 |
| Headed towards the Bradshaw Mountains |
 |
| Dusty trails |
 |
| The trail ahead |
 |
| Awesome views |
 |
| Still functioning wind mill |
 |
| There are people living way out here |
 |
| Tailing's from a near by mine |
 |
| Locked and chained closed - DO NOT ENTER |
 |
| The cool air coming from this mine was incredible |
 |
| A very rare "crowned" saguaro cactus. This growth occurs in approximately one in 50,000 cacti......amazing |
 |
| A better shot of the "crown" |
 |
| Saguaro forest cover the hills |
 |
| Bradshaw Mountains - 40 miles long and 25 miles wide - mined for gold, silver and copper Named after mining pioneers Isaac and William Bradshaw |
 |
| Isaac Bradshaw's grave. An early gold miner - although not very successful, managed to keep himself in "bacon and beans". |
 |
| Isaac Bradshaw - born 1819 and died Christmas Day 1886 at his mining claim on Whipsaw Gulch, near Castle Creek where he is now buried. |
 |
| Remnants of past mining activity |
 |
| Incredible views of the area |
 |
| Awesome trails |
 |
| Rocky spires along Castle Wash |
 |
| Someone took the time to paint Charley Brown and Snoopy on the rocks along the wash. |
 |
| Incredible spires here in the Sonoran Desert...... who would have thought? |
 |
| Spires and Saguaros |
 |
| One of the fellows (who Geo Caches) left a buccaneer in one of the many holes in the cliffs of the wash. This was left close to the Charley Brown painting |
 |
| Oh, Oh......Mitch is in trouble!! |
 |
| Mitch managed to set the quad on its rear end - no harm, no foul - but it took three to get it back on its wheels |
 |
| Back on all four tires and good to go |
 |
| More awesome trail - the day was full of awesome trail |
 |
| Cactus pointing us in the right direction |
 |
| A rock grinder (similar to a mortar and passel) Used to grind the rock and extract the gold |
 |
| Probably a ventilation shaft for a nearby mine |
 |
| Part of the incredible Bradshaw Mountain Range |
 |
| Moon coming up |
 |
| Sun going down |
 |
| Awesome |
Once we arrived at Buckhorn Road, we hung a right and headed up and into the hills of the Bradshaw Mountains - named after William and Isaac Bradshaw. Both were early mining pioneers and although they never really "struck it big", it is said they were able to keep themselves in "bacon and beans".
We travelled through some incredible back country, through an incredible variety of desert flora and wonderful colour. The vista views of the mountains were plentiful. I just never get tired of looking at the variety this Sonoran Desert offers.
We passed several abandoned mining sites. As you can see from the pics, some were locked and chained closed. It was incredible to stand in front of the gate at one mine site reading the Keep Out signs and feeling the chilly air that was coming from the entrance. One would definitely require a jacket in order to enter these dark and foreboding pathways.
As we travelled deeper into the back country, we were lucky enough to see one of the vary rare Crown Saguaros. This is a phenomenon that occurs once in every 50.000 cacti. It was truly something to see and actually was one of the highlights of my day. Oh how blessed I am to see yet another of God's wondrous creations.
As we continued along the trail, it became less and less maintained which made it that much more interesting. There were several areas that were simply rock and reminded me of many of the trails in the Moab, Utah area. It was awesome.
We eventually made it to the grave site of Isaac Bradshaw and I was very pleased to see that it is well maintained. It was situated not far from his mine site on Whipsaw Gulch and just a stones throw from Castle Creek. In fact, we had to cross the now dry creek bed in order to get to the grave site.
We stopped here at the grave, built a bit of a fire and roasted hotdogs, smokies and brats over the open flames. It was awesome and an hour or so later, the fire was doused and we were back on the trail heading to the Snoopy Rock.
We made one stop along the way were one could find a lot of raw turquoise. Kay and I scoured the area and I had a pocket full before it was time to leave. Kay and I had a chuckle as I said I would write on the blog that I was hunting turquoise with a Navajo!! The Navajo People are renowned for their incredible turquoise jewellery.
We travelled over more incredible trail and eventually dropped down into a wash with high rock cliffs on both sides of us. One could see where the water had been running and at one time it must have been at least 20 feet deep as the debris was clinging to rocks and tree branches that high. Definitely, NOT the time to be in the wash!!
As we travelled along this wash, I was in awe of the scenery. It offered stunning views of spires mixed in amongst the many saguaro cactus. At one point I saw a rock that reminded me of the many "balanced" rock formations in Utah. Incredible scenery......for a desert!!
We arrived at the Snoopy Rock. This is a painting on the rock that someone took the time to do. It was of Charley Brown and Snoopy. I wonder what possesses someone to create art here in the back country knowing that only a blessed few will get to see and appreciate it. It was awesome and appreciated by all in our group.
One of the fellows we were traveling with today is an avid Geo Cache enthusiast and carries with him various little articles to put into what ever cache he finds. Today. we left one of his "buccaneers" at this site. It was placed in one of the many holes in the side of the rock wall near the Snoopy painting. It will be interesting to see if it is still there the next time we head out there and, since it was one of the best trails we have been on, I am sure we will do it again.
It was soon time to climb out of the wash and access yet another trail that would eventually take us back to Buckhorn Road. The climb out meant we had to travel a rather steep incline that offered a few challenging sections. In one of theses sections, Mitch managed to set his quad up on its rear end. With the steep incline, both John and Kay (who were riding behind him, Ray and I were ahead of him) yelled at him to stay perfectly still hoping that the quad would stay upright and not flip over backwards.
They both ran to his assistance and stabilized the machine until Ray was able to get back and help them. John, Kay and Ray managed to right the quad while Mitch and I rescued the beverages that had tumbled out of his cooler onto the ground. Unbelievably, there was only a few scratches on the rear bumper. The tail light didn't even break!!
With the quad back on all four wheels Ray rode it up to more friendly ground where Mitch took over.
Seeing the trouble Mitch had along this stretch of trail, Kay had John ride hers past it then John stayed back to make sure Bill (who has only one leg) made it as well. Soon, we were all at the top and happy that bit of nastiness was behind us. What an awesome trail!!
There were a few more nasty spots along the trail but we all managed to traverse and conquer. We traveled past several more abandoned mine sites and at one site, saw a rock grinder. This was apparently used to grind the gold out of the rocks. It worked like a huge mortar and pessel and was powered by either mules or horses.
There was an incredible amount of mica in the rocks around here so the ground just seemed to glisten. At one point, it looked like we were travelling along a wet rocky creek as the glistening looked like water. Wow - now that was totally awesome.
We eventually made it to a huge sandy wash. We travelled this for a few miles and Ray (who I was riding with in the side by side) was able to hammer down and drive with some speed. The wind was whipping through my hair as we "drifted" around some of the curves. We stopped and waited for the rest of the riders to catch up to us as I am sure we made enough dust to choke an army.
Once we were all bunched together and had a refreshment break, we were on our way again. It was getting late and it is always better to be home before the sun sets and the cool air settles in.
Ray and I were in the lead and as we were headed into the curves of the trail, Ray stepped on the gas and one minute I was sitting in the seat and the next minute I was flying through the air. Not sure how that happened but I remember thinking the quad was going to tip and I had to get out of the way. The quad righted itself and I found myself lying flat on my back in the middle of the trail with my beverage (I had not finished it at the last stop) lying not too far away, emptying itself of its contents. Now THAT is a huge party foul!! I quickly got up, grabbed my beverage and climbed back into the side by side all the time laughing my fool head off. I kept thinking....."and that is why you are supposed to wear your seat belt - dumb ass" !! I think I will end up with a bruise on my ass for this little faux paus!!
Because the quad had almost tipped, there was a huge cloud of smoke coming from the engine as it tried to clear itself but despite this, we continued on down the trail....me, laughing like a fool and Ray apologizing left, right and centre for dumping me out!! He felt bad about that but we were both happy that I was not injured!! Once again, no harm no foul.
John, Kay and Mitch were about to come to our rescue as they had seen me do the Flying Zambini out of the quad but heard me laughing so knew I was not injured. They said it took several minutes for the smoke to clear though!!
We waited at Constellation Road for them to catch up and they were most eager to hear the story of how I flew out of the quad. We had several laughs about it - all at my expense of course and Ray tried to explain. Somethings are best left unexplained!! Suffice it to say, I should have had the seat belt on and both of us are old enough not to be driving like idiots!! And we complain about the stupidity of the kids!!
The sun was going down and it was time to get home. We were not too far from town and got back to the park before dark. We stopped at Mitch's for a beer and Marybeth came over for a drink. We then headed to the bus as Hogan had been inside all day and I am sure he was ready to get out and enjoy the evening with us.
John started a campfire where all of us sat around and retold stories of the day. It was an awesome day. Everyone wandered off at intervals to grab a shower and clean the day's dust off. Me, I headed for the bathtub knowing that I had to soak away some of the aches and pains of my own adventures. Thank heavens for tylenol as I am sure I will be taking some tonight.
John cooked supper and then it was time to call it a night. What a day. We had a great ride through some of the prettiest desert back county, over some incredible trails that offered a variety of terrain, sat around an awesome campfire with some wonderful friends and ended it all with some great BBQ. Can life get any better?
No comments:
Post a Comment