Volume 22, Number 4 March 2014 residents Message Let me start off by saying thank you for entrusting me and the rest of the Board of Directors with the wheel of this great club. In the year 2008 Sue and I joined the club sponsored by Steve and Jayne Riley to hike and jeep. The H4W's have a philosophy of listen, learn and serve, and now I am the President. We have a big job this year in helping the BLM complete the Cactus Plain and Alamo Travel Management Plans. The Havasu TMP is now complete and we have a Voluntary Agreement to P monitor, maintain and educate to help keep our trails open. We can’t say enough how much work has been done by our PLA committee and all the others in a monumental effort. Our core objectives on our home page website will help guide us this year. If you have not read them lately they are: Providing for social, educational and recreational activities of its membership. Participating in supporting civic activities for betterment of the community. Enjoying and protecting the natural resources. Supporting and promoting the multiple uses principle as applied to Public Land. I am assuring you we will continue as a club to be good stewards of the land we are blessed with. I want to thank in advance all the committee persons who have agreed to take on new positions, or continue on with the position they held last year. To all the trail-bosses, past, present and future a heartfelt thanks, since runs are what this club is all about. Past Presidents, I am seeking your wisdom so thank you in advance ­­for all your time and guidance. Finally to our members, thank you for all your support. I am happy to be your President and hope that by this time next year you will look back fondly at my tenure. Happy trails to you, John L—R: Tom Christiansen, Vice President; Janet Drew, Membership; John Strong, President; Garnett Collins, Secretary; Mark Corder, Treasurer; and Jim Bowen, Past President; not shown Craig Laser, Member At-Large Upcoming Club Runs (1-5 rating) Check the Havasu 4 Wheelers Website for updates on runs www.havasu4wheelers.org Gold Canyon …………………………..…........ Apr 14th—18th See Web Site for details, Willie Williams Death Valley (3+)........................................ Apr. 27th—May 3rd See Web Site for details, Bob Drew Please Note: Please be at the departure location 20 minutes before the departure time. Call Trail Boss if you are unable to attend. Other Club Happen’ns Kiosk Installation ......................................................... Apr. 4th 9:00am, Paso de Oro, Jim Bowen Highway Clean-up ........................................................ Apr. 8th 8:30am, Scenic Turnout, Mike Yahrmarkt Ladies Luncheon ......................................................... Apr. 17th 12:30pm, Shugrue’s 1425 McCulloch Bl. N, Diana Delk H4W Board Meeting ................................................... Apr. 21st 4:00pm, Genealogy Library, Jim Bowen Cooks Night Out ......................................................... Apr. 22nd 5:00pm, Golden Horseshoe 4501 London Bridge Rd, Diana Delk Men’s Breakfast …………………..…..…...…........... Apr. 24th 8:00am, Bad Miguel’s, Gary Wiskus H4W Membership Meeting ..................................... Apr. 24th 7:00pm, Realtor’s Center, Jim Bowen Future Happen’ns Moab, UT ….……....………................................. May 5-9, 2014 See Web Site for details, Mike & Cheryl MacLean College Street Brewhouse Ladies Luncheon ......................................................... May 15th 12:30pm, Juicy’s New Restaurant, 42 Smoketree Ave. In the article about the Ladies Luncheon in last (the old Jasper’s), Diana Delk months newsletter, I failed to thank John & Cindy Cooks Night Out .......................................................... May 20th Hughes, owners of College Street Brewhouse and 5:00pm, Schlotzsky’s 2144 McCulloch Blvd, Diana Delk H4W club members for providing us with the Ouray, CO …………………………...….......... Aug 18th—22nd See Web Site for details, Willie Williams wonderful Bread Pudding and Ice Cream Green River, UT ……………………….......... Sept. 15th—19th See Web Site for details, Willie Williams dessert. It was truly enjoyed by Turkey Roast ……...………..……............................... Nov. 15th all who attended and we SARA Park Rodeo Grounds, Jim & Joanne Malara Thank You so much. Wanda Scholl, Editor Trail Talk - 2 - April 2014 Skull Mountain Run & Hike 2-27-2014 n Tuesday, February 25, Ten vehicles left Standard Wash with 13 members and 7 guests O to ride through several different wash areas heading to the Black Mountains area. We arrived at the parking area for Skull Mountain, just south of the Black Mountains. Five people stayed at the parking area to explore and 15 hikers set out on the moderate trek over some hills to the Skull Mountain water catchment. There Photo By: Bruce Speirs were a lot of rock and WWII artifacts collected along the way, as the area has many different rocks, with lots of crystal geode pieces, as well as 50 cal. leftovers. Seven Big Horn sheep were spotted watching us from above. John Buck Mtn Mines Strong checked the tanks and the water levels for a report & Graveyard to BLM. We had lunch at the catchment, while enjoying February 28, 2014 the views. We then continued around the mountains to complete the loop back to the parking area. Thank you to ark skies loomed over the meet location as 26 members in 13 jeeps set out for the Buck John Strong for being tail gunner and carrying the AED. D Mountains. To get us in a good ‘investigative mind set’ Ken & Carolyn Gallagher handed out nice, Steve Riley, Trail Boss fresh, police quality donuts to everyone. Not long after air down an abandoned and possibly stolen car was found off the side of the road. Hmmm, our first clue. We continued on toward the Palo Verde mine but stopped at the mill site prior to inspect the relics remaining. Rolling again we passed several adits and shafts of the mine until we discovered another “vehicle crime scene.” From the debris left in the bottom of the gulley our CSI’s determined that a Ford 150 Pickup had attempted to cross the off camber & narrow track but the bank gave way and the truck rolled over and into the gulley. The tire tracks indicated the scene was relatively ‘fresh’ but the route was now impassible so we back tracked some, changed directions and came in from the west. We arrived at the Arizona Yucca Mine camp and graveyard where we paid our respects to the three souls and wondered aloud about who they were and what had befallen them to be buried in the desert. All this sleuthing got us hungry so we ate lunch at the camp. Photo By: Steve Riley Afterwards we examined the most complete arrastra remaining in western Arizona, several cabin sites, the “Sunshine” various mine openings, and scattered can dumps. Since we had time we continued our graveyard haunts and If you know of anyone in the club who might crossed over to the Franconia cemetery. A great day of need some cheering up, no rain, little dust, and much history. A ‘thanks’ is due please contact Trish Reister at Craig & Jean Eggerman for tail gunning and bringing mine info. [email protected] She will be happy to send cards Bruce Speirs, Trail Boss on behalf of the entire Havasu 4 Wheelers membership. Trail Talk - 3 - April 2014 Paloma Wash Pete Well howdy there folks. I’m known around here as Paloma Wash Pete. Gets pretty lonesome out here so to pass the time I gets my learning book out and reads up some. I used to git a flummoxed something awful about the desert, rocks, critters and plants but now I knows a fair spell so sit back and enjoy some schooling. This month I want to tell you about the Desert Tortoise. Tortoises don’t move around much, but their lifestyle keeps them going for decades. These slow-moving desert dwellers tend to stay in their cool burrows until a rainstorm passes through. Their typical November to March hibernation means it’s rare to see one on a 4X4 outing. But even the average hibernation schedule means a desert tortoise sleeps half of its life, which could be the secret to its long lifespan of up to 60 years. When they're active, desert tortoises don't move around a lot. They typically stay within 3 miles of where they hatch, plodding slowly under high-domed shells covered in circular ridges. Desert tortoises will drink and store their water, while eating desert plants, grasses and fruit. In the Mojave Desert they're found in flatter basins, while in the Sonoran Desert they're found along rocky slopes and bajadas. Folks are cautioned against scooping them up and taking them home. The only legal way to become a desert tortoise owner is through adoption. Automatic External Defibrillator f you want to carry one of the club’s Automatic External Defibrillators I (AED’s) on a run, please contact Brian Springer and make arrangements to check one out before your run. Thanks, Gary Wiskus, Run Chairman Trail Talk - 4 - April 2014 ell we did it again, another successful Hot Dog cook-out at the mine shack with the help of many people. I started this event four years ago with just nineteen Jeeps and one run and consuming 60 Hot Dogs. Here we W are four years later with five run’s, sixty-five Jeeps and consuming 223 Hot Dogs. The trail boss’s were Gary Wiskus, Ron Satterfield, Ladell Olson, Jim Bowen and Tom Bunnell. We had 3 runs leaving the Standard Wash Kiosk at the same time so we had our wives directing traffic to the correct line for each run, which I might add went very smooth with the ladies holding sign’s and each Jeep family knowing their run leaders name.