Go West old man!: The road to Sawmill Canyon

We had one last day here at the ranch. So we found a hike on the side of Mt Wrightson in the area of Gardner Canyon. This was to be a drive up to the trailhead and park to hike. When we turned off the Gardner Canyon road we reached the point where the road dropped down and up came 5 OHVs. We got a little closer after they passed and decided to park there. It was a steep rocky road. A good 4 miles to the trailhead so the nature of the hike changed. Down the road just a bit were a few campsites. One with a big tent, tables, chairs etc. Clearly they had some means to drive down. A truck appeared just after that and we knew someone was willing to bring a truck down the stretch. Up the other side was even more rough. But after that it was good going, easy walking, no problem for my truck. I still wouldn’t bring my long wheelbase truck through there. On the way out we met a Jeep Cherokee that had just come up there. It didn’t have a complete exhaust system, maybe that’s why he was willing to drive there.

We had a 5+ mile hike on some nice and some really rough road. We had lunch at a very scenic campsite at about 5500’ with some great views of the valley all the way to our camp and beyond. Considering the road to ge there it must be mostly OHV or small 4WD camping. We didn’t notice much horse sign.

There was a little bit of snow left on Wrightson, all on the north slopes.

Skye had a great day, she found TWO deer legs to chew on. One on the way up before lunch and the other on the way down, long after finishing all she wanted of the first one.

Tonight I was pretty sure I heard the coyotes, and the barky dog across the road talking back to them.

The moon is so bright we only used our lights to step out of the camper. We didn’t need them to walk around with Skye.

Moving on the Willcox tomorrow. It’s a short drive, 75 miles. Next door for this part of the country!