Tuesday, February 13, 2018 (La Posa South LTVA, Quartzsite, AZ)

It was another cloudy cool day here, around 66F/19C, for our second day of riding...seems so strange not having clear blue sky, which has been the norm here for the past month (+). However, it's still much better than the weather back on Vancouver Island...rain, rain, rain...with even a hint of some snow in their forecast!

As usual, the group gathered at our place at 10:00...we were a little bigger today however, after running into some other folks at Silly Al's last night that wanted to join us. We also had our neighbour Gerry join us, along with a couple of jeeps.

The fellow in the yellow jeep is in his 80's and has been driving these trails for 50 years...

Our ride today had us going in the opposite direction from yesterday...heading to Dripping Springs. Judi lucked out...Janet wasn't going on the ride today, so Judi got to take her place in the side-by-side with Bill. She found it much more "civilized", far preferring the ride in a side-by-side rather than on the back of the 2-up with Larry. Guess you know what that means, Larry...LOL!

That's me making it up and over some large rocks that caused me a little grief last ride through here...

It's a very rough, rocky ride through this part of the canyon...

Cecile and Jim...

Here come Larry...

Larry...

And finally, the jeeps...

The final climb up to Dripping Springs...Bill and Judi...

Me...

Cec and Jim...

Larry...

Gerry...

Ken...

Our destination, Dripping Springs...

There's a little water at the Springs....

Lots of Petroglyphs...

Some idiots have been shooting at this one...

Looks like a slab has either fallen off or someone took it...

Just to the right of the mountain you can see the trail we have to go up next...

After some time checking out the Springs and petroglyphs, it was time to carry on towards Apache Chief Cabin. Another big climb with Dripping Springs in the distance...

Apache Chief Cabin and lunch time.This is where 2 of the quads and the jeeps left, deciding to head up over Hog Back instead of carrying on with us.

Next stop was Belle of Arizona Mine. This is a long mining trench, others that hadn't been here before walked up the hill to check out the mine above...

Bill checking out the mine shafts below...

Followed by a steep hill through Teddy Bear Pass (a decline this time). We just came through a rain shower and the air became very fragrant...

Making sure everyone makes it down okay. It's a lot steeper than the photo shows...

Up and over through another pass...

Our next stop was at Spanish Cabin...we forgot to take pictures, so this shot is from our previous ride on January 17, 2018. Check it out for more of the Go Pro photos. Gerry and Cecile happened to be on that ride too...look at all of that blue sky we had that day!

And our final stop...the stone cabin at the Mitchell Mine area. Checking out the mock graves. Our final stop will be to the top of that hill for a view of the current mine and Quartzsite...

Lots of Barrel Cactus up here...

Our neighbour Gerry (the lone American) took a group picture of the Cowichan Valley ATV Club folks...Sue, Steve B, Bill (with Bosco), Cecile, me, Steve, Larry, Judi, Bill and Ken...

And it was time head home!

It was going on 3:30 when we all arrived back at La Posa South...another great day, even if we did hit a little rain through Teddy Bear Pass!

After getting cleaned up, everyone started gathering back at our place for a campfire and hot dog roast. Harry, Vicki, Dave, Cheryl and Red also joined us.

Starting on the left and going around the circle...Steve B, Sue, me, Dave, Cheryl, (empty chair, Steve), Red, Vicki, Harry, Larry, Judi, Janet (standing), Cec, Jim, Bill and Ken...

Ahhh...and another great day comes to an end...

It's been a few years since we've ridden with some of the Cowichan Valley Club members. Hopefully next year more members will come down and we can make this a yearly tradition...