Post by beefjello on Mar 24, 2008 22:54:00 GMT -5
Last week was my kids' spring break and I got to take a couple days off to take them camping out in the Arizona wilderness. After giving it much though we decided to go check out the Sheep's Crossing area on the lower Verde River. This area is famous for it's purple sagenite, and the route would take us right through Bloody Basin (think plume agate). Of course, none of that was really a factor, right? (heh)
This first pic is when we got into the desert mountains near Cave Creek.. the distant hills were alive with wildflowers
That also was the first and last 'clear' pic of the trip, as soon afterwords I stopped at a creek bed and my son and I jumped out to look at the rocks while my darling teenage daughter decided to take several super up-close self portraits with my camera, and inadvertently touched her precious little greasy nose to the lens. I didn't realize this until after the trip when I uploaded a whole bunch of hazy foggy pics
Anyway, after 40 miles of bone rattling dirt roads, we made our way to Sheep's Crossing and set up camp just as the sun was setting. Here we are, far removed from civilization with the little ones huddled around the campfire.. I mean the Nintendo. lol
The deteriorating slab we set up on is part of the old sheep ranch. The original bridge across the river was dynamited back in '78 after years of use and floods had weakened it. The replacement bridge is holding up just fine
Some neat patterns in the rock on the east side of the bridge
Major supports
Here's what's left of the original bridge
This saguaro looked like it was climbing the rocks!
A bit of reading
This is from the mesa above the river, near the sagenite area
A river of purple flowers
And a road runner sporting a gnarly mohawk
Needless to say we had a great time out there
Here's some pics of the rocks I brought back from out there. I forgot to get pics of my son's finds (and he found some beauties).
The tailgate shot.. not a massive haul but hey, they can't all be zingers
Some agates and jaspers from the river
Some of the sagenite nodules
A little purple in this one fer sher!
And a few finds around Bloody Basin
My fav find from the trip. Tiny and broken but ohh so pretty
Well thanks for checking out our trip, foggy pics and all.
This first pic is when we got into the desert mountains near Cave Creek.. the distant hills were alive with wildflowers
That also was the first and last 'clear' pic of the trip, as soon afterwords I stopped at a creek bed and my son and I jumped out to look at the rocks while my darling teenage daughter decided to take several super up-close self portraits with my camera, and inadvertently touched her precious little greasy nose to the lens. I didn't realize this until after the trip when I uploaded a whole bunch of hazy foggy pics
Anyway, after 40 miles of bone rattling dirt roads, we made our way to Sheep's Crossing and set up camp just as the sun was setting. Here we are, far removed from civilization with the little ones huddled around the campfire.. I mean the Nintendo. lol
The deteriorating slab we set up on is part of the old sheep ranch. The original bridge across the river was dynamited back in '78 after years of use and floods had weakened it. The replacement bridge is holding up just fine
Some neat patterns in the rock on the east side of the bridge
Major supports
Here's what's left of the original bridge
This saguaro looked like it was climbing the rocks!
A bit of reading
This is from the mesa above the river, near the sagenite area
A river of purple flowers
And a road runner sporting a gnarly mohawk
Needless to say we had a great time out there
Here's some pics of the rocks I brought back from out there. I forgot to get pics of my son's finds (and he found some beauties).
The tailgate shot.. not a massive haul but hey, they can't all be zingers
Some agates and jaspers from the river
Some of the sagenite nodules
A little purple in this one fer sher!
And a few finds around Bloody Basin
My fav find from the trip. Tiny and broken but ohh so pretty
Well thanks for checking out our trip, foggy pics and all.