Saturday, January 23, 2016 (La Posa South LTVA, Quartzsite, AZ)

We started the day off in our usual way...also enjoying a lovely sunrise...

Then it was time to get cleaned up, have breakfast and make lunches for our quad ride today. Just before 10:00 everyone started congregating at our place...and before long we were ready to head off. There were 10 machines on our ride today...5 side-by-sides -- Red/Pam, Rick/Deb, Dale/Chloe, Sammy/Donna, Damian/Melissa/Christopher and 5 quads -- Earl, Eric, Art, Steve and me. Damian is Dale and Chloe's nephew and he and his wife, Melissa and son, Christopher are out from Mesa for the weekend. They, along with Dale, Chloe, Sammy, Donna, Rick, Deb and Pam, have never been to Dripping Springs so we'll ride a route we did a couple of weeks ago...Dripping Springs, Apache Chief Cabin, Gold Nugget Mine, Guadeloupe Mountain...along with some other sites along the way. Steve, for the most part, would be leading the group today.
(Click to enlarge photos)

 A stop along the way...to look for a geocache...

Then we continued on...

Red and Pam...

 It's a bumpy ride through the canyon...

Arriving at Dripping Springs...

Pam, Red and I checking out the petroglyphs...

Dripping Springs in the distance below the mountain, riders coming up the steep hill...

Waiting to make sure everyone made it up the last hill climb...

 It was a busy Saturday at Apache Chief Cabin...

Lots of Jeeps today...

 Gold Nugget Mine...with Guadeloupe Mountain in the background...

When it was time to go up Guadeloupe, Dale and Chloe stayed at the bottom and Red, Pam and I went up to the base of the first switchback while the others continued up to the top. Here are the final three coming back down...Eric, Earl and Art...

Belle of Arizona Mine area...

Earl...

Looking for a geocache on Teddy Bear Pass...this is one trail that we have never been on. Earl took the lead and showed us the way. A really beautiful area...

Cholla or Teddy Bear Cactus starting to bloom...

 It's all down hill from here...

Don't know the name of this cabin...

Red and Pam gave Dianne a ride back after geocaching down the road...

More geocaching...

Art's thinks he's found a shortcut through the mountains, and it was...

A cabin in behind the active Mitchell Mine...

Group photo at our last stop of the day above the Mitchell Mine area. Dale and Chloe are missing as they stayed below...

It was going on 5:00 by the time we got home...wow, that's almost 7 hours out on the trails! Another great day! After putting our stuff away and getting cleaned up, we went over to Eric and Janet's place for happy hour. Great dip, Janet!
Unfortunately, the picture I took is a little blurry...Allison, Earl, Eric, Janet and Steve...




We watched the sun go down...producing another gorgeous sunset...

And then headed home...thanks for the happy hour, Eric and Janet! We put on heavier coats, and then joined the group (Lee, Tracy, Debbie, Steve, Barb, Jim, Greg, Cori, Vicki and Harry) at the campfire. Pam and Red heated up the leftover fish from the other night and we had fish tacos...thanks for all of the fixings and sides everyone, that made it another great dinner and get together!
Barb, Jim, Greg and Cori...and Harry's foot!

Lee, Tracy, Debbie, Steve and Red...

It was going on 9:00 when Steve and I called it a night and headed home. Thanks for another great evening everyone!