A GREAT 8 HOUR JEEPING DAY TO CASTLE HOT SPRINGS WITH JIM & BEV

PHOTO TAKEN BY JIM ON OUR GREAT JEEP JUMBLE TODAY

(this is Tuesday’s post)

Had one of those ‘late posting’ posts Monday night so folks on the east side of the country will see it as posting on Tuesday instead of Monday.  I try to get my post published by 10 p.m. Arizona time but of course due to circumstantial circumstances I do not always make my deadline.  And it looks like the same thing is going to happen again tonight.

Readers may remember Bev & Jim & the great Jeep Jaunt we had with them last winter out into the back country East of Wickenburg.  Well today we all headed out again on a similar track.  Unfortunately ‘all’ didn’t include the Pheebs this time.  We just didn’t have room in our little Wrangler for 4 people & a Pheebs:((

Kelly, Leslie, Peter, & I drove over to North Ranch about 9:45 & met up with Jim & Bev.  Jim, a gold prospector in his spare time knows all the back roads, hills & dales in the area so he had a route picked out for us today.  We followed Jim & Bev’s Jeep out of North Ranch heading for Wickenburg.  First stop…..McDonalds because it was right on the way to our desert destiny.

 

BEV, JIM, & LESLIE WITH SOME DRINKS TO GO

WE’RE OFF:))

We at first tracked the same route we had taken last winter & that led us up a wash to the old Sayer Stage stop.  Not much left anymore except some weathered wooden timbers, & crumbling cracked cement floors.  A couple large water tanks are here & it is a watering area for cattle.  Behind the stage stop ruins & up a moderately steep rock strewn & potential ankle twisting path can be found two cave like entrances with clear spring-like water in especially one of them.  There is evidence of a one time water fall here.  An interesting stop.

 

JIM TELLS US A BIT ABOUT THE STAGE STOP & WATER IN THE CAVE

  

 

HAD TO TAKE IT SLOW COMING DOWN BUT 2 OF THE GALS STEPPED IT RIGHT OUT

ON THE WAY TO OUR NEXT STOP

From the stage ruins we took a different route than last time & Jim led us through some of the prettiest canyons & mountains.  Hills were alive with Saguaro Cactus as the jostling dusty road wound it’s way through dry river beds , up inclines, & around some tight curves.  The Bradshaw Mountains loomed as our visibility stretched for miles across green canyons, rock bluffs, & towering rocky peaks.

 

Stopped by some cattle pens for a lunch break & a leg shake.  Kelly & Peter rode in the cramped back seat of the Wrangler while Leslie rode shotgun up front in the passenger seat.  Of course I had the best seat in the house right behind the steering wheel.  I’ve been on a few back seat Jeep scrambles over in Borrego Springs a few years ago so know how difficult it is getting in & out of a 2 door Jeep Wrangler not to mention cramped in there with your knees up around your ears somewhere. 

 

LUNCH BREAK & A LEG SHAKE 

Jim pulled over at one point & pointed to some old weather beaten shacks.  We disembarked the Jeeps & walked in a hundred yards or so to have a look.  Three old obviously abandoned buildings stood in a clearing.  They had all been lived in at one time or another but their state of live ability had long passed.  Some peeling wallpaper, floorboards rotted through, a few old pipes scattered about & of course bullet holes in the walls.  Shotgun I think. 

   

ALWAYS SEEMS TO BE LOTS OF BULLET HOLES IN EVERYTHING OUT HERE IN THE WEST

 

Seemed the further we headed the more scenic things became.  We were somewhere South-East of Wickenburg moving in a South-Eastern direction for most of the day.  Didn’t know it at the time but we were heading in the direction of Lake Pleasant just north of Phoenix.  This was actually the trip we had planned to go on with Jim & Bev back in March of 2012.  We had to back out of the Jeep tour at the time because we were right in the middle of house negotiations with our Prescott Realtor.

 

Another stop had us at an old active windmill not far off the road.  Two water troughs here were being fed cold clear spring water from the windmill.  Cooling green grass was abundant under the Mesquite trees around the tanks & windmill.  How nice to see water & grass together out there in the rough & tumble dry dusty landscape.  Thought to myself, ‘what a great place to leave a Critter Cam for the night.  Lot of animal tracks in the soft sand nearby.

GOT ANOTHER WINDMILL FOR YA MIKE

  

  

 

JIM SPOTTED SOME JUNK ON THE DESERT FLOOR SO WE STOPPED TO CHECK IT OUT

Another 40 minutes or so rumbling our way along we came around a corner where the road was bordered on the right by a stone wall alongside the road.  Obviously built to hold a river back in Monsoon season.  Immediately to the left we saw large Palm trees & an expanse of green grass.  Some building structures at the foot of a rock base.  We had reached the northern edge of CASTLE HOT SPRINGS.  The site enjoys a rich and lengthy history stretching back to the pre-settlement Apaches who attributed healing powers to the hot, clear water that poured out from the canyon rock.  Castle Hot Springs served as the first territorial capital of Arizona as well as a retreat for wealthy businessmen, politicians, and even presidents.  These waters were advertised as a cure for a long list of ailments and are the source of a verdant oasis in a landscape dominated by cactus and desert scrub.

 

STONE WALL ON RIGHT AS PALM TREES SUDDENLY APPEAR AHEAD ON LEFT

HORSE STABLES IN FOREGROUND & GRASSY AREA SURROUNDED BY PALMS

We pulled the Jeeps over & got out.  A short walk up the road led us into a grove of Palms where we could see piping in & on the ground from the days when this was a literally an Oasis in the desert.  Another short walk up the road gave us a view of the grandness that once was.  It was the horse riding area back in the era of the Spa’s hay day.   Tall stately Palm trees ringed what looked like a large football sized green grassy area.  Maybe they played Polo here many, many, years ago back in the 1920’s.  Tall mountains surrounded us on all sides.

 

A WALK INTO A PALM GROVE

CHECKING OUT SOME PALM TREE DROPPINGS

A short drive led us by more Palm groves scattered along both sides of the gravely road.  Around a corner & down through a bumpity wash we entered a turn to the left & immediately could see an abundance of tall Palms framing what looked like an expanse of cleared desert sand.  We were at the heart of Castle Hot Springs.  A grand looking old building hove into view back from the road quite a ways.  Reminded me of Georgian mansion.   This was the hot springs area itself.  I began to imagine the grounds filled with people from afar.  It is said folks from all over the world came here to these refreshing & healing mineral springs.  Native Indians, Presidents, politicians, dignitaries & wealthy business folks.  What a grand place it must have been in it’s day.  And what a grand day it was we had with Bev & Jim.  It was at this point, our last stop, that we all said our good-byes for the day.  Although we did convoy all the way back to Wickenburg we had different destinations when we got there.  A great big huge ‘Thank You’ to Bev & Jim for another great Arizona Jeeping day:))

 

THIS WAS THE HEART OF CASTLE HOT SPRINGS

SAYING OUR GOOD-BYES AT THE CONCLUSION OF ANOTHER GREAT DAY

Before we all reached pavement again I was surprised how close to Lake Pleasant today’s journey had taken us.  I recognized the lake far off on the horizon & the point where gravely sand turned to pavement was familiar. 

LESLIE TAKES SOME PICS OF A WILD BURROW

Kelly & I had just been on that road in that area back in early December I think.  From Lake Pleasant back to Wickenburg (on smooth pavement:)) was about half an hour.  Our destination was Basha’s supermarket for some milk but we didn’t quite make it.  A last minute decision from the back seat had me slingshot around a round-about & head back about a block to IKE'S COOK SHACK.  It was 4 o’clock, we had been on the trail since before 10 in the morning & we were hungry.  Good food all way round & especially the yummy Pecan pie.

 

WE TOLD PETER IF HE STOOD ON ONE LEG FOR 3 MINUTES HE MIGHT GET A FREE PIECE OF PIE

KELLY TRIES THE SPAGHETTI

Quick stop at Bashas where Leslie picked up some milk & we headed it for home just as the sun was setting.  We sure had one happy exuberant little doggy when we got back.  It’s a wonder her bum didn’t fly off from all the tail wagging.  But our happy feeling was cut short.  We were just unloading the Jeep when a young fellow walked in the driveway asking if we had seen a tawny colored dog.  He said the dog’s name was Dally.  Someone had left a gate open this afternoon & Dally had got out.  Pheebs & I right away jumped into the Jeep & took a drive around the neighborhood.  Nothing.  Leslie & Peter walked around the block & said they heard a dog barking over by the school.  Kelly, Pheebs, & jumped back in the Jeep & head out again but to no avail.  So at the time of this posting tonight Dally is still missing.  With the number of Coyotes coming in from the desert each night I am not too hopeful for Dally’s survival.  We will again look in the morning………………………. 

GROANER’S CORNER:((  A politician was running for re-election and was talking at a campaign stop to his constituents.  "My opponent has called me a liar. Rest assured, I have never lied to you. The only problem I have is that the facts don't always match up with what I believe."

-------------------------------------------------------------
- Tourists see the world, travelers experience it.
- Home is where your pet is:))
- "If having a soul means being able to feel
love and loyalty and gratitude, then animals
are better off than a lot of humans."
(James Herriot)
- The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails -William Arthur Ward
- The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...AL.
- It is not so much having nothing to do as it is not having the interest to do something....AL.

STARTED THE DAY WITH A ROCK SCRAMBLE & FINISHED IT WITH A CAMPFIRE

KELLY LOOKS TOWARDS THE RIDGE PEAK WE ARE CONTEMPLATING CLIMBING
 
HMMMM, IS THIS SOMETHING I REALLY WANT TO DO

THE CLIMB UP OFF THE DESERT FLOOR BEGINS…PETER & KELLY ARE VISIBLE ON THE TRAIL
It’s not every night I get to sleep bathed in Moonlight but the last few nights that is exactly what has been happening.  Our rig faces West which means the big back window at the head of the bed faces East.  Leaving the sunshade & blind up allows the Moonbeams to flood across my bed.  And when the Moon has slipped into the western sky how nice it is to look up & see all the stars through the window twinkling high above.

PICKING OUR WAY THROUGH THE BOULDERS
  
STOPPING FOR A PHOTO & ATOP THE RIDGE
Another great night for Pheebs & I in the rig.  Much easier in the Winnie Wagon with just one person instead of two.  I don’t mind small spaces but find it hard sharing small spaces.  Must say I do envy all that space folks have in their 40+ feet Diesel Bangers, 5th wheels & travel trailers.  I would love all that freedom of movement.  Bigger washroom, bigger kitchen area, bigger bedroom, & the bigger list just goes on & on.  Knowing me I would enjoy driving a 40’ Class A (our Damon was 33’)but I would not enjoy the loss of freedom it might incur when wanting to go to spots we like to go.  With our smaller Class C we can pop into pretty well any gas station anywhere.  McDonalds & Cracker Barrel parking lots are not a problem.  Cozy boondocking spots could be a challenge with the risk of damaging something even greater.  And from reading many blogs over the years it almost seems to me the bigger the rig the more problem prone it can be.  More things to go wrong I suppose.  And more money to get those wrong things fixed.  But I sure do like all that great spacious room inside.  Can’t argue with that in my books………..
 
KELLY POINTS OUT THE SHADOW COWBOY TAKING THE PICTURE…DATE CREEK MOUNTAINS IN THE BACKGROUND
This morning’s walk destination was more of a rock scrambling hike destination.  In back of our place a block away is a tall rocky ridge running along.  That ridge often appears in many of my backyard photos.  The ridge has a summit with a Palo Verde tree & a large rock forming a gap in between.  Kelly, Peter, & I headed for that gap this morning.

A 300mm VIEW OF OUR HOUSE FROM THE GAP

A 300mm VIEW OF THE GAP FROM OUR HOUSE
A trail is visible at the beginning winding it’s way up through the large boulders but the farther one goes the less visible the trail becomes & that’s where the rock scrambling begins.  Sometimes we were on the trail & sometimes we were not.  Wasn’t long in shedding my flannel shirt leaving it on a rock alongside the trail.  Stepping carefully & sometimes following the Pheebs ahead of us we finally reached a ridge.  Just short of the final steep & a bit difficult rock scramble to the summit is a flat area on top of that ridge.  Kelly remained here to work on a couple rock Cairns.

THE SCATTERED LITTLE TOWN OF CONGRESS AZ STRETCHES OUT BELOW
For Kelly & I this was our second climb up to the ridge.  In March when my painful hip began feeling a bit better last winter we did make the same climb.  Kelly built a couple rock Cairns then but gusty winds toppled them a few days later.  This morning she was determined to erect a couple more.

THE VIEW THROUGH THE GAP & OUR HOUSE IS ACTUALLY VISIBLE JUST TOP OF DEAD CENTER
Peter & I did make it another hundred yards to the top both using slightly different routes through the jumbled boulders.  At one point I saw Peter on his belly squeezing through a narrow rock opening. 

SAW SOMETHING EMERGING FROM BETWEEN TWO ROCKS
 
TURNS OUT IT WAS PETER SQUEEZING HIMSELF TO BITS BETWEEN TWO BOULDERS
Minutes later we were both standing in the gap atop the ridge between the Palo Verde tree & a large boulder.  Great views of Congress to the southeast spread out across the desert floor.  The Weaver Mountains were visible to our northeast, The Wickenburg Mountains stood far off to the East while Vulture Peak rose sharply out of a hazy horizon to our South.  The Harquahala Mountains are the highest mountain range in southwestern Arizona & we could see them looming up in the far distant desert mists to the South-West. ( see our HARQUAHALA PEAK....AN OLD SMITHSONIAN OBSERVATORY & OUR TOUGHEST JEEP CHALLENGE YET) To our North-west rising closest out of the desert floor were the southern end of the Date Creek Mountains.  Between us & the Date Creek mountains stretched the vast desert where we have taken many of our Jeep trips & morning walks.  Nice feeling of accomplishment standing there this morning in the quickly warming sun gazing about all around us.  Because I am familiar with the area I was able to point out points of interest to Peter.  We lingered about 10 minutes before tackling the really tough part of any climbing rock scramble……going down.

PHEEBS & PETER STAND IN THE ‘GAP’ OVERLOOKING OUR CONGRESS NEIGHBORHOOD BELOW
   
NOW HERE’S A HAPPY GUY JUST ENJOYING THE SCENERY ON A FINE SUNNY ARIZONA MORNING
Of course going up & down is never a problem for Pheebs.  While Peter & I were at the ridge summit Pheebs made two trips back down to where Kelly was working on her rock cairns & back up again to check on Peter & I.

Picking our way carefully down through the rough & tumble boulders Peter & I carefully made our way to where Kelly was & we all began our descent…..but not on the trail. 

 
I THINK WE GO THAT WAY KEMOSABE
 
We couldn’t seem to find it for the most part so it took us longer coming down as we stumbled our way over rocks through prickly Cactus.  Probably had something to do with us deciding on a short cut of course.  Those ‘short cuts’ inevitably end up in the dumpster somewhere causing the short cut-eee double the energy expenditure. 

GEEEZZZZ, THERE’S GOTTA BE A TRAIL AROUND HERE SOMEWHERE
 
NOT SO SURE THIS WAS SUCH A GOOD IDEA
Peter picked up some cactus barbs in his right leg.  Luckily it was Pheebs who a couple times showed us the trail again but only long enough for us to lose it again.  As we made our way closer to the bottom of the ridge the trail finally became clearer again & we made our way quickly to the rock base & welcome flat ground.  And we only had a block to walk to get home………….Nice:))
 
AND FINALLY WE WERE DOWN FROM ATOP THAT POINTY ROCK RIDGE AT TOP LEFT
While Peter worked away at getting the stickers out of his leg Pheebs & I came out to the rig for a short Siesta & morning snack.  Not necessarily in that order though.  Kelly came out & said she had made some Olive Garden soup so we went in for lunch.  Didn’t tell her Pheebs & I just had some lunch.  Us guys are always up for a second lunch for sure:)) 

CAN YOU FIND KELLY
Rest of the day was quiet.  Peter, Leslie, & Kelly, are all bookworms so they spend a lot of time reading.  My bookworm prowess has still not returned since reading my last book about 3 years ago.  I have books here waiting to be read but I just have not got at em yet………………….  
 
CONGRESS SCHOOL VISIBLE IN LEFT PHOTO
Well I’ll be darned if I didn’t have to break out a fan early this afternoon here in the rig.  First time I can recall having a cooling fan on this year here.

KELLY’S ROCK CAIRNS
Pat McFall had sent us an Escapee newsletter saying an hour’s talk was to be given at North Ranch in the clubhouse today at 4.  Thought it might be something we might be interested in & we were.  Congress’s Fire Chief gave a talk on what to do if one has a vehicle breakdown in the desert.  Very informative & we will not be leaving home again without our Delorme P40 GPS device.

CONGRESS’S FIRE CHIEF GIVES A TALK ON DESERT SAFETY
Spent a bit of time updating pages in our, ‘A Little Bit About The Bayfield Bunch’ section which can be found towards the bottom of our side bar on the right.  I have 3 pages there telling all about us, where we met, why we decided on the RV Snow Bird lifestyle, our early days together, some background info on each one of us including our parents, how we became the Bayfield Bunch, plus other little tidbits along the way…..

KELLY’S ROCK CAIRN
We have a satellite dome on our rig wired in & set up for Dish TV but we have never activated it.  We have gone back & forth on the decision of whether to do so or not.  If we were full-timers the decision would have been easy right from the start.  Yes, let’s fire it up.  But with our Snow Birding ways & less boondocking days it is hard to justify the expense.  And how drastically important is TV anymore with all the shlock & ever growing even shlockier shows on.  Still, if we were fulltiming it is something we would probably do.  Randy & Pam over at THE ROADRUNNER CHRONICLES, now in Quartzsite just swapped out their Kingdome satellite dish for a WINEGARD TRAV'LER fold down dish a few days ago giving them the best high definition TV they have ever had.  Slip on over & Randy will tell you all about the installation complete with photos.    

<<< LIKED HOW THE SUN WAS LIGHTING MY ‘HOPPY’ PHOTO TODAY.  THANKS AGAIN RUSS & DONNA:))
Name of the artist on that odd painting we bought a week ago is Courtney Moyah.  Haven’t been able to find out a whole lot about the artist as of yet but we’re still looking around on the internet.  Might be a connection to the Tohono O’odham Indian band but not sure.

Finished our day with a backyard campfire & a bit of stargazing.  We have a backyard campfire pit in our Bayfield back yard as well.

 
GROANER’S CORNER:((  Will - Why do you water your lawn with whisky?  Bill - So that it comes up half-cut.
Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
All the kings' horses,
And all the kings' men.
Had scrambled eggs,
For breakfast again.

-------------------------------------------------------------
- Tourists see the world, travelers experience it.
- Home is where your pet is:))
- "If having a soul means being able to feel
love and loyalty and gratitude, then animals
are better off than a lot of humans."
(James Herriot)
- The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails -William Arthur Ward
- The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...AL.
- It is not so much having nothing to do as it is not having the interest to do something....AL.