ATV 6

I have done this before but it was a few years ago. Kate and Glenn wanted to see the world famous Brill Dam. I felt like giving a 5 cent tour so off we went to Wickenburg. Our choice of days was not the greatest with temperatures hovering around 90 + but it is still better than sitting home ! I tell people not to race down the San Domingo Wash or they could find Brill Dam the hard way. I found this to still be true with no warning of the drop-off ahead !

The nice thing about the Brill Dam area is that there is water and tree. We had a nice stop at the top in the shade. Oh look Glenn posing with his new gun.

Even with as dry as it has been the old dam still salvages a little water off the bottom of the sand. As the story goes this was a fine engineering feat for it’s time . The fault was at the first good rain, all the sand a gravel washed down the wash ( That’s why they call it a wash) and fill the Dam to the top. So much for holding any water ! But it sure is a neat structure.

I think I have about the exact picture shown from 2 years ago ! My ATV was just a little shinier then. Here is a good example of the wash just above the dam. This wash seems to have a more than generous angle of flow, I’ll bet the water halls ass though here in a good downpour.

I have seen this rock formation with pocketing before. It looks like the rock is full of bubbles. This area seems to have a lot of this formation, but in a bigger size than I have noticed at other locations. We finally arrive at Picocho Mine. The Mill site has not changed in the 2 years since I have been here. I believe this mill has been shut down for about 50 years . With a heave load of visitors/vandals this site is a testament to the power of concrete and welded steel.

As expected, I lured Glenn into going out on the structure. At the last moment he spotted some wasps and a wasp nest and decided against it, but I almost had him. The boy is encourageable.

This was quite the Mill in it’s time. One thing I noticed about all the Mills, the real mover of material is gravity. It looks like this one dumped it’s tailings into the San Domingo Wash at the bottom to be swept away once or twice a year.

This is a great place for desert riding (unless it’s hot out). The roads were slightly challenging in some spots but normally smooth. I don’t remember any of the terrible rocky stuff. Dust would have been a problem but through the use of helmet radio we are able to keep spread out but still in contact.

So there I am all proud with my 357 Black Hawk, then there is Glenn,, with his new 45-70.
If we had been charged by a rogue elephant or a wild rhino,, Glenn was ready.