site move / snood / daily cardio

mud defense Yesterday I was getting increasingly nervous about my ability to get up out of the previous campsite back to the forest road after it rained. The forest road (FR 88) itself was fairly hard packed, so even though it was rutted in places from prior rains I figured I could always get down

hilltop park bench

Yesterday I saw a UTV stop 5 hilltops to the north. He stayed for a few minutes so I got out the binos. The driver was out of the vehicle and inspecting what appeared to be a park bench (!) and small water tank (!) on the crest. Color me curious. I didn’t see any

on the turning away (pic heavy)

I mentioned before that I went beyond the main Kool Corner camping area and turned back because one of the tracks was washed out. Muffin and I walked up there to get a second opinion. It turned out to have been a good call. This low spot going around the right hander turned into deep

daily cardio: Laguna Cemetery geocache

I loaded up C:Geo (android) with nearby caches and headed to the nearest one, located in the Laguna Cemetery. Cemeteries are some of my favorite cache locations because of the history and the interesting markers. This particular cemetery was for the La Laguna mining community presently located under Mittry Lake a mile or so north

daily cardio: hike to Sugarloaf

Inspired by Paul’s comment on yesterdays’ post, Muffin and I headed out to see what it was like between the campsite and Sugarloaf mountain. We poked around and found the West Side trail, beautifully etched into stones at regular intervals: Muffin does a pretty good job of following marked trails: We followed the trail until

daily cardio: a hike eastward on King Rd

It rained all morning and Muffin was getting antsy. When it finally stopped we headed east on King Road, the graded dirt road that runs through the area. On the way out we saw a small natural arch high up on on a hill to the north: After a couple miles we came up on

daily cardio, saguaro measurement edition

The lower hill in the center has been calling me. It looked approachable from the relatively-gentle northwest side, which is the left slope in this pic: It was fairly strenuous and 90% covered with loose rock fragments. The weird thing was the loose rocks were remarkably stable with almost no slipping. I suspect the sharp

desert rain

It started raining lightly yesterday, and rained lightly-but-steadily through the night. There was a flash-flood warning in Yuma, the biggest/nearest town. People are always surprised to hear of floods and drowning in the desert but it definitely happens. Newbies sometimes camp in arroyos because they feel protected from the elements and observation. But those low

morning in Quartzsite / relo to Plomosa

I needed to make a run into Quartzsite this morning, and I wanted to relocate as my mobile data was terrible. Dear Planet Fitness I had to make a run to the USPS to send a certified letter to PF cancelling my subscription.  You can do it in person at your “home” gym or send

Daily cardio: longer walk along Shea Rd

Most of this hike was in deep, tiring gravel. Muffin has lost a bit of the bounce in her step at this point: It did yield some interesting geology in the cliffs to the south: