Monday Ride.
We met at the Arco station on the east end of town.
There were 5 jeeps in the group.
The yellow one on the end belongs to a new couple, Marry Ann and Ed.
Once everyone arrived we headed east on I-10.
As we were leaving Quartzsite we noticed a hot air balloon trying to rise.
By the time we were past the balloon it never got much higher than the photo above shows.
We continued east on I-10 for 26 miles and turned off onto Vicksburg Road.
We stopped at the ZIP station to top off the fuel tanks and air down the tires.
Into the KOFA Preserve.
Once we were aired down we headed south on Vicksburg Road for 7 miles where we turned west on the Pipeline Road in the KOFA Refuge. We followed the Pipeline Road for about 2 miles and turned south at junction 14 toward Red Rock Pass.
We noticed right off that someone had been doing some grading on this road.
Craven Well and a Problem.
We stopped at Craven Well for a short break. This is a game watering system set up mostly for the Bighorn Sheep.
While we were stopped, Frank noticed something hanging under Dave’s jeep.
It turned out to be the left front lower control arm.
The bolt had fallen out.
It took us a while to find a bolt to replace the missing one. We all went through our tool boxes but all the bolts we had were either too short, too fat or too small.
Finally Dave found a piece of “All Thread” that was just long enough to work so Denis and I bolted the control arm back in place.
Back on The Trail.
Once we got the control arm bolted back up, we continued toward Red Rock Pass.
The grader has been busy and totally messed up the pass.
It used to be a little bit of a challenge getting over Red Rock Pass. Now any two wheel drive can do it.
The Hoodoo Hilton.
We stopped at the Hoodoo Hilton for lunch.
This is a great place to have lunch or even spend the night. Patti and I have spent the night here twice and hopefully will get the chance to do it again in the future.
Although now that the road has been improved so anyone can access the place, I wonder how long it will be before someone destroys it or burns it down.
When we arrived we found the door wide open. That is not a good sign.
Hovatter Ranch.
After lunch we headed for Hovatter Ranch. We drove back to the Red Rock Pass Rd. and turned east at junction 34.
We stopped to check out this old dam.
Another couple miles down the road we came to the circular drive way, that is all there is left of the ranch.
We drove along the trail for a while and after leaving the KOFA I noticed a trail that looked like it went to a mining area to the north.
We turned onto this trail and went to check out the mining area.
When we got there there wasn’t much to look at. Just some dead end trails.
After a bit we headed back to the main trail (Hovatter Rd.). It looked like this trail also had had some grading done.
The road got better and better as we continued along. I took a turnoff to see if I could find the Royal Arch. We drove down this trail until we passed a couple mountains but didn’t come to a large arch. Since it was getting late in the day I decided to go back to the main trail and head for home.
Desert is Greening up.
As we traveled through out the day we noticed that with all the rain we have had this winter the desert is starting to green up.
Here is an Ocotillo getting some leaves.
An interesting Saguaro.
Home and Pizza.
We got back to the highway around 4:30. We aired up the tires and headed for Quartzsite and Silly Al’s for Pizza with the group.
It was a fun ride and a good day.
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