Ride through the Empire Ranch grasslands

Tuesday, March 20, 2018 – Spring – Location: Las Cienegas NCA near Sonoita, Arizona

This morning started out a little cool at 41 degrees, but quickly warmed to the 50s by 9 o’clock.  Plenty of sunshine and no wind means a beautiful day is in store for us.  Took our normal walk this morning and had a hearty breakfast to start our day.

Don’t have anything planned, so I laid around on the lounger till Yuma couldn’t stand it anymore and wanted to go for a ride.  I’ve driven many of the roads around the Empire Ranch, but had never driven the road through the North Canyon.  Unfortunately, I only have a quarter tank of gas so will have to be careful how far we go.

This working ranch is huge.  You can drive many miles and the only thing you’ll see are cows.  The road was in very good condition and was enjoyable to drive.  Wish I had more gas.

Most of the roads I travel end with just a horse trail at the end.  However, this road kept moving towards the northeast like it was going into the Whetstone Mountains or north towards I-10, 20 miles to the north.

I made the mistake of going down a steep hill towards what I thought was another road in the valley below.  Got down the hill okay in 4-wheel drive, but when I got to the bottom, I found the road was actually a sandy wash.  Very sandy and no tire tracks. 

Yuma and I walked for a distance each way and didn’t see any roads ahead.  So, made the decision to go back up the hill. This time in low 4-wheel drive.  Don’t like going up steep inclines, but the Jeep did great and I had no problems. 

The road is the one going downhill to the left in the picture below.

I found when I got to the bottom, there was a water collector down there and this road was used to get down to it.  You can see the wash at the bottom.  Looked like a road to me.

The road to the left is a pipeline road.  Not the road I want to follow.

As you can see in the pictures, this grassland is huge and chances are you will not see anyone and I didn’t.  As we kept moving further from our site and we fell below the quarter tank mark, I started getting nervous.  Have no idea where this road leads and for once I followed my instincts and turned around and went back the way we came.

Got home around one o’clock and I was making lunch when I heard a different sound coming from the horse camp about a mile to the east.  Looked outside and what did I see?  A powered paraglider taking off.

Flew around the area for about a half hour and then landed.  Beautiful day for flying!  Wouldn’t catch me doing that, but fun to watch.

Around 5:30, while I was working on my blog, I saw a horse going by the MH with two dogs.  Stepped outside and one of the dogs came up and sniffed Yuma. 

The man and I talked for a few minutes.  Love the garb he was wearing.

While we were talking, a second rider popped up around the RV.  His wife.  Off they went.  Such a beautiful day for a horse ride. 

He said his dogs were friendly, but I was nervous.  They were big and there were two of them.  Yuma handled it well and reluctantly, they left.

See you later.