The Desert and Beyond

[Dennis Andress]

So far I haven't rode the new bagger anywhere but California. Okay, I took it to fall Torrey, but that trip ended up in Cali. So, I've been riding in the desert and haven't gotten around to the beyond. I'll get there, it's going to be a busy summer. In the meantime, lets enjoy the desert.

 

I get it if the desert isn't your thing. This dust bowl dogged me for 20 miles as I got closer and closer... This is a harsh place.

 

You have to be open to the desert's odd beauty. This is on the Amerind Museum grounds - I skipped the crowded parking lot and rode around to the empty picnic area. In the background is the Dragoon rest area along I-10. I'll have to come back in a car and check out the museum someday.

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And, if you are willing to explore off the beaten path, the desert gives way to some incredible land. The sign says "Cochise Stronghold Ranch." The stronghold is about four miles further down the road. The road was too rough for the bagger, I'll have to work on getting a trail bike.

 

This is about 50 miles east of Cochise Stronghold. From the empty trailers and fancy trucks parked at the pavement's end I'd say quads and side-by-sides are the most common users of this road. The grave of the "notorious outlaw and gunman" Johnny Ringo is a few miles away.

 

At last a place to sit and eat my lunch. Massai Point in the Chiricahua (CHIRR-i-KAH-wə) National Monument. The Chiricahua were a band of Apache that once lived in this area. My picture does not do justice to this place.

 

 

I'll be back!

[TEWKS]

Your pictures could use some music.  I guess…this is the “horse with no name”.  

 

 

[Dennis Andress]

I thought about that, but it just doesn't fit with Apache.

[Dennis Andress]

Spring is here! Here being the Sonoran Desert.

 

Tucson, viewed from the southeast.

 

45 miles south of town is the headquarters of the old Empire Ranch. These buildings are protected as historic places; the land belongs to the BLM.

 

 

 

Border Patrol vehicles in Sonoita. This is 25 miles from the border as the crow flies. There are no roads. The Mexican Cartels control the land south of the border. This is the part of the border where drugs enter the country. A couple of months ago the Border Patrol found an IED along this stretch of border.

 

[Dennis Andress]

Saguaro National Park, West

[BamaJohn]

6 hours ago, Dennis Andress said:

Saguaro National Park, West

 

Nice photo!

[Dennis Andress]

It's taken a few years, but i believe I've reached the point in retirement where I'm so busy I don't see how I was ever able to hold a job. All things considered I feel that's a good thing. But, the time needed to go to START has been taken by house projects big and small. There's a very real deadline to install a new, reliable, drip system by early May, when the heat returns. So, I'm out. I will make it next year. See some of ya'll at the UN.

The last couple of weeks have been all work and no play. So today I escaped. It's about 90 miles to Globe, Arizona. About 50 of those miles are rather pretty, as desert goes, and mountainous. I stopped at the top of El Capitan pass and decided I'd gone far enough...

[JCtx]

Is that 77 to Globe? It doesn't look that twisty on Google maps. That's pretty nice. Good stretch to run up and down to get rid of the chicken strips.

[Dennis Andress]

1 hour ago, JCtx said:

Is that 77 to Globe? It doesn't look that twisty on Google maps. That's pretty nice. Good stretch to run up and down to get rid of the chicken strips.

 

It is. That shot was taken about 10 miles south of Globe. Though the rest of trip sure beats flat and straight, that is the twistiest part.