Senator Wash, Hurricane Ridge

Friday: (01/25) We arrived at Senator Wash a little after 4pm. Senator Wash is near Imperial Dam about 20 miles North of Yuma, Arizona on the California side. Officially we are in Bard, California. We took advantage of their facilities to do tank duty before picking a campsite. We checked at Kripple Kreek, our usual campsite area and found nothing we liked. It was pretty well filled. We then checked Hurricane Ridge and found a site. We will probably look further tomorrow but we're settled good enough for now. Lou made beef noodles with coleslaw for dinner. Just after  dark it started to rain pretty good. Fortunately it didn't rain while we set up. Now all we need is a visit from the wild burros that roam all around here. We really enjoy watching them. I checked out Meetup.com for hiking groups here in Yuma. i found one but they seem to be a bit more advanced and tend to drive more than hike taking 4-6 hour drive to  3-6 mile hikes. They are also preparing for a day hike down to the bottom of the Grand Canyon and back. Not as long (only 20 miles not 27) or steep (<5000' not >6000') as my day hike up Mt Whitney but it is reversed with the steep part as the return. There's also the fact I'm 20 years older now. I'd love to go but I'd have to concentrate on training to survive it and that isn't in the plan to stay here for four months training to do the hike in May. It is on my bucket list to do the hike but I think I'll try to get a room at the bottom and make it a two day hike maybe next year. They seem to be the only meetup hiking group here. At home there are a hundred or so hiking groups so you can pick your preferred hikes.
(GPS: 32.90107, -114.4929)

Saturday: (01/26) Cereal for breakfast. We headed in to Yuma to the Jeep dealer to have the Jeep looked at. The Service light came on a couple of days ago and, for some inexplicable reason, Lou wouldn't feel comfortable heading out on a 60 mile jeep road trip with that little light on? We dropped it off, I stuck around and Lou and Dawn were out shopping nearby. Turns out the gas tank leak sensor failed. So we'll be back in Tuesday to have it replaced. That same pesky sensor was probably why we had difficulty passing a smog test a few months ago. It wasn't turning on the light but was causing test problems. I hope this really fixes both problems. Lunch at the Golden Corral buffet. We wasted the rest of the day looking around then returned home just before dark. Cottage cheese and fruit with a ham sandwich for dinner. It rained really well last night so there were some big puddles around. The road into town was flooded at several locations and the harvesting continued so they tracked a lot of mud onto the road as well.Fortunately the rain disappeared but the clouds remained most of the day until just as the sun set.


We really enjoy our burro visits.

I spent some time this evening researching the Grand Canyon hike. It seems these folks here in Yuma are in just the right place to practice for the hike. Hot weather and steep trails. One of the Tracks I looked at on Everytrail.com was about a Rim-to-Rim-Rim hike in 24 hours. Now that is an impressive hike. 45 miles and 10,350 feet up. I won't be doing that and am not even planning a Rim-to-River-and-Return  day hike but would still like to to do a two day hike. Now if I can only get reservations at Phantom Ranch for the night.


An interesting sunset.