Sawtooth & Tierra Blanca Mtns Solo Backpack - ABDSP / BLM Wilderness

Last minute decision to go for a solo backpack trip that was a big loop thru the Tierra Blanca & Sawtooth Mountain ranges. This was an area I had not been to before and was on my todo list. I hiked close to 20 miles total in a day and a half and saw lots of great stuff, definitely worthy of another trip. I have been trying to use just my little Canon S100 camera lately and it takes great pictures when there is good lighting but fails miserably in low light and for star shots. Even with the CHDK installed it still just cannot handle low light photography well.

On my drive out I stopped at the wind turbine in Ocotillo that recently caught fire




They say a picture is worth a thousand words..so here are a few thousand in no particular order of the trip...





Ocotillo Wind Turbines at night from the top of the Sawtooth Range








Big Prints


Little Prints


Big & Little Prints collide




Drainage I took down into Inner Pasture


Found the jet wreckage that I believe goes with the ejection seat I found on this trip


















I saw footprints from 3-4 people that looked like they went up to Red Top, if that was you let me know!

Total Mylar Balloons this trip - 3


A selfie, not sure what inspired this but there you have it....me....only took 20 minutes of fiddling to get that damn camera to balance on a rock just right


More photos in my gallery here


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Fish Creek Mountains Backpack Trip - BLM

Tom and I did a quick single overnight backpack up into the Fish Creek Mtns. According to the ABDSP visitor map there are a lot of areas you can explore in the Fish Creek Mtns that won't take you into the Carrizo Impact Area which is closed to public access. We hiked around the Fish and Eagle peaks area which is BLM territory. Pretty interesting area, you can find old mining sites and some old artillery shrapnel buried into the hillsides.

Sunset near the railroad tracks


Checking my maps while I was waiting for Tom to show up


Fish Peak in the distance and my '81 Toyota 4WD Pickup


Spotted some balloons way off in the distance, as I hiked over to get them they blew away off into the opposite direction


But ultimately I got them...at the expense of Tom taking a break and waiting for me to go scale another ridge to get them


Lots of remains of the mining efforts in those hills are still there










Thanks to Tom for this next shot, I gave it no thought but I guess all he saw was my life insurance policy double..hahaha...


You can find left over artillery and shrapnel in the hills






There are several pieces of shrapnel in this photo, can you find them? The rusted color of the steel blends right in with the natural desert patina of the boulders


Sunrise before we head to go back to the trucks


Total Mylar Balloons this trip - 13


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6 Days in the Turtle and Orocopia Mountains

We were supposed to spend 6 days exploring the Turtle Mountains but the cold, windy weather changed our plans and after 4 days we drove over to the Orocopia Mountains to spend the last couple of days, it was marginally warmer. I really wanted to get to Castle Rock but that didn't happen, we mostly hiked around the Lost Arch Inn and Mexican Hat trail. Don't expect to get very close in your car (legally) to the Turtles, it is mostly Wilderness boundaries now and most of the old jeep roads in are posted as no vehicle access. Browns Camp and the Lost Arch Inn are easily accessible though.



First night camp near Browns Camp and the Mexican Hat Trail


Sunrises were great




Some more starry night shots


My camp setup just after dusk


The Lost Arch Inn








The Car Corral




Coffin Spring area




The Lisa Dawn Cupola Mine is was left as is but with a large metal cover




Mexican Hat and trail area






Here are some photos of the Heritage Trail area and Mopah/Umpah Peaks. We didn't get a chance to hike to them, the weather kept us away with strong winds, rain and some light snow






I even broke out the bug hut and tarp for the weather


I guess they call them the Turtle's for a reason


We packed up and started out for the Orocopia Mountains but first stopped by West Well, lots of wild burros out there


Some petros and gorgeous colors in the hills




We took the Red Canyon Trail into the Orocopia's, it was a fairly easy 2WD high clearance road


Lots of great colors down in the canyon


We camped out near Gucci Spring and hiked around the area


Gary pointing out the wildlife watering hole


A Selfie at our camp near Gucci Spring, it was damn cold every night, teens and low 20's, freezing bottles each night


More sunset stuff


Salt Creek bridge on the Bradshaw Trail, that is Rabbit Peak way off in between the bridge, it has snow on it


Last day out we hiked Painted Canyon in the Mecca Hills, a really neat canyon I thought








You can see Gary down at the bottom of this huge canyon wall


Total Mylar Balloons this trip - 6


You can see more photos here

Turtle Mountains Photos

Orocopia Mountains Photos