Into the Wilderness

I need only one ingredient to make life more interesting: my daughter. She arrived on Tuesday and already I’ve seen more of the Southwest and the area around Quartzsite than in all my previous time here. And that has not been at the detriment of our writing. We are both continuing to work on our projects and making good progress. But we also found time to teach Quinne pickleball with my friends Wanda and Brian. And to visit the Hi Jolly monument in the local graveyard.

THE LAST CAMP OF

HI JOLLY

BORN SOMEWHERE IN SYRIA

ABOUT 1828

DIED AT QUARTZSITE

DECEMBER 16, 1902

CAME TO THIS COUNTRY

FEBRUARY 10, 1856

CAMELDRIVER - PACKER

SCOUT - OVER THIRTY 

YEARS A FAITHFUL AID

TO THE U.S. GOVERNMENT

ARIZONA

HIGHWAY DEPARTMENT 1935

 Isn’t it great that here in the Southwest, there is a monument to a Arab immigrant of Syrian and Ottoman parentage named 'Ali al-Hajaya and called Hi Jolly by his compatriots, for his 30 years of service to the US Government? He set up the US Army camel experiment and drove camels in the Southwest for thirty years.

The other grave pictured above is of a Quartzsite pioneer and is one of the few wood board headstones still in the cemetery. One of the more interesting cemeteries I’ve seen. Quinne and I were discussing the idea that you could simply compile the information on the gravestones and then write an entire fictional account of this town.

Solstice dawned beautifully on Friday and that was the cue for Quinne and I to set out on a great adventure. We had to start planning this a couple of months ago by getting special backcountry permits to enter the Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Reserve. https://www.fws.gov/refuge/Cabeza_Prieta/

The permit includes the Western Barry M. Goldwater Range managed by the Marines and used for weapons testing. But that’s the only access from the Western side of the Reserve and we would have had to drive all the way around via Gila Bend to Organ Pipe National Monument in order to enter from the east. Getting the permit required that we watch a fifteen-minute video on all the different ways we could die while visiting.

The welcome sign was clear.

The road from Wellton, AZ is called El Camino del Diablo, or Road of the Devil, named for the hundreds of people traveling it on foot over the centuries who have died of thirst there. A few graves are still visible. To us, the road didn’t look all that bad, though it was a little rough at first. The military drag huge tires down the road to fill the ruts with sand. That means you get a lot of fishtailing in loose sand as you drive. We spent most of the 120-mile trip in 4-wheel drive.

“The Road of the Devil” is a rough, unpaved route which begins in Altar and Caborca Mexico and crosses southwestern Arizona, ending in Yuma. Prehistoric peoples used the route to transport shells and salt from the Gulf of California. Spanish soldiers led by Melchior Diaz in 1540 were the first Europeans to travel this route. More than 150 years later, the Jesuit priest, Father Kino, traveled the region while exploring for routes to California. After the discovery of gold in California in 1849, thousands traveled the Camino in search of gold and new lives. Historians estimate more than 400 people died of thirst on the Camino during the 1850s. At one time, at least 50 graves could be identified along the route. Today the area [part of which is listed on the National Register of Historic places] is under restoration. Please stay on the road and help us protect this historic resource.

Luke AFB Natural Resources Management

Of course, that was just the military reservation. After we’d managed the 30 miles of sandy and colorful ‘primary’ road, we finally got to the reserve. It might help to mention why we were there. Ten years ago, Quinne completed her first full NaNoWriMo (2007) of 50,000 words. She wrote a book that has kept her busy editing and rewriting ever since and it is now in it’s final proofreading following Michele’s full edit. The book, Race Through Fire, is a teen survival story pitting teams against each other in a race across the desert. I found this 2007 image I created for her banner.

She set the book in the Cabeza Prieta Wilderness, but had never been here. So, we decided to correct that now that she is in the final edit of the book. Wow!

The day was a bit overcast, but the desert was filled with color and stark contrasts. During the entire day, we saw exactly four other humans. All Border Patrol officers (working without pay, by the way, since the government shutdown hit that day). About 15 slow miles into the wilderness at speeds varying from 5-20 miles per hour and lots of stops, we stopped for lunch at Tule Well where the road forks. The choice was to continue on El Camino del Diablo to Organ Pipe and Aja (50 miles) or head generally north on Christmas Pass Road to Tacna (50 miles). It was already half past two and it gets dark out here a little after five on Solstice, so we headed north toward I-8.

We took the road less traveled. In fact, within a mile there was little sign that anyone else had traveled this road in a long, long time. We had to stop and get out to look at signs periodically to make sure we were on the road and not on one of the ‘restricted’ areas. The final two hundred yards to Christmas Pass took us more than half an hour to navigate with Quinne walking backwards in front of the truck guiding me around rocks and away from the edge of the gully next to it.

We made it, and north of the pass, the road (a ‘secondary’ road) was clear and if not smooth, at least I could navigate around the worst washouts. Unfortunately, this entire road was very narrow with trees and cacti growing out into it. I’ll be taking the truck in to get it washed tomorrow, but I don’t know how much of this will buff out.

Nonetheless, we had an incredible adventure—possibly the most memorable Solstice celebration ever.

And to cap it all off, my daughter finally figured out the truth about Santa Claus.

I have her for another day before we need to track toward Palm Springs to get her a flight home on Christmas Eve. Today will be either going to see the Intaglio or going to Mexico or going to see London Bridge. Whatever, we’ll have another adventure.

More in the New Year!