- Joined
- Nov 21, 2008
- Messages
- 7,966
- Reaction score
- 228
- Location
- Valley Mills (Just north of Wacko)
- First Name
- Bob
- Last Name
- Squires
El Camino Del Diablo
I’m about to venture off on another adventure. I know it seems its been a while, and no I have not died and yes I am still wandering around on motorcycles of sorts getting into mischief, it’s just that for the past few months it’s been local short trips.
I was going to return to Baja but instead, I decided to go ride the El Camino Del Diablo in southern Arizona.
El Camino Del Diablo is Spanish for “Highway of the Devil”. This route earned its name by taking the lives of travelers without mercy. Even before Columbus discovered America, this passage across barren desert lands was luring travelers into its clutches and never letting go.
In 1540, eighty years before the mayflower arrived at Plymouth Rock, Spanish explorers traveled the Highway of the Devil. During the 1690s, it was being used by those traveling between missions. By 1800, settlers were using it as a shortcut to connect points in Mexico to points in California. During the 49ers fold rush, would be prospectors charged into its summer heat in a dash for California riches. Many of them unprepared for what they called, a trip through ****. An estimated 400 graves soon lined the narrow dusty path.
El Camino Del Diablo, is pretty much unchanged and is one hundred plus miles off sandy, shady, single track trail that winds through the Sanorum desert zone of Arizona. Along its length, it travels through a National Wildlife Refuge, a National Park, within a mile of the international border with Mexico, and through the middle if a military live bombing range.
My plan is to do this on Lyekka, my not-so-trusty oil leaking Russian Hack (a Russian motorcycle with a sidecar). I plan to leave at first light in the morning with Lyekka in tow behind my pick-up. My first destination will be Ajo, Az. From there I will meet up with a friend and we plan to take two days traveling around and end up near Yuma ad a sidecar rally. From there I plan to hook up with some folks to go back through the desert again but this time spend a little more time in the National Park and after a few days end up back in Ajo, load Lyekka back on the trailer and head home.
I will only be traveling with an iPhone and will not be able to make post to this thread until I return. But I will maintain a blog as best I can at my website:
www.BeemerBob.com
And you can follow my misadventure there if you wish. Or you can subscribe and get automatic updates.
As always, I will have my SPOT on so for those that want, you can track my current location by ‘clicking’ on the “were's Waldo icon”.
I will post entries of my journey as I can, but cell phone coverage may be lacking.
I’m about to venture off on another adventure. I know it seems its been a while, and no I have not died and yes I am still wandering around on motorcycles of sorts getting into mischief, it’s just that for the past few months it’s been local short trips.
I was going to return to Baja but instead, I decided to go ride the El Camino Del Diablo in southern Arizona.
El Camino Del Diablo is Spanish for “Highway of the Devil”. This route earned its name by taking the lives of travelers without mercy. Even before Columbus discovered America, this passage across barren desert lands was luring travelers into its clutches and never letting go.
In 1540, eighty years before the mayflower arrived at Plymouth Rock, Spanish explorers traveled the Highway of the Devil. During the 1690s, it was being used by those traveling between missions. By 1800, settlers were using it as a shortcut to connect points in Mexico to points in California. During the 49ers fold rush, would be prospectors charged into its summer heat in a dash for California riches. Many of them unprepared for what they called, a trip through ****. An estimated 400 graves soon lined the narrow dusty path.
El Camino Del Diablo, is pretty much unchanged and is one hundred plus miles off sandy, shady, single track trail that winds through the Sanorum desert zone of Arizona. Along its length, it travels through a National Wildlife Refuge, a National Park, within a mile of the international border with Mexico, and through the middle if a military live bombing range.
My plan is to do this on Lyekka, my not-so-trusty oil leaking Russian Hack (a Russian motorcycle with a sidecar). I plan to leave at first light in the morning with Lyekka in tow behind my pick-up. My first destination will be Ajo, Az. From there I will meet up with a friend and we plan to take two days traveling around and end up near Yuma ad a sidecar rally. From there I plan to hook up with some folks to go back through the desert again but this time spend a little more time in the National Park and after a few days end up back in Ajo, load Lyekka back on the trailer and head home.
I will only be traveling with an iPhone and will not be able to make post to this thread until I return. But I will maintain a blog as best I can at my website:
www.BeemerBob.com
And you can follow my misadventure there if you wish. Or you can subscribe and get automatic updates.
As always, I will have my SPOT on so for those that want, you can track my current location by ‘clicking’ on the “were's Waldo icon”.
I will post entries of my journey as I can, but cell phone coverage may be lacking.