Departures, Arrivals and a Ride to the Gila River.

 

Departures.

Around 9:30 Joanne and Dave H. Left us and started their trek back to California. We had a great time with them and hope they come back next season.

Arrivals.

At about 10:30 the Wednesday Jeep group from Quartzsite arrived at our place in Coolidge. After a bit of BS’ing we went to Subway to get some sandwiches.
When Patti went to pay for the sandwiches the cashier told her that the nice lady in front of us had already paid for them.  By then the lady had already left the store. Patti was blown away.

Ride to the River.

The group had driven from Quartzsite this morning but wanted to do a ride today. I figured that the best place to take them for an easy ride was the Gila River.

Once we all got our sandwiches we went to the Circle K so the rest of the group could top off then we headed out Coolidge Blvd. to Florence/Kelvin Highway.
Between mile 7and 8 we stopped to check out…

A rare Crested Saguaro.

We continued out the highway…

to Cochran Road where we turned north and stopped to air down at the ATV staging area.

After airing down we headed down Cochran Rd. enjoying the desert scenery.

We passed a Raven sitting on top of a Saguaro.

Lunch.

We stopped at the big wash at the bottom of the hill to have lunch.

While we were having lunch we noticed this Cholla Cactus.

We were told by Freda that it was called a Chain Fruit Cholla.

Here is another one; it is a little different but apparently is still a Chain Fruit Cholla.

After lunch we continued our ride to the river. We were headed for the old mining town site of Cochran.
As we were going along, we saw another Raven on top of a Saguaro. This one had some thing in its beak.

It turned out to be a stick.

Coke Ovens.

Not to far from the town site we could see across the river to where the Coke Ovens are located.

You can see the Keep Out signs in the door openings in the ovens.

Tree Tunnels.

After taking some pictures we continued to the river. We had to drive down a long tree tunnel.

We stopped at the river for a short break and something to drink.

We drove back through the tree tunnel to the town site.

No Town at the Town Site.

There is nothing at the town site that would lead you to believe that there was ever a town here. It is just a large flat area with trails going here and there.

We did see some cattle grazing on the rare lush grasses.

We drove around the area a little and then headed back out the road we came in on. We found a trail that went from this road to the large wash that goes to the river where the train trestle is.

Helicopter.

We turned onto this trail. As we were driving along we noticed a Helicopter flying around. It kept flying in circles and hovering every now and then.

Eventually the chopper flew away.

One More Stop at the River.

We followed the wash, drove up the slot…

and went through the gate.

We drove through more tree tunnels.

Eventually we came back to the river. This is where the trail from the coke ovens crosses the river.

We hung around here for a short time and then headed for home.

It was a good day and a nice easy ride.