Bradshaw Mnt Loop Shortcut 08-18-07
Another Excellent Adventure for the record books. We were headed back to the desert even though it is in the hottest time of the year. We have had a good amount of rain in the past month so the desert is quite green for the desert. Steve had asked Roy if he would lead his group of riders over a shortcut he had found the week before. I decided to go along with Roy to see all new riders Steve had signed up. There was a total of 17 Rigs, Oh My!!!! 2 Rhinos and all the rest quads.
We met @ 6:00 AM at the McDonalds and staged just N of town on Rincon road. It looked like everyone was well prepared for an all day ride with everyone's sprits high. We all got together at the start of the wash for a pep talk from Roy before taking off. Within the 1st couple of miles there is water in the wash. Just as I saw the water 5 Javelina took off running. Those little buggers are fast. I couldn't even get a photo of them. Must be camera shy. Right after that I came around a big rock and flushed about a dozen Turkey Vultures. I was trying to get up the wash into the water to get a few photos of the group playing in the water. Just after BradAZ came by me I took off. I noticed he stopped next to the water looking at his tire as I went by him. I couldn't resist. I turned around and soaked him with a wall of water before he knew what I was doing. As we were looking at his tire I saw Roy coming so I stepped back and sure enough he soaked Brad as well. The water actually felt great. Oh well I guess we should help him now. Brad had hit a rock in the water so hard it bent the crap out of his rim. I don't know how he held onto the handle bars with that impact. Steve had a can of fix a flat that he put in that fixed the seal.
Just after coming out of the wash the Orange Rhino was sailing along in the sand at about 30 and went off a wash out he didn't see. Good thing they had a 4 point harness system as he put it almost on it's nose. A few miles further down the wash we were about the leave the highway when I noticed the Orange Rhino guy looking at this front tire. Most of the group had left but a few of us were looking at the tire to try to find a hole when Steve looked on the inside of the rim and saw a hole about the size of a half dollar in the middle of the rim. Steve said to me "do you have any of that JB Stick" Sure do, lets give it a try. Sure enough in about 5 minutes it was fixed good as new and we were off again.
The trail up this side wash got narrow in a few spots but the Rhinos did great. They had no problem with the boulder piles as well. Nice to see them in action. Roy had to do some of his fancy side car riding on one off camber spot around a boulder. I think he was hoping for some extra style points but he didn't have his knees together so his score suffered. The scenery along the ride was fantastic at times. We went over and around several mountains and never saw another rider. It was also very rough with lots of softball and basketball rocks for miles. Just the way Roy likes it. This trail hardly ever gets anyone on it according to the Rancher.
Well we made it to a stopping spot under a large shade tree for lunch and a break. This is where Roy, Mike another Steve and Me (Don) were going to split off from the group. This was planned in advance BTW. Some of the large heard wanted to go to Crown King form here and I heard Roy say he didn't think that was a good idea because that would add 3 or 4 hours to the ride and they would not make it back to the trucks before dark. The response was "we have lights."
We went off exploring some old stuff on the ranch. Mr. Cooper (the rancher) told us later that we were at the house his Mother lived in before it was washed away from a flood in 1970. There was a cool old truck and tractor along with a bunch of other old stuff. I one of the buildings there were a bunch of old bottles but some jug heads had broken them.
On our way through the ranch old Mr. Cooper came out and gave us a history lesson. He said his father and Mother homesteaded the ranch in 1919. He had a lot of other great story's that we enjoyed before heading off on our last leg of the journey.
We were in search of another short cut Roy had plotted out on his GPS a couple of weeks ago but could not find. Dusty had found it by himself a couple of weeks so he showed us where it was. It was a fun trail with a few nasty spots to get your attention which is always fun. There were again some awesome views along this trail as in went up and down several mountains. This trail came out right where we wanted in Buckhorn wash. We took a side trail that looked like it went through on the GPS but it ended at a large waterfall with no way around. Oh well It was only about 1 1/2 miles out of the way.
Here we are back in the wash nearing Box Canyon and another couple of deer jump over the bank. It was nice to get back to the trucks before dark this time.
We were very worried about Steve's group and hoped they would be ok in the dark. We heard the next day they got back to the staging area at 11:30 PM. Ouch!!! That's way dark plus they had a couple of roll overs.
Read MoreWe met @ 6:00 AM at the McDonalds and staged just N of town on Rincon road. It looked like everyone was well prepared for an all day ride with everyone's sprits high. We all got together at the start of the wash for a pep talk from Roy before taking off. Within the 1st couple of miles there is water in the wash. Just as I saw the water 5 Javelina took off running. Those little buggers are fast. I couldn't even get a photo of them. Must be camera shy. Right after that I came around a big rock and flushed about a dozen Turkey Vultures. I was trying to get up the wash into the water to get a few photos of the group playing in the water. Just after BradAZ came by me I took off. I noticed he stopped next to the water looking at his tire as I went by him. I couldn't resist. I turned around and soaked him with a wall of water before he knew what I was doing. As we were looking at his tire I saw Roy coming so I stepped back and sure enough he soaked Brad as well. The water actually felt great. Oh well I guess we should help him now. Brad had hit a rock in the water so hard it bent the crap out of his rim. I don't know how he held onto the handle bars with that impact. Steve had a can of fix a flat that he put in that fixed the seal.
Just after coming out of the wash the Orange Rhino was sailing along in the sand at about 30 and went off a wash out he didn't see. Good thing they had a 4 point harness system as he put it almost on it's nose. A few miles further down the wash we were about the leave the highway when I noticed the Orange Rhino guy looking at this front tire. Most of the group had left but a few of us were looking at the tire to try to find a hole when Steve looked on the inside of the rim and saw a hole about the size of a half dollar in the middle of the rim. Steve said to me "do you have any of that JB Stick" Sure do, lets give it a try. Sure enough in about 5 minutes it was fixed good as new and we were off again.
The trail up this side wash got narrow in a few spots but the Rhinos did great. They had no problem with the boulder piles as well. Nice to see them in action. Roy had to do some of his fancy side car riding on one off camber spot around a boulder. I think he was hoping for some extra style points but he didn't have his knees together so his score suffered. The scenery along the ride was fantastic at times. We went over and around several mountains and never saw another rider. It was also very rough with lots of softball and basketball rocks for miles. Just the way Roy likes it. This trail hardly ever gets anyone on it according to the Rancher.
Well we made it to a stopping spot under a large shade tree for lunch and a break. This is where Roy, Mike another Steve and Me (Don) were going to split off from the group. This was planned in advance BTW. Some of the large heard wanted to go to Crown King form here and I heard Roy say he didn't think that was a good idea because that would add 3 or 4 hours to the ride and they would not make it back to the trucks before dark. The response was "we have lights."
We went off exploring some old stuff on the ranch. Mr. Cooper (the rancher) told us later that we were at the house his Mother lived in before it was washed away from a flood in 1970. There was a cool old truck and tractor along with a bunch of other old stuff. I one of the buildings there were a bunch of old bottles but some jug heads had broken them.
On our way through the ranch old Mr. Cooper came out and gave us a history lesson. He said his father and Mother homesteaded the ranch in 1919. He had a lot of other great story's that we enjoyed before heading off on our last leg of the journey.
We were in search of another short cut Roy had plotted out on his GPS a couple of weeks ago but could not find. Dusty had found it by himself a couple of weeks so he showed us where it was. It was a fun trail with a few nasty spots to get your attention which is always fun. There were again some awesome views along this trail as in went up and down several mountains. This trail came out right where we wanted in Buckhorn wash. We took a side trail that looked like it went through on the GPS but it ended at a large waterfall with no way around. Oh well It was only about 1 1/2 miles out of the way.
Here we are back in the wash nearing Box Canyon and another couple of deer jump over the bank. It was nice to get back to the trucks before dark this time.
We were very worried about Steve's group and hoped they would be ok in the dark. We heard the next day they got back to the staging area at 11:30 PM. Ouch!!! That's way dark plus they had a couple of roll overs.
