This was at one of our first stops on the trip. As usual, the scenery was breath taking. We decided all the people who come to Arizona and never take an ATV ride into the mountains are missing the best part of living in this beautiful State!
We have now fond the trail we missed the previous week and are now in virgin territory for our group and heading into the mountains. We know we have two mountain ranges we need to get over to get down into the Gila River valley
The different shapes of the mountains are really something. You just can't help yourself from taking pictures!
We came around the cornor in a wash to see a group of Mama cows with new calves. They were so cute. There was a little black and white calf I desperately wanted a picture of but Mama cow was having nothing to do with it and took the calf off into the bushes
It is always fun to see cows in the desert and wonder what the heck they eat but this year with all the rain we've had, there is plenty of greenery out there
We finally find the Gila River!! Obviously this is where the cows come to drink as it is pretty muddy and there a lots of hoof prints. You can see where you can cross the river and the trail continues on the other side but as none of us are very brave and we don't know how deep the water is, we decided we would wait till later int he spring when the water was lower - cowards we are!
We walked out to the point but as the water was so muddy, we couldn't see the bottom and how deep it was. The current was running pretty strong. As we were all standing around chatting, we heard another ATV come along with 2 fellows in it and they obviously had been here before as off they went into the river.
As you can see, they had no difficulty crossing the river! They came back a few minutes later and told us the trail ended shortly after they got over the other side so not to bothering crossing here. We then traveled on till we found another trail that looked like it was heading down to the water and off we went
This time we were able to get down to a beautiful spot on the river where there was lots of sun and a great place to stop and have lunch. You could also see where people cross the river but again us women, decided we really had no desire to cross so we stayed on the side we were at!
Such a beautiful spot to set up for a picnic! Ann and I by the Gila River. As usual, I am in shirt sleeves and Ann is in full winter gear!!
Doug was out in the middle of the river playing at being stranded. He then decided to drive a bit down the river and i took a video of it. I was a bit nervous as you'll tell by the following video but the water wasn't nearly as deep as it seemed.
No sooner had Doug pulled his little stunt than we heard machines coming and across the river they came to where we were having lunch. If we had crossed the river here, the trail then leads on to the Coke Ovens where we have already been this year so we really had no reason to cross other than the fellows playing in the water!
It was Craig's 77th birthday so after we had lunch and celebrated with his wife Sharon's delicious bread pudding with fruit compote on top (beat a birthday cake anyday!) he had to find a shady spot to grab 40 winks.
Doug was doing the same
Sharon, Ann & Sharon
After a relaxing lunch break, we decided we had better head back as we planned to take the scenic route back over the mountains and had been told it was much longer than the way we had come in through Walnut Canyon. Doug wanted me to drive as his wrists were sore and that was a good decision. The road out was spectacular but boy was it rough. We took one wrong turn and headed straight up hill on a very rough washed out trail and it ended on the side of a cliff and we had to turn around and come back down the same "trail". I certainly got some extreme driving in! The trails up and over the 2 mountain ranges were steep and very washed out so took a lot of concentration and help from Doug to maneuver some of the wash outs. I thoroughly enjoyed the challenge though. Doug didn't get the chance to take too many more pictures as he was hanging on for dear life!
These darn saguaros continue to amaze me and we needed a picture of this convoluted cacti!
I truley was wondering how we were going to get to the other side of this mountain but you just go right on up and over it!
This is half way up the side of this mountain and me wondering and hoping Trent in the lead knew where he was going!
We stopped for a breather part way up the hill side
I must of been driving okay as Doug continued to let me drive (or his wrists were so sore he had no choice!)
You could just see for miles once we got to the top of the first range.
This was looking towards the next range we had to now cross to get back to our trucks.
I found this mountain range just so fascinating. We decided it was an alien ski hill or maybe an alien landing strip
First off I know this is blurry but Doug took the picture and it was the only one I had of the mountain poppy and it is the first one we have seen so far this season.
We are finally over the last mountain range and on the back side of a range I showed a picture of as we came in from the other side
We are now heading back through Walnut Canyon to where we left our trucks and trailers. It was one of the best rides we have been on this year and the scenery well worth some of the rough stretches we had to traverse. A great way to help Craig celebrate his 77th birthday also!
I had to tack on a picture of some of the rock clocks we are working on. Doug just has to put the clock parts into each clock and they are ready to go. About half of the rocks we have found in the desert and cut ourselves and the others we have bought at rock shows
This is a picture of my latest creation. We brought some cholla wood back from the desert (this is the skeleton of the grape cholla cacti). We bring it in, soak it is a bleach solution to kill any bugs and bleach the wood. Then I have to work at cleaning out all the holes and the centre of the branches. Once it is all cleaned and brushed, I spray a clear finish on it to preserve it and then Doug cuts the ends of the branches level and we glue south western style bowls on the ends. I have seeds, cut fruit and water in the bowls and the birds love it!
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