Secret Pass adventure Apr. 14-16 2006 - Report

[BajaTaco]

Friday and the wind's howlin' here in the foothills above Prescott. Hope Chris and crew are hunkered down over there in the desert. Wind advisories are in effect for all that area...with chance of rain. Ugggghhh! This might turn into a genuine 'adventure'.

They're probably all anchored to each other laager-style.
Allen

Yeah, it is nasty here right now. Brian just came by to pick up the Adventure Trailer and he is on the way to camp.

Ohhhhhhh, that would have been a test for the tent!!! It'll be interesting to hear the descriptions.

Bet they didn't have much of a :campfire: last night.

Allen

Allen, you are very close to being accurate with your predictions! Datrupr in his Trooper and Sharon and I in the Bajataco machine were the only vehicles approaching from the AZ side around 4:00 in the afternoon. We knew we might get some weather, but it was beautiful when we made our approach into the Black Mtns. from the east side. I picked up radio contact with Uwe early on before we even left Kingman, and so we knew that we would converge on the camp area pretty close to the same time. By the time we all met up the wind had become FIERCE! Then the fast moving clouds, and eventually some rain. It actually got a bit chilly with all of the wet and wind. But we held out and the rain passed and we got a spectacular show of golden light to contrast with the dark clouds just before sunset. The wind finally calmed down by 8pm or so, and we did indeed stoke up a nice :campfire: Here are a few pics to start off the report thread...

Some of the light-show Friday evening...

Uwe in one of the wind caves from our first hike on Saturday...

A pic from our second hike on Saturday - we had to exit this canyon with some steep drops into Secret Pass canyon which is the sandy-bottom area below...

This was a fabulous trip and it was GREAT to leave the trucks parked almost all weekend and put the ol' tootsies into low range. No trails to make it easy on us, great route-finding challenges, and we slept great

 

[Scott Brady]

Awesome :victory:

 

[datrupr]

Hey all, Got back in about an hour and a half or so ago, got unloaded and showered up, man that was needed, and thought I would check in. Brian and I caravaned from kingman into Sun City West, a very uneventful drive. I do love cruiseing through the Joshua Trees on 93 however.

Chris, thanks again for putting this trip together. It was a great time and the scenery was breathtaking! The hike was amazing going through the canyon and too bad the doggies and myself were having trouble conquering the second section of the first hike. When we got home Monty ran to his water bowl, took a big drink, and he is currently crashed on the floor. He is truely beat. Well, I have a quick teaser of the Trooper at camp from this morning, and I will post up more pics later.

 

[flywgn]

Glad you guys had a good trip. The country looks interesting. Good photos.

Thanks.

Allen

 

[whitethaiger]

Wow, you guys are fast, we were somewhere near Palm Springs when this thread started.... We made good time even though or because we decided to avoid the Las Vegas Easter/spring break traffic by cutting through the Mojave via Amboy and 29 Palms.

Fabulous weekend indeed. The day of hiking provided plenty of images and impressions to keep our minds busy on the looong drive home. Can't wait for the next hiking trip!

 

[cshontz]

If I could roll with you guys, I'm sure I'd become more physically fit. Glad you guys had a good time, and keep 'em coming!

 

[desertgirl66]

Awesome photos!! Man, that country looks really cooool!! Would love to join in on the next hiking adventure. Can't wait to see more pics :sunny:

 

[flyingwil]

With 4 incredible pictures so far you guys leave me starving for more!:chowtime:


Looks like a great adventure!

 

[datrupr]

Wil, I am going to try and post a few more tonight when I get home. You won't be starved for long buddy Except for maybe wanting to head up there and hike the canyon yourself. It was spectacular!

 

[BajaTaco]

OK, here are a few more photos...

Brian coming into a cool little "room" we found below a dry waterfall

Sharon playing on the wall of said waterfall

Another view from our second hike on Saturday - looking from a side canyon down into the main Secret Pass canyon. Uwe and I got close to the base of the big mountain seen in the background earlier in the day on our first hike. That is where Uwe spotted a herd of Bighorn sheep. We watched them make their way all the way to the top of that mountain. :bowdown:

Another at sunset. Brian, Uwe and I heading back to camp after the 2nd hike. Dreaming of a shower and hot food

 

[BajaTaco]

Sweet pic of mcvick offroad in his Disco pulling the now-famous Chaser trailer from AdventureTrailers.com on our exit trail on Sunday. :archaeolo

 

[Scenic WonderRunner]

Wait!.........

Where are the pics of the heard of big horn sheep heading up the mountain>?!!!!:arabia:

Does this mean I must show up next time with my 10X Zoom>?!!!

 

[articulate]

Sweet pic of mcvick offroad in his Disco pulling the now-famous Chaser trailer from AdventureTrailers.com on our exit trail on Sunday. :archaeolo

Holy CRAP. Who doesn't have one of these???

Mario and Alex are starting a revolution out there.

 

[articulate]

Sweet photos.
Absolutely sweet.

 

[BajaTaco]

Here are some panorama shots:

!st pic - Friday evening as the storm passed

2nd pic - Pano from the 1st hike on Saturday. Uwe is surveying the spectacular view after we had ascended rocks, ridges, chutes and gullies to get above Secret Pass canyon. Behind him is generally southwest. Barely visible in the middle of the pic is the Colorado river and Laughlin, NV. To the right is looking north, across Secret Pass canyon.

3rd pic - same as above with arrows. Yellow arrows delineate the visible edge of the canyon from the side we were hiking on. Most of the exposed and beautiful rock above those arrows is actually on the other side of the canyon. We hiked around the back of all of that on the 2nd hike exiting down the side canyon shown where the 2nd-from-left arrow is. The green arrow points down into the area about where our camp was.