Monday before Christmas Bob took us over to the Joshua Tree forest to look for crystals (I think they are from quartz but are really clear), we headed on Bagdad, AZ where there is a mine you can tour. You have to call and find out when they are touring, so we will have to go back. And then round trip back on Date Creek road to find the old Date Creek Fort location.
We started out about 8:00am -- Monday was cloudy, windy and cool by Arizona standards. The weather wasn't the best for picture taking with gray skies but I tried to snap a few to show you what we saw on our trip.
This is a Joshua Tree (with Ruger checking out the smells)
They really aren't very pretty "trees" but you can find some with really interesting growth.
The fronds (coming from a land of leaves, I am unsure what to call the foliage), will die off and create the hanging down whiskers : )
You cannot quite see it but as you looked toward the mountains, you could see the Joshua trees popping up to create the forest look.
We arrived in Bagdad and was amazed at how clean the town was -- really tidy and neat. The diner was closed on Monday. We didn't want to wait to eat at the Bar and Grill in town, so we bought sandwiches at the Basha's grocery store and ate in the park so Ruger could sniff around (or beg lunch).
We took the back road out of Bagdad and headed to a small town of Hillside -- we turned off on Date Creek road which is a primitive road (meaning that is it dirt, sand and minimally maintained). It is about 20 miles to Hwy 89 which was our connecting route back to Congress.
We found the turn off to the Fort (after a couple of tries) and then walked the wash and fence line to locate the foundation walls -- there has been a lot of overgrowth so it took a few attempts to find the location.
Darrel found a book with information about the Fort and I guess is was active in the 1860's and held the Yavapai Indians for a time. Not much is left but you can see the original layout of the Fort.
Bob showed us the rigging to pull water from the wash -- we didn't explore it as it was close to 2pm and the weather was turning colder -- the wind was whipping up and none of us had really dressed for it.
I found this one saguaro overlooking the fort and though it looked like a cross, marking the site.
Ruger kept getting stickers in his paws and we decided it would be a better place to explore from the UTVs as we had to traverse cattle trails to get there. It was an interesting site to see and want to go back to see if we can find the tin can dump and other treasures that are hidden under the desert growth.
We were thankful to be in the truck and cranked the heat up wishing we had hot cocoa with us. On the road back we stopped to take pictures of Skull rock ---
Darrel did the honors of capturing Skull Rock as he had to climb a rock to get the best pictures.
Arizona people seem to find the art in their rocks out here and we have quite a few "painted" images -- like Frog Rock, Elephant rock (which really is just an elephant painted on a flat rock), now Skull Rock and I think there are a few more -- maybe someday I'll do a blog on the painted rocks???
We arrived back home from the the trip a little wind blown and ready for that hot cocoa. I am ready for the cool snap to retreat back into Canada and warm up Arizona temps again!
Sending Blessings from the Road,
Love,
Susan & Darrel
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