T-Dubing about the BANWR, a little snow and waiting out the cold weather....

Friday, March 13 

Today's main activity was exploring the area encompassed by the Santa Margarita Ranch, whose land I'm boondocking on.  They've granted the public permission to camp and such but of course reserve the right to withdraw it at any time.

Friday's Sunrise was "OK":  

The peak in the distance is Mt. Wrightson I believe

I wandered with Yagi, my TW200 all about the area near the campsite but kept encountering fencing, or gates that weren't open to the public. So I west east towards US286, rode north about five miles and then cut into the Wildlife Refuge at their northern border to explore the trails within.

Found this old house with this water tank behind fencing.  The blue flag closer to the ground showed a white water faucet symbol; I also found a nearby through filled with what looked like pretty clean water.

I wonder if this is one of those stations I'd read about where private groups had staged water for whatever illegal immigrants might be going through the NWR enroute to points north?  I don't know.

The house next to the tank was just a shell, broken windows, no doors and apparently abandoned.  There were also signs saying no entry.  Oh well.

I returned to camp and the weather stayed breezy, making it feel brisk even with the sun shining down.  The clouds moved in as evening neared, presaging the even colder weather and even snow according to the weather guessers.

Saturday, March 13

Although forecasted, I was still surprised to actually see snow on the branches, vehicles and bushes around the area:

Temperatures were in the mid to high 30s in the above picture.

Clouds surrounded the campsite, I couldn't even see the nearby mountains until a bit after 9 AM!

The top half of Baboquivari Peak would remain in the clouds till after 1PM

Today's high temperature was a mere 50 degrees Fahrenheit, with strong gusty winds making it feel much colder.  It's supposed to be warmer tomorrow, I hope the forecasters are right.  Not much fun hanging out inside the URRV.