Time and temperature: Sunday afternoon, upper 70's to lower 80's.
Location: Oak Flats, Arizona
The numbers:
35 Pictures taken
2 Drilling rigs seen
1 deer seen
Ramblings: Somebody in Texas might not mention seeing a drilling rig, but they are a rare item here. The road went by one of them, and if I had been familiar with the roads, I would have known that a pickup belonging to one of the workers was blocking the road that I really wanted to see. Still, I enjoyed the road I was on. I took 60 east past Superior and turned right on the road to Oak Flats campground. At the campground there is a big yellow sign that says, "WARNING: High clearance vehicles only beyond this point!" I have a high clearance vehicle, so I went beyond that point.
It was a very bumpy road, but I only had to lock the rear axle a couple of times. The rocks had lots of black marks. Seems like you would have to be a real noob to spin your tires that much, though.
One reason I went out there was because I thought it might be cooler, since it's at 4000 feet. The vegetation is certainly different. Not as many cacti. No saguaros. Lots of small bushes that I think are manzanitas. A few pine trees and some cedar. The area looks like it's pretty much solid granite, too.
I didn't hike for a couple of reasons. First, even though it was only about 80, it was a Houston 80; very muggy. Second, it was overcast and I heard thunder now and then. I didn't want to be far from my Taco if the lightening got close.
I mapped some of the pictures in the web album. Be sure and click on "hybrid" so you can see the terrain on the map. Better yet, view the map in Google Earth.
I took a few pictures of balanced rocks and then quit because that's almost like taking a picture of a saguaro in Bulldog Canyon. They're all over the place. One of the balanced rocks was very interesting, though. It's in the pictures.
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