Today's Sunset and Last Saturday's Ride Down Pipeline Road in the Kofa National Wildlife Refuge

(Clicking on the pictures will open them larger in a new window.)

Wednesday, March 13, 2019

Today we had sunshine and wind. The predictors may have called it a breeze but it was definitely wind. We pulled in the slides and let it blow around us. Tom went and did our last three loads of laundry and I spent the day finishing what I started yesterday, going through pictures.

We also spent some time discussing what we would like to do the next ten days or so before we start our trek east and then north. That is beside sit and soak up some of the warmth the predictors say is coming our way.

We have a  tentative date, March 24th, that we will leave here and a definite date to be in Michigan, April 18th. (The one in Michigan includes a reservation.) It is the in between we need to work on.

Tonight's Sunset...going...going

gone.

Even with all the wind the sunshine and blue skies made for a pleasant day.


Saturday, March 9, 2019

The last couple of years when we would head out for a ride into the Kofa National Wildlife Refuge we always talked about checking our the Kofa Cabin. No real reason just thought it would be nice to see it. I mentioned in our blog post when we drove over to Scottsdale last week that we stopped at a gas station to put air in one of our tires. At that exit, 45, there is a sign that says Kofa Wildlife Refuge. After looking at the map we could see going in this way would bring us pretty close to the Cabin and we would not have to drive the road through the refuge both ways.  Today was the day we decided to take the drive.

Driving East on I-10 the sides of the road are full of colorful wildflowers.

We have taken exit 45 and this is the road that will take us to the
Kofa Wildlife Refuge.

Along this road and throughout our drive today we saw
many wildflowers in bloom.

Looking out across the desert, at what I believe are,
the New Water Mountains.

Information board just before we cross into the Refuge.

Yellow arrows are today's ride.
Red ones indicate where we have driven in the past.

Saguaros welcoming us in to the Refuge. 

If you know me you know there will be a couple of pictures of Ocotillo.
Interestingly the ones on the east end did not have many little green leaves
if any. The further west we drove today the greener they got.

The turn on to Pipeline Road.
Except for a brief detour to see the Kofa Cabin we will be on this
road across the Refuge.until we exit on to AZ-95.

The road ahead at this point looks pretty good.

These Power Transmission Towers will be in our view throughout this ride.

There are wonderful Saguaros throughout this Refuge.

The turn for Kofa Cabin.
Notice the post with a number in front of it. These are at road junctions
throughout the Refuge.According to the Refuge Map they are junction
numbers for reference only.
(They do help give you an idea of where you are at.)

The road gets a little more rugged.

We saw a lot of these "cuddly" Teddy Bear Chollas today.

Just ahead the road goes through what will be the first of many
washes today. This one is not bad at all.

When we reached the cabin there was a group of people set up and
camping there. Very nice group and though they were using the room
inside they opened the door to let us look and go in.

I was able to take a picture without including the campers.
Part of this cabin is open to the public to use to and spend the night.
There is no fee and it is on a first come first serve basis.

A few more of these may pop up.

Another half a mile down this road  the sign at the beginning said was
the New Water Well. Plus, there were a couple more things listed on the
map. Owl Head Dam and Alamo Spring to mention a couple
so we decided to keep going.

We saw a lot of these guys, also, today.
I know these are Cholla and I think they may be Staghorn Cholla
but I cannot say for certain.

This wash is where our ride on this road ended.
We would not be seeing any of things listed on the map.
It is steeper then it looks and we would, also, have to come back up it
on our way back. Tom did not walk it but our guess is it is just as
steep to get up and out the other side. 

When we stopped at the point above we pulled over and took a walk
around. I just love these tiny little wild flowers.
We have some of these growing near the wash by us.

These purple ones are just as pretty and also growing by us at Roadrunner.

It is amazing how many wild flowers bloom in the desert.

Standing above the wash we decided not to go down.

We are now on

our way

back 

to the Pipeline Road.

Back on Pipeline Road.

Looking down one of the many washes we drove across today.
(This is today's just because I liked it picture.)

Tom spotted this guy.
Do you see his face?

I wonder if he is talking to this guy I spotted across the road.

The Ocotillo are getting greener.

The Road Ahead.

A bright splash of yellow on the desert floor.

Another wash we just went down.

We saw these yellow signs many, many times today.
( Warning: Caution High Pressure Gas Line.)

A closer view of the road ahead.

Looking down another wash.

We have stopped here to look at the road ahead.

It is down there.
Crossing left to right in the upper left corner.

The Kofa Mountains in the distance through the wonderfully green Ocotillo.

One last picture of the view from the top and

we are on our way

down the road.

The views looking out my window

and ahead 

seem to go on forever

and are beautiful.

We have made it down.

Not far after the above picture Tom pulled over tho let these
two jeeps go by.

We noticed that just about every one of these towers had a road going to it.

Creosote Bush 

It is hard to tell but this hillside is covered in purple wildflowers.

Another hillside covered in purple.

I took a picture using the Super Vivid Effect to give you a
better idea of what we could see.

We are almost to AZ-95 

and the views are still wonderful,

It was a long slow ride today up and down all the washes and hills but every mile was worth it.  This is why we bought the Trailhawk so we could take some of the back roads and see the beauty that is out there. It may not get us every where but we are happy with the job it does.

"Remember to enjoy the journey

and the scenery along the way."

                                           ~Katrina Mayer

So glad you stopped by for a visit and we hope you enjoyed the pictures.

If you have time to leave a comment we would enjoy hearing from you.