No, I'm not talking about the US Congress. They do suck!
We woke up this morning in the North Ranch Escapees Resort in Congress, Arizona. We pulled in late last night, so we didn't really see the place that well. When we woke up this morning, it was really a nice place to be. Just across the street from us was one of the oldest Saguaro (sa-war-0h) Cactus in Arizona. Now, old for Saguaro cactus is really old. They are 80 years old when they sprout their first arm. This particular Saguaro, appropriately named Methusela, was sprouted circa 1600 a.d. This old cactus is home to hundreds of birds. It was nice to hear all the birds chirping this morning.
After checking in, Willa and I walked the grounds. This is a very nice park. It has several parks within it, and lots of interesting walking paths. It adjoins BLM land, so you can hike out on the desert from your RV. This is a very nice place to stay, and the price is only $13.50 per night, plus electric. We are looking forward to our stay here, and to staying in more Escapees parks in the future.
After lunch, Ron (our jeeping neighbor in Quartzsite who invited us here to Congress) asked if I wanted to go get some geocaches in the area. We took the "TrailLimo" and just the two of us went. Ron's wife (Evelyn) and Willa decided to stay in the RV's while we went.
We drove north, to the Junction of highway 71 in Congress, and then took Ghost Town Road up into a canyon. There, we found the ruins of an old mining town and the "Pioneer Cemetary" with a geocache a short walk away. We found the cache right away, and then walked around the cemetary. It was an interesting place.
Many of the graves were too small for adults. Many had "headstones" that were just large pieces of raw quartz or other local rocks with no incriptions on them. Several others did have nice engraved tombstones with dates back in the 1890s. Some were engraved in spanish, and they indicated that the deceased were babies, only months old. It makes you realize how life at the turn of the century was much more fragile than now. Modern medicine has really improved the chances of babies to live, and old age is double what it was then, especially in a remote area like this.
After touring around the roads in the ghost town, we drove up highway 89 and found 4 more geocaches that were just off the highway. One cache was a local landmark called "Frog Rock." This rock formation is especially for those tourists who lack the vivid imagination to interpret natural rock formation landmarks. Frog Rock is painted with genuine bullfrog green paint plus a light underbelly, black spots with white halos, big eyes, and an even bigger mouth. There is a plaque on the rock that reads "In memory of Jerry Owens (Frog) 12/25/1945 - 1/14/1995). I don't think that bullfrogs typically live for 50 years, so I'm thinking this was a guy that was nicknamed frog, rather than a frog named Jerry Owens.
We easily found the cache just over the hill from the green rock. Other than a couple of miles of driving in circles, we fount three other caches with no problems. We enjoyed excellent views from highway 89 as it traversed the peaks above Congress.
Like I said, this Congress doesn't suck, at all. In fact it is a very nice place to park your RV and do some exploring, green frog rocks and all.
To see more pictures of Congress and the surrounding areas, visit my web album at
Gil Meacham
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