Sunday, 19 February 2006
Coffee Pot Mtn, search for the Cristate Cactus, 100 mile drive on the El Camino Del Diablo Road (Devil's Hwy)
Photos: http://community.webshots.com/album/547797179UbaIIA
Sunday: I slept so good I woke up not knowing where I was at first! After a quick breakfast, packed the Rubi, drove ~10 miles east to dayclimb Coffee Pot Mountain. The guys saw this interesting looking peak on Friday while looking for a terracache, so we went for it without a description or waypoints. This was a short and quick cross country hike. Astrohound placed a terracache up here, then we headed back a different way. Next stop was on the El Camino del Diablo Highway, a 100 mile dirt road from Ajo to Yuma. Our goal was to find the Cristate Saguaro, an unusual and rare type of saguaro. “On rare occasions a saguaro will experience abnormal growth, producing a crest that looks like a giant, open fan of up to 6' across and 3' high, and are called 'cristate' or 'fasciated'. For some unknown reason the tissue growth becomes disorganized, causing the cactus to enlarge and flatten.” We left this area around 3:30pm, with about 85 miles to go on the dirt road. The drive was not what I thought it would be. Following the Xterra was dusty, so I couldn’t get any photos. About 25 miles in the Border Patrol talked to Astrohound and Beldar. I waited behind. He said he would radio the other agents to let them know we were coming thru. After about 40 miles the dust and glare from the sun setting got really old. I hit a few of the bushes/branches that stuck out into the road, and had to slow down. The road got a little rutted up, then sandy. We saw another Border Patrol in a hummer, pulling tires behind. I thought they were smoothing the road for us, but the guys told me later it was so they could see if there were any tracks (illegal aliens at night). Then it got dark, and I had a hard time following the guys. The headlights on dust made it feel like driving in whiteout conditions. When it cleared up, I tried to go 30mph again, but kept hitting dips. I couldn’t see the dips, but the Rubi was hitting it hard, everything flying in the back of the jeep. So I slowed down again. The guys kept going and had to wait for me periodically. Later I found out why! They didn’t want me to worry. We weren’t supposed to be on that road after dark. The second border patrol said if another agent stopped us after dark they would make a felony stop. He said he would do what he could but that he couldn't promise anything. Whatever he said helped because the last agent we met seemed like he was expecting us. He gave us clear directions on how to find the on ramp to the interstate once we got there. Those agents did us a really big favor and we owe them a big thanks.
Expose yourself to your deepest fear; after that, fear has no power, and the fear of freedom shrinks and vanishes. You are free . . . . Jim Morrison
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