Dodging Cacti In An ATV

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Geo: 34.0708, -112.15

So what do you do with a legendary cowboy (in his own mind) who has severely bruised his manhood and pride (but mainly his manhood) in an ill-advised attempt to tame an equally legendary mechanical bull?? You sign him up for a day of rough ATVing in a cacti paradise near Black Canyon AZ. Ever the good sport, Dusty Dave B popped a couple of Advil's, shoved a pillow down the front of his pants (I suspect that the tight elastics around his Depends worked to hold the pillow firmly in place), and tightened up his helmet strap. Not sure it was intentional, but he even ended up airborne a couple of times (and even the girls were wincing when he hit the ground hard).

The Bradshaw Mountain range and upper Sonoran Desert is known for its scenic beauty, hiking trails, back roads, ghost towns, western stories, and wildlife. The last of the Apache Indian wars were fought here. It's also said to be one of the richest gold filled mountains in the US- because fierce Indians lived in this mountain range Mexicans and Americans stayed clear of these dangerous mountains even though they were rumored to be filled with gold. With no Indians willing to take on the Killer B Posse, we did spend some time looking for valuable stones but found only turquoise and not gold or silver.

Surviving the ATV ride without looking like a pincushion by the time you were done is a unique part of the challenge here. The area is alive with all types of cacti but the undisputed star of the show is the Saguaro Cactus. Apparently the Sonoran Desert area is the only place in the world where the famous saguaro cactuses grow in the wild, reaching 15–50 feet in height during their 150 year lifespans. With many of them growing two 'arms' they do look like lonely sentinels of the desert.

Shady Lady proved to be something of a problem child and was moved right in behind the guide to motivate better behaviour. Somewhat surprisingly Dusty Dave and Puffy Pillow finished the day no worse than when we started. And given that yet another "World Famous" pie store was right next to the ATV drop-off, we were able to immediately reward our efforts with slices of sugared fruit and ice cream.

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Comments

[Amanda]

You do pack in a full days adventure

[debbiebutt]

That was a great day, I would love to do that all over again. Daves still walking funny!

[martin1027]

Love Arizona! Great blog and hope the ATVing didn't cause any permanent, uh, limitations on the part of any rider. Even Evel Knievel didn't pay that kind of price!

[mss-2014]

That looks like a really fun day on top of your amazing travel adventure!

[Crich]

A scene right out of The Road Warrior".

[Crich]

Prickly heat.

[may-vic]

Riding high and staying in the saddle...a real modern day cowboy!