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| no partners | | This was a tough weekend. A known area; but we hadn't been on the road in a long time and it was growing in with vegetation and although signs of traffic, lots of rocks and small washouts etc. The first significant obstacle was a fallen saguaro on a shelf road part I really did not want to have to back down. ( This road is like 80% 4wd for me and this was a low range crawl portion). It was about 9 feet long, musta weighed at least 4-500 lbs, still pretty green. It looked like some quads had tried to crawl over it. Brian pivoted the root end and I used a strap to pull at the fat end. We had to clear some rock then he finally heaved it over the side. We still had an arm on the edge of the road but now I could drive around. We could have used the winch but this was faster although more work for him.
Finally we got to the saddle, hiked, located the mine we had not been to yet. Nice old road, lots of rock work, good tunnels, nice pretty crystals, some color. Creepy downclimb on a slide that dumped into a shaft Brian downclimbed part of that on the square set, no ladder which made me very nervous. Then we got down to the heavy equipment area. Spotted an opening that looked natural, cave in limestone. Brian didn't want to do it ( poor guy sick with a cold) so I did it; only went in about 10 feet. Back up we camped in the saddle. Next day off the other side to go to some more mines with no road to them. Nasty sharp limestone and lots of cactus, ocotillo. No sitting down on the steep parts here. Mines were mostly a bust, but some really nice rock on the tailings. Brian went in a tunnel with a snake and a bee hive; unfortunately the bees attacked. I really didn't know what to do when he came out yelling. I got out some insect repellent and smeared it on him, one bee bounced off of me then went on. Revisting my strategy of a huge lawn and leaf garbage bag you could put over you then squat down and seal off. I wonder if you carried a baggy set of rain gear if that would work--i.e. a slick surface that would not be easy to penetrate and then you could just cover your face.
Anyhow, he took some Benedryl and Vit C and seemed ok. He got stung a bunch of times. The bees followed him some but we hiked back uphill they seemed to leave us alone, fortunately. We still had some bad road to drive out; if he had had an allergic reaction this would have been very bad. Maybe time for an epi-pen in the first aid kit; will research that. We drove out, on the way to his house I stopped and found some poppies, he seemed ok in the car.
Oh, well as much as we are out I supposed we did ok. I am thankful. It was a great weekend otherwise. |
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Route Editor
Route Scout
