Ken Ford 214 Posted November 15, 2022 Interesting bit of Info I found on the Net about the Circle of Eight. "In 1896 surveyor and soldier David D. Gaillard reported that "an entire Mexican family of six or eight persons" had the calamity of its glass demijohn of water breaking about eight miles east of Tinajas Altas; all perished and the site is now commonly known as the Grave of Eight. "The wagon tracks made when the [unfortunate] Mexican drove his exhausted team to one side of the road, were plainly visible thirty years afterward...." 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Curly 952 Posted November 15, 2022 26 minutes ago, Ken Ford said: Interesting bit of Info I found on the Net about the Circle of Eight. "In 1896 surveyor and soldier David D. Gaillard reported that "an entire Mexican family of six or eight persons" had the calamity of its glass demijohn of water breaking about eight miles east of Tinajas Altas; all perished and the site is now commonly known as the Grave of Eight. "The wagon tracks made when the [unfortunate] Mexican drove his exhausted team to one side of the road, were plainly visible thirty years afterward...." @Ken Ford last page, LOL 2 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
shellback91 1,836 Posted November 15, 2022 (edited) 10 hours ago, Ken Ford said: LOL..... I hope so cuz I literally stumbled over it Based on what I read there are a whole lot of roadside graves from one end of the road to the other. I am willing to bet there are a lot of other unmarked graves everywhere out there too. Edited November 15, 2022 by shellback91 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SonoranWanderer 446 Posted November 15, 2022 Great write up @Curly and thank you for doing so. I've been a bit behind since I got home myself. 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SonoranWanderer 446 Posted November 15, 2022 (edited) Adding my notes on our trip... What a great trip and time with an awesome crew, @shellback91, @gearhead, @Ken Ford, and @Curly! Thanks to all of you for going. 125 miles of dirt: Day 1: Ajo to Papago Well with a stop at Bates Well. Day 2: Papago Well to Tinajas Altas with stops at Dave O'Neil's grave, the 1871 grave, Tule Well, and Circle of 8 grave. Day 3: Tinajas Altas to Fortuna Hills with stops at Yodaville (as close as you can get) and the Fortuna Mine site. It was a really great test of @Ken Ford's new to him stock gen 3 Taco on street tires taking the Tinajas mid pass (A15 to A13 markers) instead of the traditional south Tinajas Altas Pass route. You can see our track and all of the points of interest here. It is also a good collection of information to plan your own trip. Note: I built it, it's how I openly plan this particular trip, so I might be biased. Some things with El Camino del Diablo have changed: Larger volume of traffic. There were so many people on the trail compared to the last time I ran it. Less Border Patrol presence overall No visit from Border Patrol Friday night as expected No indication that roads are being actively dredged for showing footprints Unmarked helicopter flybys both Saturday and Sunday morning Likely Border Patrol contracted helicopters Lots more side trail closures around Tinajas Altas (east side of the mountains) This made a few older camp sites inaccessible Old construction depot east of the TAs is gone except for the dirt lot and a few large piles of rocks. Tule Well's large camping area for group camping has been smooth graded, somewhat leveled, and enlarged. Another item of note: a couple of guys ran a 2500 RAM with a Black Series camper in tow through the Fortuna Mine route. Color me impressed with the trailer. Thank you @Curly for tail gunning! I should note I am grateful to @shellback91 and @Ken Ford for helping me find my phone after it fell into a garbage bag when I wasn't looking. I hear @Ken Ford is cursed to make things get lost whenever he is around. I am also very thankful to and for Courtney of Arizona Offroad working with me to ensure both groups got the best experience of a busy trail and campgrounds. (If she has an account on the forum I am happy to edit this and tag her.) I'll add photos later when I figure out why the forum is limiting my attachment upload size to less than one photo. Edited November 16, 2022 by SonoranWanderer 7 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dzJeepChic 2,517 Posted November 15, 2022 Excellent pictures and write ups you guys! I'm happy to see Papago Well & Tule Well mostly still intact. Papago looks better off than last time I saw it. Tinajas Altas is def 1 of my fave places to camp, so I'm glad you guys got to go there. Thank you for planning and leading @SonoranWanderer & @Curly, and way to work together with the other local group down there that weekend. 2 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Curly 952 Posted November 16, 2022 @SonoranWanderer @shellback91 @gearhead @Ken Ford I found one of the articles from Desert magazine I was talking about. It mentions the circle of 8 and the border patrol camp. The article is about rock collecting, but the first 2 pages may be of interest to you. Sept 1949 Read it here: https://www.scribd.com/document/2295888/194909-Desert-Magazine-1949-September Page 9 to start the article. Or you can read it on the page w/o downloading. 1 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SonoranWanderer 446 Posted November 16, 2022 (edited) Photos... Day 1 - Friday Bates Well From Friday night camp Day 2 - Saturday Leaving Papago Well Dave O'Neil's Grave 1871 Nameer Grave Circle of 8 Grave site Tijanas Altas (High Tanks) Day 2 camp at Tijnas Altas Day 3 - North Tijanas Altas Pass Yodaville Fortuna Mine Edited November 19, 2022 by SonoranWanderer 5 1 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
4x4tographer 2,847 Posted November 17, 2022 Holy cow - nice captures there Woody! What a gorgeous area! 4 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ladybug 472 Posted November 18, 2022 Great Pics Curly and Woody! Thanks for posting! Looks like it was an awesome trip!! smiles, ladybug 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
