Climb to Montezuma Pass on St Patrick's Day

Happy St Patrick's Day everyone!

Going to be a busy day today but didn't sleep well last night.  Worried that my pipes were going to freeze.  Went out at 11 o'clock last night to start the bay heater but it didn't work.  Probably should have checked that out earlier in the evening.  But I did find a treble light so I put it in the water bay and turned it on to provide some heat.

Went back inside and turned on the White Lion heating system and went back to bed.  A little later I noticed the fans were chewing up my battery power so turned that off.  Made the mistake of turning off all the power to the house to conserve batteries.

At 1:30 I woke up and it dawned on me when I turned off all the power, I also turned off the light in the water bay.  By this time it was 26 degrees outside.  Switched the power back on and tried to sleep.  Only got fitful sleep because I was aching all over.  It wasn't till 5:30 that I realized I had forgotten to take my normal two Tylenol before going to bed and that was why my arthritis was bothering me so much.

Finally, it was 7 o'clock and I got up because I had lots to do this morning.  It was supposed to drop to 27 overnight but it got much colder at 21 degrees.  Decided to wait until it warmed up before turning on the water pump.  At 8:30 I gave in and turned on the water pump and water poured out the kitchen faucet as it should.  All that worry for naught!😖

The day is going to be a beautiful sunny day with a high of 70 and no wind.  Perfect day for a long ride in the Jeep.  After breakfast, at 10:30, Tom and Deb got in their Jeep and Yuma and I got in my Jeep and we headed to Sonoita to get gas and then on down hwy 83 toward the Huachuca Mountains southeast of here.

Hwy 83 ends at Parker Canyon Lake in the Coronado Forest down near the Mexican border.

We did a quick tour through the campground on the lake to take a few pictures.  The campground had quite a few people camped in it.  Surprising being so far from civilization.

Boat dock down below

We then took  W Montezuma Canyon Road going east through the Huachuca Mountain Pass know as Montezuma Pass.  The road is now gravel and somewhat maintained.

Tom and Deb close behind

Heading up towards the pass.  This is looking southwest towards Mexico.

As we get higher in the mountains we started to notice an odd haze over the pass.  

It wasn't long before we saw a sign telling us there was a controlled burn ahead.  They had a barricade across the road and when I stopped, the fireman checked ahead to see if we could go on through.  Checked and we were given a green light but told to be careful.

We came up here for the scenic views but instead we find ourselves in the middle of a forest on fire and smoke everywhere.  Do we forge ahead or turn back.  Check in tomorrow night to find out if we make it to the top of Montezuma Pass😲

Returning home driving through the Empire Ranch area I could see way off in the distance what appeared to be a couple of Pronghorns.  They were walking away and couldn't get a very good picture of either.

Had a couple cheeseburgers for dinner and now it's time to call it a night.  Low of only 37 tonight, so no worries.  Take my Tylenol and sleep like a baby tonight.  I hope😊

Thanks for stopping by.