Seeking Historic Fort Grant

Monday, February 24

Scarlett and I rode along AZ Hwy 266 towards what Google Maps called Fort Grant AZ State Prison and the village of Bonita.

The road is paved and as one approaches and cuts through a low range of rocky hills.  Nice rock piles to be seen which remind one of minor versions of the large rock piles at the Indian Bread BLM Recreation Area.

I'd hopes there'd be a section at the state prison set aside to showcase the historic beginnings of Fort Grant.  I found nothing of the sort, though I didn't venture too far past the visitor parking lot either.

At the isolated remnants of the village of Bonita, the only "historic" thing I found and it probably not that old, was the old general store:

Do you see Scarlett's reflection?

Retracing my route, I paused to take pictures towards the prison itself.  A large, square and white object atop the mountain had drawn my eye:

Ft Grant AZ State Prison

Riding along Highway 266, there's several spots that are apparently AZ Trust State Lands, some accessible for camping rigs.

I explored one such area, drawn by the remnants of a wind operated water well:

I got back to camp with no issues under sunny skies and warm temperatures.  You do feel a slight chill while riding at speed but it was not bad at all.

Sunset was not bad:

An Almost Relaxing Weekend

Saturday, February 22

No riding, just more relaxing at camp in the gazebo, listening to an audio book and enjoying the solitude.  The expected uptick in traffic presented itself in the form of about 3 ATVs, about 4 pickup trucks and one tow behind pop up camper cruising by on Tanque Road.

There were a couple of yahoos wandering about in a big circle almost 1/4 mile around my camp.  They were hunters apparently as I heard a shotgun go off a couple of time.  They left by noon and good riddance, hunting near camping rigs, morons.

Otherwise, it was a nice warm day, gentle breezes.  

Sunday, February 23

The morning started off in an annoying manner.  I woke, raised the blinds facing the road and here's what I saw:

Over the next few hours, watched them take their dog out and let it poop around the campsite.  Saw one of them take a roll of TP but no shovel into the bushes across the road, you can imagine what was left behind.  

Shitbirds must have snuck in after I went to bed at 9PM last night.  I didn't hear them come in.  They didn't leave till almost 11AM but at least they did finally left, leaving me alone once again.

The site, which is next to the road, is now occupied:

The rest of the morning and all the afternoon was spent regaining my Chi or Qi.  

Had an unexpected visitor stop by for a bit:

I did not expect to see a dragonfly in the middle of a desert area!  

By 4PM, my Qi had recovered enough that I thought I'd ride towards the eastern end of the San Simon River Valley to get a shot of Javelina Peak.

It's roughly ten miles of sandy road with lots of wash boarded sections, but Scarlett did just fine.

Found a good spot to pose her with Javelina Peak in the background.  From this spot, it was still 8 more miles to the Hot Well Dunes Recreation Area where I've camped several times before.

Google Maps had shown there was a rail line crossing the valley north to south, I'd not remembered seeing on in previous visits.  Yep, there is still a rail line, no idea if its active or not:

Riding back was a bit hazardous, not only do you have to contend with the sand and wash board conditions, but the sun is in your eyes!  Oh well.

Made it back to camp with no issues.  Had a nice phone chat from a college buddy who I've not talked to in a long time.  It was good catching up with him.

In a day or three, it'll be time to move closer to Colorado by way of New Mexico.

Uraling the Swift Trail Scenic Byway

Wednesday, February 19

I rode out on Scarlett, my 2014 Ural Patrol, to check out the views from the heights of the nearby Swift Trail Scenic Byway aka AZ Hwy 366, a bit SW from the city of Safford, AZ.  More info on this byway:  LINK

It's a paved and sometimes very twisty road steadily climbing up the sides of Mount Graham, though the road is closed at this time near the top, before one reaches the antenna complex on Heliograph Peak.  The closure is seasonal, and I was too early.

I went from 3000+ feet at the campsite to over 9000 feet in altitude.  It was rather cool up there, and I can see why folks had built some "summer houses" up there when it gets hot down in the valley during summer.  I even saw remnants of snow in the shady areas of the road.

Lots of hairpin turns on this road

Close to the top of Mt Graham and

my turnaround point

Views as I descended back down the byway:

It was roughly a 60 mile round trip for Scarlett, and I returned to the campsite for a restful afternoon.

Thursday, February 20

Woke to a carpet of clouds to the south which produced a dappled cloud look on the mountains to the west.

Spent the day doing not much of anything.  Listening to a book in the gazebo, enjoying the warmth of the sun.

Sunset was not bad, I was too lazy to actually go outside to take pictures, these are the ones I took from the VRRV's window:

Scarlett, She's a Hauler - Now Boondocking near Safford, AZ

Scarlett, my 2014 Ural Patrol sidecar rig, reminded me of her usefulness over this past weekend.

Not only did she haul two full bags of trash to the dumpsters near the Shell station by Picacho Peak Road; she also:

Hauled discarded concreted tiles which I used to fill in a couple of big holes/ruts on the trail into the camping area.  Sorry, no pics, it was hard work.

She also enabled me to make a big haul of crap to the dumpsters on Sunday.  Some moron had left shot up pieces of ceiling tile and furniture which lay in pieces at one campsite:

At another campsite, and to a lesser extent on a neighboring one, there was firewood to be had:

On Sunday, Scarlett hauled my butt along with the garbage collection, to the town of Eloy, AZ where there's an Amazon Locker.  I got my stuff and headed back using frontage roads along the I-10 super slab, since one thing Scarlett can't do, is haul ass!

As I was nearing the camp site turnoff from the Adelante Road frontage road, I saw where was an accident on the I-10, with cars in the median between north and south bound lanes.  Glad I stuck to frontage roads.

Before I drove Scarlett to the campsite, I detoured onto Nona Road and paralleled a portion of the CAP or Central Arizona Project.  It's a water management project to move water in the water, and it provided this nice reflection on a bend of the road:

Picacho Peak from Nona Road

Sunset was OK, the highlight was I noticed parachute jumpers descending while the sunset occurred:

Monday, February 17

Just a rest day, relaxing.  Here's the sunset I saw for President's Day.

Tuesday, February 18

I displaced to BLM land accessed via Tanque Road which lies roughly halfway from the I-10 Super Slab and the city of Safford, AZ along US 191 highway.

Tanque (Tank, as in water tank in Spanish) Road is a dirt road which bisects the San Simon River valley which has Mount Graham and the Pinalenos Mountains on the west and the Hot Well Dunes Rec Area on the east side.

There are several camping spots and I picked one that suited me just fine.  Empty spots .5 and .8 miles on either side of my site, and no one in line of sight!

Hot Well Dunes is located at the base

of Javelina Peak in the background.

Closer view of Javelina Peak on the left

So far, am very pleased with this BLM area.  I hope to do some exploring of nearby Fort Grant Historic Area, Mount Graham itself and just the area around me.

Hiking the Northern End of Picacho Peak SP

I continue to basically have this area to myself, the odd camper showing up not staying very long.  The ones who've shown are either overnighters only or keep well away from my campsite.  

Here's what Picacho Peak looks like in the morning light before the haze sets in:

Friday, February 14

I rode towards the Picacho Peak State Park, dumping two bags of trash along the way in a dumpster area thoughtfully provided by someone.

Paid the $7 daily fee and rode into the State Park.  I thought the trail to the north of the mountain would be a short one, it wasn't.  The afternoon sun beat down fiercely on me and I'd forgotten my boonie hat.  I used my coat to cover my head when the sun shone, removed it when clouds moved in.  It worked out with the winds of the day.

I was making for Sunset Vista Point but when I went past the 1.75 mile marker and still no Sunset Vista Point, I turned around.  The terrain wasn't too bad but going up and down rocky terrain isn't conducive to relaxed walking!

Turn around point.

Yep, the wind was causing small dust storms

Picacho Mountains and Picacho Pass through which

the I-10 Interstate runs....

The view as one ascends/descends from 

the trailhead parking lot

Riding Scarlett, I checked out all the loops and public roads within the park.  Here you get a view of the peak, which can be climbed/hiked, if you've the stamina and will.

In a loop near the entrance to the park, I found a memorial I'd missed during previous visits.  It's part of the series dedicated to the Mormon Battalion:

I think I knew that there'd been some fighting during the Civil War but here's the detail.  Folks rapidly driving on the I-10 surely don't realize they're speeding through a mildly historic pass area.

A short ride to the Dollar General in Red Rock for snacks, resulted in this view of Picacho Peak from near its Post Office:

Valentine's Day sunset wasn't too shabby:

The Prelude

The Main Event