Camino del Diablo Day 2 and 3

Day 2 dawned clear and bright. After a breakfast of egg's, bacon, and tortilla's we headed west. The road changed from bedrock to sand in the beginning. In just a few miles we arrived at O'Neils grave. Apparently old O'Neil was looking for a burro when he stumbled and fell head first into a small pond. Somehow he managed to drown. Certainly he's the only person in this dry country to drown. His grave is just off the road. It must be customary to leave a little memento on his grave since there were many American coins, bullets, shotgun shells, lighters, and even a Denver Bronco key chain fob. We all contributed something, said goodbye to O'Neil, and resumed our trip. Shortly after O'Neils grave we came to the spot the Ranger had warned us about. Luckily there was no standing water, but the mud must have been about 8 inches deep. Driver John finally had to put the Jeep into 4 wheel drive. Since his Jeeps wheels extend about 2 inches beyond the fenders we had a constant stream of mud flying past our side windows.
After we made it through the mud bog we returned to dry sand with the Growler Mountains off to our north. We could see sand dunes off in the distance but never actually drove over a dune. Our next road surface was a portion of the Pinacate lava field. I can only imagine how hot this particular spot must be in the summer when it's over 120 degrees with the sun beating down on all the black lava.
For lunch we pulled into a wash so that we wouldn't have to move if another vehicle happened to appear. As we were exiting the wash our travel mates jammed on the brakes and walked over to a mesquite tree. John and I followed not knowing what we'd find. At the base of the tree was the skull of a Bighorn Ram. The only other part that remained was the spine. The ram died recently because there was still flesh on part of the skull. I think we would have preferred to see this magnificent animal standing alive up on the side of a mountain.
Our road changed again from sand to rock as we travelled over hills. Soon we arrived at Tule Well where there is an old adobe casita, a couple of campsites and a very well used picnic table. The old casita has a fireplace, table, and a floor to sleep on if needed. It also had a visitor log where it said that two other sets of travelers had already been there that day. They must have come in from the west and gone back the same way because we sure didn't meet them. On a corner shelf in the casita visitors had left items for future visitors. I remember seeing a can of beer, some coins, a few rocks, a lighter, and a broken piece of mirror with what appeared to be two lines of cocaine. On the wall there was something written in Spanish. According to Jim, our Spanish speaker, it said "Your mother doesn't live here!! Clean up after yourselves!" A very cool place.
At this point we left the Cabeza Prieta NWR and we entered the Barry Goldwater Air Force Bomb Range. We were now driving on fine white sand. Our destination for the evening were the waterholes at Tinajas Atlas pass. These "high tanks" are nine watering holes contained in naturally formed rocks that start low in the mountains and then are positioned higher and higher. When there is sufficient rain the upper tanks fill and overflow into the next lower tank. Travellers of yesteryear relied on these tanks for much needed water. Many times they would arrive and the lower, easy to reach tanks would be dry so they would have to climb up to the next. Many people died in this area, only a few feet from much needed water, but to weak to climb to the next tank. We found the tanks in the dusk and quickly set about getting the tents up. Our campsite was elevated and we had a fantastic view of the desert floor and mountains to the north. I've often wondered where the middle of nowhere is. I can now say that I've been there. I might mention here that as we traveled west we saw fewer and fewer Border Patrol vehicles. Once we entered the Goldwater Range we saw very little Border Patrol presence. Apparently even the illegals know not to come this way. Our supper consisted of big pork chops, baked potato's, shrimp and a shared Snickers candy bar. We didn't hear any coyotes, missed our little friend the Kangeroo Rat, but the stars were even better due to the clear skies. We headed to bed about 11:00 PM and none of us woke up until 5:00 AM. Wow, this sleeping on the ground can be done without pain!
During breakfast we were treated to a mock dogfight between two jets over the Goldwater Range, complete with the first jet dropping flares to confuse the second jets heat seeking missiles. After breakfast John and Gary climbed up to some of the middle tanks.
We got back on the road and in just a few miles began to see signs of civilization.
Soon we saw I-8 at Welton, AZ. Gary and Jim and John and I met at the Dateland, AZ exit on I-8 where we celebrated our journey with a palm date flavored milk shake. Sure tasted good. Gary and Jim headed straight back to Tucson. John and I went back to Ajo to re-unite the Jeep with the truck and trailer. What a great trip. Thanks to Gary and Jim for being great travel mates. Thanks to John for inviting me.

El Camino del Diablo

Several weeks ago my Denver cousin John called and said that he had a buddy who wanted to drive El Camino del Diablo aka The Devils Highway. He explained that at least two four wheel drive vehicles were required so that if one vehicle breaks down the other can bring you out. Oh, and he also mentioned that the area of Arizona where the road was located was one of the most remote spots in the United States. And don't forget about the "undocumented" Mexican border crossers and drug runners! My first, second, and third reaction was "are you nuts"! I was even more concerned when I saw on the internet that the highway actually started about 80 miles in Mexico. I basically told him to count me out as I had no, none, nada desire to be runnin' around in the middle of some damn desert in Mexico. He advised that we wouldn't be doing the Mexico part of the road, only the US portion. That really didn't make me feel a lot better, but I finally agreed to make the trip.

Okay, so where the heck is this "highway" and what's it doing there? The highway enters the US at about Lukeville, AZ but for the U.S. leg most people start at Ajo, AZ which is about 125 miles west of Tucson. From Ajo the highway cuts through the northwest portion of Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument and then enters the huge Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge where it follows the U.S. Mexico border in a westerly fashion. At the western boundry of the Cabeza Prieta NWR the highway starts turning north as it crosses the Barry Goldwater Air Force Range. The highway ends at Wellton

which is about 30 miles east of Yuma. Now for the "why is it there" part. Three hundred years ago the

only people to use the highway were the Catholic priests who were sent into Sonora Mexico to establish their network of missions. When gold was discovered in California the road thrived as a shortcut to the goldfields. After the goldrush ended a few intrepid travelers used the road to once again get to California. Most recently the remoteness and isolation of the region has been heavily used by the aforementioned "undocumented" Mexicans.

Throughout the highways history it has been associated with death from lack of water. One source extimates that 300 to 400 people died of thirst in the early days of the highway. And today the U.S. Border Patrol finds unprepared Mexican border crossers. The U.S. portion of the highway is about 120 miles long. It is basically a rock/sand/mud (when the infrequent rains come)/lava path through the upper Sonoran desert. Once you enter there are no reststops, no McDonald's, no gas stations, no nothin'.

Wouldn't you know it, but when we arrived it was actually raining. The ranger at the Ajo sign in point advised that we could start the trail but would come to a wash
at about 25 miles. He said that even if there was water in the wash we could probably make it as it had a good gravel bottom. If we encountered water over the road at about the 50 mile section we were to turn around and head back or wait until the water had receded. So off we went!

Starting at Darby Wells Road we found the road to be rocky and wet. Our first stop was at Bates Well where Bates Ranch is located. It was also the site of a Border Patrol station but we saw no agents. We did wander around the ranch, took some pictures, and had lunch. We were pleasantly surprized to see that the rain had almost stopped and it appeared to be brightening up.

After lunch we hit the road again and I think about this point it began to dawn on me just how isolated we were. We arrived at the first wash and made it through without incident, but just a couple miles down the road we encountered a large
low spot in the road that was filled with water. We plowed through without much trouble.

It took us from about noon, when we started until about 4:00 PM to arrive at our
intended campsite which was Papago Well at mile marker 40. While we pitched our tent, gathered wood, and generally set up camp the sun actually came out of hiding. Papago Well campsite has about 5 spots to camp complete with picnic tables and a grill. No showers or rest rooms. We did have a group of campers down from us and we learned later they were Fish and Wildlife interns. We also had almost hourly drive by's by Border Patrol vehicles.

As we were treated to a beautiful Arizona sunset we ate a supper of Porterhouse steaks, an onion & potato vegetable mix, and for desert all four of us shared a Hershey chocolate bar. After supper we sat around our fire, told stories (some were true), listened to our coyote buddies, marveled at the stars, and watched a Kangaroo Rat scurry about our campsite in search of a meal.

We turned in about 10:30. I warned cousin John that I had slept on the ground in a tent about 3 times in my life and none of the 3 instances were what I would call a pleasant time. I did get to sleep fairly quickly but woke up at about 1:oo AM for a toilet break. I think John did the same. About 4:00 AM both of us awakened because we could hear the rumble of a truck coming down the road. I remember thinking that if it was a Border Patrol trunk someone really needed to give it a tune up. As it passed the campsite it turned on a loudspeaker and said something in Spanish. The only guy that spoke Spanish slept through the whole episode. Whoever it was repeated the phrase twice and then rumbled off down the road.
None of us felt that it was the Border Patrol. Who knows what it was all about.
We managed to stay in our tent's until dawn.