|
|
|
|
|
Below is some info sent to me from Marion Weissopff a Canadian Training and breeder of quality Sport Horses.
This is a real nice camping spot we found about 2 hours north of Las Vegas on our way down to Arizona. This is January 1st. and it's where we spend New Years 2006. Arizona Trip January 2006- by Marion Weissopff - www.mwsporthorses.com
When we went camping in
Arizona, we just kind of went off the beaten pass, mostly on BLM Land, but
you can also camp in some wilderness areas and National forests in designated
campsites. We found that most rodeo or fairgrounds where locked up in January.
Since we went all of January, we tried to stay at elevations 3000' or lower.
Most Canadian and Northern US people seem to go to
Wickenburg. They have lots of
facilities in or near Wickenburg
where you can camp with your horses. We found a nice area, going I think
North out of
Wickenburg past the Rodeo grounds, there is some nice camping and trail
riding there. You should have 4 wheel drive if you go up any of the back roads
pulling a horse trailer. Some roads go through some washes and it can be
pretty deep sand and you can even get in trouble with a 4 wheel drive. Don't
park in the washes, if it rains, they become rivers real fast. We also had to
renew our horses health certificate, the vet (only horse vet) in
Wickenburg is real good and cheap
and does the papers for Canadian's a lot. Some real nice tack stores in
Wickenburg
too. You might want to plan where you stay on your way down, our horses had to
stay one night in the horse trailer, because it got dark on us and you just
don't want to try and go down some back roads in the dark and we didn't want
to tie up outside the horse trailer near the highway. We had a stallion and a
mare with us and that was the first time they traveled together, plus the wind
was blowing cold.
If you're down there late January, I would go to
Quartzsite,
they have the
worlds largest flee market there at that time of year and you can get some
nice stuff, can't see it all in one day though.
South of
Quartzsite is some nice spots to camp, we went to a place called
Palm canyon and went riding SSW. from the end of the road across country.
We found a old Stage coach trail there, that was still drawn in a map that we
had.
Be careful of the cactus, the
Cholla, is a
jumping cactus and makes the horses jump pretty good when it jumps up
between their back legs. The only thing that works to get the cactus out is to
have a hair comb, just quickly flick the cactus out, do not touch the cactus.
We traveled with two 45 Gallon water barrels in the horse
trailer and the hay up top. Water was always the reason that what us break up
camp to go to town and fill up with water again. We had water in the camper
for our use.
You can buy hay and hay pallets in feed stores. They have
pretty much just pure Alfalfa hay for sale in most places. With all the riding
we did, we fed as much hay as the horses wanted to eat and quite a bit of
grain too.
Make sure you have shoes on all 4 feet, Arizona is the
rockiest place I've ever seen.
The 3 pictures below were
our favorite area, near Wickiup on 17 mile road, right at the highest part of
the road. A little tough to find a good camping spot there and it's higher in
elevation, it was good and warm at the end of January, but last winter they
had real good weather the whole time we where there.
We found signs of wild horses here and even found a box
canyon, partly fenced, that had been used to corral the horses.
17 Mile road is a round trip and you have to cross the
river. We had to use the 4 wheel drive on a couple of sections.
Next 3 pictures: This
is near Oatman, AZ. some nice
riding in low elevation, find the guy that runs the trail rides there to ask
about the trails, real nice guy. Lots of wild but friendly burrows roaming
here, they come right up to your camp.
Oatman is a
old western-mining-tourist town, real nice people here it's on Route 66.
Below- This is South of
Quartzsite AZ., exercising the
stud and filly after they had spend a good part or the day waiting for us in
the horse trailer while we had a good look at the worlds largest Flea Market.
This is also on the way to
Palm canyon.
Next 3 pictures: Our camping spot at
Palm canyon with the red sky in the evening.
The picture with Don on ex wild horse filly Mariah in front of the cactus is
on a old Stage coach trail that we found.
Somebody told me, (and I don't know if it's true) that this kind of Cactus is one-thousand years old before it even starts to grow it's first arm.
Next 3 pictures: This is North of
Wickenburg , if you go past the
Rodeo grounds.
The first picture shows the vastness of the back country. If you look close,
you can see a old abandoned gold miners cabin in the mid to bottom left area
of the picture. The zigzag draw in the picture is actually the
Hassayampa River.
You encounter lots of old mining ruins and deep shafts in this area. We also
found a lot of water troughs in this area for the horse to drink out of.
The next picture shows me having fun in the
Hassayampa River. We heard afterward, that the river has areas of
quicksand.
The third picture shows me taking the horses up the road. We had gone down a
real steep stretch, there was no backing out once we started down that hill.
We had camped at the bottom for a couple of days and wouldn't have made it
back up the hill with the horses in the trailer.
Next 3 pictures: This is the "Lost
Dutchman Trail" near Apache
Junction.
This was real beautiful riding, a bit rough in areas. I think the trail head
was called "first water or first tank"
I would recommend to get a map of the area first, there are many trails here
and some are not safe for horses and it says so on the map that we saw.
The last picture below is taken North of Cave Creek a place called 7 Springs with Sam our Golden retriever and the Stallion.
Thank You Marion for share your trip. To view Marion's web site click on link below.
|
|
|
Web site Hosting for $6.95 a month Last update on this web site was 12/28/2007
Author Kelly Allen.
|
.jpg)
.jpg)
