Mt. Graham Trip July 2015 Picture Thread

[BigTuna117 33]

Put up what you think is good stuff.

 

G:cool:

 

The problem with that philosophy is that I had fun, so it's all good stuff to me. I don't think ya'll want me spamming the page with 60GB of video

 

In all seriousness I will review what I got and try to get a video posted tomorrow or Wednesday.

[theksmith 3,828]

special thanks to:

 

- Fenway01 & Gunner for taking turns at the front of the line when we got shuffled up

- Bradywgn71 for the multimeter and help with my electrical issues

- G&D for making sure everyone got down the mountain and headed home OK

- everyone for being a good sport about the exploring (i know i promised graded roads)!

 

great pics so far, i've only got a few to add to the pile...

 

 

a great sky as i headed out of Phoenix bright and early on Friday:

 

 

the Coolidge Dam, dedicated in 1930:

 

 

had a nice chat with a local guy from the tribe about the history of the dam - he had worked there his whole life. the lake was higher than i expected it to be, and they were releasing a good flow of 500 cu-ft/s.

 

the main group met up at the famous Taylor Freeze of Pima, and then i led us on a "shortcut" over to Tripp Canyon road.

 

Chris & Sarah were watching the topo maps and noticed a grave marked just off the main road as we started up Tripp canyon, it turned out to be a neat stone. old Fred the painter had a nice resting spot view.

 

 

the tip of the fire lookout tower on top of Blue Jay Ridge, and the "eel" rock:

 

 

there was a green meadow on top of the next peak across the valley from us, it reminded me of pics from the Swiss Alps:

 

 

the camp spot i spied on the aerial maps turned out to be a nice one, plenty of room for the group beneath the shady pines and just high enough to be a perfect temp.

 

Saturday i took everyone on a detour to check out the Gila Box Riparian area, it was hot out but not too bad in the little bits of shade near the river. the Gila was full but muddy.

 

 

we left the Gila to head up Bonita creek (canyon). it looked like you could drive in it at least a ways when checking out maps of the area, but i wasn't sure how far up. i had hoped to connect the lower entrance back to Solomon Pass road several miles north and make a nice loop.

 

while in the canyon, Fenway01 got to see an entire family of coatimundi, and i cought a climpse of a couple.

 

there was an interesting jerry-rigged-looking irrigation pipe attached to the canyon wall for most of the trail:

 

 

it turned out we were able to drive several miles, but eventually the graded track turned into faint occasional tire tracks. soon after the road degraded, Fenway01 lost a front spring retainer and his coil popped out. while he got that fixed, Gunner scouted ahead. we were only about a mile and a half from the exit, but he finally found the official end of the road - a "no motorized vehicles beyond this point" sign.

 

so we turned around and scooted back out the way we came. it was still a nice little trail with a bunch of creek crossings and plenty of shade in an otherwise barren desert area.

 

you can just make out the green strip of the canyon floor in the bottom of this picture (taken on the way out):

 

 

after gas and ice in Safford and we headed towards Mt Graham and what looked like impending doom (heavy rain and lightning)!

 

here's a shot of the wall-of-water we were headed for:

 

 

saying goodbye to the hot desert floor just before making the turn for the mountain:

 

 

we ended up missing most of the rain on the way up. after exploring a couple interesting side roads (with beautiful dense forest), we finally picked an undeveloped campsite beside the main road, near Riggs Lake. i believe the temp was in the 50's that evening - whatever it was, it felt great compared to the Phoenix heat!

[kaspily 2]

We had an awesome time on this trip and I was glad the rain held off for the most part. Here is the link to the highlights album: https://picasaweb.google.com/110968346826086888564/2015JulySaffordMini?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCKiPtLek-oWAMw&feat=directlink

 

Here is the link to the entire album: https://picasaweb.google.com/110968346826086888564/2015JulySafford?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCMyB2oSDrcqCugE&feat=directlink

 

We met up at the dam and briefly admired the architecture in the drizzling rain. Then we made our way over to the Taylor freeze where Chris and I split a fairly decent greasy burger. Then on to climb up a mountain and find a camp spot. Here is a few shots from the journey:

 

Starting up to the first mountain:

 

Saw "Grave" marked on our map so we had to check it out. Haven't yet had the time to figure out who this might be:

 

Climbing to the fire tower the views were excellent:

 

 

 

Views from the top of the tower. Thanks to George for a helping hand!

 

 

One of our trail mascots:

 

 

After checking out the tower we made our way back down to a really nice camping spot under the pines:

 

Dinner is served thanks to the lunchbox oven we use:

 

 

The next day leaving camp we got 3 out of the 4 WJs lined up:

 

On our way to the day 2 lunch spot:

 

 

 

There we lots of nesting swallows near the river. After lunch we headed further into Bonita Creek area and unfortunately hit a dead end.

 

 

The trail became much rough and it didn't look like anyone drove through here in a while. Eric scouted ahead and found a road closed sign. In the meantime one of the WJs decided she needed a little TLC:

 

 

 

We turned around and made our way towards Mt. Graham. It looked like it was going to be a wet night looking at the massive thunderstorm hitting the mountain:

 

 

After a long drive up the mountain we explored one rarely used loop trail and didn't find a camp spot. So we went back to an earlier camp site located just above Riggs Flat Lake. I was thankful for the fire as the temps were in the 50s and it was super damp out. Thankfully no rain. The Ksmith disappeared for a while and it turned out he had to do some trail repair to get his windows to go back up.

 

 

 

We slept great inside the WJ and thankfully were nice and toasty! Next morning pictures:

 

 

Finding a rock to pose on:

 

The longest drive award goes to Pegasus:

 

By ourselves we went to check out Riggs Flat Lake and then made our way down the Mt. Graham road:

 

 

Driving in the clouds and then getting low enough to get some great views of the valley floor:

 

 

Thanks again to ORP for another fun adventure.

[DAvy120 1]

looks like an awesome trail guys!! thanks for posting pics

[teddyearp 0]

It's been a coon's age since I have visited and posted here. Glad to see you folks are still expanding ever outward from the box of the 'usual' Wells trails that other 'clubs' are locked into because there is so much more to see in Arizona than what is in that little book.

 

In Mt Graham, now you have found another Arizona jewel. But there is more . . . . the Black Hills Back Country byway. The Chiricuaha mtns. And more.

 

Thanks for this picture thread, thanks much.

 

Or not! Now I am wishing I was living in AZ all that much more you stinkers!

[RyanDS650x 0]

Great write up, looks like a fun time. This is what we are interested in doing and we look forward to meeting up for a camp/trail run.

[dzJeepChic 2,433]

It's been a coon's age since I have visited and posted here. Glad to see you folks are still expanding ever outward from the box of the 'usual' Wells trails that other 'clubs' are locked into because there is so much more to see in Arizona than what is in that little book.

 

In Mt Graham, now you have found another Arizona jewel. But there is more . . . . the Black Hills Back Country byway. The Chiricuaha mtns. And more.

 

Thanks for this picture thread, thanks much.

 

Or not! Now I am wishing I was living in AZ all that much more you stinkers!

 

That was really nice of you to say. Thank you! We try to do a variety of things and sometimes it's hard to come up with ideas, so thanks for those 2 suggestions as well. You ought to at least hook up with us sometime when you're down here for a trip, it would be fun to meet you in person.

 

Great write up, looks like a fun time. This is what we are interested in doing and we look forward to meeting up for a camp/trail run.

 

Thanks to you also! We're doing a trip next year you'd like. Even though it filled up fast, sign up for the stand-by list if it fits your schedule and you think you'd be interested. We're going from near Happy Jack to Camp Verde on graded roads: http://offroadpassport.com/forum/showthread.php?t=4369 Of course other trips will come up before then, so hopefully we'll get to meet you before May!

[teddyearp 0]

That was really nice of you to say. Thank you! We try to do a variety of things and sometimes it's hard to come up with ideas, so thanks for those 2 suggestions as well. You ought to at least hook up with us sometime when you're down here for a trip, it would be fun to meet you in person.

 

Thank you for the kind words back, yes, I would like to try to hook up with you folks, just be warned, lol. The last two trips I made to AZ have been in later April, but next year I am hoping to come down during the monsoon. I am missing the shows so bad . . . .

 

This is me some 12-13 years ago looking for fire agates on the Black Hills:

 

 

[BigTuna117 33]

 

So I was able to recover enough of day 2's video to put this together. As you can see it isn't complete, but it wasn't as spotty as the day 1 footage I had. I think the dashcam overheats and stops recording. Not quite sure.

 

Just a simple x16 Time Lapse. Bring your own music!

[dzJeepChic 2,433]

We all look like little ants marching around!