locrwln
Expedition Leader
Our next stop was White Sands. Unfortunately, the weather was not cooperating and it was raining and overcast. Kind of made the "white" not so white and of course the sand was soaking wet and not much fun to mess around in.
After White Sands, we headed toward the Gila River for some hot springs. The area was amazing and we only wish that the weather had been better, it was in the 30's to low 40's and rained on and off for two days.
From New Mexico, we continued west into Arizona. We found a spot in the Chiricahua National Monument/Coronado National Forest area and finally some sun. We took the opportunity to lay everything out and let it dry out. The road into this area was still a little muddy, but overall wasn't too bad. It still wasn't warm and got below freezing over night. Which made getting out much easier as the mud was frozen.
From there we made traveled through Tombstone. I didn't get any pictures, but it was still pretty cool. My wife had never been and it has been over 20 years since I have been. From there we headed to Tucson as it was time for laundry and resupply our fresh water so we found a campground for the night. After getting everything taken care of, we headed for Why, AZ for the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. We camped outside of town and had another great sunset.
While out on one of the hikes, we saw this Cholla with a surprise.
That was one impressive nest and well protected as well.
We decided to work our way out of the park in a northwesterly direction toward Ajo, AZ and of course were warned by the Ranger that the road might be rough and possibly washed out in places. We didn't have any problems, but there were some rough spots that slowed us down some.
Because of the recent rains, everything was greened out and blooming. Most of these plants look dead unless they get water, so it was pretty special to see them in their finery.
We found a spot south of AJo and made camp. You can barely see the truck in the distance.
And of course another spectacular sunset.
Jack
After White Sands, we headed toward the Gila River for some hot springs. The area was amazing and we only wish that the weather had been better, it was in the 30's to low 40's and rained on and off for two days.
From New Mexico, we continued west into Arizona. We found a spot in the Chiricahua National Monument/Coronado National Forest area and finally some sun. We took the opportunity to lay everything out and let it dry out. The road into this area was still a little muddy, but overall wasn't too bad. It still wasn't warm and got below freezing over night. Which made getting out much easier as the mud was frozen.
From there we made traveled through Tombstone. I didn't get any pictures, but it was still pretty cool. My wife had never been and it has been over 20 years since I have been. From there we headed to Tucson as it was time for laundry and resupply our fresh water so we found a campground for the night. After getting everything taken care of, we headed for Why, AZ for the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. We camped outside of town and had another great sunset.
While out on one of the hikes, we saw this Cholla with a surprise.
That was one impressive nest and well protected as well.
We decided to work our way out of the park in a northwesterly direction toward Ajo, AZ and of course were warned by the Ranger that the road might be rough and possibly washed out in places. We didn't have any problems, but there were some rough spots that slowed us down some.
Because of the recent rains, everything was greened out and blooming. Most of these plants look dead unless they get water, so it was pretty special to see them in their finery.
We found a spot south of AJo and made camp. You can barely see the truck in the distance.
And of course another spectacular sunset.
Jack
