Any run this/next weekend
- Thread starter medtro
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Great day on the trails! I think we hit all of them in the area 'cept the one we intended to.
So there is unfinished biz and the plan is to get it right in the morning. We are meeting in Cleator at 9:30 AM for another day on the trails.
So there is unfinished biz and the plan is to get it right in the morning. We are meeting in Cleator at 9:30 AM for another day on the trails.
ChaseTruck
--
Great day on the trails! I think we hit all of them in the area 'cept the one we intended to.
Awesome day out there! I apologize for being on Island time getting to Bumble Bee this morning...
Just two quick pics, don't have many, first Brian, and then Claudia. Remember they tell you to stay away from mines out in the mountains? Well, we did. We successfully 'avoided' all 13 mines that were supposed to be along the trail...
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so this is how it really went:
We needed to retrieve Michael's truck from the storage lot (which, despite advertised 6am opening was not open until 8am)
by 8:10, we had the truck freed from the tarp
I figured now we would proceed to meet up in Bumble Bee. So, I went on, and Michael took some time that he needed to bond with the truck (meaning put the spare gas cans on, air up, gas up and just fondle it.....)
so I get into Bumble Bee (at exactly 9:30 ;p) and Kevin was already there - who woulda thunk ? ;p
he tells me he got it all checked out, this particular road is the way to go - it has one fork that goes to the left and is likely the one that we want, and then it also has the other fork that just goes up the hill to this mine [which, incidentally, was my first wheeling trip in my this cruiser 3 years ago], and he could not see whether this would connect to where we really wanted to go [I sure don't remember a connection there...................]
we wait some more for Kevin's brothers to turn up, and finally, Michael makes it....
quick air-down, off we go.....
only hitch is: the plan we have is a printed description of where to go from north to south (with detailed, GPS-detail coordinates!) and the description becoming progressively more vague towards the south --- but by some divine decree, we are to go from south to north
and then it unfolded, as is very customary....................., we meet an intersection soon.......
to cut the long story short:
we went into every single possible dead-end out there (and that even excludes the two trails definitely ending at a mine - as far as we could see already from a distance .... )
really, we musta taken at least some 6 roads to nowhere
of course, I was the only one to have topomaps.....
yeah, like that helped
no, really, our GPS cookie-crumbs look like a star
but, would you believe it, out of all the trails we tried (the second last one was pretty sure to dead-end, although Kevin's brother didn't know that
), the seventh finally turned out to get us into the valley we had been wanting to get down to
we went down a side-track that - out of the three choices available at the time - was the least travelled (yes, I also wondered why)
but it turned out the be - literally - the straightest route down the mountain steep and washed-out, but doable.....
from below, the ridge-road that would have continued another mile also dropped down the side of hill, also quite straightly so - who is to say who could have known which way down would have been scarier 
anyway - we continued to explore side trails......
[which, of course, in normal speak means, we stopped, looked around.......]
and finally made it into Cleator
so, in summary, we went plenty trails for which no map exists
we had a great time out there
we didn't make it into the canyon/creek/wash we had originally planned :whoops:
but proceeded to find a cool way out and had loads of fun
so now, with more maps to consult, and given that there cannot possibly be a single dead-end left for us that we haven't taken yet
we will just blaze through it tomorrow
Turkey Creek that is.....
I should also mention:
watch out for ATVs
We needed to retrieve Michael's truck from the storage lot (which, despite advertised 6am opening was not open until 8am)
by 8:10, we had the truck freed from the tarp
I figured now we would proceed to meet up in Bumble Bee. So, I went on, and Michael took some time that he needed to bond with the truck (meaning put the spare gas cans on, air up, gas up and just fondle it.....)
so I get into Bumble Bee (at exactly 9:30 ;p) and Kevin was already there - who woulda thunk ? ;p
he tells me he got it all checked out, this particular road is the way to go - it has one fork that goes to the left and is likely the one that we want, and then it also has the other fork that just goes up the hill to this mine [which, incidentally, was my first wheeling trip in my this cruiser 3 years ago], and he could not see whether this would connect to where we really wanted to go [I sure don't remember a connection there...................]
we wait some more for Kevin's brothers to turn up, and finally, Michael makes it....
quick air-down, off we go.....
only hitch is: the plan we have is a printed description of where to go from north to south (with detailed, GPS-detail coordinates!) and the description becoming progressively more vague towards the south --- but by some divine decree, we are to go from south to north
and then it unfolded, as is very customary....................., we meet an intersection soon.......
to cut the long story short:
we went into every single possible dead-end out there (and that even excludes the two trails definitely ending at a mine - as far as we could see already from a distance .... )
really, we musta taken at least some 6 roads to nowhere
of course, I was the only one to have topomaps.....
yeah, like that helped
no, really, our GPS cookie-crumbs look like a star
but, would you believe it, out of all the trails we tried (the second last one was pretty sure to dead-end, although Kevin's brother didn't know that
), the seventh finally turned out to get us into the valley we had been wanting to get down towe went down a side-track that - out of the three choices available at the time - was the least travelled (yes, I also wondered why
)but it turned out the be - literally - the straightest route down the mountain
steep and washed-out, but doable..... from below, the ridge-road that would have continued another mile also dropped down the side of hill, also quite straightly so
- who is to say who could have known which way down would have been scarier anyway - we continued to explore side trails......
[which, of course, in normal speak means, we stopped, looked around.......
]and finally made it into Cleator
so, in summary, we went plenty trails for which no map exists
we had a great time out there
we didn't make it into the canyon/creek/wash we had originally planned :whoops:
but proceeded to find a cool way out and had loads of fun
so now, with more maps to consult, and given that there cannot possibly be a single dead-end left for us that we haven't taken yet
we will just blaze through it tomorrow Turkey Creek that is.....
I should also mention:
watch out for ATVs
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I'm thinking that the Pattersons, Claudia and Michael have alot in common with "Lost in Space" or "Gilligan's Island".
I may have to get off the couch and help you guys with your navigation.
ps, how bad did you guys get lost today?
I may have to get off the couch and help you guys with your navigation.
ps, how bad did you guys get lost today?
today was a fantastic day 
we went from Cleator south to check out some mines
there is "remediation" going on, meaning earth has been pushed around, flattened out, shafts have been filled, foundations and other stuff buried, even a whole palm up to its fronds and the landscape around those sites looks plain UGLY 
but the further south we went, the less things were disturbed, and actually, there were very few people out there considering it's a holiday weekend
after checking out some side roads, we then dropped into Turkey Creek Canyon - beautiful - it becomes Black Canyon
we followed the creek bed and checked out some more mines (by which time I was like "one mine is just like the next")
it's funny how even when there is only the canyon to follow, you can still get lost (actually, I had gone so far ahead, I went AWOL for a while ;p) - they toiled through the rocks in the creek while I had taken the smoother bypass
there were some interesting ruts, climbs and an obstacle that none of us wanted to slide off of, and luckily there was a by-pass road
eventually, the trail climbs out of the canyon - not without going by another mine - and connects to the southern part of Castle Creek Canyon
we came out by Bumble Bee
the sights and scenery were awesome, we met only 2 ATVs and 3 Jeeps all day
we couldn't take enough pictures to capture it all - really a superb wheeling day
we went from Cleator south to check out some mines
there is "remediation" going on, meaning earth has been pushed around, flattened out, shafts have been filled, foundations and other stuff buried, even a whole palm up to its fronds
and the landscape around those sites looks plain UGLY but the further south we went, the less things were disturbed, and actually, there were very few people out there considering it's a holiday weekend
after checking out some side roads, we then dropped into Turkey Creek Canyon - beautiful - it becomes Black Canyon
we followed the creek bed and checked out some more mines (by which time I was like "one mine is just like the next"
)it's funny how even when there is only the canyon to follow, you can still get lost
(actually, I had gone so far ahead, I went AWOL for a while ;p) - they toiled through the rocks in the creek while I had taken the smoother bypass there were some interesting ruts, climbs and an obstacle that none of us wanted to slide off of, and luckily there was a by-pass road
eventually, the trail climbs out of the canyon - not without going by another mine
- and connects to the southern part of Castle Creek Canyonwe came out by Bumble Bee
the sights and scenery were awesome, we met only 2 ATVs and 3 Jeeps all day
we couldn't take enough pictures to capture it all - really a superb wheeling day
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I'm thinking that the Pattersons, Claudia and Michael have alot in common with "Lost in Space" or "Gilligan's Island".
I may have to get off the couch and help you guys with your navigation.
ps, how bad did you guys get lost today?
We had a great time being lost today, but thanks for asking!;p
Anyone else going to wheel tomorrow or will we have the trails to our selfs again!
Anyone else going to wheel tomorrow or will we have the trails to our selfs again!
I'm in, but you didn't mention where, when, or what.
Thank goodness Claudia keeps me informed.
-Spike
inkpot
SILVER Star
Howdy! Is that the same as Montana Mountain trail? That one runs north of Superior. John
ChaseTruck
--
Awesome day, great scenery, a few interesting hillclimbs, found all the mines we set out to find.
Couple of quick pics: Claudia's 40 at the lunch spot, and a mutant Saguaro...
Couple of quick pics: Claudia's 40 at the lunch spot, and a mutant Saguaro...
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I'm in, but you didn't mention where, when, or what.
Thank goodness Claudia keeps me informed.
-Spike
Just didn't feel like typing all of the info, if no one was coming!
Just didn't feel like typing all of the info, if no one was coming!
You mean like the Baja at Ft. McDowell, 9AM, for Log Corral?
-Spike
well at least you found the right trail today,,, i remember when one could drive that shelf but now its a motorbike only affair. and all the dirt pushed around is new since i been there last.
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You mean like the Baja at Ft. McDowell, 9AM, for Log Corral?
-Spike
That would be the one, would you like a map?
Awesome day, great scenery, a few interesting hillclimbs, found all the mines we set out to find.
Couple of quick pics: Claudia's 40 at the lunch spot, and a mutant Saguaro...
Not a mutant Saguaro its a Crested Saguaro
SnowbirdsJust returned from Tucson Desert Museum and Saquaro National Park
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Hey, tried to respond to your PM but your box is full. Nobody responded so I ended up hitting the Zoo with the fam. Might want to do something next Saturday morning. Invsted in the Massey book and I was thinking of knocking some of those trails off around Butterfield Pass. Wife keeps me on the easier stuff with the family in tow
ChaseTruck
--
12-hour marathon today, first Log Corral over to Bartlett Lake, and back to Beeline via FR393/Powerline road (most of the latter in the dark). Awesome day, thanks to Spike and Kevin for all their spotting help, things get tight every now and then with the fullsize. Just a few pics:
