Off roading is a big part of the Arizona adventure - as I have been finding out. While at Cochise Terrace, I was fortunate enough to have a neighbor, Sparky, who was right in to the Jeepin' thing and invited me along for a couple of their trips.
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| This was their group. Pretty ingenious! |
Our first trip was to China Peak in the Dragoon Mountains and was a small group, just 3 of us. The numbers didn't mean anything as this was really quite an experience. Sparky's jeep was his pride and joy and I soon found out why. As you can see from some of these photos, he has invested quite a bit of $ in off-road improvements......
Set up for maximum ground clearance and torque.
The China Peak trip was quite a ride as some of these pics and views will attest to:
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| Pic of the other 2 jeeps |
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| A view back down towards Benson.... |
Lunch break......
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| Lunch break.... |
And finally some of the awesome views from way up, on the way back.....
It was a full day and my first real experience at Jeepin' and it was awesome. Special thanks to Sparky and Greg for having me along.
A few weeks later, I got to go again. This time it was to Las Cienegas National Conservation Area and a full group and a full day.
The group this time was 8 Jeeps......
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The line up was in front of the Cochise Terrace Office
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| The first and last vehicles in the group are equipped with cb radios, although most all of the jeeps had them, for communication and to keep the group together |
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| That's me and Sparky next to last with Greg in the rear. |
Some pics of our "trip"......
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| The first rest stop |
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| A rest and stretch break |
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| Some of the "road" could hardly be called road |
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Roads were subject to washouts.......
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| Some of the roads could hardly be called roads |
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After a couple hours of creeping along, we came to an abandoned camp where we stopped for lunch..............
the afternoon part of the trip was interesting as we traveled along a ridge. The views were awesome! We saw solar powered water pumps( to provide water for all the grazing cattle). Interesting that solar had replaced Wind power for this task.
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| Jeeps strung out as we travel the ridge |
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| Looking at all the cattle, interesting to note a lot of the trails we were on had fences that the first jeep had to open to access, with the last Jeep in the line closing. |
All in all, it was an interesting and exciting day. Some of the views were breath-taking. I can see why there are Jeep enthusiasts.
Off - roading at Butterfield takes on a different flavor. Every Thursday, a group gets together for "Get Lost with Doc". ATV's are the preferred mode of transportation as opposed to Jeeps. I haven't been out with them yet........but some day????? Here is a sampling of the ATV's residing in the park....
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| Our neighbor Steve's ATV.... |
And that covers the Off- Road adventures.........at least my part of it. For something really interesting, check out
Black Bear Road in Telluride, Colorado.
