Jim has heard about Reavis Ranch his whole life. His father was the foreman of a huge ranch near Florence, Arizona that was owned by Twain Clemens. (Yes, he's a grandson.) Twain owned the Reavis Ranch at one time and Jim's father had been there several times. He said he had never tasted apples as good as the Reavis Ranch apples. Jim has always wanted to go there in the autumn and find the treasure of "Gold-en" apples.
(Warning: History Lesson)
In the 1874 a rancher named Elisha Reavis built his home along a creek that runs in a very isolated area, deep in the wilderness of the Superstition Mountains. The creek fed a 140-acre ranch and watered fruits and vegetables grown on the property. Reavis would cart the produce down long, winding hills to sell them in nearby mining communities. In the winter of 1896 Reavis died along the trail while making one of his countless trips to town, and kind passersby buried him right where they found him. His makeshift grave remains to this day, near one of the trails that leads to the ranch.
After Reavis’s death, the ranch passed through many hands, including Twain Clemens. Clemens planted 600 more apple trees in addition to the 300 trees already there. The Department of Agriculture eventually acquired the property in the late 1960s as part of Tonto National Forest and subsequently closed the dirt road. Today only the apple trees, some rusty farm tool, a filled-in well, and the foundation of the farmhouse remain. The house was destroyed in a fire, which some believe was started by the Department of Agriculture to more quickly return the ranch to a wilderness area.
So on with our journey.
West view of the Superstition Mountains, as seen from the Museum.
To get to the Roger's Trough Trailhead, which is where we were going to begin our hike, we had to drive from Apache Junction to Queen Valley, drive on Forrest Roads for 15 miles and then on a terrible, awful, hidious, scary, bumpy, horrible road for 4 miles. We missed one of the turnoffs and went down the wrong road and got stuck in the sand.
We pushed the truck out and then got stuck on a cattle guard.
The back wheel axle got wedged between two of the rails of the guard. Jim had to jack up the truck and then we found this railroad tie. We backed up and then used the tie to get over the guard. Then we figured out that we were on the wrong road and had to go back over everything. Jim must have been a stunt driver in a former life. We got out without getting stuck again.
We got to the last 4 miles and that's when I read in the book we had bought at the museum, that we needed a 4-wheel drive to get up the last bit of road. I said to Jim, "It says that we need a 4-wheel drive for this part." Him: "We were supposed to have one for the last 9 miles too." Me: "You didn't tell me this part." Him: No answer. Me: "Did you know we needed a 4-wheel drive for this trip?" Him: No answer. Me: "When were you planning on telling me about these roads?" Him: No answer. The ride on this last road was a combination of "Indiana Jones" and "Big Thunder Mountain Railroad", only much more intense. We had to go fast enough to get some traction, but the road had all kinds of twists and turns on the edge of high mountains. Big drop-offs. Rough road. Big bumps. Huge rocks. No 4-wheel drive. No front-wheel drive. Everything flying off of the dashboard. White-knuckled hands hanging on for dear life. Too scared to shut my eyes. And then finally, we were in the parking lot, safe and sound. I didn't kiss the ground, but I thought about it.
Return tomorrow for the exciting conclusion of "Jim and Shauna's Excellent Adventure".
No comments:
Post a Comment