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.
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.
our books, enjoyed the art and the garden then off to the Tucson Museum of Art's Artisan Market. We had a great day and enjoyed every bit of it. Elizabeth enjoyed a pretty flower!
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