Moments in Dirt and Ink

Yuma BLM Click for map. There's lots of Granite Mountains around and this one probably isn't a very impressive specimen. It certainly isn't as grand as the various other things I went after while I was here last. It's still an excellent excuse for a walk with a little challenge along the way. I could probably drive a bit closer, but then I would miss some small sites along the way and it's really too close to camp to bother with that. Anyway, it would only get the easy flat stuff out of the way and the sky is quite beautiful after the rain yesterday. Best to stretch the legs and enjoy it. The goal, obscured a little by the desert vegetation. Ibex does still make itself known on the other side of the valley. Signal is some 20 miles away, but I think that might be it anyway. The first part is easy and flat and quick, but that is deceptive. As small as Granite is, it does have some foothills. Among the closest of these are some marked petroglyp...

Yuma BLM Click for map. Morning brings much cooler weather and a lot more time to do a bit more hiking. I expect it to get hot again, "same as yesterday" always being the most likely true weather report, so load in a bit of extra water. And since I don't like to repeat things so much, I figure I'll go up along the ridge looking for the high point and come down on the trail across the canyon from the road. I expect the start for that is just to start up the trail toward the cross. Asking someone to be sure only elicits that it probably is, but someone on something, probably Alltrails, says the trail is rather faint. Well, ridges aren't hard to follow, although following them is often just half of the story. That is certainly true just across the river. Back at the beginning with the sign advertising its challenge to come out and do laps to the top on April 8th. This time I'll go for the scrambly trail up to the left. The trail is steeper than it...

Yuma BLM Click for map. I checked out the Pioneer Cemetery in Yuma in the morning and did a few chores, then arrived at the trailhead for Telegraph Pass in the early afternoon with my outdoor thermometer reading 83°F. Hum, is that something I want to do? Intel on the ground (that is, by asking random passers by from Oregon who had just hiked it) is that it's only about a mile of flat and then a mile of like 40% grade on paving. Oh, and there are Gila monsters. I've never seen Gila monsters! He walked it back to big lizards about so long with ringed tails. This I'm not less excited about. I've seen lizards about so long before. But it sounds easy enough for the afternoon. I do want to go ahead and get the geocaches along the way, which seem to generally be rated on the difficult side, so that'll give me some moments to sit and sign and take a breather in the steep portion. So onward, but with quite a lot of water. At the start of the trail to "Teleg...

Yuma BLM Click for map. Today I am going after the Ibex benchmark. It is not on that impressive peak I was looking at yesterday, but should give me another look at it to perhaps help plot an approach. To get up that one, I have picked a wash on the west side which is a fair bit of flat stuff south of Plomosa Road. A lot of this flat stuff does not even look to require high clearance, but I'm trying not to take the car places it's really not supposed to go, so I have to walk it. So I better get moving. A few hills to get past again, then out on the flats. There are two roads heading off where I thought I wanted to park and two roads headed off where I did park, but they aren't the same roads, so I am promptly headed off in somewhat the wrong direction. There are just a lot more roads on the land than on my various maps. I seem to be getting closer to a geocache and it is only a quarter mile out of my way and I might as well get it now that I'm "close...

Yuma BLM Click for map. I'm out to get another couple peaks. For today, the plan is to go after the high point of the Plomosa Mountains north of Plomosa Road. It's not a very extensive plan. I'll just go along the paved road to the east side where there are just a few foothills between a lot of flat and the mountain, then find a place to park. Head over the hills to a mine at the base of the mountain, then turn and climb. On the way back, there could be more along the mountains to explore. Turns out, Quinn Pass is an easy place to park and even has a road going my way. I know that's where I am because there is a sign to tell me that Thomas Quinn made his home just north of here and prospected the area and, importantly for those who came after he was forced to move to the city by old age, built a cistern for water. Easy access for the 2WD. The road becomes steep on the far side making it unwise to travel even with high clearance. So I gather up my gear an...