Jeepin' Up Montana Mountain

Traveling in the Superstition Mountain Wilderness area was amazing!!! We met our friends at the McDonald's in Florence at 8 am (no sleeping in for us). From there we went to Florence Junction and then into the mountains. After we got up there we let the air out of our tires until there was only 18 psi (instead of the usual 35 psi) in them. This was to make the trip smoother and to keep the Jeep from slipping on the rocks -- I guess. It was a gloriously sunny day and the spring flowers were just starting to bloom. My friend Liz went with us - not sure she enjoyed herself or was just plain scared most of the trip. We stopped and looked for obsidian and then we stopped at another spot to look for marble. Great big marble deposit but marble is, well, hard lol ... the guys tried their hammer and chisel to no avail. Now I need to buy a rock hammer so I can tap-tap-tap rather than the sledge hammer that goes wham-wham-wham and I can't lift. We crossed lots of water many times. Wish I had a gold pan because there were places that I'm certain there is gold. When we got near the top of the mountain we stopped for lunch. Amazing views greeted us at each an every view point. On top the guys built a little fire, we roasted hot dogs, and just enjoyed the outdoors in the pines. Yes, I said pines. We went from the desert floor up into the pines and then back down a LOT of switchbacks and a mostly one-way road to get back to the desert floor. Since that trip we ordered some little tripod chairs because we didn't have anything to sit upon. There was a crazy gold miners' cabin and a cool gold mine that we went in just a little ways. Stopped where there had been a collapse but we could see back in a long way. At the end of the day we were all pretty tired so skipped the jasper hunting and drove over to an old cemetery where Mattie, Wyatt Erp's mistress, is buried. It was not like any cemetery I've ever seen. There were nondescript metal crosses that had been put up by a Catholic parish. Most of the graves were decorated. There were a couple that actually had headstones on them. From what we could discern, most of the people were buried at the end of the 1800s to the beginning of the 1900s. On grave was of a guys dog. Kinda cool -- headstone with inscription and declaration of the loss of man's best friend. All in all it was an amazing trip -- one which I can hardly wait to return. Speaking of which, we are going again tomorrow. Heading up toward Montana Mountain but taking a back road (?) into Box Canyon. The man putting this together has never been there and wants to see where the road goes. I love finding out where a road goes -- was raised doing that very thing!

Ok -- I had a heck of time with the photos so basically they are in reverse order and all lumped at the top. Still learning this blogging thing. Just not very good yet. Please hang in there with me until I figure it out. Will be easier when I'm not putting in a ton of pics. Maybe I should add the pics and then type........suggestions? I can use all the help I can get in more ways than just blogging.

Happy Jeepin'!!!