Back in the Saddle

 

Just 50 miles west of White Tank Mountain put us near Tonopah, AZ and Saddle Mountain BLM land. We had a pleasant stay here in 2014 and decided it would be a nice place to hang out on the way to Yuma. Our friend Suzanne just happened to be nearby and was thinking of stopping there, too, so we met up at the truck stop at the I-10 Tonopah exit to make our plan.

Since it had rained all of the previous day, and started pouring just as we got to our exit, we were concerned that the area would be one big mud puddle. So we decided to drive the 10 paved miles to check it out before getting off onto the dirt access road. Jim remembered that the area was hard packed and rocky and he was right. No standing water and mostly hard ground, so we turned off onto the dirt road and picked a spot.

Suzanne’s Winnie and Tracker.

The rain finally stopped so we took a walk around the neighborhood in the late afternoon.

 

 

There were only two other RVs along our road, and as we walked past them and got closer to the mountains we decided to move farther back from the main road.

We awoke to fog yesterday morning but the sky was clear and it turned out to be a gorgeous day. Of course we had to take a hike up to the saddle. It’s not easy to get there from where we’re parked, so our trek involved quite a bit of bushwacking to find the trail.

Jim and Suzanne taking a rest.

We finally found a faint trail.

The steepest part of the climb.

Jim and Suzanne taking another rest.

And another. I’m starting to see a pattern here…

Nice views of the smoke plumes from the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Plant.

 

We’re loving our new backyard so we’ll probably hang out here a few more days.