Beyond The Pavement – A Trek Thru The Desert

We started off February with another great trek through the desert in the local area around Wickenburg, Arizona. Morristown, AZ is located on highway US 60 just northwest of the greater Phoenix area, not far from Wickenburg. There are several destinations in this area between Morristown and Vulture Peak accessible only by foot or Off Road vehicles. These include mountains, caves, natural arches, mines, wildlife and plenty of trails to access them.

This time we give you two different videos of this trek, first is an overview of sorts of our ride, this gives you a sense of the terrain we traverse that is often lost in our “dashcam” videos as everything appears flat.

Use Your Hobbies To Help Solve Mysteries

Some of you are into metal detecting, rock hounding, geocaching or just love to visit historical places. We like to off-road and explore sometimes with a specific destination in mind such as historic sites, mines, ghost towns and other sites or places of interest. Regardless, your hobby interests could stumble upon the very things you seek or unintentionally find something that could solve a mystery or a criminal cold case.

A recent local news story caught my attention the other day. A cold case involving the discovery of a little girl’s body found more than 60 years ago. I guess the part about where her remains were found is what sparked my interest, it is close to where we are staying.

The news media too often provides inaccurate or misleading information, in this case the various news outlets reporting on the case gave very vague locations as where her remains were found. The Phoenix media gave the location as Wickenburg, AZ. Another said, Congress, AZ.  The most inaccurate of all was and I quote “near Prescott.” Prescott’s only link was it is the county seat of Yavapai County which is as large as New Jersey! The news stories referred to her being found in Sand Creek Wash or Sand Wash Creek depending on outlet. A little cyber sleuthing led me to the actual case file and a more exact understanding of the facts.

The facts… The body of an unidentified girl approximately 3-6 years old  was found partially buried in a creek/wash along Old Alamo Road west of Congress, AZ on July 31, 1960. She was dressed in white shorts, a checkered blouse and adult flip flops that had been cut down to fit her feet.

This is the general area along Old Alamo Road where she was found.

She became known as Little Miss Nobody and that is how her case is named, because no one knows who she is. This story came to light because the Yavapai County Sheriffs Office was able to allocate some funding to help offset the cost to do DNA testing. The amount fell far short, but a fund raiser posted by the company to do the testing raise the money within hours of taking it live. It may take several months yet to learn who she is. Modern technology helped to provide the picture of what she may have looked at the time of her demise.

Old Alamo Road is a heavily traveled road by off road enthusiasts, we have traveled it ourselves many times never knowing the history of this case. Many of us have stopped along this trek to check out the views, the rocks and even the wildlife. Who knows, maybe one of us will stumble upon something that might be connected with this case or another one somewhere in our explorations.

The next time you find yourself out for a hike, stroll or are engaged in the activity of your outdoor hobbies give what ever you find a little more scrutiny for what it is or might be. Mother nature can conceal as well as reveal over time. From lost jewelry to things as large as planes and ships.

If you are interested, HERE is the link to the case file. Read through the case file, its a sad tail but with modern technology and maybe some other freshly discovered tidbits such as something else of hers or belonging to those who left her might answer questions to identify her.

More info on the case from Wikipedia.

CASE RESOLVED!

Her name is Sharon Lee Gallegos (age 4), who was abducted from her grandmother’s backyard in Alamogordo, NM on July 21, 1960. A sad note, very soon after her remains were discovered, the Alamogordo PD reached out to the Yavapai County Sheriff’s office believing the little girl they found was that of Sharon. Because of the different clothing the child was wearing compared to what she had on when abducted plus the miss assessment of the age of the discovered child due to decomposition she was thought to be 7 not 4. The family now has closure and her remains can be laid to rest nearer to her family. Great job by those working this difficult cold case thanks to evolving medical and crime investigative technologies.

Beyond The Pavement-Harquahala Mountain

Harquahala Mountain, (Hark-wa-hala) is a 5681’ peak near Aguila, Arizona. It is located southwest of Aguila, Arizona between US Highway 60 and Eagle Eye Rd which intersect in Aguila. To access the mountain’s peak you start at the trailhead off Eagle Eye Road. There you will find a parking area as well as informational plaques, picnic tables and a pit toilet. This is the only toilet on the route!

The “Byway” up the mountain to the peak is recommended for Off Highway Vehicles or 4×4 vehicles. The trail/road is gravel with areas of loose rock, sand and dirt. This trail/road is not recommended during inclement weather, especially periods of heavy rain or snow. It is a shelf type road along most of its length, meaning there are steep drop-offs alongside. There are pull offs to allow vehicles to pass going in opposite directions or to allow faster moving ones to get around you. Some of the switch back turns can present a challenge for longer wheelbase full-sized vehicles.

Why A Jeep? Part 2

In part one I discussed the towability of the Jeep making it one of the most preferred vehicles to drag along behind a motorhome.

Now on to the other reasons a Jeep is such a gem of a vehicle for the RVer who drives a motorhome. While it isn’t the most fuel efficient, it typically is far better than what a motorhome delivers in mileage. I always point out to those asking about which is better a trailer/5er or a motorhome that with the motorhome they can tow a high mileage comfortable riding vehicle to use. Whereas they would be driving for pleasure trips the same stiff riding, fuel guzzling and hard to maneuver pickup truck when they aren’t towing their home on wheels.