Thursday, December 1/2016

Wow, it is the first of December.   Almost Christmas!!   We usually land in Wickenburg the first week in December so we are pretty close to schedule.
It is cloudy and dreary out this morning so hopefully the sun breaks through and we are able to climb the temperature chart into the mid 60s!!    Time will tell.

down one of the many washes out this way

We have heard of a canyon called Hidden Red Rock Canyon so our goal today is to find it and knock something else off our bucket list.   We set out with great enthusiasm towards the wash and the other side of the lake.  Our destination was .... North and we even had coordinates to the canyon.   Woo Hoo!!  With them punched into the GPS we dropped down into the wash, through the salt cedar trail and over to the other side.  We quickly found Loves Camp and followed "the arrow"!!  It soon took us through a wash and then another wash and by the time we hit the end of Alamo Lake for what seemed like the fifteenth time, we decided that the GPS was full of shit!!  Sometimes I think all this fancy technology is really not worth the price you pay for it.  Despite the fact that we had not found the canyon, we did see some pretty remarkable sights so the day way not a total loss.

Sand and Mountains

We put on about 32 miles today before we had to admitted defeat.  Man.....that damn canyon is REALLY hidden!!  We had even phoned Ray last night to get some directions and although they were rather obscure directions, we did pass some of the things he said to watch for like the "old bus" and Loves Camp.  We were on the trail but there are so many off shoots that it was really hard to follow.

Tons of trails

Salt Cedar Trees on both sides of the trail

Love's Camp 1991 - one of the landmarks out this way

more wash and more sand - sand cliffs!!

lots of saguaro in this area

sand and big rock cliffs

Thinking this is a cottonwood trees minus its leaves

We stopped for a beverage at the "old bus" (one of the sights that Ray mentioned) and John talked to a couple of quadders that had just come from the canyon.  Could this canyon possibly be a real place??  We got directions from them and low and behold, there was another way to the canyon they said......."simply follow this trail and it will take you right there, Oh by the way, it is rough and rocky"
They mentioned that we were probably 15 miles from the canyon and since it was getting late in the day and we had been wandering around on the millions of trails for most of the afternoon, we decided to head back to camp and try again tomorrow.   Now, that sounded like a good idea so that is what we did.
It was a football night anyway so we settled in front of the TV for the evening.  It was a chili dog supper night and it was in my opinion - awful.   I cannot grasp the idea of a hotdog and chili on a bun covered in green onions and cheese.  Somehow, that just seems wrong.  Kay and John loved them and between the two of them cleaned up a can (yes, I said can - another reason to stay clear of them) of chili and a package of hotdogs!!  Me, I have a much more refined palate and had left over chicken and homemade potato salad!!

an old abandoned bus

Refreshment break in the middle of the desert

Henrietta and Kermit

Through a canopy of salt cedar trees

pretty cool stuff!!

Our camp site at Alamo Lake

Sunset

All in all, it was a good day and although we didn't reach our destination, I had no doubt that we would find it tomorrow.  We usually always find our destinations!!  Time will tell and in the meantime........Life is Good!!