the pipeline for about 3 miles. Here we turned south and drove to the Bob Crowder Dam.

Counting the Miles.

I know that the trail I want is 2.6 miles from this dam so here I zeroed my odometer.
After a short break we continued south on Hovatter Road.
At 2.6 miles we came to BLM trail 04. Here I reset the odometer again. I knew that the next trail we wanted was 3 miles down this trail. We turned east and followed this trail.

At 3 miles we were supposed to find a trail going south. When the odometer got to 3 miles I looked for a trail going south and found one so I turned right and followed this trail for a little ways. As it turned out this wasn’t the correct trail so I turned around and went back to the trail we left.
While I was looking for the trail, Frank called on the radio and said that he had found the trail about 50 yards back.

Back on the Trail

We turned south on the trail that Frank had found.
We followed this trail south for a few miles and I could see a small arch in the distance.

The Royal Arch.

I knew we were on the right track and once we drove around that mountain we came to the Royal Arch.

We stood around here for a while taking pictures and eating peanuts.

Heading Home.

After a bit, we left the Royal Arch and continued on the trail until we came back to Hovatter Road. Here we turned north and headed back to the intersection of Vicksburg Road and I-10.
We aired up here and headed west on I-10 to Quartzsite.

It was another fun ride with lots of nice scenery.