Today, Sunday, Mar. 1, 2009, I set out to try for the back - the east side - of “my” mountain that I was looking at a week or so ago from the Midland-Vidal Road - the west side.  I “think” I see a climbing route up that thing from that side, but the east side looks interesting, too, from Hwy 95, and the topo map shows a huge curved dry wash leading into it………………..

The wash is called “Slaughter Tree” Wash, but I don’t know the history of the name.  Unloaded Suzy at the wash and started upstream……………….

For a while, the going wasn’t too bad, then the trail started to deteriorate.  Finally, after a mile or so, I gave up and we (Suzy & I) climbed the bank to the left and headed off cross country.  (on the way back, I found a road on the right side.  Oh Well)  Going wasn’t bad, and I made good time…………….

………..for a while.  If you’re going to go cross country in the desert, even going “with” the washes as I was here, you’d best stay alert and keep your eyes open.  It can look just as flat as can be and within feet you’re looking at a waker-upper.  If you’re going fast and not watching…………………

Fortunately, it wasn’t too long before I came across an old road going more or less in the direction I wanted……………….

The country was getting rougher fast, and forming into giant parallel valleys.  The road went right along the ridge tops, and I’m very disappointed in the photos.  It’s too bad the camera has a flattening effect on the terrain.  Going along these ridges, I felt like I was riding the Great Wall of China.  They’re quite high - I’d guess 200 feet or more - and they are far steeper than they look in this picture.  It was exciting, and I was grinning like an idiot, (there’s any doubt ??) hanging on tight, and watching very closely.  A distraction would be disastrous.  This was great……………..

Another strange effect I noticed was on the Spot Locater Beacon’s Google map of my location.  Here’s the link to my final stop for the day……………..

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=33.8822,-114.6203&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1

When you look at this, it looks (to my eye, anyway) like the ridges have a tuft of vegetation on them.  Not so.  The vegetation is in the bottom of the washes, and the roads are on the ridges.  Is it just my eyes seeing it backwards ??  Look at the picture above to see how it really is.

After several miles, the road became a little rougher, and I could see a steep hill ahead………………….

That were the end of the line on That road, for sure.  Look at the textures and layers here.  Fascinating………………….

Well, OK, for some time I’d been paralleling another road on the next ridge to the north and it appeared to go much farther, but how to get to it ??  There Is a cross-over from here, but, uh…………..the 1st portion is almost straight down.  I’m still a little (??) spooky from the roll-over in January……………

http://gogittum.com/blog/?cat=69

and am being a little conservative.  I was very lucky at the Bradshaw Road site, and don’t want to go thru it again.  Here’s the beginning of the cross-over.  See the road coming out of the center right ??  That’s a long way down, Sports Fans………………

In all honesty, it’s obvious that others, many others, have gone down this, and maybe up it, too.  Yah, I could go down it, I’m sure, but if the road on the other side isn’t passable for some reason, I’d be stuck.  I don’t think I could make it back up this.  Soooo………….I turned around and went back a mile or so, till I found a cross-over I could use, then started back to the mountain…………………….

Once again, the picture is deceptive.  It was very steep and a looong way down on both sides.  I gotta say that it IS fun, tho’.  I was watching Very closely.  Inevitably, tho’, this road ended, too.  Really Ended…………………

>From here, there was a great view of the big canyon and “my” mountain, but it’d be a long, rough hike, and it doesn’t look climb-able from this side anyway.  That’s OK, this was one of the greatest rides I’ve been on, and I enjoyed the day hugely……………….

Now, I turned around and started the long ride back out toward the Colorado River.  Distance is deceptive……………….

With less experience, I would swear I drove 30 or 40 miles today, but I been there, done that a time or 3, and know better.  If you’ve never done it, go out and walk a measured mile sometime, especially over rough terrain.  It’ll surprise you - a mile is a looong way.  Altogether today, Suzy’s odometer showed just 19 miles for the trip.  Part of that was going up the dead end road, then looking for a cross-over, and so on.  I’d say the “as the crow flies” distance is probably not over 7 miles………but it’s one heck of a 7 miles.  I took many pictures of a lizard and a lot of flowers again, but will hafta make a separate page for them.  I did see a small herd of Deer, too, and That’s irresistible…………here they are……………

These are big Mule Deer, much larger than the Columbian Blacktails I grew up with in British Columbia, and their coats are very dark.  There were many flowers, lizards, birds, etc., the whole way but there just isn’t room to put it all on one page.  What an absolutely great day.  I thoroughly enjoyed myself.                        Lar.

–

Larry Bourne
Santa Fe, NM
www.gogittum.com
www.gogittum.com/blog

Posted: October 3rd, 2009 under 08 Blythe 09, 09-3-1 Slaughter Tree Wash.
Comments: 1

Thumb Peak.  Not a huge mountain - only about 700 or 800 feet high, but it sits out there like a big, beckoning finger, (no, not the center finger) saying, come on, give it a try.  To me it’s irresistible.  This is looking from the Milpitas Wash/Wiley’s Well road from west to east a few months ago.  Palo Verde Peak, that I climbed on Jan 2 is in the far lower left, smallest of them all, the twin spikes just to the right of the bush………………..

Thumb Peak doesn’t look climb-able from this angle, and for me it’s simpler to come from the east anyway.  You enter a wilderness area that protects Clapp Springs, so hafta park and walk in about a mile.  Good warm-up.  Clapp Springs is still dry, even after the heavy rains last weekend, so not much chance of seeing any of the numerous wild Burros in the area, or the less common endangered Desert Bighorn Sheep.  Here’s Thumb Peak again, looking west across Clapp Springs.  Looks like a climbing route may be possible from this side……………..

See the center group of palms, above, with fronds to the ground ??  Straight above the bigger one is a kind of stepped peak with a small spike to the right of it.  That gray slope below it is the route I chose, and it was much rougher and steeper than it looks.  I came out to the left of the stepped peak - see the big notch to the right in this picture ??………………….

Climb to that notch, look over………..whoops………..and hang on to your socks………………

Yah, it’s straight down……..as in straight down………about 200 feet, and you wouldn’t touch a thing till you hit bottom………………

So, turn to go up to the right, and another wee problem rears its’ ugly head.  Perty steep there, too, and we’re a long way up now.  This is turning into a real razor back ridge, similar to what I hit at Organ Pipe Arch 2 weeks ago.  Mule Mountains are in the distance………………..

Below the ridge is a steep traverse that goes above a bowl.  I came around the side to the right of it in the picture below.  Great caution is called for here - that rock is very bad………………

The great danger here, that I saw also at Palo Verde Peak on Jan 2, is the rotten lava rock.  See, a nice, solid handhold……………..

…………..and grab onto it.  Whoooops.  You’d better not have put any weight against that.  This whole mountain is like that……………….

With that in mind, look at the rock to the right of the bowl, 3 pics above.  Then, holding that thought, turn and look up at the next problem……………..

This is only about 100 feet from the summit, but I just don’t see a route I’m comfortable with.  Remember the climb on Cabezon Peak, the “Mystery Mountain” last July at the beginning of vacation ??  ( http://gogittum.com/blog/?cat=63 )  I learned a great lesson there, and don’t ever want to put myself in a position like that again.  Sooooo………..that’s where I turned around and started back down.

A couple of weeks ago, my faithful old Garmin eTrex Legend - that I used to bitch about endlessly, then slowly grew to appreciate - fell off the dash of Der Bug, landed on a seat mounting bolt and broke the screen.  This, after surviving being thrown 20 or 30 feet in the quad rollover last month.  (  http://gogittum.com/blog/?cat=69 ) It still sorta works, (about like me after that crash) and when I came to a vertical cliff on the way down, a quick look at the GPS showed me where I should have gone.  So, I did.  Time for a new GPS………sighhhhh………………

I haven’t had time to work it all out with GPS co-ordinates, etc., but I believe this is where I got to before turning around………………..

On the way home, a look to the east shows the Kofa Mountains, about 30 miles away……….and the site of a near future climb up Palm Canyon in the big notch to the right, looking for the many Desert Bighorn Sheep reputed to live there………………….

This was a nice day.  A little frustrating, but it was a good workout in great scenery on a perfect day.  Can’t ask for much more, eh ??               Lar.

–

Larry Bourne
Santa Fe, NM
www.gogittum.com
www.gogittum.com/blog

Posted: May 29th, 2009 under 08 Blythe 09, 09-2-14 Thumb Peak.
Comments: none

This is going to be real quick and basic………I’m plumb tuckered out.  I hit the summit of Palo Verde Peak at about 1:55 PM today, that d—-d SPOT didn’t send the summit report, and then hustled back down, cause I wanted to be off the mountain by dark.  It’s only about a 1,000 ft climb, (vertical distance) but it’s steep and all loose rock.

Palo Verde Peak is about 35 miles south of Blythe, CA and is clearly visible, rising above the agricutural fields between…………………

I parked the truck and quad trailer at the Milpitas Wash road, then unloaded the quad for the run up the old Palo Verde Road to the back side of the Peak………………

It’s only a few miles to the base of the Peak.  Looking up the wash that comes down from it, all you can see is rock.  The actual summit is behind that peak showing here…………………

Farther up, it gets even rougher.  That shadowed groove right up the center is my climbing route………………

From about ½ way up the main climb, above, a look to the west shows Thumb Peak - my next climb - far in the distance with Very Rugged country in between……………..

From higher on the mountain, almost to the summit, another look west with Thumb Peak in the right distance.  For perspective, start at the notch at lower center and follow it out and to the right a bit.  See the twisting, winding dry wash leading out ??  About 1/3 of the way up from the bottom and 1/3 of the way in from the right, you can see the line of the road crossing from left to right and another wash continuing up to the left.  Right at that junction is where Suzy is parked.  Looooong way down, eh ??…………….

I didn’t think I’d need EVF compensation here, because the sun was behind me.  Got fooled good.  All my summit pics are like this or worse.  Long, steep way ahead, Lar.  The one on the right is the lower summit.  Main summit is behind the center spike.  The center and left peaks are much lower…………………

It’s a long way down, too………..very steep, on loose rock.  I slid many times on the way down, but I’ve learned - I wear gloves now, to protect my hands from the jagged rock when I land on my butt and try to keep from sliding……………….

Here’s creaky ol’ Lar on the summit.  The purple and black things on my legs are gaiters, to keep rocks and seeds out of my boots and socks………………

It was about 70º today, and the Lar was soaked with sweat here.  I had very weak cell phone service up here, so called Wayne at B&B to see if he could see the flash of the camera.  Slight hope - about 30 miles and hazy, with the sun at my back.  He couldn’t see me, so got a big mirror of his own and started flashing it.  Wow ! ! !  It REally showed up…………………..

This was pretty cool, and I got a real grin out of it.  Thanks, Wayne.  It took just 3 hours, start to finish - not counting driving time and riding time on Suzy (the quad), and now that I’m home, took a solid jolt of Ibuprofen for the knees and feet and now I’m gonna kick back.  More exploring tomorrow.                   Lar.
–

Larry Bourne
Santa Fe, NM
www.gogittum.com
www.gogittum.com/blog

Posted: May 29th, 2009 under 08 Blythe 09, 09-1-2 Palo Verde Peak.
Comments: none

They told me it was gonna get me, but it’s always a shock when it really does happen.  I was out on the quad today, looking over some abandoned mines to explore more later with friends.  One, out on The Old Bradshaw Trail is way up there and has been tantalizing me for a while, so today I went for it to take a better look, and see if I could get up there with the 4Runner……….Nope……………..

In the middle of the left side of the above picture, you can see a ragged looking area at the top of the curve - a major washout.  It’s very steep, the quad felt like it was going to come over backwards on me, so I eased off the gas and let it back up a bit.  It did - a bit - then hit something in back and started to go over.  Uh Oh ! ! !  There is NO place to jump - you’re on there for the ride.  As it went over, it went clearly thru my head - “that thing’s 600#, Lar………roll it, don’t let it crush you.”  I held the handlebars with a death grip and got my knees up against the seat and over we went.   In the following pic, you can see the orange SPOT locater in about mid-picture on the left side of the road.  That’s about where the quad landed on me.   Below that in the middle is my soft-sided cold drink bag, and below that is the soda that was in my fanny pack……………

 I’ll tell ya what, sports fans - 600# is a lot and it mashed me into the road pretty good, but I did roll it on over and came up onto my knees and watched it go………like in slow motion, spraying spare parts and supplies as it went.  I must be a true, dedicated photographer, ’cause the 1st thing I did was get the camera into operation.  Suzy (the Suzuki quad) was rolling sideways, and here you can see her in mid-air and still going.  Scattered down the road are water jugs, spare parts, tool box, camera bag, gas jug, etc………………

She ended up on her side in a small wash……..and the engine was still running and headlights were still on ! ! !………………

I worked my way on down and shut the engine off, and could smell gas pretty strong, so got beside it and gave a mighty heave on the rear luggage rack, and got it “pretty much” upright………and found out some more problems with myself.  Right shoulder and some ribs on the right side gave a tremendous protest at that, but the deed was done.

I spent about ½ hour going up and down the road picking up pieces - flattened eyeglasses, watch and band (separated and the pins gone), and so on and so on.  Both gas jugs are ruined, the GPS is still missing, the last SPOT message -

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=33.5016,-114.844&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1

is where I picked the SPOT up at, out of the dirt.  Suzy Is upright, but teetering on a rock, and I was a little spooky by then and didn’t dare try to move her.  Only way to reach it is from below, and if it rolled on me there……….I’d still be there…………..so I left it and hiked out to the main road.  Then, I thought, “wonder what I look like, ’cause I’d drained a fair amount of blood out of my nose up on the hill.  Sooo, took a self portrait with the camera at arm’s length.  Guess I wasn’t too pretty at the best of times, but this is silly…………………..

Main road isn’t too main…………I walked (limped) about 2 miles or so toward the Toyota - 10 miles away - before a retired couple came along in a pickup and kindly gave me a ride to my car.  Too late to go for Suzy, so came on into town, and a couple of friends are going to help retrieve it in the morning.  It’s a dark green color and is about ¼ mile off the main road, so it “should” be OK for the night…..tho’ maybe a little lonesome.

For myself  ??  The blood is from superficial but messy gouges on my forehead and center of nose.  Quite a bit from in the nose, too, where the glasses were flattened against my face and crushed a sinus, but most of that drained on the ground.  Right shoulder is pretty sore, left jaw hinge ditto, neck is real stiff and my shins are scuffed up real good.  Guess I didn’t have ‘um against the seat after all, but they saved my bacon by holding the weight off me as it rolled.  Thought I just had a broken rib on the right side, too, but now, full of Ibuprofen, I think a rock gouged me good in the back and tore 2 ribs loose - made the chiropractor rich for a while - and the weight of the quad smashed the camera down on the front and cracked 2 ribs.  Straightened the glasses out and they seem fine - not even scratched.  Most of the blood is off my face now, and my nose is about double size.  Wonderful.  It appears that my left wrist was mashed against my forehead, and my watch was gouged in so hard it tore the pins out of the bracelet.  I found watch and bracelet about 10 feet from the crash site.

Next Day:     I won’t mention how I felt - all over - this morning, but with enuf Ibuprofen, it was live-able.  My face is a mess.  Dave and Lee came with me to retrieve the quad.  Dave took some pictures, and, being a retired scientist, started scientist-ing.  He figured out that from where Suzy landed on me, to where she finally stopped rolling was about 300 ft……………

It was actually in a not-too-bad place, and I could’ve ridden it out, but at the time was pretty shook up.  The Runner and ATV trailer were parked near by for the recovery, so fired up the quad, pulled the handlebars up some, rode it up to the trailer, loaded it and brought it home.  That is one tough little machine.  The left front corner was badly bent……………….

I thought I’d have to replace the front crash bar and front luggage rack - too badly bent to properly straighten and align, but managed to get them both work-able - tho’ not real pretty.  Both front wheels are bent beyond saving, and right rear wheel is almost crushed, but still - somehow - holding air.  It was badly warped, tho’, so altogether I replaced 3 wheels.  There’s gravel mashed down between bead and rim that I can’t move with a screwdriver.  Left rear wheel is OK.  Handlebars and brake levers were beyond repair as well.  That brand new, $200.00 locking storage box on the back was 2 weeks old and totally destroyed, but saved the back end from much worse damage.  Prob’ly a bargain, eh ??  (yah, right)  A little straightening and some black hammered paint and it’s fine.  Speedometer and housing took a little creative engineering, but are fine now.  What Fun ! ! !  The frame turned out to be twisted in 3 axes and is “fairly” straight now.                     Lar.

P.S.     Five weeks later, I’m just now starting to sleep comfortably with my 2 cracked ribs, jaw will still only open ½ way, (no hamburgers for a while) nose is still sore and the cartilage crackles when I wiggle it and left side swollen shut from smashed cartilage and right knee and foot are still tender from being crushed.  Other than that…………. ………..all is well, and Suzy is about ready to ride again.  Just waiting for the wheels………and I Will be somewhat more conservative in my riding.

–
Larry Bourne
Santa Fe, NM
www.gogittum.com
www.gogittum.com/blog

Posted: April 20th, 2009 under 08 Blythe 09, 09-1-11 Roll Suzy.
Comments: 1