Friday, December 2/2016

More adventure

We are off on another adventure today and looking for Hidden Red Rock Canyon.   We now have a firm trail to follow so we are hoping that it leads us to the splendor of this little gem tucked away in the mountains that surround this area.

headed back through the salt cedars

Santa Maria Wash

We head back through the salt cedar trail, through Santa Maria wash and meet back at the "old bus". We accessed the rough and rocky trail that will hopefully take us to the canyon and are in great spirits because we are "going to the canyon"!!

red rocks and beautiful scenery

Well, when the guys said the trail was rough and rocky, they were not kidding!!  It was definitely rough but it certainly wasn't a hard trail to travel.  Once again, Henrietta went up and over the trail like a champ.  She is a climber!!

John, ahead on the trail

The view from the top was incredible and that alone made this trail worthwhile (even if we didn't find the red rock canyon at the end!!  We eventually dropped down into a canyon but we all knew that it wasn't the hidden canyon we were looking for.  Man, red rock continued to elude us!!.  We travelled along in the wash and found that the canyon itself was quite blocked in some areas by erosion and the tell tale signs of flash floods.  This made us climb again to get around the blockages.
On one of these trails around the boulders blocking our way, we came to an area that was about 12 feet long, off camber and on a rather nasty shelf.  We were probably 20 feet from the floor of the wash and it was rock strewn and not someplace you wanted to land if you happened to slide off the trail.  John maneuvered Kermit past the nasty spot which was a bit tricky considering Kermit is narrow and  has a higher center of gravity with the taller tires.  When he was done doing that, he walked back and drove Henrietta over said nasty area.  Kay stood on the passenger side of Henrietta to counterbalance her and and I hung on the the passenger rear corner to add some additional weight. Well all was going well until John gave Henrietta some gas through the off camber area so that momentum would carry her to more level ground.
Well, when John sped up, I lost my footing and was rather unceremoniously dragged about 10 feet across the off camber trail onto the solid ground.  Hell, it happened so fast I didn't even have time to let go.  I held on for dear life hoping for the best and all the time thinking ...... this is sooo going to leave a mark and shit, the toes of my hikers are taking a beating!!
Once John stopped, I let go and crashed to the ground.  My knees were skinned and I knew that were would be bruises!!  How big was yet to be determined.
I managed to get myself into a sitting position and checked out the toes of my boots and incredibly, they were not all that skuffed up!!  It was a miracle!!  I was moving, my back had been stretched beyond its normal capacity and I had definitely stretched the shit out of every abdominal muscle known to man!!  No broken bones though so all was good!!   Kay said my eyeballs were as big as saucers and I can certainly imagine that they were.  As all good troopers do....I "walked" it off, got back into Henrietta and we carried on down the trail.  Phew!!  That was a close one!!

At the top of the mountain looking at Alamo Lake

Mountains as far as the eye can see

Artillery Peak

John below us on the trail

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We travelled out of the wash and soon found ourselves down by "the old bus".  We tried a few more trails and once again.....admitted defeat.  That bloody canyon is REALLY hidden!!  LOL

Beautiful Fall colors

All was not lost though, we saw some incredible sights and minus the mishap, it was a very nice trail to have travelled.  In fact, it was probably one of the better trails in the area.

wide washes

One never knows what they may encounter on the trail

We got back to camp early and then accessed the wash that was near the camp to look for some firewood.  We ended up going past yet another grave site nestled in the Arizona desert.  This one was placed along the side of a hill and actually had a prayer bench at the bottom of the steps leading to the headstone.  Whoever set it up took a lot of time to do so.

close quarters

The "Kodak" Moment

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We found some wood and that was enough for tonight's fire.  The wind was blowing so it wasn't too long before we headed in.
Spaghetti and meatballs were on tonight's menu and that was a blessing considering the wind situation outside.  No one wants to bbq in gale force winds!!    Life is Good!!

sunset and.....

campfire