Friday, January 4, 2019 (La Posa South LTVA, Quartzsite, AZ)

We are going out on our first quad ride of the season here...but we're going to wait until it warms up a bit. It was 32F/0C when we got up this morning!

So we headed out at 10:30...Earl and Allison leading, a new friend also from BC, Vince, me and Steve. It was an absolutely beautiful day...warming up nicely!

I'll pass this over to Steve now to narrate all the pictures he took...

Vince, Earl and Allison. This is Vince's first time in Q...

Some spots get a little lumpy...

Turning off the main trail to Dripping Springs...

Up we go!

Love this view when you reach the top...

Parking area at Dripping Springs...

Not much dripping going on at the springs...

Waterfall chute above the springs. Must be something to see after lots of rain, but that would probably mean you would be stuck here because the wash we drove in on to get here would most likely be full of water too...

 Lots of Petroglyphs...

Looking from the Petroglyphs across to the parking area, and in the distance the hill climb we have to do next. Much steeper than it appears here...

 Time to get going again...

Back down we go...

Turning back onto the main trail...

Up we go!

And up...

...and up...

Just about there...

We all made it no problem...these hills are fun!

Looking back towards Dripping Springs...the parking area is the lighter area at the edge of the shadow at the base of the mountain...

Next stop...Apache Chief Cabin for lunch...

Roads everywhere!

Another hill climb...

Remnants of an old structure...

Almost just a pile of rocks now..

Mine pit....and also behind Dianne is...

...a deep mine shaft covered by a steel grate and a shallow tunnel in the hillside behind it......

Another shallow mine...

Arriving at Apache Chief Cabin...

 Lunch time...

Arriving at the Bell of Arizona Mine...

A deep shaft with a trench running up the hill. At the top of the hill is a shallow mine shaft...

But first we must find the geocache before going to the top...

Quite the vane of quartz at the mine shaft entrance...excuse the pink glow :)

 Time to head back down...

Arriving at Teddy Bear Pass...

Again this is much steeper than it appears (Dianne here...there's one small section on it that is "off camber" that I absolutely hate!)...(Steve here...wussy!)

Spanish Cabin...

Earl explaining to Vince about the Spanish Wall. It's a rock wall on the hillside just below Dianne's orange flag. We can't remember the history of it but think the Spanish were through here at one time... 

Up and over to the next valley...

It's steep...

That's the trail we just came down...

Earl and Allison ahead on the far left...

Dianne...

Dianne, Vince, with Earl and Allison in the lead on the home stretch!

We got home just before 3:00...a great day and a fabulous first ride!

After putting everything away and relaxing for a bit, it was time to shower and get ready to go out for dinner.

Dale and Ruth picked us up at 5:30 and we headed off to Silly Al's for dinner. It was busy there but we managed to get a table right away...in a corner near the band. As usual, it was very noisy and just as we were finishing dinner, the live band started playing. They were good but we were just a bit to close to enjoy them.

We had no problem finding our way home once we hit the LTVA...it's so dark and everything looks so different when you come in at night! Last year, we ended up in someone else's driveway...it was hilarious as we tried to find the right road!

Dale and Ruth came in for a drink and we continued our visit...with a little less noise! A great visit and evening...thanks for the lift!