datrupr
Expedition Leader
This trip was posted up on another board, one a lot of us know very well, but since several of the attendees are members here I thought I would post up a report on this board also.
The planned event/adventure was for Western AZ so some of our troopers for CA could get there relatively easily and not spend too much time on the highway. Mark (crawler#976) suggested we should do the ghost town of Swansea, or in that general area. The drive from home to our rendezvous point with Crawler and BX took a little over 2 hours, and the drive was pretty uneventful. Travelling west on I-10 to the Hew Hope, Vicksburg exit we then headed north through Vicksburg to AZ 72. From there we headed west to hoping metropolis of Bouse, AZ. We took a quick pit stop for biology, refreshments and, and Fuel. Making a quick a u-turn from the General Store we headed north on Main St. to the end where we then headed west one more time. This is road turns into Swansea Rd. as the pavement ends about 4 miles up and heads in a northerly direction. At this point I was trying to contact Mark and BX on the CB to let them know we were running a few minutes late to the meeting point, but we would be there shortly. I was unfortunately unable to make contact so we just continued on our way. about 10 minutes later I hear Mark calling for me on the radio. I was very relieved to hear from him and let him know my position and he said that they would wait for at Midway as we were just a couple of miles away. Actually, we pulled up to them about a 1/2 mile later where we said our hellos and Colette and I still had to air down. After that, BX led us down the Canyon Railroad trial into camp. This trail was and absolute blast! Full of Whoops of varying sizes, off camber sections, driving along the old supply railroad bed that brought supplies to and from Swansea through a canyon bottom. BX radioed to us that flywgn had stake a great camp site for us right at the edge of the canyon and to look for him as we went past. Well, went past we did indeed, Allen was waving us down and whistling at us as we were going past the camp he had established for us. A quick turn around fixed that and up into camp we went. Saying our hellos to Allen and Diana we pick the spots for our gear and proceeded to set up camp for our selves. As this was our group for the night Allen and Diana were kind enough serve up some great shrimp cocktail, and Diana's homemade guacamole (which is delicious). We chatted for a bit, and then we all prepared dinner and built a fire. Actually, my older kids prepared their dinner over the fire, while Mark prepared Colette's, my daughter's, and mine on his grill as I forgot to bring our dinner for the evening......... Thanks Mark. We then just sat around the fire and chatted until we all eventually could not go any longer and turned in for the night.
We awoke the next morning a great sunrise and a beautiful day ahead of us. After breakfast BX went off to try and hail Jack and Randy on the 2m and help guide them into camp. I ran off back into Bouse to pick up a few more needed supplies. Colette and my youngest son and dog went for a hike. On the way back into camp I ran into BX and Allen with the rest of our party at midway. We made our introductions and said our hellos and BX led us back into camp via the same Canyon Railroad trail. Back at camp we all chatted some more and let the rest of our group get their camps set up, had some lunch and then followed Mark out to the Bill Williams River. This was a great trail that followed along a gas pipeline pretty much all the way to the river. The trail to the river ends via a beautiful canyon with some great rock formations and just some outstanding scenery, then you drive through a few bushes and it opens up to the river. The river was not flowing wildly that day, but there still was plenty of water flowing to make it a fun fun stop to get out and play in the water. It did take me a couple of tries to get up onto the sand bar in the middle of the river, and Colette with her p rated street tires could not make it up at all, so we found her an alternate route to get her onto the sand bar where we were all parked. Everyone else made it up and over until Allen tried to make it across with his F-250. Well, the truck was just too long to make it up the steep and sandy climb and it dug its left tires into the soft sand. BX to the rescue! He came around and backed up to Allen's truck and after hooking him up and giving a light pull Allen and his diesel behemoth were free. Allen opted out of the optional route and stayed on the other side of the river while all cooled of in the water. On the way out we ran into another obstacle, how to get Colette back out. Mark found a line that he thought would work well to help easily drive out of and get back across. He ran drove across the planned route and the said it should be fine if she gave it enough gas to power her way through. That unfortunately did not work. While the water was by no means deep, the bottom was very sandy and soft, and the street tires were no match to get across and she just dug herself in. Mark to the rescue this time, he pulled around and hooked her up and got her to dry land where she had no problems the rest of the day. I crossed at the same point, and it was really very soft at the bottom. We then followed BX on another route back to camp, this time along the top of the canyon, and what a scenic drive it was. It took just over an hour to get back to camp, and then we celebrated a fun afternoon of trail rides and let Jack prepare dinner for the group. The Brazilian BBQ was outstanding, as was the Brazilian potato salad Mark had prepared. Camp was quite for a while as everyone was enjoying this fine meal Jack and Mark had taken time to prepare for us. After dinner it was time for relaxing and ******** chat around the fire, and Diana brought out homemade rum cake and custard with a caramelized sugar topping, and it was the perfect way to top an already fantastic meal. Thanks to all of you who prepared dinner and desert that evening, it was fantastic and I can not wait for more. I turned in around 10:30 and slept like a baby.
We awoke on Sunday morning to what looked like to be another beautiful day. After breakfast Mark and BX headed for home and the rest of us began to break camp. After getting all packed up we followed Jack around the town of Swansea and looked around and took pictures and learned a lot about the town's history. We all signed the guest register and headed out back to Bouse via the main road. On the way out just a couple of miles west of Swansea there was a natural arch just popping up out a hill free standing all by itself. We snapped off a few pictures and headed towards home, and the scenery was fantastic on Swansea Rd. to Midway. We said our goodbyes just outside of Bouse and went our separate ways home. It was a fantastic trip to an area of the state I had never been to before, and it is leaving me longing to explore the are in more detail. Thanks to those that set this trip up and everyone there that made this a memorable trip for my family and myself.
Please partake in some fun photos below. I tried to keep them in order of the events of the weekend.
The planned event/adventure was for Western AZ so some of our troopers for CA could get there relatively easily and not spend too much time on the highway. Mark (crawler#976) suggested we should do the ghost town of Swansea, or in that general area. The drive from home to our rendezvous point with Crawler and BX took a little over 2 hours, and the drive was pretty uneventful. Travelling west on I-10 to the Hew Hope, Vicksburg exit we then headed north through Vicksburg to AZ 72. From there we headed west to hoping metropolis of Bouse, AZ. We took a quick pit stop for biology, refreshments and, and Fuel. Making a quick a u-turn from the General Store we headed north on Main St. to the end where we then headed west one more time. This is road turns into Swansea Rd. as the pavement ends about 4 miles up and heads in a northerly direction. At this point I was trying to contact Mark and BX on the CB to let them know we were running a few minutes late to the meeting point, but we would be there shortly. I was unfortunately unable to make contact so we just continued on our way. about 10 minutes later I hear Mark calling for me on the radio. I was very relieved to hear from him and let him know my position and he said that they would wait for at Midway as we were just a couple of miles away. Actually, we pulled up to them about a 1/2 mile later where we said our hellos and Colette and I still had to air down. After that, BX led us down the Canyon Railroad trial into camp. This trail was and absolute blast! Full of Whoops of varying sizes, off camber sections, driving along the old supply railroad bed that brought supplies to and from Swansea through a canyon bottom. BX radioed to us that flywgn had stake a great camp site for us right at the edge of the canyon and to look for him as we went past. Well, went past we did indeed, Allen was waving us down and whistling at us as we were going past the camp he had established for us. A quick turn around fixed that and up into camp we went. Saying our hellos to Allen and Diana we pick the spots for our gear and proceeded to set up camp for our selves. As this was our group for the night Allen and Diana were kind enough serve up some great shrimp cocktail, and Diana's homemade guacamole (which is delicious). We chatted for a bit, and then we all prepared dinner and built a fire. Actually, my older kids prepared their dinner over the fire, while Mark prepared Colette's, my daughter's, and mine on his grill as I forgot to bring our dinner for the evening......... Thanks Mark. We then just sat around the fire and chatted until we all eventually could not go any longer and turned in for the night.
We awoke the next morning a great sunrise and a beautiful day ahead of us. After breakfast BX went off to try and hail Jack and Randy on the 2m and help guide them into camp. I ran off back into Bouse to pick up a few more needed supplies. Colette and my youngest son and dog went for a hike. On the way back into camp I ran into BX and Allen with the rest of our party at midway. We made our introductions and said our hellos and BX led us back into camp via the same Canyon Railroad trail. Back at camp we all chatted some more and let the rest of our group get their camps set up, had some lunch and then followed Mark out to the Bill Williams River. This was a great trail that followed along a gas pipeline pretty much all the way to the river. The trail to the river ends via a beautiful canyon with some great rock formations and just some outstanding scenery, then you drive through a few bushes and it opens up to the river. The river was not flowing wildly that day, but there still was plenty of water flowing to make it a fun fun stop to get out and play in the water. It did take me a couple of tries to get up onto the sand bar in the middle of the river, and Colette with her p rated street tires could not make it up at all, so we found her an alternate route to get her onto the sand bar where we were all parked. Everyone else made it up and over until Allen tried to make it across with his F-250. Well, the truck was just too long to make it up the steep and sandy climb and it dug its left tires into the soft sand. BX to the rescue! He came around and backed up to Allen's truck and after hooking him up and giving a light pull Allen and his diesel behemoth were free. Allen opted out of the optional route and stayed on the other side of the river while all cooled of in the water. On the way out we ran into another obstacle, how to get Colette back out. Mark found a line that he thought would work well to help easily drive out of and get back across. He ran drove across the planned route and the said it should be fine if she gave it enough gas to power her way through. That unfortunately did not work. While the water was by no means deep, the bottom was very sandy and soft, and the street tires were no match to get across and she just dug herself in. Mark to the rescue this time, he pulled around and hooked her up and got her to dry land where she had no problems the rest of the day. I crossed at the same point, and it was really very soft at the bottom. We then followed BX on another route back to camp, this time along the top of the canyon, and what a scenic drive it was. It took just over an hour to get back to camp, and then we celebrated a fun afternoon of trail rides and let Jack prepare dinner for the group. The Brazilian BBQ was outstanding, as was the Brazilian potato salad Mark had prepared. Camp was quite for a while as everyone was enjoying this fine meal Jack and Mark had taken time to prepare for us. After dinner it was time for relaxing and ******** chat around the fire, and Diana brought out homemade rum cake and custard with a caramelized sugar topping, and it was the perfect way to top an already fantastic meal. Thanks to all of you who prepared dinner and desert that evening, it was fantastic and I can not wait for more. I turned in around 10:30 and slept like a baby.
We awoke on Sunday morning to what looked like to be another beautiful day. After breakfast Mark and BX headed for home and the rest of us began to break camp. After getting all packed up we followed Jack around the town of Swansea and looked around and took pictures and learned a lot about the town's history. We all signed the guest register and headed out back to Bouse via the main road. On the way out just a couple of miles west of Swansea there was a natural arch just popping up out a hill free standing all by itself. We snapped off a few pictures and headed towards home, and the scenery was fantastic on Swansea Rd. to Midway. We said our goodbyes just outside of Bouse and went our separate ways home. It was a fantastic trip to an area of the state I had never been to before, and it is leaving me longing to explore the are in more detail. Thanks to those that set this trip up and everyone there that made this a memorable trip for my family and myself.
Please partake in some fun photos below. I tried to keep them in order of the events of the weekend.
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