T'Dub'ing on Pipeline Road and finding an Oldsmobile Holiday 98

 Saturday, March 19

Mid-morning, I rode Yagi, my Yamaha TW200 over to Ajo's Vendor Market,  located right by Artists Alley.  

It turned out to be just a collection of "stuff" that one can easily find in a Thrift Store, to include old shoes.  There weren't a lot of customers, shall we say?

Leaving there, I found the entrance to Pipeline Road, a dirt road which leads east away from Ajo and which seemed worth exploring.  I'd gotten the idea yesterday while checking out an old tourist map at the Ajo Visitor Center.

The pipeline appears to be a Natural Gas pipeline, buried under the desert surface.  I did see another, old and decommissioned pipeline but it went around the tailings pile and in different direction.

The road is dirt as I mentioned, but not bad at all except for a few technical spots and that only because of large, loose rocks or very deep and loose gravel in dry creek beds.

I followed BLM Rout 8100 until it junctioned with Route 8100E which takes you to a small loop at the end, next to the base of the rock formations I'd been wanting to take pictures of.

What's that rectangular opening?  Manmade?

I'm thinking the straight line edge forming the "roof" of the entrance is just the bottom edge of the geological strata.  Still, it seemed man made from a distance.

The most "scenic" rock formation didn't have a name according to my Peakfinder app, so I decided to name it:  The Ark.  What do you think?

Some more pics as I retraced my route back towards Ajo:

so, can you spot the pinhole in the rocks

behind Yagi?

The "mountain" to the right of Yagi in the background

is Coffee Pot Mountain.  I don't see it but then

again I had trouble previously with Locomotive Rock.

Sunday, March 20

The morning was overcast and windy, with the sun briefly shining every now and then.  It would change to clear skies, mostly, in the afternoon.

Based again on a review of the map I took a picture of at the Ajo Visitor Center:

Take note of the short route labeled 8117, top center, in the map above.  It went to the east side of Black Mountain and I was curious to see it.

I took Yagi, my Yamaha TW200, thinking the terrain would be rocky and uneven.  I would be proven correct, the Ural Patrol would not have been much fun.

Through trial and error, and a bit of luck, I managed to find the gate in the fence put up by I assume the Bureau of Land Management.  It's not marked off of AZ Hwy 85.

The route itself is not bad, technical in spots where dry creek beds are crossed but otherwise not bad.  Worse thing is large loose rocks which tend to cause Yagi to bounce and skip around a bit unexpectedly.

Riding along Rte 8117, I stopped Yagi for a picture of the east side, as I got closer:

Rte 8117 peters out a bit away from the base of Black Mountain, see below:

View of the Ajo Valley, looking towards the South

I then retraced my route and explored Rte 8117A.  Not a very long trail and it also petered out soon.  At the end of the trail, I saw this abandoned and cannibalized automobile.

The car's "VIN" number led me to a google search:

info from v8cars.hu

Some googling then led to a picture of a 1956 Oldsmobile Holiday 98 Sedan with the paint job I guessed the car had when new.  (based on what I saw remaining)

I enjoyed finding the information on this car, sad that it was abandoned in the desert but then again, it is what it is.  Apparently, a fully restored model goes for a lot of money today.

Anyways, I left the car behind and tried to find my way back to the gate.  I managed to miss the route back and instead ended up on Darby Well Road!  Apparently, you can get to Rte 8117 without first getting on US85 and finding the gate.  Oh well.

When I got back to camp, I noticed Yagi had picked up a stowaway...must have happened at some point in the ride of course.  Pretty sure it wasn't me brushing up against a cactus as I would have been wearing some similar stowaway!