Rovey's Needle SxS Ride (Sunday, November 19th, 2017)

Today we took a club ride to this beautiful natural monument called;  Rovey's Needle.  



OK, somehow we went from fall to winter in about 3 days.  We were just starting to cool off, and now all of a sudden it is down right cold.  When we left the house this morning, it was a whopping 46 degrees, and when your riding in a RZR with no windshield, that's cold!  

We left the house at about 7:00, and given that we don't have a trailer right now (garage floor project being done), we had to just drive the RZR to the meeting point.  We knew that by the time we hit the desert, the sun would be harsh, so since we are street legal and run light duty truck tires, we decided to just run up the highway.  Maybe that wasn't such a great idea......it was SO cold!


As usual, when we got there everyone started lining up in the groups they wanted to ride in.  There were four groups.  Two blue and two green.  Both blue and green are fairly moderate driving levels, so they are perfect for pretty much everyone.  I didn't get a count of the total number of cars, but there were 12 people in our group, so maybe close to 50 cars total.

Everyone gathered for the pre-ride meeting, where they talked about always looking out for the person behind you, restroom etiquette on the trail (women are always right, so men should go to the left of the trail!) and all of the other little rules that we drive by.

They introduced all of the ride leaders and tail gunners and talked about which radio channels each group would use.  Today was Steve's first time ever to be a tail gunner.  Our friend Sam and his wife Sharyn lead our group and we pulled up the rear.

As always, they staggered the groups by about 20 minutes to let the dust settle and ensure that everyone has a little time at each stopping point.  Then off we went, through the desert, heading toward Rovey's Needle.

As always, there were so many beautiful views, and so much interesting terrain.

Our first stopping point was an overlook of the lake and California.  As we approached the climb to the overlook, the first group was still coming down, so we had to pull aside and wait for them to come down before we could head up the hill.

But once we got up there, it was definitely worth the wait!  

Everyone had a chance to talk and get to know each other.  I love the rides, but I also really love getting to know the people in our group.  We meet new people each time, and they are all so nice and interesting!

Then back on the road again.

This was our first glimpse of Rovey's Needle.

You can see on the GPS the loop that we are taking.  The first blue dot is the overlook, and the second blue dot that we are now approaching is the needle.  Then we will continue around the loop.

The parking area for Rovey's needle is very small, so with a group of 12, we weren't all going to fit.  So we broke into two groups of six.  Sam took the first group up to the needle while we waited on the road below.  

Then they came down and waited on the road ahead of us while we made our way up to explore the needle.  This is the only angle that it looks like a needle.  From the other angles, it is more of a triangle.

We hiked up to the needle, and you can see our cars in the lot below.  It is a fairly steep drop off on both sides of the road, so you can see that the parking is very limited.

Up close, the needle is full of holes, almost to the point where it looks like a honey comb.

There is a whole near the bottom of the needle that goes clear through the rock.

A close up view of the honey combs in the rock.

The view from the base of the needle.



As we came out of the needle parking area the rest of our group was waiting on the road below.

From this view, you can see the hole in the bottom of the rock.

Then on the road again to finish our loop.

We stopped and had lunch in the shade of these beautiful cliffs.  By now it had warmed up beautifully and we could enjoy the shade as well as the sun.

About a week ago, we took a ride from Shea road in Parker, east to the Bill Williams River area.  On today's ride, we drove through the same river valley, but from the other side.

One of the ladies in our group pointed out this saguaro cactus.  She said that it's the straightest saguaro she has ever seen, and I have to agree!

Michelle found a snake skin that had been shed at some point.  This is only the head section of the snake, so I can't image how big this snake must be.  We felt pretty lucky that we didn't find him, just his skin.

This is the snake's head.  You can see the eye, and the mouth.  Yikes!!

How in the world did this Volks Wagon get up here?  There are no roads, only trails.  That had to be a really slow, rough ride!

We ended our day with a nice hot shower, and a quiet night at home. We had a really fun day riding with a really good group of people.  Sam and Sharyn were fabulous leads for our group and kept us moving along at a great pace.  

As the sun set, we were treated to this beautiful sliver of a moon over the lake and the mountains of California.  So peaceful!