Our trip on December 10, 2008 was a hike to Three Arch Hill, which is located just below Indian Pass off Indian Pass Road in Gavilan Wash. Our trip included stops at the abandoned mines at Tumco where we viewed an old mine that had a Suzuki drive into it. The drive and a companion were there all night until the rescue team finally discovered them. The car was lifted out (go to www.americansandassociation.org to read the story and view pictures). We also stopped to view aboriginal trails, petra glyphs, geo glyphs, other cultural sites, and explore areas around the Colorado River vicinity.
One of the geo glyphs includes the running man. This is located at the crossroads of aboriginal trails leading north south and east west. We also viewed the “spirit wall” which is said to keep the bad spirits from following the good spirits. The hike to three arch hill included about a 30-minute walk up a dry riverbed of small rocks, then a climb unto the arches. One of the arches is named “Hag’s Tooth. We hiked down from the arches and ate lunch and visited. At this point Jennifer saw an Iron Wood branch that she decided she wanted, I could not believe they carried to the jeep. However, her chocolate chip cookies and drinks probably made it worthwhile for those who helped.
From here we four-wheeled to the Colorado River and along the way say two wild donkeys. We stopped and took pictures of the river and then went up Bear Canyon. At the end of the canyon there was several large puddles of water in and around the bottom of the falls. While trying to back out one of the vehicles went off the trail and ended up down a four-foot slop with the rear tire in the water. Oh Crap! We used our ingenuity and common sense to get the jeep out. We let the air out of the tires (down to 13 pounds each), dug the sand away and filled the holes in front of each tire with rocks and pieces of driftwood. We did not have a towrope, but one of the drives had a tie down, which was used to successfully help the jeep up and out. It took two tries as the tie down slipped off the first time, so we gave it another try and were successful. This delay kept us from going to the old mine town, so we will save that for another time. We made our way into Yuma, AZ where the Jeep aired his tires for the return trip to EC.
