Today is Black Friday here in the States...the official start to the Christmas shopping mayhem...a day where shoppers reek havoc at all the major retailers. Well, not being near any major shopping (not that I could stand to put up with all of the crowds anyway), we spent an awesome day out on our quads.
We had planned to head out a little earlier than the other day but that didn't work...again, it was just before 10:30 when we hit the trails. Let the fun begin!
Time for a break and a drink of water...
Ajo Peak...
That's Lime Hill, elevation 1837 feet...we're going to go up there...
Up we go...
Come on, Di...you can do it!
Made it!
Time for another break in the shade...
Need to clean the dust off...
Organ Pipe National Monument starts on the other side of the mountain behind Steve...
Bandeja Well...
Great views from up here!
Approx. location of our campsite...
And back down we go...
The route we had planned to take ended up taking us through a small section of the Cabeza Prieta Wildlife Refuge. Unfortunately, there were signs saying we weren't allowed to enter...so we had a look at the map and found another road that looped around to where we were planning on going. It only involved a little bit of backtracking, so that worked out well.
A Game Watering 'hole'...
We stopped in the shade of a Palo Verde to eat our lunch. Our GPS showed this spot being "John the Baptist" (with the mountains in the background by the same name). This is what Wikipedia has to say...
"The range is named for John C. Butala, a hermit who lived for a number of years in a shack on the range's eastern side. Butala was a veteran of the Spanish-American War and World War I. He chose to spend the last decades of his life as a hermit living in the desert. There was some belief that he had been gassed and/or shell shocked during his military service. He was known as an eccentric with long matted hair, and most of the year he would wear only tennis shoes and a loincloth made from gunnysacks. He was also known for feeding and befriending a variety of desert wildlife around his camp, and some became so tame that they would eat out of his hand. It is likely that the nickname of "John the Baptist" derived from this behavior and his appearance as a wild-eyed desert prophet. Despite his eccentric ways, he was known for his mechanical and engineering abilities, and he would regularly be summoned into town to repair automobiles and heavy equipment at the New Cornelia Mine. He died in 1961 and is buried in "Ajo." This pile of rocks and rusty old cans are the only evidence that a structure was once here. Interesting!
Very lush in this wash...
Ajo Peak in the distance....
Even though we couldn't do our original route it's still an awesome ride!
We came across a bed roll on the trail...evidence of illgal migrants
...and a little further down the trail...more evidence of illegal migrant activity. We just couldn't imagine how hard and desperate it must be for these people to risk dying out here trying to have a better life...
Crested Saguaro...
Valentine Well...
Ajo Peak 2549 ft....
Time to head home...
We got back just after 3:00...roughly 80 kms/50 miles. What a fabulous ride! But it was a lot hotter, 29C/84F and dustier that our ride the other day. Needless to say, we quickly changed out of our jeans and boots and after cleaning up, we were outside sitting in the shade.
Another end to an awesome day here in the southern Arizona desert...love it!
We had planned to head out a little earlier than the other day but that didn't work...again, it was just before 10:30 when we hit the trails. Let the fun begin!
Great views from up here!Approx. location of our campsite...And back down we go...
The route we had planned to take ended up taking us through a small section of the Cabeza Prieta Wildlife Refuge. Unfortunately, there were signs saying we weren't allowed to enter...so we had a look at the map and found another road that looped around to where we were planning on going. It only involved a little bit of backtracking, so that worked out well.
A Game Watering 'hole'...We stopped in the shade of a Palo Verde to eat our lunch. Our GPS showed this spot being "John the Baptist" (with the mountains in the background by the same name). This is what Wikipedia has to say..."The range is named for John C. Butala, a hermit who lived for a number of years in a shack on the range's eastern side. Butala was a veteran of the Spanish-American War and World War I. He chose to spend the last decades of his life as a hermit living in the desert. There was some belief that he had been gassed and/or shell shocked during his military service. He was known as an eccentric with long matted hair, and most of the year he would wear only tennis shoes and a loincloth made from gunnysacks. He was also known for feeding and befriending a variety of desert wildlife around his camp, and some became so tame that they would eat out of his hand. It is likely that the nickname of "John the Baptist" derived from this behavior and his appearance as a wild-eyed desert prophet. Despite his eccentric ways, he was known for his mechanical and engineering abilities, and he would regularly be summoned into town to repair automobiles and heavy equipment at the New Cornelia Mine. He died in 1961 and is buried in "Ajo." This pile of rocks and rusty old cans are the only evidence that a structure was once here. Interesting!Very lush in this wash...
We got back just after 3:00...roughly 80 kms/50 miles. What a fabulous ride! But it was a lot hotter, 29C/84F and dustier that our ride the other day. Needless to say, we quickly changed out of our jeans and boots and after cleaning up, we were outside sitting in the shade.
Another end to an awesome day here in the southern Arizona desert...love it!
Nice ride! I look forward to doing some hiking on Ajo next Spring.
ReplyDeleteYes, it's a great quad riding area! Hiking Ajo will be fun...I'm sure you'll really enjoy it!
ReplyDelete