Unexploded Ordinance (March 17) - Part I

After the ill-fated attempt at the Imperial Sand Dunes we were a bit weary of dunes of any kind. But we had had a little taste of the kind of sand environment the FJ really likes when we played around at the border fence: Large dunes, with longer slopes. Or simply sandy undulating terrain. And that's exactly what we found in Superstition Mountain, and plenty of it.

We started the day by trying to follow a GPS trail Rick had downloaded. As it often happens, the trail was made by someone in an OHV (quad or dirt bike), who didn't necessarily follow any roads, so we ended up loosing that trail and just driving around impromptu. As we approached the mountain with the intent of going around it, we found a section of slope mostly sandy with rock crops here and there. The slope itself ended on a bowl, at a steep grade. But by going around the bowl from the right, and going accross on a diagonal over a segment of less steep slope and then up between two rock crops, it looked like we could do it.

I was explaining that idea to Rick, who, unbelieving, just said "why don't you go first then?", jokingly. It felt like a challenge, and it probably was. I got back into the car and off I went, doing exactly what I had suggested. The climb was successful, and soon after, all the other vehicles followed me up the hill. Perfect, except by the fact that in the testosterone-induced mental fog, I'd left Ellen at the bottom of the hill. Finally, Ellen shows up after climbing on foot, and none too happy about having been left behind like that. Being the nice person that she is, she eventually forgave my lapse in judgment.

From the top of the hill we sighted a communications tower nearby, over on the other side of the mountain ridge. We drove there across more sandy bowls and rock crops, really cross-country at this point, and enjoying every minute of it. We spent a few minutes near the comm tower (which had a fairly usable paved road leading to it from the base of the mountain), enjoying the view and planning our next move. I had been leading the group since the hill-climb, and continued to do so from the comm tower, as we decided to go down-hill on the paved road and try to find a trail that would hug the northeast face of the mountain and lead us towards its waist. Our objective was another comm tower on another peak about a mile or so away.