Camp Date Creek

Last week Tom of the ATVing group which we are privileged to be a part of suggested a ride to Camp Date Creek—of course we were all game and today was the day. 

'’Fort Date Creek is located along Date Creek near Date Ranch and was originally named Camp McPherson for General James B. McPherson at its founding on January 23, 1867. The fort was initially a temporary base protecting the road from La Paz to Prescott during the Hualapai War.'’  Wikipedia

The above map is from a website I found with lots of Date Creek information.  The remains of the building labeled as “l” above are shown in the below photographs:

One source we read said the soldiers initially spent more time prospecting for gold than fighting off Indian bands.  We love walking around old places such as this—you can almost hear the voices of those early pioneers and soldiers.  There is lots of rubble such as metal bands from wooden barrels, tin cans smashed flat and square nails such as this one we found:

The ride over to Date Creek and back was simply spectacular—there were nine rigs and 11 people making the trip.  Tom and his wife Sandy were our guides for the day and we rocked and rolled up and down the hills and rocks through gorgeous scenery—huge piles of rocks, saguaro, blooming cactus, mining shafts and sunshine.  This group has such an easy camaraderie—lots of joking, teasing and laughter.  We ate our lunch near Camp Date Creek and then walked around the fort ruins and to the bluff overlooking Date Creek—the creek has flowing water with fish!!—a rarity in Arizona! 

from the right, Tom, our leader, Fred, Michael and Joe.

Let me give Larry a little grief—he was working on a total strike out today, first he tells us the ride is going to start at 8am—well, we (Larry, Geri plus ourselves) are at the meeting spot shivering (it was chilly this morning) and no one was there and not only was no one there at 8am, NO ONE showed up until 9am!!!!—that’s one strike. After we take off and get through the community of Congress I am riding along and realize I can’t see the rider in front of me—we have a rule—when you make a turn, you wait for the rider behind you, making sure he/she has seen the turn. Well, it was becoming quickly apparent that Larry had not waited for me and the two people behind me—we were lost—not really, we turned around and there was Larry to lead us to the right spot—strike two. I’m not sure he ever made the third strike but he was working on it last time I checked!

Larry in his napping pose!

I feel as if I am getting better and better at this ATVing business but geez I am beat!!  More photos tomorrow.