After a final breakfast feast prepared by Marti, we said our goodbyes and headed south on our next adventure. Thanks for the hospitality, Steve and Marti!
An hour out of Prescott, we pulled off at Granite Mountain Hotshots Memorial State Park. In June of 2013, 19 of the 20 members of this elite wildland firefighting crew died nearby in the line of duty, and this state park is dedicated to their sacrifice. The seven-mile round-trip hike to the recovery site was a little more than we wanted to tackle, but there's a touching memorial at the trailhead with plaques dedicated to each member of the crew.
Granite Mountain Hotshots Memorial
Honoring their sacrifice
Early in the afternoon – and now much lower in elevation – we stopped at the western town of Wickenburg. This place was full of fun photo ops, and we had an outstanding lunch at Rancho Bar 7 Restaurant. Arizona's Mexican food is excellent.
Wild, wild west
Makeshift hoosegow
Tom and friend
Careful!
Cowboy and sporting girl
After lunch, we continued through the desert on some roads less traveled, studiously avoiding Phoenix on our journey southward. For quite some time, we followed the Gila River, which we eventually crossed via the Historic Gillespie Dam Bridge, constructed in 1927. In 1993, a violent flood destroyed the nearby Gillespie Dam, but the robustly built bridge survived.
Historic Gillespie Dam Bridge
Broken dam on the Gila River
We left the river at the small town of Gila Bend, where we took the opportunity to stop at a gas station with numerous scrap-metal dinosaurs. And it wasn't even a Sinclair station; it was a Shell. The deserts of the western United States are FULL of sheet-metal dinosaurs. Don't ask me why.
Ubiquitous desert dinosaurs
Tom tries a slower mode of transportation
Finally, we reached Ajo, a former copper mining town in the Sonoran Desert and the closest actual town (on the US side of the border) to Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, which we'll be visiting tomorrow. We're staying two nights at a cute airbnb called “Cozy Hideaway Cottage,” not far from historic Ajo Plaza.
Cozy Hideaway Cottage
Airbnb interior
Once settled in, we headed back out to drive the 10.4-mile Ajo Scenic Loop, just south of town. Starting at the plaza, we followed the loop counterclockwise. Most of the route is an unpaved but well-graded road that winds down into washes and up over hills through a variety of cactus and past a plethora of boondockers. Turning east, we faced 2,969-foot Black Mountain, gorgeous in the late afternoon light, before the now-closed New Cornelia Mine came into view.
Black Mountain from the Ajo Scenic Loop
All too soon, we reached pavement again at State Route 85 and turned back toward town. We had dinner at Fat Cactus Pizza and Arcade. The final game of the Final Four was playing on the TVs, and the place was hopping!