Wickenburg Trip, Wednesday.

 

Getting Started.

I woke up early around 6:00 and couldn’t get back to sleep so I got up around 6:30.
After I had a shower I went down to the lobby and ate some oat meal and a couple of ego style waffles and had a couple cups of coffee.
Becky, Dennis, Lillie and Tom came into the lobby around 7:00.

Around 7:30 I went back to the room and woke Patti up.
By 8:15 we went to the Subway sandwich shop to get our lunch for today.
On the way to Subway we saw Gene and Freda at the Circle K getting gas. They didn’t come with us on Tuesday but were to meet us at the motel for today and tomorrow's ride.

We were back at the motel by 8:45 and at 9:00 we all left for the ride.

Heading Out.

We headed east through Wickenburg to Constellation Rd.where we turned north. The road is paved for about a mile. When we came to the dirt, we stopped to air down.

After airing down we continued out Constellation Rd.
It is a wide graded road for a few miles then it goes into the Williams Family Ranch.

Where Constellation Rd entered the ranch Buckhorn Road begins and goes off to the right.
We got onto Buckhorn Rd and followed it for a few more miles. This road was a little smaller than Constellation Rd.

Bradshaw Mountain Trail.

After a while we turned left onto the Bradshaw Mountain trail.

A short distance down the trail we stopped for a comfort break.

From here the trail starts to get interesting.

It goes up and down over steep rutted grades.

This is mostly Open Range where ranchers run Cattle. There are several gates we had to go through.

There are rules that you have to follow. You can go through any gate that isn’t locked but if the gate is closed you have to close it after you go through. If a gate is open you leave it open. If you follow these simple rules you can go almost anywhere.

The trail is rough…

but views are fantastic.

We stopped for another break.

After this the trail got even more interesting.

We passed by these interesting Cacti.

Did I say the trail got more interesting? Well it did.

We dropped down the mountain and crossed a wash going through a tree tunnel.

After crossing the wash we climbed another mountain and saw a couple of the range cattle. Can you imagine how hard it must be for these cows to survive in this desert.

Just past the cow we headed back down the other side of the mountain.

There are a lot of very healthy Saguaro’s all through this area.

Bradshaw’s Grave.

Eventually we came to Bradshaw’s Grave. Isaiah Bradshaw was a miner that apparently made it big and these mountains are named after him.

After hanging around here for a little while we continued along Bradshaw Mountain Trail.

Here is why culverts are a problem.

The trail gets better as we go along.

And did I mention that the views are amazing?

Copperopolis.

We took a side trail, went through another gate and came to the town and mine site of Copperopolis.

There isn’t much left here except the partial remains of an old stone cabin.

Lunch.

This was our lunch destination.

After lunch we headed back along the same trail.
We saw this large finger of rock to the south of the trail.

Castle Creek Rd.

The trail drops down the mountain and enters Castle Creek.

With the recent rains,the creek still has a little water running in it.

The creek runs through a really neat slot canyon.

Skull Rock.

We passed a skull sitting on a rock.

I didn’t pick it up because it didn’t have any horns on it.

More Canyon.

We continued along the creek…

enjoying the beautiful canyon walls.

Back on Buckhorn Rd.

We came to where the canyon opened up…

and saw this sign.

We got on Buckhorn Rd. and started on our way back to Wickenburg.

A Cool Saguaro.

Along the way we saw this interesting Saguaro.

What surprised me was how symmetrical it was. It almost looks like a power pole.

A Rental Car?

After going over a mountain we dropped into a wide wash as we approached these Cottonwood trees we could see a compact car coming toward us. You can see it in the lower left by the base of the tree.

It turned out to be a Ford Focus. We assumed it was probably a rental car. I doubt that it went too much further along this road.

Continuing On.

We continued along the road and passed this old cabin.

Eventually we got back on Constellation Rd. and in a short time we were back in Wickenburg.

It was a great ride and a fun day, again.