Derek’s Trail Riding and Arizona Adventure Thread

Derek8404

Derek8404

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Figured I’d start a new thread for this and I’ll keep updating as I go on more rides.

This is a few from yesterday. We did a 60 mile ride round trip, down a section of the AZ Peace Trail to and old abandoned Boy Scout camp. Lot of cool old things laying around and we saw a Big Horn sheep ram on the way who posed for some pics for us.

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heavydoc said:
Arizona is my favorite place, just not a fan of the heat anymore
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Loving the weather right now, but have a feeling that’s gonna change here in about 2 months. I’ll be spending a lot more time in the pool than on the trail then.
 
Derek8404 said:
Loving the weather right now, but have a feeling that’s gonna change here in about 2 months. I’ll be spending a lot more time in the pool than on the trail then.
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That is what my entire family does, or just stay inside. I don't miss the 100 degrees still at midnight!
 
Derek8404 said:
Loving the weather right now, but have a feeling that’s gonna change here in about 2 months. I’ll be spending a lot more time in the pool than on the trail then.
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Yeah, we're about to go from frost to melt any day now.
 
IrishCannon said:
That's rad. Awesome pics. I've been trying to get to an office out there for a while. I'm over the eastern US. I've lived in population centers for too long.

Sent from my moto g fast using Tapatalk
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Hit me up if ever do get to mags it out.
 
We did the Pink Jeep Tour tourist thing in Sedona years ago. It was great. Beautiful land to get out in a 4WD vehicle. Add in shooting? 🤯
 
chrishf12 said:
Oh man. We are going to WV next week riding. But I would give it up to come out your way for a few weeks.
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Hatfield & Mccoy trails I assume? I’ve always wanted to go ride out there, maybe someday. If you are ever able to get out to AZ to do some riding, do it for sure. This place is a SxS paradise, and we’re probably gonna be spoiled after living here.
 
What’s the rules on shooting? Looks like you really stretch legs on some rifles.
 
Average Joe said:
What’s the rules on shooting? Looks like you really stretch legs on some rifles.
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The usual stuff, I.e. don’t shoot across roads, be more that 150yds from a residence, don’t shoot the desert plants and cacti. The rules are pretty loose and really just require you to use some common sense when choosing where to shoot. Just about, within reason and a few exceptions ( recreational camping areas ect..) you can shoot anywhere you want on BLM land.

There are some “established” ranges common areas in the BLM land that people go to shoot and they are good spots but they can get crowded with all kinds of dumb people. I tend to shoot a lot further out in the desert that you need a jeep or SxS to get out to, it cuts down on me encountering some of the “less dedicated” shooters.

One of my usual spots, if we are gonna do a lot of shooting is marked on the map as a shooting range, but you have to still be very careful because there are a lot of people out riding who either don’t know that, or don’t pay attention to where they are going and will drive right out into the “down range” area. Was in the middle of firing a couple weeks ago when a couple RZRs popped out from behind mountain via some off roading trails. They quickly realized their mistake, spun around and hauled ass out of there.
 
Derek8404 said:
Hatfield & Mccoy trails I assume? I’ve always wanted to go ride out there, maybe someday. If you are ever able to get out to AZ to do some riding, do it for sure. This place is a SxS paradise, and we’re probably gonna be spoiled after living here.
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Yea one of our close friends grew up in the area so we ride a mix of HMT and outlaw trails (forestry and mining co). The pst few rides have been more of a history lesson. Going around finding the old mine locations where his family worked.
 
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Great pics, looks like you are having a great time. I spent a year at Ft Huachuca (88-89) and loved every minute of living in AZ. The summer was brutal but AZ is a beautiful place with lots of outdoor activities. I would be fine living there again although I’d prefer to be a bit further north than Sierra Vista.
 
chris69 said:
Great pics, looks like you are having a great time. I spent a year at Ft Huachuca (88-89) and loved every minute of living in AZ. The summer was brutal but AZ is a beautiful place with lots of outdoor activities. I would be fine living there again although I’d prefer to be a bit further north than Sierra Vista.
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Who wouldn't
 
I *really* miss the southwest. I lived 20+ yrs in New Mexico and I realize I took those grand, wide open public spaces for granted. There is nothing like the experience of sitting on a ridgeline looking around 360 degrees and not being able to see any signs of man, other than the dirt road you came in on.

There's not many places like that left these days.

Enjoy!
 
chrishf12 said:
Yea one of our close friends grew up in the area so we ride a mix of HMT and outlaw trails (forestry and mining co). The pst few rides have been more of a history lesson. Going around finding the old mine locations where his family worked.
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I don't know if the USGS still sells high resolution maps, but we used to research areas to explore after a trip to our map/survey store in NM. Those maps showed little dirt trails, every little wash, etc....they were amazingly detailed. Old mines were clearly shown on the maps and we'd make day trips to research them and the abandoned stuff left when they closed 50-70 yrs earlier.

Stuff in the high desert lasts *forever*. We found old tin lined wooden sluice boxes that had collapsed many decades ago and were still laying out in the sun.

We always took the normal shovel, water, guns, food, and one of my small VHF ham radios, as while it was easy to find a ham radio repeater that was on a mountaintop somewhere within 100 miles, there was no cell service there (and probably still isn't)
 
JohnFreeman said:
I don't know if the USGS still sells high resolution maps, but we used to research areas to explore after a trip to our map/survey store in NM. Those maps showed little dirt trails, every little wash, etc....they were amazingly detailed. Old mines were clearly shown on the maps and we'd make day trips to research them and the abandoned stuff left when they closed 50-70 yrs earlier.

Stuff in the high desert lasts *forever*. We found old tin lined wooden sluice boxes that had collapsed many decades ago and were still laying out in the sun.

We always took the normal shovel, water, guns, food, and one of my small VHF ham radios, as while it was easy to find a ham radio repeater that was on a mountaintop somewhere within 100 miles, there was no cell service there (and probably still isn't)
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I got mine from wide world of maps in Mesa, AZ
 
Not familiar with Arizona, but I spent a week in mid-September in Santa Fe a couple of years ago. I fell in love with the roasted Hatch green and red chiles they put on literally everything out there. And if you ever find yourself in or near Santa Fe at lunchtime, I highly recommend hitting Santa Famous Street Eats food truck for BBQ tacos a few blocks from downtown. But my only foray out into the desert was a sporty landing in a hot air balloon outside Albuquerque (see profile pic). From what I could see coming in, it was beautiful and the scrub brushy area we landed in was teeming with HUGE jackrabbits. When we landed, I was kind of surprised to see that everywhere you looked, the ground was almost completely covered with piles of dried rabbit crap. At about 50-100 feet up, we could see coyotes hunting the jackrabbits, but they got the hell out of Dodge when they saw that balloon coming. I'd love to go out there and spend a night in the desert far from the city lights, where you can still see all the stars. I think that would have to be a view worth seeing.
 
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East of Here said:
Not familiar with Arizona, but I spent a week in mid-September in Santa Fe a couple of years ago. I fell in love with the roasted Hatch green and red chiles they put on literally everything out there. And if you ever find yourself in or near Santa Fe at lunchtime, I highly recommend hitting Santa Fe Street Eats food truck for BBQ tacos a few blocks from downtown. But my only foray out into the desert was a sporty landing in a hot air balloon outside Albuquerque (see profile pic). From what I could see coming in, it was beautiful and the scrub brushy area we landed in was teeming with HUGE jackrabbits. When we landed, I was kind of surprised to see that everywhere you looked, the ground was almost completely covered with piles of dried rabbit crap. At about 50-100 feet up, we could see coyotes hunting the jackrabbits, but they got the hell out of Dodge when they saw that balloon coming. I'd love to go out there and spend a night in the desert far from the city lights, where you can still see all the stars. I think that would have to be a view worth seeing.
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I really thought that first line was gonna say, but I stayed at a Holiday Inn once! 🤣
 
There are a LOT of big jack rabbits in the desert! They're certainly survivors of the first order.

Serious comet hunters have bought/used land in southern NM (It's still available for a couple hundred an acre) just because the sky is so dark from both the lack of artificial lighting, the lack of humidity and the relatively high elevation.

Out in the boonies, it's really dark sky country
 
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JohnFreeman said:
There are a LOT of big jack rabbits in the desert! They're certainly survivors of the first order.

Serious comet hunters have bought/used land in southern NM (It's still available for a couple hundred an acre) just because the sky is so dark from both the lack of artificial lighting, the lack of humidity and the relatively high elevation.

Out in the boonies, it's really dark sky country
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It is really a show when you can get away from any artificial lighting and look to the sky. The stars are so bright and plentiful when you're in total darkness.
 
Rode today with a buddy that just bought a RZR…got some battle scars on it today. Everyone was OK and the worst that happened was a little scratch on the roll bar.54E8E431-FE70-4004-95C4-C60E73E791F4.jpeg30C3EAD7-9B3E-40AA-95CF-01108BD321B9.jpeg93BC6671-CFB8-4706-9D8B-F3BACE5F4DA2.jpegAFA31543-FAC0-43CA-91EE-54E1904C5A81.jpeg
 
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