Our Third Hualapai Ride (Saturday, May 5th, 2018)

We've been on two Hualapai Mountain rides before, both of them were back when we first got our RZR and were very green at riding.  At that point in time, the Hualapais were beautiful, but also a bit intimidating to us! 



We've now been riding regularly for a little over a year, and are much more comfortable with everything about it.  Our ride today started in Yucca, AZ at 9:00 am.  We ended up with four groups and about 30 cars.  A red/blue (purple) group (fastest drivers), a blue group, a blue/green (teal) group, and a green group.  

The purple group headed out first, followed by our group (the blue) group about 15 minutes later.  It didn't take long for our group to catch up to the the purple group, who had a car with a flat tire.  They were working on changing it and told us to go ahead and continue on, so we did.

Before starting the climb into the Hualapais, we went through a lot of  beautiful ranch land.

Our first stop was at the petroglyphs.  It is a very small area with markings on just a few rocks.  



As we pulled up, we saw our first rattler of the season.  He saw us too and wanted nothing to do with us, so he was making his way off the trail and up into the bushes.

The petroglyphs are hard to see, but hopefully you can make them out.

Then on through more ranch land.

Our next stop was at the Survivor camp.  As we understand it, this area was set aside by the federal government after the Vietnam war for veterans who were have trouble readjusting to society.  It offered them a place to live in solitude with other veterans.  Many of the houses are still standing today, but it appears that they are no longer used.

As we were walking around the survivor camp, Steve found this seed pod called bulls horn.  Pretty crazy looking.

Some of the survivor camp is now in ruins.

More ranch land.

Now we are starting to make our way up into the mountains.  There are so many beautiful overlooks as we work our way up.

Some of the other cars in our group coming up behind us.

Another stop in the shade before continuing on.  The high in Havasu is 102 F today, and even though the Hualapais are cooler, it's still a little toasty.

A little before noon we reached our destination at the Hualapai Mountain Resort.  We ended up being the first group to arrive.  The poor purple group just continued to have issues on their way up.  The Lodge did a great job.  The food and service were perfect, as always!

A few pictures of the town.

Then on our way once again.  We cam home a different way, running down the main road a few miles before hitting the trails again.

If you look closely in this picture, there is a black hose that looks like a garden hose.  It ran for at least a mile along the trail.  

And then ended here.  We have no idea if they were bringing water in, or piping water out.  I guess it will remain a mystery.

The cactus were starting to bloom in this area.

Another quick break before heading on.  We are back in low altitude, so it is getting hot.

This looks mean, doesn't it?

We ended up back in Yucca at about 3:30.  We both love this ride.  It has it's challenging spots, but you never feel out of control, and the views are amazing! So fun to ride with everyone today!