From Mica Mine Road Jan 4th 2010

Jan 4th, 2010
From Mica Mine Road (N32 19.953 W112 53.976 – El 1986”)
Entry from MM Road at N32 19.837 W112 53.924 – El 1945’ - 1.76 miles/2.83 kms from Ajo Scenic Road at local Route marker 8113I

Last time we “spoke”, I was camped at Upper Craggy Wash, near Lake Havasu. My present campsite off Mica Mine Road is located south of Ajo, Az.

Dec 14th – made my move from Upper Craggy Wash to Plomosa Road (MM 16.6 / 1.28 (N33 53.275 W114 02.910 - El 1136’), not too far from the not-so bustling community of Bouse, Az, a trip of about an hour and a half. Because I am now carrying two bicycles, I put the stepladder in the back of the truck. Foolishly, I placed it on its side along the starboard wheel well, leaving part sticking up in the air, above the truck rail. I didn’t think much of this because there seemed to be ample space between the bottom of the 5th wheel overhang and the upper section of ladder, a judgement that proved to be flawed. While exiting the relatively steep entry-ramp out of Upper Craggy camp (aka Craggy Heights), the trailer and truck tilted in opposite directions at one point and contact was made. I ripped out about 30” of the weather stripping along the bottom side of the trailer, something that I repaired after getting materials at Lifestyles RV in Quartzsite. The second bike, incidentally, was one that I bought at Walmart for Malcolm Koch, who flew down for a quick visit here at Ajo between Dec 26th and Dec 31st. We had discussed a rental (difficult, as Ajo has no bike shop) or other method of getting him a bike, including a thrift shop purchase or even a desert “special”, abandoned by Mexican travellers. While wandering aimlessly through the Walmart back in Havasu, I happened upon the bike section and there, on the top rack was a mountain bike for $79. It looked to be shiny and new, had 18 gears only but front shocks and good rubber. I reckoned that it ought to last a week or so and bought it. Since that time, Malcolm has been and gone, the bike performed well and only developed its first flat tire after he left.

Off Plomosa Road, the site chosen was the same as that in which a few of us camped last year in December, 1.28 miles up Cattle Gate Trail from Quartzsite/Bouse Road (Plomosa). This is a good location for three or more units, since Dave and Gail (Lewis) arrived on the 15th with Hugh and Christine Richards. They have a 5th wheel rig as well, without solar though, so their generator runs for a fair bit of the day and night (Handy Bob would not approve). Since their arrival, we made several trips to Quartzsite for miscellaneous Flea Market shopping and lunch at Sweet Darlene’s, Bouse twice by bicycle for breakfast at the Bouse Cafe (9.5 miles round trip – I guess that one cancels the other, speaking calorically). Three meals out is more than I eat the rest of the year, so I’ll have to tone it down a bit or hermit status will get revoked. In addition to the breakfast rides into Bouse. On a trip to Parker, I acquired, at Spanky’s RV and Marine, a solar bag for heating water. This could save me some propane as it is supposed to heat up to 120° (C 49°) or so when propped in the sun for a few hours.

I made several bike circuits up toward the mountains, one being a loop of 13 miles to visit Cave Hills above camp, over to the Plomosa Pass, around 4-Peaks mountains and back. At some stage, a group of ATVers (there were several) came by – a woman took a look at my arms and legs, crusty with old blood wounds and scars from a tree cutting expedition, and said “you don’t fall off much, do you”, to which I responded that “yes, I fell off frequently but this particular blood came as a result of a slight disagreement with some thorny trees. She then said that she admired me (whether for riding my bike in such an out of the way place, the blood, acquiring firewood with my saw, or simply a general attraction that I often exude when covered in blood, sweating from a steep hill climb and huffing and puffing, all at the same time. Anyway, she rode off on her ATV with a gleam in her eye.

One day, Dave, Hugh and I made an expedition with two trucks, a generator and the little electric chainsaw, coming back with enough wood (mostly dead Palo Verde trees and some ironwood) which lasted the week or so remaining. Surplus wood was carted down to Ajo for the next installment. The rest of the crew went to Shadow Ridge RV in Ajo on the 22nd and will stay there until Jan 5th, after which H & C may come to my little outpost in the hills.

On a ride one morning, after walking up a steep pitch and remounting his bike, Hugh hit a rock and toppled off into a pile of very nasty looking rocks. As he is a double hip replacement survivor, this could have been serious but, in the end he came away with a wounded finger and several other battle scars but no permanent damage. Fortunately, I carry a first aid kit, so was able to staunch the flow of blood until return to camp and capable repairs from Christine were made.

I made the move from Plomosa to the Ajo area on Dec 23rd. En route, a stop at the Gila Bend Shell for a free sewer dump and water load, plus fuelling, took up about ½ hour of the 4½ hour journey. The station still required a zip code to operate the fuel pump, so one has to leave a credit card indoors with the large, unsmiling lady at the till while pumping fuel outside - a system that creates significant angst regarding the security and wellbeing of one’s credit card. Someone once told me that there was a way of substituting numbers for the letters in Canadian Postal codes as a placebo to hoodwink these machines into thinking that they have a legitimate Zip. If anyone out there remembers this, please advise, since I have been attempting all sorts of combinations without success.

On arrival at Ajo, most of my previous camp spots were occupied but I located a new one high (405 yds from the road) up a trail near the top of Sunset Pass on Mica Mine (Cemetery) Road. This site may be my “new favourite” as it has everything that I like (a view, relative isolation, plenty of Sonoran desert vegetation (Saguaros, Palo Verdes, Cholla (not so popular), Organ pipes, brittlebush, limberbush, Ocotillos and, of course, the ever-present creosotes. In addition, it is located in mountains under some scenic rock formations, is on a dead-end trail and has plenty of bike trails radiating in all directions. I do have a couple of neighbours camped within sight. One of them, Lyle, arrived one morning on his electric bicycle to introduce himself. He has a dog who is deaf and mostly blind, a tough proposition in this land of spiky cactus.

Once again, I dug in my portside tires to lower them against the slope of the hill. I think that I am going to hunt for a cheap pick axe as some of this desert ground is beginning to bend my poor old shovel. There are only two radio stations available – classical out of Tucson and a local Indian radio station run by the Tohono O’odham tribe out off Sells, AZ. These last folks specialize in endless playing of what I sense may be the single tribe-owned accordion, accompanied by a bass fiddle, all backing up tribal chanting and request submissions. My favourite shows are when the DJ talks in native tongue, a language much more smoothly spoken than his or her tortured English. I have discovered that the Telus Internet stick does not function here, despite having a signal-strength of two bars. The cell phone, however, works reasonably well though it too shows only two bars on good days.
By the end of day one, I had a fire pit constructed as well as the sundial that is now a fixture at every stop. For those of you trying to find me, the Canadian wind sock flies proudly, high above the trailer on the end of its 19’ golf ball retriever.

On Christmas Day, Gayle and Don Weyers, along with some of their family, convinced me to go with them, via Valentine Well trail, to “John the Baptist’s Campground and Lime Hill, south of camp by a little over ten miles. John the Baptist (no relation to he of “Revelations” distinction), was a local character who camped in the middle of nowhere back in the 30s or 40s. I suspect that his camp, located near a wash with plenty of trees and shrubbery nearby is a present-day waypoint for itinerant Mexican hikers and drug smugglers. Lime Hill, a little further south, gave us an excellent view over the surrounding desert, including the ranch at Bandeja Well. I was on my bike for the 10 miles there, but returned with the Weyers in their Jeep – a good Christmas day was had by all.

Malcolm Koch was with me from Dec 26th through 31st.. I met him at Olsen’s Supermarket in Ajo and was surprised to see a Mitsubishi sports car (his rental) pull up beside me in the parking lot. Never having seen Malcolm in anything but a pick-up truck, this came as something of a cultural shock. He said that the rental people just pointed to a lot full of cars and told him to pick what he wanted. In the end, we decided that its exotic look did not translate into quality as it seemed quite “tinny” – or, since there was very little actual tin involved, perhaps “Walmart plastic” might be a more appropriate label. Anyway, it made it to the desert and, hopefully, back to the airport, so that’s what counted.

While Malcolm was in residence, we enjoyed an action-packed, bike themed visit, being as he had to justify the cost of his half of the Walmart bicycle that I had purchased several weeks before. The hope was to see as much of the surrounding locality as possible and even take in any available cultural events. To this end, we biked, hiked, hunted for future firewood sites, golfed at the Ajo Golf Club, visited the museum, viewed the New Cornelia Copper Mine (largest in Arizona at its peak but now defunct), cooked over the campfire and packed as much boondocking experience as possible into the short period of time that he was here. Malcolm even had opportunity to test his mechanical skills on my bicycle chain after it broke. In fact, we spent the better part of two days perfecting chain removal and replacement techniques until we got it right. In the end, the diagnosis was that the middle gear on my bike was wearing excessively, causing the chain to jump off when under conditions of extreme torque, this likely a result of me practicing my Lance Armstrong simulation with too much zest over too many hill climbs during too many years. I have decided now to relax my pedalling style (if that’s possible) as a chain-saving measure. I could also drop 40 pounds but that would mean less avocados ($.40 each) in the Caesar Salads.

The Ajo golf course is interesting because it is only half constructed on grass (very dry and thin), with the remainder being gravel. It is also the only place that I have seen tame roadrunner birds that walk (run) on the fairways with little fear of golfers. The locals and those with rental clubs ($1) hit from wherever they happen to lie but those of us who have our own clubs and don’t wish to ruin them take generous free drops to avoid the gravel. Some might question the fairness of this technique but I take the view that all’s fair in golf and war. The course was full length and quite enjoyable, even though conditions were far from lush.

On December 30th, Malcolm and I circumnavigated the Ajo Mountains on bikes (13 miles). At one point, we had thought to include the town of Ajo in our travels but found that the trail (via Little Thule Well) went through a gate into the Cabeza Prieta Wildlife Reserve (“official vehicles only”), so we had to turn back. Our route back to camp involved a “short-cut” up a narrow Wash (arroyo) for about two miles. This was mostly unrideable due to soft gravel in the stream bed, so we walked. The adventure was quite scenic as a diversion and something worth doing once, or, possibly not at all, if any of any of you happen to follow our tracks.

For its first few days of operation, the new solar shower proved to be a bust as it maxed out at not much more than luke-warm, even in direct sun. However, refined techniques and warmer temps, up to 75° in daytime, 35°/50° at night, have improved its performance to the point where it now reaches 120° (max on my thermometer), so hot that I have to add cold water.
Am including a few pics – hopefully, they get through
Keep in touch
JW