This will be a duel post, first to show and tell where we are; then to tell about Barbie.
Part 1; Arizonia
We arrived last Thursday, April 7, at the Escapes' 'Saguaro Park' Campground, in Benson, AZ. We had originally planned on staying 2-3 days and then head up to Quartzite, AZ for a week of dry camping in the desert. Well after we got here and had seen some of the land while getting here, we decided to stay for a full week. The place looked very comfortable and as always at SKPs' parks it was friendly from the time we opened the office door to check in. Here's a few pics, I'll enter short explanations of each, but again, a picture just doesn't show it !
We're leaving New Mexico here, looking west.
This was one of the many mountains that teased us for what was to come.
Off in the distance we could see the mountain range and hoped I-10 would go over and not around.
Finally we made it! We didn't spend much time in NM but what we saw, really wasn't appealing to us.
This was the start of some incredible rock formations we saw going over 'Texas Pass' in the Dragoon Mtns.
This area, the Dragoon Mtns, is where Cochise took refuge when the army was trying to capture him. He hid out for a long time in the canyons, arroyos and rock gardens. We're talking major rocks, as large as houses just seemingly scattered randomly, some huge ones perched on a small one or a ledge. We both were so astounded by the rock garden that we missed some great pictures.
So, as we went over the pass, there ahead of us was Benson, AZ. We went down the mountain and found the SKP park.
Here is a picture of the office.
And here is where they parked us.
They put us on an 'empty' site, meaning there wasn't any casita on it. (Small house) The lot size is very large, it would easily accommodate another MH and most had the 288 sq ft casita and the MH and car and garden with plenty of room. Most casitas where adobe style with a lower and an upper porch. The upper is used for star gazing and looking for game out in the vast lands surrounding the park.
That brings us to the next set of pics, the trails and mountains surrounding us. There are ranch lands, BLM land and Land Trusts it seems everywhere! All through them are trails, hiking, biking, horse back riding, motorcycle,quad runner and jeep trails. They follow ridges, aroyos, and stream beds. When you come to a gate, unless it says 'POSTED' , you open and then shut it when you go thru. There are about 6-8 miles of trail directly behind the park that the park residents use for hiking, well worn but lots of fun to run. Here's a few pics Mo took when we went out the first full day here.
This is a picture taken from a ridge above the SKP park we're staying at. you can see there is a lot of land around. Off in the distance the mountain range is the Dragoons where Cochise hid out. The two on the left are where I-10 came through, about 4800' elevation through the pass, the highest is to the right of center and is about 7500+ ft.
Above is the trail along a ridge, and below is a couple hiking on another trail across the way, probably about 300 yards or so.
These were trails right outside our door but there were many, many more all around. Which segues right into..... drum roll here......
Part 2; 'Barbie goes Jeepin'
When we checked in, Shirley, the lady at the desk asked what kind of vehicle we drove, standard question, and we told her a Jeep. She right away told us a man in lot 154, Ernie, leads Jeep runs once a week but she had no other info. That was Thursday, Friday I went and found Ernie really to ask him about trails that would take me up to the Dragoons. He told me he really wasn't familiar with the hiking trails but that a road south of here would take us through the mountains. Sunday Mo and I drove to Tombstone, another story for later, and on the way back we took that road. Mo was driving. It was a long dirt road with lots of jeep and horse trails going off. We didn't know the area or the rules about jeepin so we only ventured off onto one spur, again, Mo was at the wheel. She was like a kid on their first bike, nervous but excited! The road ,for us, ran out after only about 1/2 mile and we inched a U turn and headed back to the dirt road. This dirt road got pretty technical as it got into the mountains with some tight turns and rocky, steep grades, Mo loved it. It was still 'just' a dirt road though as we were to find out soon enough!
Here's the dirt road when we first started out, wide and wash-boardy.
Here's a really colorful gofer snake we came up on crossing the road. I got out and picked him up to give Mo a closer look....she wasn't impressed!
Approaching the Dragoons....
The road got considerably more rocky and narrower as we went. You can see it winding around at left center.
Well we got back safe and sound and really had a great time on our first adventure in the country. O yeah, Barbie is the name of our Jeep, seems because I try and keep it clean and it's not jacked up and tricked out, some guys dubbed it a sissy jeep. Time will tell!
The next day, Ernie came by the house and asked if I'd like to go out for a trip on Wednesday morning about 9am. Well, of course I said yes but since I'd seen his rig I told him I wasn't sure if I would be able to get too extreme. He assured me we would be ok.
Barbie was excited to know she would get to play with some big boys!
Weds came, Mo packed us a lunch, Ernie said we'd be out until 3 or so, and we loaded a couple of chairs in the back and met Ernie and another Jeep and off we went. We went about 35 miles north of I-10 to a ranch road. We let air out of the tires to get better traction, they both had CB radios so they put us in the middle. This time I'm driving, Mo's riding shotgun taking pictures as fast as she could. The scenery was incredible! and the road was challenging. there were easy areas and there were places Mo swore Barbie couldn't go, Ernie even doubted a few places but we did it all without even throwing rocks. I've included the pics Mo took, there's a lot, with short blurps on some.
Here we go down the road to the ranch road turn off. Ernies in the yellow Jeep, Jack is in the white one. Both have 4" lifts, 33/15" tires, winches, trail gearing etc. I'm thinking I'm out of my league but I'm gonna hang tough.
The saguaro cacti were huge!
Some were 15-18' tall with lots of arms.
Here's Joe, Ernie's friend, opening the first of many gates.
We came to a dirt hill that was really steep, Ernie had to play, Mo didn't have the camera ready fast enough to get him climbing, but here he is topping the hill.
He turned around on top and came back down......slowly!
Started getting a bit sideways here, we thought he might roll but he recovered
Looking out across the land
An easy part of the trail where Mo could take a steady picture!
Looking out to the distant mountains, across a deep canyon. (Hard to see.)
We're on a ridge here. That's a DEEP canyon
Our first break. LOOK! there's our Barbie Jeep! ;-)
Ernie decided to play in a ravine full of boulders, much to big for us, even Jack decided to take the high road.
We ended up losing sight of him so we went on figuring he would tie back in somewhere up ahead. We stopped and waited further on for a good 20 minutes and he eventually came from where we had come from. The canyon became to narrow for him to get through so he had to back up some and turn around.
Here's Mo closing a barbed wire cattle gate, the key word is 'closing'. (She's on the wrong side! )
Jeanie found a small cacti for her garden.
We made this old abandoned cabin our lunch stop.
Lunch tasted really good, we all had a few good stories and laughs, then it was back on the trail.
Shot out the back window, this was a steep hill, not to rocky but steep.
Barbie followed right behind, no problem. This was a nose touch then a butt bump ditch.
These are rocks going into the ditch, then sand going up and out. I took off the tow bar before we left and it was a good thing! We nosed into rocks and gravel several times. Fuel tank skid plates are a definite plus!
This is one of those hills that was so steep Mo
had to have the hood in the picture!
Climbing to the top.
Another deep canyon.
A cool rock formation, There were so many incredible sights, every time we changed directions there was a new one!
here we're climbing a steep rocky hill. It's hard to capture how steep but Ernie is topping the hill. We pulled it just fine......
Almost to the top.......
Then we run the ridge a ways.......
Then we head back down to another canyon.
We pretty much followed a jeep road but occasionally we would venture off on a spur..........
Here we are on a spur, Ernie hadn't been this way before so when we got to this hill he waved for us to wait and he would see where it went. Here it went straight up about 75 yards from a creek bed. We waited and shortly he came back down, BUT.......
At the bottom he dropped off the bank and his back end caught and his front wheels were in sand. He was throwing sand 10' high but wasn't going to go anywhere!
Jack pulled his jeep over and hooked a chain to Ernies' Jeep, engaged his lockers and eased back......
No sweat!
Note to self; get a good length of chain!
This was pretty cool to watch, you can hear stories and watch UTube videos but to see it is cool! We back tracked to the main trail since Ernie said that one didn't go anywhere. We bounced and growled up and down over hills and aroyos and then Ernie said we;d go to some rocks to play on and that when we got there I should stay on the trail while he and Jack played....O boy! This might be good!
We got there and Ernie just drove right up to this huge rock in the wash and climbed/crawled right over it! He did it with such ease that we just sat there and watched, Mo didn't even have time to get a picture! So we pulled out of the way and Jack gave it a go. Note here; Jack just had a mild heart attack a week before!
He nosed his Jeep up to the rock and gave it the gas...........
There was a hole in the rock where the water had worn it away maybe a million years ago, and Jacks back right wheel slipped into it........
Even with his lockers on, he wasn't going anywhere, when he tried he almost flipped it on the right side, I mean very close ! His left front has off the rock and his back left was just touching. His right rocker panel was against the rocks, the Jeep was teetering!
He couldn't get out of the jeep it was leaning so bad!
Here is Mo holding the door open for him, now remember, he just had a heart attack, he was visibly shaking when he finally got out.
Jack is pulling out his winch cable. Joe is at the rear shaking his head!
Ernie wrapped his Chain around a rock and hooked the winch line to it.
Well SOMEBODY has to be a supervisor!!
When Joe got back inside and wound in the cable the Jeep slowly started to come back down .........
As the front tires touched rock Joe would ease forward then bring in the cable, then move forward then when all four tires were back down solid the cable was taken loose and rolled up.
And he went on through, turned around and............
Damn !! The camera battery ran out at this point!!
Anyway, he turned around and came back down the rock just fine, it was a real bummer when the battery died, there was so much more.......
We took a couple of side trips up canyons until we couldn't go any further then got out and explored the slot canyon for a way, the rock layers were well visable and fossils were plain to see..........
We came around a bend and there was a herd of 7 mule deer.......
We climbed lots more mountains and dropped down into more washes and canyons.......
It could have gone on for a long time more but it was now 5pm and we were supposed to be back by 3pm so Ernie said we were going to hit a ranch road that would take us back to the first road we came in on. it took about 40 minutes flying down a dirt road at 45mph to get there and then another 45 minutes to get back to Benson. When we got to a high point, Ernie and Joe called their wives and we all went to a restaurant to eat.
We finally got home about 8pm or after?. took a shower and fell in bed. What a great experience it was! Barbie is due for some shoes and shocks soon so a bit of a lift might happen too, and a length of chain!
That's about all here, I'll have to post about Tombstone too, so check back soon!
