Scottsdale to Lake Havasu City the Long Way

This leg of my trip was a mostly extraordinarily delightful 6 days 7 nights including snippets of the northern Maricopa mountains, the Gila Bend area, BLM land north of Organ Pipe Natl Mon (I typed 'Ocotillo Natl Mon' by mistake first: clearly a Freudian slip!) including the lovely town of Ajo, and (after another layover night near Gila Bend because there's only one way north out of the Organ Pipe area (staying in the US, staying in the US, and not heading back east to Tuscon) and that's back the way you came) eventually to Lake Havasu City via some great back roads to Quartzsite before heading north through Parker and past the dam on my way here.

First night, a lovely sandy wash on the north side of the Maricopa Mtns, not too far south of the Gila River.  Also a lovely pile of rocks nearby to climb and admire the view.  I hadn't thought I was going for a long hike, but one thing turned into another and I'd reached the top of the pile of rocks in the background here as the sun was going down and I'd left my camera/phone in the car!  I missed the golden hour this night, at least photographically, but learned my lesson. 

The next morning I headed down to the Margie's Cove area, where I'd actually been trying to get to the day before but was turned back by a rocky hill between my initial route choice and there.  But it all worked out since I found that great place to camp the night before as a result.  Today I went back out west to the highway and down another exit which allowed me to reach my initial goal, a beautiful area where I parked and went for a hike.  This is looking back toward where I'd parked the car when I first started up the pile of rocks.

And this is out to the west toward the highway (beyond the range of hills in the center, but before the mountains in the back, which are the far side of the Gila R. just north of the bend) where the prison and the dump are (both a bit north of this segment).

A brief stop to admire the colors and textures of the surface of the geosphere on which I wander (and to catch my breath).

Looking SE into the Margie's Cove area from near the local peak.

Some views to the west on the way back down.

Looking east while descending.

Two siimilar perspectives with only a few steps separating them.

Again I present for your amazement and admiration the astonishingly aesthetic surface of the geosphere.

At this point I'm expecting Butch and Sundance to ride up any hour now.

A once-mighty warrior lies where she fell.

more cacti bones.

This is at Painted Rock Petroglyph Site.  Funny story: I was walking counter clockwise around a large central pile of rocks and not seeing any petroglyphs, thinking, well, I guess I'm just not able to spot them!  Almost back at the starting point I saw a group of people looking at something and there was one...

... followed by several more...

... followed by a whole hillside covered in them!

Next I did a big drive around some mountains to NW of the petroglyphs, looking for potential camping sites.  I crossed the Gila river twice but it was completely dry at this point.  There were lots of camp sites, of course, being in the middle of nowhere, but there was no cell service out here and I've become quite spoiled for that so I can catch up with email and news and stuff in the evenings.

Having failed to find a campsite to my liking in the petroglyph region I returned to Gila Bend and went just east of there on the W. Maricopa road until I was just into the Sonoran Desert National Monument where I found everything I was looking for, and just as the sun was going down.

The next day I decided to head south to Ajo and the Organ Pipe Natl. Monument area.  After checking out the Gunsite Wash BLM area just south of Why on 85, and not liking it all that much because it wasn't very scenic and was crowded with RVs (although it did have cell service), I headed back up to Ajo and into the BLM land south of there accessed from the Darby Wells road.  On the map above you can see where I ended up: At one point I was at the "You Are Here" yellow indicator on the northern edge of the monument and from there I went just a tad w by nw to discover a real gem of a spot (complete with phone service!)

Imagine my delight upon arriving here!  The next day I would remain in place and climb the middle (tallest) of the three peaks on the left.  I came up it from the back side (having circled around to the right) and then down the front side in the lighted valley you can see on the left of this picture.

I went for an evening stroll and didn't forget my camera this time!

I found these teddy-bear cholla captivating - in more ways than one!  They would give me some trouble on my hike the next day.  See the 'babies' lying on the ground around the bottom of them?  Turns out if you accidentally step on these they attach to your shoe, then if you're not paying attention as you take the next step they get stuck in the opposite leg's ankle as the shoe passes by!  Rather painful, and difficult to remove.  I ended up getting them in both ankles before I learned my lesson and got them in my fingers as I tried to remove them from my ankles.

My buddy the ocotillo.  There were lots of them in this area, all super green like this one.  A few had some flowers at the top.

The "Golden Hour" seemed to last about 2 days here.

Eventually however the sun set, phinally releasing me from my photographic phrenzy and revealing a new moon.

The next morning, preparing for my hike (to the top of the middle peak above)

Finally some bloomin' ocotillo!

And of course there were some organ pipe cacti as well.  Apparently they'd escaped the national monument just to the south.

But the ocotillo remain my favorite.  So graceful!

Gotta remember to look down at the beauty just below my feet, too!

Starting to ascend a bit now.  Looking north.

Getting near the top.  The peak I'm heading for is on the left out of this picture.  The one you see here is the one south of my destination, the left-most of the three when viewed from the other side of the small range where the car is parked.

Looking south into organ pipe natl mon.

Now that's what I'm talkin' about!

Final approach to my intended peak, blocked by... Teddy Bear Cholla!  D'oh!  Teddy Bear Cholla!  Why did it have to be Teddy Bear Cholla?  (I made it, but not unscathed).

Looking south at Mt. "Not My Peak" (the peak to the south of the central one I was trying to summit).

Almost to my summit.  I had considered the peak in this photo (just north of here) as an alternative destination but it's a bit higher and I was ultimately glad I chose the one I did.

So close!  You can see where I'm parked now, which is just within the teardrop-shaped road area on the right side of this pic.

Another view of "Not My Peak", just because it's so darn cool looking.

Some barrel cacti near the summit.  Again, if you zoom way in, you can just make out my vehicle parked in the cross-road of the teardrop shaped road on the right side of this.

I made it.

looking south.

Looking north.

On the way down.  Another rare find.

But don't forget the ground!

Back at camp.  Stayed here two nights so used the solar panels to recharge the aux battery instead of the ACC recharger I use when driving.  This was the second time I used the solar panels (in two months).  They work well and I'm generally very pleased with my overall setup.  Recently the rear ACC outlet which I usually use for the aux battery has stopped working though and this time it doesn't seem to be the fuse, which was a problem I'd had once before.  That's an issue which remains to be resolved, but in the meantime I'm using the front ACC port which is only an inconvenience, not a show-stopper.

Some mammillaria.

The next morning I headed back north toward Ajo, exploring some dirt roads along the way and stopping to, guess what?  Take some pictures!

Back in Ajo in the town center.  They have a nice public library and also a tourist info place, both with wifi and bathrooms.  But they're not open on Sundays!

So I head back north toward Gila Bend on 85.  There's a very cool spot where the road passes through a low range of rocky peaks on the southern side of the Barry M. Goldwater Air Force Range.

And then you have to go through a CBP checkpoint, which is another story.  Eventually I ended up at the same campsite I'd been at three nights earlier, just east of Gila Bend off the W. Maricopa Rd.

The next morning I went back through Gila Bend but this time headed out to the NW on Old US Hwy 80 headed for Quartzsite on I-10.  But first I saw these pretty flowers on the side of the road.

Before I reached I-10 I passed by this cool-looking range which I had to stop to explore.  If you follow the sandstone stratum down to the right here you'll see a bunch of caves, the bottom of which I ended up visiting.

Preparing to investigate the cave just behind Vanessa.

Approaching.

Looking back from where I'd come.

Goodbye cool cave!  Hope to see you again sometime!

Stopping to take picture back at where I'd come from (my cave is at the lower end of the sandstone layer on the left.)

Can't get over that geo-surface!

Sooooo many magnificent ranges sticking up through the desert as you're driving along.  Can't stop to photo them all so try sometimes to take them from moving vehicle (a somewhat questionable practice).  Got lucky with the timing of the eastbound motorhome in this one (certainly not intended!)

After getting on I-10 I turned N. at Quartzsite to avoid CBP checkpoint between there and CA border.  Even though I think they are only checking traffic coming into AZ there I was using an abundance of caution after the previous day's adventure.  It turned out to be a lovely drive up to Parker, then into CA (checkpoint for agricultural products only) then up the west side of the CO river to the Parker Dam, across the dam (back into AZ) and along the eastern edge of Lake Havasu to my campsite for the night.  This picture from the side of the road as I crossed the Bill Williams river.

It had been spitting off and on throughout the day but I found a nice spot (with cell service!) off the highway just before Lake Havasu City.  It was at the top of a little hill, which is why I think it got reception.

Later that night it started raining and blowing in earnest, for several hours.

The next morning I was heading into town to visit the library and an Indian buffet.  Once again I got lucky with the timing of an "out the window while moving" shot.

Here's a kind of funny story, a sort of mini-drama which occurred only in my mind at the library.  I had just settled into a comfy chair, I had my wifi access (it was actually open, no password, which turns out to be a bad thing if you're trying to work on your blog because though Google will upload your photos off your phone and get them safely into the cloud in case another horse comes along to crush your phone, it won't let you access your albums and stuff to work on your blog on an "unsecured" network.  That's why I've had to wait until today to actually incorporate these photos into a blog post.  But I digress.  I had just sat down all warm and cozy and comfy and I saw through the window a guy sitting outside sort of slumped over the table in front of him, with what looked like a couple grocery bags with some bottled water and food in them (and some on the table) and what I assumed was his backpack on the chair opposite him.  I felt pretty bad for this guy because I made up a story in my head that he was all alone and homeless and wasn't allowed in the library (though I later realized it was probably because of the food) but it was actually a little on the chilly side out and he looked damp and I didn't even know if he might have died since he wasn't moving at all and I was thinking about going out and asking if he was okay and if there was anything I could do to help him out when all of a sudden he straightened up and began to eat and I realized he had just been saying grace before his meal!  I saw this pretty often in Korea with some of my coworkers otherwise I might not have figured it out.

Then shortly after that he was joined by his friend (the backpack on the other chair was apparently the friend's, who'd been off shopping) and the two ate together.  So that story, which existed only in my head, had a happy ending after all.

And that ends that leg of my journey.  It's taken forever to get it posted because as I mentioned Google won't let me work on my blog on an unsecured wifi connection and that's all I'd found (in Las Vegas, my next stop) until today in Calipatria, CA, where there is a nice little library which requires a password for the wifi.  Yay!  I was appalled to find I'd taken 380 photos for this trip segment and have done my best to pare them down for this post, but if you're brave you can see the complete collection here.

I'm currently headed back to Scottsdale for my final cat-gig before heading off to meet Alan in Las Vegas on 3/21 and drive with him back to Denver.  When I get to Scottsdale (tomorrow evening) I'll have to post a new entry to cover the portion of the trip from L. Havasu City to there, which I'm still in the middle of, and it looks to be just as photo-tastic as the last leg, so stay tuned!