Our adventure continues in the Santa Ritas! 
BRRRRR!!!! Friday night was a cold one! One of the coldest I've had camping in a while. Considering we were expecting 60's at night, I', glad I brought my sleeping bag that I almost left at home. I spent most of the night having convulsions from the sore muscles reacting to the chill. I think in total I got about 4-5 hours of sleep and maybe 2 hours of actual REM. I was positive Mike was sleeping soundly but I was relieved to find out he too suffered as much as I did!
After a 7am wake-up call thanks to some howling coyotes I crawled out of the tent and was happy to find that even with lack of sleep my body had managed to rest and I wasn't as sore as I expected to be. After a quick breakfast we packed up camp and headed to the summit of our trip. On the way up the hill we looked down and found a pond which probably would have made a better camping spot but there was no way we would have found it in the dark.
Mike and I trucked along the trail as the day got warmer and warmer. I noticed I was drinking a lot more water than I had the day before. Finally I spotted my first wildlife of the trip in the middle of the trail - a horny toad. We pressed on with the plan for lunch at the next highway crossing we came to. The trail was beautiful but the sun was getting more intense and I just couldn't seem to get enough water, and I ran out just short of our lunch stop. Mike wasn't far behind me with just about half left in his bottle. Just as we were coming down the hill to the highway we ran into our second human encounter - a solo backpacker coming up the trail. I was excited to stop and chat with him about where he was going and what his journey was all about but he just commented about the weather and kept on going.
We found a shady spot for lunch and relaxed for a while. Every car that passed on the road we wondered if they had any water! As we loaded up the packs a group with two dogs pulled up and parked on the road. Mike commented on them having water and I said the chances were probably good since they had dogs. He wandered over ahead of me, and lucky us! They donated two bottles of water to our cause. They bounded up the trail ahead of us with the dogs and we regained a decent pace on the trail. Soon we caught up with them again in a shady spot and they wanted to make sure we had enough food and asked about the Spot devices we were both wearing. We said our goodbyes and carried on to finish the trail.
The sun seemed to get more and more intense with every step I took. Soon I was down to the last half of my donated water and wondering how I would make it to the end. We estimated we had about 2 more miles to go, but Mike spotted a water tank on the map ahead of us so we pressed on to find it. It seemed to take forever but we finally came to the tank at the bottom of the hill. I ran all around it looking for someway to access the water but there was no spout! Then out of the corver of my eye I spotted a small water trough off to the side filled with not only water, but rocks, slime, creatures and dead bugs...perfect! I could finally test out the new Katadyn water filter we got for christmas! I set it up and it could not have worked better - the water was crystal clear and tasted great. We both sat there on the tub for a while filling, drinking and re-filling our bottles again along with having a snack until we were satisfied.
From there the trail was pretty much a straight shot out on a closed forest road to the highway and our meeting point. I felt rejuvenated and picked up my pace a bit. Mike spotted some deer bounding across the road in front of us - our second wildlife encounter! We made a left turn which was the wrong was to go and ended up hiking about half a mile of the next trail section. After seeing our mistake we turned around and finally we could see the road. We made our way over the barbed wire fence and collapsed next to the road to wait for Susan. We were tired, dirty and sunburned - but happy we survived our first section of the AZT!!!
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Hiking the Arizona Trail - Passage #5 - Day 2
Friday, March 6, 2009
Hiking the Arizona Trail - Passage #5 - Day 1
Last weekend Heidi embarked on the journey of the Arizona Trail! 
After a couple of years of dreaming to hike the Arizona Trail, I finally stepped foot on to it! I've always wanted to do a thru-hike, but with work, school, Disabled Explorers, and life in general taking a month to a month and a half off just isn't possible. So late last year I teamed up with my friend Mike (Tibaal89) to come up with a plan to thru-hike but do it in sections. We will do sections on weekends, hopefully one a month, with Josh joining us when he can. At this rate it will take us years to finish, but its better than not doing it at all!
We continued to postpone the start of this plan for a couple of months due to lack of gear, lack of money to buy gear, wanting to get in shape, etc. At the beginning of February I finally said enough is enough lets just do it! So we picked a date, did some research and put it on the calendar.
Now you may be wondering if this is our first journey on the AZT, why is this Passage #5? Well we planned on beginning at the beginning, but in our research we came upon this on the AZT website: "01/2009 - The AZT along the AZ/Mexico border continues to be heavily impacted by illegal border crossers and drug smugglers. Large accumulations of litter, trash, discarded clothing and new 'wildcat' trails are commonly encountered along the trail. Trail users may meet illegal border crossers and are advised to not hike alone in these areas. Also, overnight users are advised to camp away from the trail as far as possible." There have also been numerous news articles you may have seen reporting on the violence not only at the border but in southern Arizona in general.
Due to concerns with our safety we opted to start our journey closer to Tucson at Passage #5 - The Santa Rita Mountains. There are about eight passages in total to get through the Tucson area so our hope is that by the time we complete those maybe the border violence will have calmed down and we can go back south. So we set out on a Friday morning to the Santa Ritas from Mike's apartment in Tucson. Our plan was to both drive and leave a truck at the end point, but when we arrived to the parking area we were not too keen on leaving either of our vehicles; there was a giant fence with a Road Closed sign and far too many locks on the gate. At this point I was also encountering an odd problem with the 4Runner where it wouldn't stay running if I switched gears or came to a stop. Our day was not starting out well. After heading into Sonoita for gas and lunch, checking out the parking area and investigating the 4Runner it was almost 1pm. We decided to go ahead and continue with the trip anyway since we had come that far and elected to park both trucks at the trailhead and have Mikes wonderful girlfriend Susan come pick us up at the end (thanks again Susan!).
Finally we were officially on the trail! We couldn't believe it, we both had been wanting to start this trip for so long and we were finally there! Since we had started so late our goal for the day was to just make it to Kentucky Camp by dark and stay the night there leaving extra mileage for Saturday. The trail was really well maintained with great signage marking your way and these little informational posts along the route. We only ran into one other person, a mountain bike chick who rode past us.
(Photo by Tibaal89)
It must have been our excitement to be on the trail because we arrived at Kentucky Camp around 3pm...5 miles in an hour and a half! We opted to have some lunch there and take in the sites of the camp. I had no idea this place even existed and it is definitely one of the coolest places I've seen so far. Kentucky Camp is a ghost town and former mining camp which is now maintained by the US Forest Service and a volunteer group called the Friends of Kentucky Camp. These people have single-handedly resurrected the camp into a fantastic place to visit. There is even a "Bed and No Breakfast" house which anyone can rent for $50 a night and includes electricity, running water, furnishings, an outdoor grill, sink, fire ring, shower and outhouse! The main larger building of the camp is equally as nice with a kitchen (complete with fridge) dining room, sitting rooms with futons and a beautiful wrap-around porch with plenty of seating.
(Photo By Tibaal89)
(Photo By Tibaal89)
Thursday, March 5, 2009
El Camino Del Diablo - Day 3
Sunday was Presidents Day and our last day on the trail!
After another restful night in the RTT we woke up to the sun making magic on the rocks around us. After a breakfast of Mike's ultimate omelet scramble thingy and pancakes in a can we set off to finish up El Camino.
We headed back towards the other end of the Tinajas Atlas mountains near the initial camping spot to the tanks. Now when Lance kept mentioning the tanks I was expecting to see the same kind of tanks we had been seeing all weekend - big, round, metal. But a short hike revealed these were natural tanks carved into the mountain, kind of stacked on top of each other and when there is enough rain they can hold thousands of gallons of water....green sludgy water but water nonetheless!
The rock carvings in this area were truly amazing and there were a lot of fun areas to play around in. We enjoyed the few more desert flowers that were in bloom, said goodbye to our new Expo friends and parted ways. The other group had a very long drive back to California ahead of them, so they left on the main road out. We went off on a little more exploring around the mountains before continuing our journey.
Rather than head around the mountains we went just north of the Tinajas Atlas Pass through another unnamed pass, which provided the most technical part of the entire trip. Although there wasn't anything we couldn't handle it was fun to finally drive on something that wasn't a straight and flat sand road!
After spending well over an hour going through this pass and taking lots of pictures it was back to the flat sandy road and through the laser range. We came upon another emergency box becon and some spent smoke shells obviously left over from a military training exercise. This is the most excitement we would see in the area however, so we continued down the road on our way to Yuma.
On our way out we saw many many off-shoots and trails to go explore, but with a long drive back to Phoenix and Tucson and work the next day we decided to save it for another trip. You could probably spend a week on the El Camino and not see everything, so I'm sure we will be making another trip down here soon.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
El Camino Del Diablo - Day 2
Sunday would prove to be our longest but most enjoyable day on the trail.
It never ceases to amaze me how much longer we can sleep in in the roof top tent compared to a regular ground tent. The thing is like a cave! So needless to say we slept in until about 8am on day two, but awoke to another pleasant day of weather.
We had a quick breakfast, broke camp and hit the road a but ahead of our new Expo friends we had run into. Technically you are only supposed to have four trucks in each group so they stayed far enough back to look like a different group, but thanks to HAM radio we were able to stay in contact with them. Soon after hitting the road we came upon the Boarder Patrol camp out in the middle of nowhere, with lots of communication antennas, supplies and cool tanker trucks! We also had an 80's dance party going on in the truck so Josh enjoyed 'dancing across the sand' all day long!
After leaving the BP camp we came across a neat section of lava fields known as Pinacate, and stopped for some pictures and for the other group to catch up. We spotted a strange yellow vehicle off in the distance, possibly on the other side of the border. Binoculars broke out but even then we couldn't quite tell what it was.
Moving on down the road we settled in for lunch at Tule Wells which included a casita and the Boy Scouts monument on a hill above. The story goes that it was a group of Boy Scouts that worked with the different agencies to help create the wildlife preserve.
Here is where I tell you more about the tires the Border Patrol uses to drag the roads. My off road friends, please get your Congressman on speed dial! By the time we made it to Tule Wells we had seen so many of these tires, used as signs, stacked up at the camp, and chained together for dragging. Who cares you might say? Well all of these tires are Goodyear MT/R's and many many of them are BRAND NEW! For those of you who don't know these are quite expensive off road tires, costing over $200 each...and here they are your tax dollars at work....being used to drag through the desert! If we'd had more room we would have grabbed some to bring home with us since these are what we run on the FJ....shame on you Border Patrol! SHAME!!
After lunch and a little exploring of the area, our California friends decided they wanted to head into camp early to relax and have a little siesta, so we briefly parted ways. As they took off towards camp at the Tinajas Atlas mountains, we headed toward Christmas Pass, a short little seven mile jaunt to what would be a really cool camping spot for future runs. We all climbed up the hills a little bit, and Josh climbed up the mountain there and got some high-up pics.
Following our detour we decided to get to camp so we could relax and rest before it got too dark. However when we arrived at the camping spot the other group wasn't there! Luckily we could raise them on the HAM and they had gotten lost and ended up on another trail not too far from us. We decided to head over to their location and check out their spot to see how it compared..and we are glad we did! They ended up at the end of a dead-end trail totally surrounded by the mountains and secluded. Before setting up camp we explored all the way to the furthest end point of the trail, where of course our friend Mike managed to find the one rock he could crawl his truck over!
We settled in for some Indian food dinner around the campfire, followed by another great night of story telling, party lights, beer and good company. We ended up with enough wood to build a house so the race was on to burn it all, which we didn't. We figured it would still be there if we ever returned!
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
El Camino Del Diablo - Day 1
On the morning of February 14th we embarked on a journey that we had been waiting for over a year to take: El Camino Del Diablo, the Devils Highway.
We left our home Saturday morning and met up with our friend Lance, and another friend PJ who was joining us on the trip as a reporter for a feature on Disabled Explorers. We headed west out of Phoenix and then south to the town of Ajo, which is the last place of civilization before entering the Devils Highway.
El Camino Del Diablo has a vast history which began with Coronado hearing of a juncture of two major rivers some three to four weeks travel to the west of Caborca. He dispatched one of his captains, Melchoir Diaz, to lead a side expedition to investigate the report; Diaz assembled his party and supplies and set out across the desert. The hardships they encountered prompted them to name the route "El Camino del Diablo." Father Kino, a Jesuit priest, undertook the next major exploration of the area late in the 17th century. He mapped the area and located most of the water stops. Juan Bautista de Anza led 200 colonists from Tubac, Arizona, across part of the trail in 1775 on his way to found the city of San Francisco.
The gold hungry 49er’s are also a part of this historic route, although not fairing as well as the Spanish before them. With water holes three to four days apart, they struggled to carry enough water for people and animals, and most often crossed during the summer, when temperatures climbed to 120 degrees plus.
Today the trail is used by two main groups: people like us who enjoy the outdoors via 4 wheel drive, and the Border Patrol who endlessly drive back and forth on the trail looking for illegal immigrants and drug runners. This trail also cuts through the Barry Goldwater Range east of Yuma, which is used as training grounds for both the US Air Force and Marines.
After leaving Ajo, we started the trail and soon discovered some remnants left by the 49ers. It was amazing to see what was almost an endless sea of rusty cans and other supplies left behind. We pulled off the trail into a wash to stop for a lunch break and stretch our legs. Then it was back on the trail to find our first camp of the night.
Not long back on the trail we had our first encounter with the Border Patrol. All I can say is I hope those guys get paid a lot because that must be a boring job. They do this thing called 'dragging' where they attach a bunch of tires (more about THAT later) together and drag them down the road behind their truck. Then they come back later on and see if there are any footprints on the road from where people may have crossed. Then they drag again, check again....you get the picture. This guy didn't want us messing up his pretty smooth road so he let us drive over his tires and pass.
Our next adventure involved coming upon old WW2 runway mats that the Border Patrol stuck in random areas of the road to help keep the dust down. If you weren't paying attention they had the ability of slicing and dicing your tires so we had to drive with caution.
After chatting with yet another Border Patrol agent we finally came across this signal box. Somewhat controversial these are placed in a couple of areas to help people in distress, mostly illegals. We had a great time talking about it and how the picture on the box makes it look like if you press the button you will be electrocuted!
Also included in this journey was a crossing into the Cabeza Prieta Wilderness area, which is the third largest national wildlife refuge in the lower 48 states. All sorts of animals call this refuge home including bats, desert bighorn sheep, coyotes, and desert tortoises....but we didnt' see any! We did however find some other animals we know, that of Mike and Tim who had already spent the night and staked out the best camping spot at Papago Wells.
It was good to get out of the truck and relax a little. Soon coming down the road we saw a big brown van followed by two other vehicles....amazingly we had just run into a group we knew from Expedition Portal who were also camping that evening in the same location. We all walked down to the well, which is actually one of the few places you can get water in the area. After checking out some of the small wildflowers that were in bloom we settled in for dinner and a good nights rest before hitting the trail again in the morning.
Friday, February 20, 2009
Four Peaks Pickup 2/7/09
On a beautiful day northeast of Phoenix, we ventured out on our first trip of the year to Four Peaks for the second annual Four Peaks Pickup. 
*Sigh* Too long...it has been too long! I apologize to everyone for our lack of posts. We haven't been sitting around doing nothing; quite the opposite in fact, which is the main reason for our lack of updates. So lets get on with it!
On a Friday evening a few weeks ago we left our home and headed east to meet up with some fine folks who were gathering for a good cause. The cause was the second annual Four Peaks Pickup, organized by our friend Tim Huber (SOAZ). We arrived after dark to find a large crowd had already gathered and were eating dinner and chatting around the campfire. We took both trucks out and Heidi was quite happy to find three more 4Runners parked for the overnight stay.
We awoke early the next morning, just as the sun was coming up, to BEEP BEEP BEEP....another giant dumpster was being dropped off for the event. It was a chilly morning, and rain had been predicted for the weekend. After finally crawling out of the tent, we had a quick breakfast and began helping with the set-up.
The event was really well organized with maps of all the clean-up areas, communications, medical station, a raffle with some awesome prizes, free lunch and donations going towards Karma Racer and Disabled Explorers. Now, if you have never been out to this area it is one of the most beautiful, yet at the same time, most disgusting places in Arizona. It is unfortunate we live amongst a society of disrespectful and dangerous people who think nothing about throwing that beer can out the window, or dragging the old tv set out to the desert to shoot up...and leaving it there. Luckily we had Hunter from Hunter Offroad out there with us that day, who also happens to be a Sheriff's Posse member, to get the people to stop shooting while we cleaned up after them.
I just couldn't believe the mess that was out there. The pictures we have just don't do it justice. We were only able to snap a few because we were too busy raking, shoveling and picking up after thoughtless fools. We even had some there at one of the clean up sites who just stood there an watched us for at least half an hour without even lifting a finger!
After loading up about 30 bags of trash and running around to check on other sites, we headed back to base camp to help unload and have lunch. AZFJ had a huge turnout, about 35 trucks which was quite impressive! It was great to relax in the beautiful weather and chat with new and old friends alike. The trash just kept pouring it; the three large dumpsters were filled to capacity and the Forest Service had to call in their trash truck to take care of what was left. Finally it was time for the raffle, and although we didn't win anything it was still fun to watch.
Thanks again to Tim, Danica and everyone else who pitched in for this amazing event. Not a drop of rain or cloud showed up; we could not have asked for more perfect weather. In the end, 500 people from all walks of life came together to haul away 20 tons of trash!! Woo hoo!
Monday, November 24, 2008
AAWL Walk to Save the Animals 2008
Our Saturday went to the dogs when we decided to join in on the Arizona Animal Welfare League's Walk to Save the Animals! 
We had originally planned to participate in the Phoenix Summit Challenge this day, but when someone posted up about this event on AZFJ we decided our time and efforts would be put to better use helping out the doggies....plus Caesar could participate with us!
We headed to Tempe Town Lake in the morning not sure exactly what to expect since we'd never done an event like this before. When we arrived at the parking garage, there were people, cars and dogs everywhere! And it only got more crazy the closer we got to the registration booth! I'm not sure how many people we were expecting to see, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't anywhere near how many were actually there!
We stood in line and got registered, got our goodie bags and then waited for the walk to start. Thanks to everyone who donated to us we raised $335! We relaxed on the grass and looked at all the cool dogs that were there, watched some herding dog tricks, and then finally started the walk.
We set out with intentions of doing only the 3K since it was going to be a little warm that day and Caesar isn't exactly a spring chicken. We stopped to pose for a picture with Baxter the Bobcat who is the Arizona Diamondbacks mascot. As we walked along the lake dogs were stopping for swims, and the organizers had water bowls and cookie stations set up which Caesar rather enjoyed.
As we were nearing the end of the 3K section, we spotted a little disabled explorer! A 3-legged wiener dog was hopping along at an amazing pace, blowing right through the 3K section and on to the 5K. Not wanting to be outdone by this little guy, Caesar pressed on to complete the 5K all the way around the lake! When we finished and returned to the park he collapsed in victory for a moment, then wandered over to the Petco display for more free treats.
After finishing the race and checking out the booths, we all walked down to Bisonwiches for a well deserved victory lunch! This event was a great success with over 1500 people, over 650 dogs, and almost $100,000 raised!! Thanks again to all who donated to us!!
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