Long Day

Thursday, March 9, 2017

My location:  Saddle Mountain BLM near Tonopah, Arizona

Didn’t need to turn on the furnace for a quick warm-up this morning.  Already near 60 with a bright sun.  Didn’t get to sleep till around 11 p.m. last night, so woke up around 7:30 this morning.  Worried about those poor German Shepherds.

Didn’t get an early start on the day either.  It was noon and hot by the time we left to go back to the deserted houses to see it the dogs were there.  Of course, they weren’t.  Didn’t stop us from walking through the houses and calling out for them.  I brought extra water and some dog food with me just in case.

Thought I saw mine tailings, so we climbed this hill overlooking Saddle Mountain to the South.  Courthouse road goes towards the mountains on the right side of the photo and Salome Road goes East and West.

I didn’t know it at the time, but we would be coming from the mountains out on the dirt road you see below on the left.  It is the second one from the left.

Needless to say, we did not enter this house.

We left the abandoned houses and headed back home.  Just as we turned onto Courthouse Road, I saw a nice looking car coming up from behind, so I pulled over and took a quick shot as it went by.  It was a lucky shot too!  Turned out to be a great shot of a 1956 Chevy Bel Air 2 door hardtop.  Lot of pride and money in that car. 

We turned off Courthouse Road into the first East entrance of the Saddle Mountain BLM we came to.  Couldn’t believe Miguel had an accident on this Jeep trail in the middle of nowhere.

As we drove towards the mountains, I thought I could see a trail going up and over a pass, so we followed the Jeep road.

Drove as far as I dared and then parked the Jeep and walked the rest of the way up the trail.  It was just getting too scary in the Jeep.  Just don’t want to get stuck out here in the middle of nowhere.  You can see the trail going up and over top right.

Walked to the top hoping it went over and around the mountains.  But, not to be.  It was another dead end road.  Tired of these things.  It was a long uphill walk and I was dead tired by the time we got to the top.

There was a fire pit at the top.  Photo below is looking out to the Northwest.  Our RV is over to the left out of the picture.

Looking to the Southeast through a valley leading out of the Saddle Mountains.

Here’s looking directly South across the valley at another mountain in the Saddle range.  No road.   Can’t walk any further.  My feet hurt so much, I even wonder if I can get back to the Jeep.  Walked only four miles today, but they were all up and down miles.  Getting too old for this.

Got home around 3 p.m. and took two extra strength Tylenols and soaked my feet in Dawn dish soap.  May not have helped, but my feet were a lot softer.  As I write this at 6:30, I feel much better.

See you later.