While staying at Northranch Escapee Park in Congress, AZ, Loren and Sharon offered to take us along on a desert drive. It looked pretty straightforward on the map and Scenic Loop Drive had a nice ring to it. Our path took us by the Lost Dutchman Mining Association, or LDMA, a pretty sizable collection of ever-hopeful folks looking to strike it rich searching for gold. It was difficult to tell how many of the old RV's were occupied and maybe some were only used on weekends, but they had several buildings and a large gathering room where the community got together. I suspect their best days are behind them as the place had a run-down, almost ghost town feel to it.
Then the road became really isolated. The term "road" probably should not have been used to describe what we drove on. A Jeep or high clearance four-wheel truck would have been the better choice for a drive out here.
The paths diverged many times giving us ample opportunity to get lost. I suspect everyone wondered at some point how long it would be before our bleached bones would be discovered if we couldn't find our way back. A few fences, a couple of abandoned homesteads and some mining claim signs were the only evidence of human contact with the land.
We piled some rocks into the deep ruts to get the Saturn across. Loren's Google research had indicated this road was suitable for travel in a family sedan. That pretty well cinched it that we were not on the right road, but we really had no idea how to retrace our path so we continued forward.
At one point, we passed another vehicle coming from the other direction. They told us we were indeed on the right road and described what was ahead. That was pretty fortunate since we would have been totally confused, without their help, when we encountered the fence across the road.
We were told to cross the wash and look for the windmill. Check!
Normally a gate says "stay out," but...
...we were told to just swing it out of our way and be sure to close it behind us.
On our return to civilization (Wickenburg, AZ) we feasted on some great food at Anita's Cocina. With full bellies, we embarked on some less adventurous exploration of the town.
Interestingly, there was an old guy sitting on a bench viewing the jail tree. As we approached, he slipped a small plain brown paper bag under his coat. Maybe this statue was his great-great-grandfather and he was just visiting, paying his respects.
All in all, a great adventure in the desert with great friends capped by great food to make it a full, exciting day!
