The Opal Hill Mine

Todays adventure was to find the Opal Hill Mine, to get there we travelled along the Bradshaw Trail west of Blythe.

 We crossed over a mountain range and came across a Long Term Camping area called Mule Mountains.

 A very faded sign on the Wiley Wells road looked like it said Opal so we decided to give it a try.

The road was definitely four wheel drive and looked like it was going to go back over the same mountain range so we stopped for lunch and turned around.  Later we spoke with some people who said we were so close to the mine less than a quarter of a mile but just tucked around a corner.  Dratttts.

 We looked around our lunch area and picked up a few rocks, this one was very big but can you see the big piece of crystal(or whatever it is) in the middle, someone had been trying to chisel it out.

 Isobel and Marmaduke having lunch.

 As well as Ron and Doug

 It is so hard to understand how such delicate beautiful little flowers can grow out of these rocks.

 On our way out Doug spotted a Gila way up on the mountain and I managed to bring him in with the telephoto, look how he has changed color to match the rock he was sunning himself on.

 The cactus take on such wonderful colors in the sun.

 Down below we went to look around the BLM long term camping and it was very impressive.

 More flowers blooming in the desert.

 And a canyon that the water has created.

Wonderful day with friends seeing new areas, next time we will make it to the mine.

Ferguson Lake

 Todays excursion was to Ferguson Lake, northwest of Yuma.  With the heat sitting today at 93F, we managed to gather a few geocaches while seeing a whole new area.

We found the Grand Canyon of the area.

 Top picture Clyde and Dick looking over the view, below Jane and Barb but they were not getting quite as close.

 Ron, Lucille and Allan took the hike to find the geocache.

•  Oh my goodness what a view when we finally got to overlook the lake and look at the cactus, finally blooming, just beautiful.

 Here we are, up on top, what a great day with great friends.

Doing the SWAG

 We set off early yesterday as we were after a large series of geocaches called the SWAG geoart.  It is found in the desert about 10 miles southeast of Welton.  It was very warm(hot) and after 5 hours of walking in the desert we finally gave up with about 20 caches left undone but we got over 100.

After that we drove to Baker Tanks below, hard to believe only about two miles from where we were walking such a lovely little area.

Barb and Elaine in the Stovepipe just above the tanks.

Outing with the Yuma Jeep Club

 Today we decided to go with the Yuma Jeep Club on a ride through Woodcutters Pass. It was a wonderful day out, perhaps a little to tough for us and our Jeep but we made it.

Just after we got off the highway onto the Barry Goldwater Ranger we stopped so that everyone could reduce their air pressure in the Jeep tires to 13 pounds.

 Up hills and over ridges, the desert looked lovely

I took the picture below so you could see how lush the octillo are this year, it is probably the warmest winter we have had, I am so hoping it means the cactus will bloom early as well.

Starting to climb over some rocks

 Wonderful scenery through the pass

 And then the path turned into washes and the rocks grew larger.

 Here is a picture of the type of Jeep that should be out on this road, he made short work of things while we toiled.

 Finally made the summit, looking back

 And here is where we are headed next.

 And the rocks grew larger yet, pictures hardly do the job.

But it was a beautiful warm day

 Oh finally after five hours of climbing over boulders we are out on the ridges again.

We did okay, our friends Clyde and Jane with the identical Jeep as ours have now got

loose running boards and fenders so off to the shop they go.

Next time a little easier ride will make Jane and I much happier.

Borrego Springs

 Today our friends Clyde and Jane called up and said meet us in Borrego Springs for lunch and off we went.

Now I am not sure what I have done  but my pictures are all mixed up but here goes nothing.

Borrego Springs seems to be in the middle of nowhere, south of Palm Springs,  west of the Sultan Sea and northwest of Yuma, AZ.  It is well known for its iron sculptures, I tried to pick a few of the better ones but they are so amazing.  Here are a few, I hope you enjoy, they stand out in the desert all alone, quite a piece of art work.

The serpent stretches on both sides of the road.

 This is sort of the old and the new of it, detail was amazing even iron shoelaces on the passengers.

 The lone padre with his dog

 Right in the middle of town is a large round about with a beautiful park in the middle. Rusty loved the grass, he is tired of that Arizona dirt.

 Now on our way to Borrego Springs we came across Octillo Wells which was a desert park and had a 4x4 obstacle course, I have a nephew and a couple grandsons that would like to tackle this.

 How about this ride Kevin?

 There were many different courses this was called the Tank Track.

 The Anza Borrego Park is quite breathtaking.

 Ron saw this fellow on the road and whipped around to get his picture before someone ran him over.

We had a great lunch with our friends and then we decided to take a different route home, now Borrego Springs is 600 feet above sea level and it took eight miles to reach 4200 feet and the valley below was amazing.  The valley we went into on top was just turning colors and was full of ranches and vineyards, what a ride we had.