Backside of the River

I've paddled the lower Colorado River from Walter's Camp to Fisher's Landing nearly 10 times, but I've never seen this section of the river from the shore. There is a gravel road that runs north from near Fisher's Landing to the Imperial Wildlife Refuge and apparently continues all the way to the Cibola Refuge, but I didn't go that far.

There are several points of gravel/rock that extend out from the hills through the lowlands towards the river. I was hoping for river views, but for the most part you'd see pocket lakes.

Most of the backwaters had a lot of bird activity. I know they were birds because they had wings... but neither John West nor Helen Howard were along, so that's the best identification you're going to get from me.

Finally, at Smoke Tree Point, I got a fairly good view of the river looking upstream towards California's Picacho State Recreation Area. I'd been there a couple weeks prior on the 9th Annual Friends of Helen trip.

The road left the Wildlife Area and continued upriver through the Yuma Proving Ground. Maintenance was minimal and the road ran for miles through a gravel wash. The narrow road surface was hard enough, but I was sure glad I didn't meet anyone because it looked real soft to the sides

and there was clear indication that you didn't want to stray from the road!

I hadn't reduced my tire pressure from what I use when towing the trailer, so it was pretty slow going to avoid beating the truck too much. Not sure the curves ahead sign was really necessary - I was averaging about 10 mph because of the road.

The road left the Proving Ground and shortly thereafter I parked the truck near a rusty refrigerator, laced up the boots, and headed up a wash. The directions said you could drive up the wash to the pass in the hills, but ...

The road through the beginning of the was was very narrow - almost a slot. I'm thinking about turn-around space and not wanting to back down. Part way up the hill I found this spot where people had bridges a washout with a railroad tie. Further up, there were washouts that I wouldn't have been able to negotiate with my 2WD truck. Walking was the smart move!

There was supposed to be at least two mines and some rust about a mile back from the "main" road. Sure enough, found this Cat 40 with the blade nearby and the head and manifolds on the ground.

A bit further, I found the area that had clearly been the campsite for the mines. I was actually quite surprised as to how much the area had been cleaned up. In addition to the Cat, there was another set of smaller Cat tracks, and this small area around camp. No other significant equipment remained.

If you kept your eyes open, you could see where mining claim corners were marked. This one was the clearest of those I found.

The view from one of the mines was pretty nice. Couldn't see the river, but it wasn't too far away. I had to pay close attention to where I was walking. There were open vertical mine shafts all around the area!

On the way back to the truck, I noticed someone suffered a blow-out. I think that could have been very uncomfortable given the rocky road left to travel.

Once back to the truck, I wanted to continue north, but figured I'd pushed my luck enough with this solo jaunt so I headed back south. I didn't see any other traffic at all until I was back within the borders of the Wildlife Refuge where I saw three other cars at a trailhead and a ranger making his rounds.

All in all, a great day, and two challenging, lonely caches (and some easy ones) logged.

Los Algodones

It seems like every travel blogger that visits the southwest makes a mandatory stop in Los Algodones, just across the river from Yuma. I joined the early morning hordes that parked on the U.S. side ($6) and walked across the border. No border formalities southbound.

It's very obvious, even from the billboards before you get to the border, that dental is big business in Los Algodones.

The signs are everywhere, and it seems that implants and dental surgery are on sale most every day. Rumor has it that costs run about 25% of US prices.

Even most of the south face of "the" fence sports dental advertising. The town is full of cheerful, English speaking people just waiting for a chance to point you to the best dentist, optician, or drug store.

Some of the advertising was clearly directed at RVers including this place that supports the Escapees and implants Dentists. Hummm.

The town is very colorful and reminiscence of other border towns. Underground electrical wiring hasn't been discovered here yet.

In addition to the big three - Dental, Glasses, and Pharmaceuticals - there were also some shops and many small sidewalk vendors selling souvenirs. I thought about getting some garden art to replace the Dutchman's head that I acquired from BJ's former flowerbed, but didn't want to carry it back across the border.

My reason for going to Los Algodones was to join a large group of geocachers that had scheduled the day to visit and find some Mexican caches. I met these four ladies from California at the northern most point of Mexico as we located a cache on the fence.

The group of geocachers met at the El Paraiso Restaurant where the Huevos Rancheros were cheap and good but not great.

They said the water was safe to drink and didn't mention anything about driving afterward. I played it safe and avoided all liquid...

I understand that some times of the day, the line of pedestrians going back across the border can extend for blocks. When I went back, the line was short, ending just inside the turnstile.

All in all, a fun day. I checked on prices for glasses - might be a good deal if I needed multiple pair, but I could get a single pair of prescription sunglasses from Zenni for less.

Contested Caching

While I attended the Yuma Mega Event for geocachers, I took part in several activities that had some real or inferred contest component. I was not trying to get First to Find on any of the special "lab" caches or the complete series of seven. After the fact, it was obvious that a number of the local cachers were competing for FTF honors. I got a good night's sleep and was 12th to complete the series out of 382 as of Sunday evening.

On Saturday, I took part in a "Yuma Discovery Series" that involved locating a number of actual caches as well as other locations in the community where you would learn something about the community, such as one of the places that attracted Hollywood folks.

I was lucky to finish that series since I make a transcription error entering the waypoints and was over 8 miles off, fighting my way through a tamarack jungle when I decided it was time to go back to the truck and double-check the figures...

I managed to finish that series about 30 minutes before they ran out of the geocoins that they gave out for completing the series.

The contest that really intrigued me was the cache building contest. It had to be homemade and it had to be "legal." This was the first year they've had this contest and there were only 15 entries. I know there will be a couple of us giving real thought to designs for next year.

I entered my button cache. It was interesting to observe people with it. A few would immediately figure it out, most took longer than I expected, and I was amazed to see a few walk away frustrated by it.

The one I liked the best would be challenging to use in the real world. You'd need to find a library that would let you shelve it. The inside of the book was hollowed out to create the cache space. A simple concept, but the cover and flyleaf would easily pass for legitimate, commercial work.

I just happened to have pictures of those that were selected for the top three places. This one came in third.

The birdhouse in the background used a jack-in-the box mechanism to release the door. It came in second place. The one in the foreground used a modified "Simon Says" electronic game. If your memory was good enough to complete the long sequence, it would release the cache.  It was the first place winner.

They had a poker run where you had to locate five caches and select a sealed envelope from each cache. My fours and twos eventually came in third place, winning me $100. Not bad for an event that had no entry fee!