August 31, 2011

Goodsprings Trail

Sunday, we took my mom and mike out on the RZR. We thought we'd ride up to Mount Potosi to beat the heat, but after staging at the turn off from Hwy 160 across from RRNCA we never found our way. Instead we came upon the Goodsprings trail system. This area is still healing from the massive Goodsprings wildfire in 2005. We had a great ride, we had a picnic lunch, we saw wild burros, a stallion and petroglyphs.

We also had ourselves a little adventure when we attempted to climb a very steep mountain. It was too steep for our weight load. The RZR was beyond capacity and couldn't make it up. We all hopped out, but as Frank backed down the mountain he slid off the trail. From 200 ft above him, I wasn't able to spot him. With my bum ankle there was no way I could manuever the climb up or down, so I slid down to him on my butt... Leaving Mike and my mom. I got in the driver's seat and Frank guided me back on the trail. He wanted me to try to get up the mountain but I let off the gas when I got spooked - I've watched too many youtube videos where people roll their vehicle. It broke momentum and there was no way. I did not feel comfortable enough with my skills to proceed so we backed up the whole way down the mountain. We got to safety, but we still needed to get Mike and my mom down to solid ground. It was slow going, but soon we were all safe and sound. This served as a lesson that I need to learn to drive the RZR. I gave it a whirl when it was brand new, but had little interest as I prefer to be a passenger. I now understand that developing those off-road skills will be beneficial especially for those times we find ourselves in a pickle.

Enjoy the sights we spotted during the ride...





We found petroglyphs on the backside of this rock



See?















The horse got excited while I was photographing the burros. Didn't intend on shooting XXX, but there it is.



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