off roading adventure in the back desert

I was invited to go off roading with 8 other men and 6 woman. We had 5 vehicles and off roaded though the desert and mountains north east of Quartzsite for about 5 hours. Sue stayed back with the RV.

I volunteered to drive my truck but now I am very thankful that I did not have to drive it. The off roads were so steep and narrow at times I could not believe it. I rode with Keith Linnabary in his truck. I was amazed how scratched up it got from all the trees and bushes. 

We saw a lot of various kinds of cactus. 

You do not want to step on these. 

The spines are not soft and can go right thru your shoe. Ask me how I know.

These Saguaro cactus can grow pretty tall and live to be 100 to 200 years old. 

Usually the saguaro are 80 to 100 years old before they put out any arms.

These teddy bear cholla cactus look really soft but you do not want to touch them under any circumstances. The little barbed spines come off easily and they stick in your skin and you need a comb to remove them. Quite painful so I have been warned.

We picked a flat spot to stop and have lunch.

My friend and our driver Keith resting after lunch in his very comfortable hammock chair. Notice how he made a custom bracket on his truck to hold this chair.

In the 5 hours of off roading we covered maybe about 20 miles because most of the time the road was so rough all we could drive was between 3 to 6 mph.

It was a lot of fun to go into some of the back desert areas.