Views from the Mogollon Rim

 

We have been riding the forest service roads and trails in the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest.  The Mogollon Rim is a kind of ridge and there are many good views from there.  There is a trail named the 300 that follows the rim and is along the border of Apache reservation and public forest land.  You need a permit to camp or fish on the reservation otherwise there is no trespassing allowed.  We have seen lots of wildlife on our rides.  They didn't get much snow this winter or rain in the spring so nothing has really greened up.  Its a good thing the Ponderosa Pines and Juniper needles are always green or everything would be brown.  

We have been doing a lot of riding being afraid that the views would be gone because of all the smoke from all the fires that are going.  So far we haven't had any smoke at the campground and the haze has been in the far, far distance.  We did have one scare with a fire starting twenty miles west of us.  They had to close the highway all the way up to where we are staying.  Our truck was in for repair so if we would have had to evacuate we would have had to throw what we could in our rented car and leave.  Thankfully, the fire moved north instead of toward us and they reopened the highway.   It is supposed to start raining this week which if it really does should reduce the fire threat.  The fire danger right now is so high that they have closed the forest to all activity.

Our Summer Home

 We are enjoying our stay up in the mountains of Arizona for the summer.  We are in a small campground and our site backs up to the national forest.  We set up our chairs in the shade overlooking the forest.  So far we have seen cows and coyotes.  The cows are gone now after having finished grazing on what little grass there was.  They were rounded up and moved to greener pastures.  There isn't much green here with it being the driest here in years.  We are hoping to see some rain soon with the start of the monsoon season but everyone is skeptical that we will get much moisture.

We have been out 4wheeling in the forest.  We can ride right from the park and there are many miles of roads and trails to explore.  We have been checking out areas with water tanks.  The tanks are for the cows that graze out in the forest but elk, deer and wild horses use them also.  Our best chance to see and get pictures of wildlife is close to these tanks.  

Cemeteries and Memorials

 Out by the old Vulture Mine west of Wickenburg is  the cemetery for the people that lived and worked out by the mine.  It had some really old graves from the 1800's.  One section was for children -- very sad how many of them died so young but it was a tough way of life.  

When we left Quartzsite and headed toward Wickenburg we made a stop in the little town of Salome.   There isn't a lot to see in this town - one good bar/restarurant and a few RV parks that cater to snow birds.  So I thought it was interesting that they had this memorial in town.  It is a piece of melted steel from one of the two towers of the World Trade Building.  It would be interesting to know the story of how it got here in the middle of nowhere Arizona.   

Another Old Mine

 While we were in Wickenburg we took one ride out into the desert.  It was a nice road and a beautiful day.  We went as far as this old mine.  There is another mine along this road but we opted to turn around at this point.  We never ride too many miles in one trip or at least we try not to because the farther you go the farther you have to come back.  There are several other roads/trails you can take by leaving right from the campground.  Wickenburg is a great town to visit but there is a lot of traffic that comes through there because two main highways come together right at the start of downtown.  

We left Wickenburg and got through Phoenix early on a Sunday morning so the six lanes of freeway traffic was fairly light.  We drove up to our summer destination in the White Mountains.  The road we took was good but you still go up and down some pretty good hills with some 6 percent grades.  This road gets heavy traffic on the weekends.   Many folks from the Phoenix area come up to the mountains in the summer to escape the heat.  So far we have to agree the mountains are much cooler.  While Yuma is hitting the 100 degree mark we have enjoyed 70's and low 80's.  

Wickenburg Museum

 

 While we were in Wickenburg we visited the museum in town.  We have been before and they always have a nice collection of art.  They were featuring women artists that specialized in western themes.  Most of the art was for sale.  We liked the picture I have here but a little too spendy for us.  The sculpture on display was a Remington.   They have a few other Remingtons but most of what was on display was the featured womens art.  The basement has the museum artifacts.  They have recreated a few of the town's buildings and stuffed them with antiques.

Wickenburg is a fun little western town to visit.  There is a guided tour you can take if you want to pay.   We saw some folks in golf cars being ridden around town taking the tour.  They would stop at one of the old buildings downtown and someone in old time costume would give a little spiel about the history of the building and the people that were noteworthy.  If your in need of a saddle or cowboy hat, etc.  You can find it here.

Baby Quail

 You might have to click on the pictures to see the babies.  Our RV site in Wickenburg was up against the backside of the park.  There was a mulberry tree with ripe fruit right next to us and it attracted all kinds of birds including these quail.  If you look at the little ones closely you can see the start of their little crowns of feathers on top of their heads.  The babies were fun to watch.  Mom would get a nice berry and one of the babies would come and snatch it from her.  What really amazed us was that when they were startled and started to run for cover they could actually fly.  You wouldn't think they have enough feathers to make flight possible. 

We enjoyed our time in Wickenburg.  We took one ATV ride which was nice.   We walked up town on the nice walkway they have put in to get across the Hassayampa River.  The river is dry most of the year but it does run underground.  What is hilarious is your looking down from the walkway on the bridge at the dry riverbed below and they have "no fishing from bridge" signs.

Quartzsite Gold & Lead

 

Our big haul from our gold mining in Quartzsite is what you see in the blue pan.  Small amount but very pretty.  Now if only what's in the other picture was gold.  It is all the lead I have found with my metal detector.  The detector can tell you if its iron or non iron meaning lead and/or gold.  It cant tell the difference between lead and gold.  I have watched U tube videos of how to use my metal detector and if you get good enough you can tell by the slight difference in the sound it makes.  I think I will be digging up a lot more lead before I get that good.

We packed up and left Quartzsite just as it was starting to get really warm.  The weather for the month of April was very nice while we were there.  We still had to go out early in the morning to gold prospect but it wasn't beastly hot by 9am so that was nice.   Now we are in Wickenburg which is about 90 miles east of Quartzsite and closer to Phoenix.  It is a little cooler here because it is at a little higher elevation.  The campground we are staying at is close enough to downtown Wickenburg that we can walk uptown and see the sights.  We  are staying here for a little while waiting for it to quit snowing up by Show Low --our home for the summer.