Backyard Trek's, Wickenburg AZ...

Very cool picture's. Bet the riding is more fun than taking the picture's, but hey, we wanna see too! Thanks for posting this stuff.

Love the pics, I'll be there in Feb to do some riding.

Thanks for taking the time to stop and take the pics - great ride report.

Rick

Mark,
Really enjoy everything you have posted - keep it up ! Sittin' here at home recovering from some minor surgery and your photos and trip descriptions are inspiring and have helped passed the time that I can't be out riding or wrenching ! I lived in Tucson briefly many moons ago and enjoyed exploring the desert surrounding that area (not on 2 wheels though) - your "backyard" adventures remind me of the beauty of the Sonoran desert. The agricultural aspect is interesting too ! What fun your are having ! Thank you taking the time to share your rides with all of us !

Another day... Weather is nice here for this time of year so... I'm ride'n every chance I get.
Trailered to Hwy 71 & headed towards Alamo... Some exploration on the way but normal route back. Still working with the GoPro... Used it exclusively on still shots, sometimes on 30 second intervals other time on every 5 seconds. A few shots from my other cameras also.
Meeter says 93 miles with average speed of 23mph, although the way back was fast so the exploration was really slow. Max speed was 56 on the Alamo/Wickenburg road, just graded and really nice .



Lot's of land and a gate or three along the way.


Alamo road... the unimproved part. Lots of deep ruts and holes in this part.







A little 10 mile loop to the N and back to original route.




Somewhere along the route I picked up some creosote bush in the camera mount... and in front of the lens...



Found this Li'l AZ hot-tub Really in the middle of nowhere :huh

They call this river the Big Sandy for good reason. Just gotta stay on top or your day pretty much turns to SHIT really fast. About 1 mile of this then some more just as you think you done. The XR4 & I were both happy as Hell to get to the hard-pack again.



Miles of nothing on the mesa's between The Big Sandy & Santa Maria Rivers.


A Joshua Tree break...


Imagine that... More sand



Abandoned Ranch... Nice place to visit but would not like living there



Cruised over to the Alamo Lake Stat Park to visit with my Ranger friend Mark. Lake is really low. Launching only from the rocky shore. He said there is still 80+ feet of water near the dam.






Back on the two-trak for the last 10 miles. Moved the GoPro to the helmet mount.


Back to the Jeep... Gone about 6 hours this trip. A good day in the Desert Southwest.

Very nice. Brings back memories from a trip to your area last Jan.
keep on taking pics and posting. I'm in....

Great stuff

YeeeeHawww, 10,000 + visitors to my backyard...
Thanks for visiting

Your famous

Tom, Only in my own mind

Another time....

Took a little ride to the south again a couple of weeks ago.
For some time now an inmate "sawzaller" has wanted to assist with research in the Belmont Mtn area. However I had other plans for the day. So he hauled up to Wickenburg and met me. A shinny new-like wr250x, with new off-road rubber was on the bumper. For a late morning start of the day.

We rode through town and dropped on into a wash just at the southern city limits heading towards Wickenburg Peak. Most of the route was well worn old jeep trails now overused by quads and side-by-sides. We all know they really keep the rocks loose so you must be on your toe's most of the time.


Sawzaller coming into the lunch stop. Wickenburg Peak behind him.


We wandered through a lot of this kind of terrain...


... and some of this


A couple of these gates...


More of this...



toward the top of this long winding hill with sharp red rocks that really play havoc with my nice new tire.


Some narrow rock & sand sections...


We take a li'l break in this strange rock out-cropping.


A bit more of this...


bringing us to here just on the East side of Vulture Peak. We had snaked around between the Hassayampa River & here. A short 37 mile loop for the day.
At this point I was playing tour guide as from here you can see to Yarnell, Congress and on a clear day all the way to Phoenix & South Mountain.


At this point John feels sorry for the O'l Man and gets the last gate of the day.
As we were loading the wr250 I did notice a few new "desert bites" on the plastic and assorted metal parts. All a "learning experience" right sawzaller?

Now this calls out to me. Read Yardsticks Line Shack trail & no part of it called out to me At 73 & riding now only a XR650L it's probably my age & bike choice

Great reads to follow, with good descriptions and directions, I wanna find a trail from me to you around alamo.

Snuck away for a little ride yesterday...
Left at 10:30 & returned about 4:30. 108 miles 4.7 hours or ride time, 90% dirt.

SE of Vulture Peak



Seeing a bit of color in the desert...


Very Dry this year... the entire hillside should be in color!


A few Lupine with the California Poppies...


Road to somewhere?


Found these Valentine balloon's in an out of the way place...
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Tumbleweed color...


Nice ride today... thanks for joining me!

argghhh, mylar baloons should be outlawed

Another time... Broke away for a mid-day, 6 hour ride. Took off to the North and made a loop around to the West. Meeter say's 82 miles (6 paved) average speed 17mph, 4.43 ride time. Scouting around to some new places along some old trails. Mostly two track & some cow-trails. One thing that seemed to "Woop-my-ass" this trip was the 17 gates that I had to pass through. The routine... stop, hit the kill button, open the gate, push the bike through, close gate (mostly wire gaps), kick the XR4 back to life. Yes 17 times :eek1.
Anyway enjoy... Some of the images are from the GpPro fixed mounting on the windshield/number-plate. Set on 10 second intervals, 7mp, medium. I find this best for still images, not a much distortion as wide settings.


Heading North from the Hassayampa


Some of the trail is hard to follow...

There it is!


A stop along the way revealed some old mine building remains and a shaft.





Heading West of Congress at this point


Several miles of washout's...1 to 5 feet deep



Ohh yeah there was also some sand between the washouts :eek1


Enough with the Sand... back to the washouts



Finally found the Ranch House road I was looking for... Just crossed hwy 93 :eek1 :eek1 :eek1 an experience in itself. So heading home via one of my regular routes.

A nice shade tree about 12 miles from home


A new cattle feed-bunk near the RR tracks. Can't imagine feeding desert cows. But... here is about 100' of concrete bunk that was not here a month ago!


Kinda like riding a rail only reversed... that's a long ways. Reminded me of some of my O'l trials training obstacle's


This tough little desert plant was somewhere along the way...


Hope you enjoyed another li'l adventure in my backyard !

Cool stuff. I wish I could get out as often as you seem to.

...

I know this is a long shot, but could you give any details on how to get to the "Road to Somewhere" pictured above? It looks a bit familiar, like something I've seen right when you take highway 89 off of 90 just northwest of Wickenburg...

Is this the one your asking about? If so... the tallest mountain is the Harquahala Peak. The two darker lower peaks to the right are Eagle Eye mountains.
This is kind'a North of the Hummingbird Springs Wilderness Area.