Box Canyon ATV Excursion!

Our friends Stacey and Gail were going with a group to rent ATV's and ride to Box Canyon in the Arizona desert. Do we want to come along?? "Sure", we said. We did not know what we were in for!!

There were four couples going together from our group and several other couples going at the same time as us. It was a large group, about 12 ATV's plus the guides. We started at the River Bottom Bar with lunch...large hamburgers and steak fries! After taking off the feed bag, we headed behind the bar for the ATV rental place. We filled out waivers, got a quick lesson on the ATV controls and headed to the test track. We had to demonstrate we could handle the ATV. Most of the couples road together on one ATV but there were some people that road separately. This outing was suppose to be a 4.5 hour journey. We were going through 12 miles of desert just to get to the canyon.

It was very dusty so we all wore bandannas to cover our faces. When we got to the foothills, there was no place to go but up...and I mean UP! Some of the trails took us up extremely steep grades. One time, on a very tough uphill, Peg and I pulled a wheelie midway up the hill and, fortunately, came back down forwards, not backwards! A thrill a minute!!

We finally got to the peak of the hills and took a break. We saw some Saguaro Cactus, Teddy Bear Cactus, scrubby bushes and a few trees. What a view. Next we were going down into Box Canyon. It had rained about a week before and, since the ground is so hard, the water will sit on top for a long time. When we got into the canyon, there was running water on the floor which, normally is not there. A very rare occasion. We road in the water throughout the canyon floor. We stopped at a place in the canyon where the Pony Express used to swap mail coming from the east and going to the west and the stage coaches stopped. It was called Butterfield Station and there was not much left of it.

From there we transversed the entire length of the canyon up and down the bed of rocks and water until we exited the other side. We got some pretty cool photos of the experience! Our friends Stacey and Gail even took some video! We made it back at dusk as the temperature was really dropping. There was only one mechanical failure and one of the guides drove that ATV out. It was a physical day in the desert, but one we will not soon forget!