The Road to Bagdad

     Mountains, mesas and mines.
     Ravines, ranches and ravens.
     Canyons, cattle and cacti.
     All these and more were the treats of today's ride from Kirkland to Hillside, Arizona and back.

     In my opinion, this route is one of the best kept secrets in Arizona.  Following a road that really doesn't go much of anywhere, this byway ends at the mine in Bagdad, first claimed in 1882 and still going strong as one of the largest copper pit mines in the world.  Although there is no shoulder on this lonesome stretch of pavement, it really didn't matter because there was very little traffic--three Corvettes going the long way home (wherever that would be) from the show in Prescott and a dozen easy rider motorcycles.

     Alternating above and below 4,000' above sea level, the course and the day was perfect.  Big blue skies, temperatures in the low 80s and just enough wind to keep me cool on the bike.  I determined I was going to really enjoy this 32.3 mile round trip, so I took a number of photos.  I'll let them do the talking.

These granite sentinels form a gateway at the beginning of the ride.

The "Bagdad Highway" curves up and down around mountains, mesas and canyons.

Ranches, new and old, are strewn along this scenic route.

Some of the ranches are in disrepair and appear abandoned, a monument to better days.

I came home and suggested to Carolyn we might think about this one. "Goats, not cattle," she suggested.

The central highlands of Arizona sport Fall foliage.

A rare sight--WATER in a riverbed!

Turn around point, with a great vista!

Rock outcroppings like this one decorate the ride at regular intervals.

Old corrals are still functioning on some of the ranches.  Can you spot the cow?

Scar on the landscape--an abandoned mine, probably copper.

Ranch house snuggled in a ravine below a mesa.

Lone windmill.

Livestock on the open range.

60 year old ranch--you have to be a tough cookie to make it last that long out here!

Gate ornament with figures silhouetted against the big, blue Arizona sky, symbolic of a near perfect ride.