Arizona Adventures - Part 3

The Grand Canyon of Bouse (insert trumpet fanfare here)

The young man at the tire store in Bouse is an off-roader.  Mike asked him what, if anything, was east of the highway, as we had spent all our time riding trails west.  He said we could go to the Grand Canyon of Bouse, which, he said, is just a big hole in the ground (well, really, isn't that a description of the Grand Canyon?). He kindly drew us a map with only a couple of significant omissions.  After wandering around a bit, we stumbled on it.  

Grand Canyon of Bouse

Lots of old mining activity around it.  And it is just a big hole in the ground.

One day we were parked in a wash in the shade, having lunch.  A guy on a four-wheeler passed us going the other way and he stopped to talk.  In the front basket he had two Yorkies, Lola's mortal enemies. She had a fit jumping up and down so I put her back in the Rhino but I didn't fasten her clip to the frame.  

The guy said goodbye and headed down the trail.  We decided to pack up and go.  And we were a dog short.  Looking in the direction of the ATV, we saw Lola, legs pumping like pistons and tail flying, disappearing over the hill in hot pursuit.  We turned the Rhino around and started up the trail to recover her.  In 50 yards or so, here she came over the crest of the hill, hot, thirsty, and unsuccessful.

On our last day in Bouse, we went back to the box canyon, hoping to see big horn sheep.  There were people at the end of the canyon who said "Oh, yes, there were three of them here just a few minutes ago."  Of course, they were long gone.  And so were the 10 mule deer they saw.  AARRRGGHHH.

The lady is the group warned us she had thrown away a turkey sandwich because it had gone bad.  Of course, Muppet and Lola found it, with predictable results. 

What's a guzzler?

This funnels rain into a basin underneath.

Watering hole fed by the catch basin.

Water is scarce in these parts.  AZ Game & Fish constructs these rainwater catch basins for the wildlife.  

There is a small outdoor park on the highway which goes through Bouse, a memorial to the WWII tank crews who trained here and fought in Europe.  

Eight Ball, the morale officer at Camp Bouse.
Slain by a jealous rival, according to the plaque.

We have had a great time and are headed home.  Will spend tonight in Tacna AZ and tomorrow night at a park in Willcox AZ.  Home to Deming Saturday.  

Arizona Adventures - Part 2

Lost Again:  The Search for Preacher's Pass

It's that way!

The trails around Bouse bear a striking resemblance to a bowl of spaghetti.  You start out thinking you know how to get to a point on Google Earth and find you are completely headed down the wrong trail.

For three days we searched for one of the trails leading to Preacher's Pass.  Local lore has it that the area preacher rode over the pass from Brenda to Bouse to conduct Sunday services....NO WAY.  It took us all day to get to the pass from Bouse, much less to Brenda.  

Some of you may be wondering "How hard can it be to find a mountain?"  Well, the problem is that other mountains keep getting in the way.  Every time you come around a curve you think "Okay, we are getting there."  And you aren't.  Can't see the pass until you are almost directly below it. The pass is actually not visible in the photo...it's behind the mountain where you see the trail, up another mountain.

See the road to the pass?

Great views and a popular spot.  When we reached the pass, we had it to ourselves.  By the time we left, there were 13 people and 7 rigs at the pass.  Not a trail for the faint-hearted, I might add. 

Convention at Preacher's Pass

See the bulldogs?  The owner told us one had backed into a teddy bear cactus and a chunk stuck and broke off.  The unfortunate dog tried to lick it off.  It took two guys and a pair of pliers to get all the spines out of the dog's tongue and rump.  

Teddy bear cactus

On our way back, we encountered another traveler who said he had just passed three big horn sheep close enough to the trail to see clearly.  By the time we got to the spot, they were gone.  Drat.


Took part of a day and drove over to Parker, CA to visit my Hidden Valley Ranch neighbors, Gary (Gary is a girl) and Craig Stewart.  They spend winters in Parker, spring/fall in Deming.  

The old iron bridge at Parker.  No longer in use.

The Colorado River

Note to potential visitors to Parker AZ in the winter:

Plan to spend at least two hours in Walmart buying groceries. Many, many, many retired couples whose weekly social outing is Walmart.  Patience, Mary Anne...

Woke up the other morning to a VERY COLD RPOD  (low 50's).  (It is hot in the desert during the day but gets cold at night.  Our 85-year-old neighbor saw us thrashing around and asked what we were doing.  Talking with him, Mike isolated the problem to a bad propane regulator valve.  Of course, there's nowhere in Bouse to buy such a thing. 

Excursion to Quartzite.  Another note:  don't go to Quartzite.  Small town completely overrun with winter visitors.  It took us two stops to find a regulator valve which would work.  (On the positive side, Mike saw three big horn sheep about 100 yards off the Bouse-Quartzite Road.  I missed them as I was driving.)

Sign in the hardware store in Quartzite

Okay, so back to Bouse.  And a very long afternoon for Mike getting the new valve installed.  But it works:  we have range burners and a furnace again.

Arizona Off Road Adventures - Part 1

February 1 - Monday

Wow, what a BUSY two weeks!  We left Deming January 17, stopping at the Walmart Hilton in Buckeye AZ overnight as going all the way to Bouse was too far for me.  (I get tired and I make mistakes when it's over 300 miles.)  I am pulling Mike's Yamaha Rhino on my trailer behind the Jeep and he is pulling the RPOD behind his truck.  Our friend from Hidden Valley, Gilbert Minzenmayer, is with us with his big trailer and truck.

Gilbert and Mike at the Walmart Hilton patio.

Found the park in Bouse (rhymes with house) the next day and got checked in.  Immediately unloaded the ATV's and hit the trails right out of the park.  Great access.

The trails were originally cut into the desert to support mining operations, some from the late 19th century, others from the 20th.  

Another interesting fact about this tiny town:  it was the location of a super secret Army training base during WWII.

Camp Bouse

There is a one-room museum here (which also doubles as the Chamber of Commerce).  We stopped by the other day during one of the few days/hours it is open.  

There is a little general store here, A&C Mercantile, which carries (mostly) beer, chips, lunch stuff.  Step inside and you are back in the 1930's.  The other little market has even less...beer, ice, beer, beer, beer...

Thoughts on desert botany:

I am astounded at the diversity and tenacity of the desert plants we are seeing.  It's very different from what grows around Deming...some mesquite and greasewood and creosote but the species of cacti are quite different.  

The cacti are beautiful and very well armed.  If you are not careful and you brush against one, you will be very sorry.  Mike clipped one with the Yamaha.  Result below.

This one forms "forests."

 The two varieties below appear to a litter of some small furry animals.

And the plants take root and thrive in the unlikeliest-looking places, in solid rock.

Saguaro growing out of a mountainside.

The saguaro cactus is unique to the Sonoran desert and there are many around Bouse.

Saguaro

(Note to readers:  my camera lost its date one day so anything dated 1/1/2016 was actually taken probably on 1/27.  Problem identified and fixed.)


Much more to come as we continue to explore this fascinating area over the next two weeks.