Peppersauce Thanksgiving

[dzJeepChic 2,897]

Here's a starter for the photo thread:

 

All I can say is it was deeee lishious and we had a lot of fun. We're both wiped out and hitting the sack early today, but we'll post some more pictures tomorrow.

 

Thanks everybody for a wonderful holiday! We think this should become the tradition.

 

GnD

[In-A-Rut 3]

We had a great time! Below is a link to the pics we took. J

 

http://picasaweb.google.com/the2ruts/Thanksgiving?feat=directlink

[Number7 89]

We took the Florence - Kelvin Road to Willow Springs Road on the way to Peppersauce just so we could see what's out there. Our answer came back as: Not Much. Where Freeman Road meets the Florence - Kelvin there is an old townsite called Barkerville. After taking a narrow trail following the Massey book description, we realized that it's really at the intersection, but another large group was already camping there, so we didn't intrude. They had set this flag up at the road so their party could find them:

 

The next point of interest was to be the Hot Boy Mine, but we didn't find it, either. We finally just stopped on the road to make sandwiches, and I found this to be interesting. You'd sound like you were drunk if you said you were standing at the corner of Willow Springs and Willow Springs, wouldn't you?

From there it was a short ride to Oracle, and then on to Peppersauce Campground, set down in this canyon amongst the trees:

The campground was virtually empty when we got there so we had our choice of camp sites:

 

The trees were good for climbing, and throughout the trip almost everyone took a turn.

 

 

After we set up camp we got busy preparing the turkey and warming up the side dishes everyone brought. Kristoffer was elected the turkey master and did a stellar job of lowering it into the fryer and maintaining the cooking temperature.

Dinner was wonderful! Turkey with all the trimmings around a cloth-covered table thanks to Janenne. Gobble, gobble, gobble!

After cleaning up we sat around the campfire which George kept dousing with peanut oil left from cooking the turkey. It was pretty cold that night, and it reminded me of Steve Ob1Jeeper's trick of putting a small scoop of hot coals under your chair to keep warm. That made a big difference and we all partook of the warm advantage. In the morning there was a dotted circle of ashes around the fire pit.

 

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[Number7 89]

Friday morning we went up to Peppersauce Cave. We all went in but then Brady lost his nerve so he and Aimee stayed outside with Moose. Brady was gracious to lend me his new flashlight that Tiffer had bought him. As you might know, I usually sit out on the spelunking thing, but I had made up my mind to do this. I was a little nervous, but Brady's flashlight worked really well and gave me an extra boost of confidence.

 

Going up to the entrance

 

George found a separate smaller entrance to the right of the main

My camera didn't work inside, but here I am on the way out; proof that I did it! I owe a huge thanks to Janenne for helping me along until I gathered my bearings in there. I was pretty disoriented by the darkness and had a hard time balancing, but thankfully I never went into panic mode from clautrophobia. Having J near me, talking to me really helped.

After the cave we went back to camp and ate leftover Thanksgiving Dinner.

We were out of firewood, and honestly, we were all pretty whooped, so we packed up and headed home. The k-dude and his gang took the control road up to Summer Haven and down the front side into Tucson. The rest of us exited through Oracle and home through Florence Junction.

 

We had a lot of fun! This should be an annual tradition, although maybe not at a busy established campground.

 

Thanks everybody who contributed to the meal and the fun!

 

GnD

[krispykritter 0]

Looks like you guys had fun. I've camped at peppersauce campgroung before but I didnt know about the cave. looks cool.

[theksmith 5,778]

here's the pics from my camera, almost all of them were shot by Marcus: http://picasaweb.google.com/kristoffersmith/20091126ThanksgivingCamping#

 

and a few of my favorites:

 

 

 

[ob1jeeper 849]

Sounds like a good time... I spent my turkey day @ Glamis with my nephew and his young family... Had an absolutely GREAT time visiting with them and riding the dunes...

 

We also did fried Turkey... My nephew the "Turkey Chef"...

 

OlBlue sat out this weekend, as every one else was brining quads... So I did the same... here's our "steeds" for the weekend...

 

The "little one" with my pooch "Snoopy"... Caught her sitting for once... MOST of the weekend, she had ahold of Snoopy's leash, Dragging the snoop-dog around camp, and scolding the poor pooch for all manner of "infractions of ettiquette, etc..." (such as stopping to take a poop in the middle of the circle of campers...)

[Number7 89]

Nice pics Steve, did you see Tom and Ann Pickard down there? George:cool:

[peshaw48 6]

Hi Steve nice pics:)

[ob1jeeper 849]

Not that I am aware of... There were literally thousands upon thousands of folks in the Glamis area...

 

I did finally find some local friends who I knew were going to be there, and I knew of several folks who were going to either Butter Cup or to Gordons well, but did not make it that far south to visit with them...