Queen Valley ride 3-4-13 This was just a 1/2 day ride, but it was fun to see the new area.

 A few of us took a ride today in the Queen Valley area SE of Phoenix, AZ.

 The group consisted of two Side by Sides, a TW 200, and a WR 250.

 Randy was driveing the orange Artic Cat while Tim and his son Ethan were in the RZR.

 The spring run off has water in this little retention pond.

 Trails everywhere out here. Tim says that one could take a different trail every day for the rest of your life and never ride the same one twice. That could be a mis-quote! lol

 There is a lot of work being done in the area. It appears they will be running some cattle out here soon.

 The rock buildings are what remain of an old stage stop.

 New watering trough fed from the well under the windmill.

 The rafters are about to collapse. A little timely restoration work would go a long way toward the preservation of the local history.

 The fireplace is somewhat modern.

A new holding pen has been built for the cattle operation.

2-28-13 Four Peaks AZ ride with Jay

 Ready to unload at the staging area. Jay and his rig are parked behind me.

 Those are the four peaks that we will be riding near.

 This is the Beeline Hwy that took us from Phoenix to the staging area.

 This is a new road to both of us so Jay is consulting the GPS.

 Getting into more snow the higher we go......

...............but the view is awesome!

 We believe the El Oso Mine is nearby, but debating if we should continue due to the snow looks to be getting deep up ahead.

 We thought this might be the trail to the mine, but it wasn't.

 We did see a few mine audits, but don't believe that any of them were the El Oso Mine.

 This little lake or pond was frozen, but starting to thaw.

 Jay is 65, and I'm 64. We hike four miles up this steep trail trying to find the mine.

 ....of course those were old man miles and only about a half mile in true measure.

 Across the trail from the frozen pond was this wooden foundation that was probably an old miners cabin at one time.

 A great view of Roosevelt Lake off in the distance.

Maybe a forest service fire watch tower.....then maybe it is just another alien telecommunication transponder.