Wickenburg & Vulture Peak Camping

Wickenberg was a pleasant surprise. We happened to be there for their Gold Rush Days and Rodeo and had a great time. The weather was superb and we took in the car show, an arts and crafts show, the parade which was mostly horses and cars (no bands!) and the rodeo. The weather was superb up to 29 with an occasional light breeze. The town was overrun with tourists and I talked with a woman who was selling her paintings, of horses and cows, who was from Salmon Arm, BC. The highway was shut down for the parade route which had to be about 3 miles long. It started at 10:00 a.m. presumably to keep everyone a bit cooler.

This was the view from our campsite at Vulture Peak. Every night the sun set on this beautiful mountain. V. Peak is on the left and Sawtooth on the right.

Speaks for itself! We woke to this sight every morning for a week.

A very annoyed looking curved bill thrasher. These birds can flip rocks up to 4" across looking for bugs. Amazingly, it has a beautiful singing voice with varied songs. If it wasn't looking for bugs it would sit on the top of a Saguaro and sing.

Another bird we heard every morning, but didn't see we named the cheerfully sadistic bird, aka Sadie. A predawn bird that woke us up with it's beautiful song. No idea what it was.












At every camp area we put out water and bird feeders. We were very surprised to see this White tailed antelope squirrel stealing from our thistle feeder. Two of them destroyed our first sock feeder so we bought this metal one which they coudn't rip open.



An old windmill that was used for lifting water from deep in the ground.

We claimed this little piece of Vulture Peak for Canada.

Gord working on his spare tire cover decorations.

The result of his work. Love it.

The car show at Wickenberg. One block was shut down and they managed to get 5 long rows of cars displayed, even one white MGB GT. Sorry Gord's not here to name them all.
Couldn't believe the number of cars that emerged for the show. This town is bigger than Armstrong, but very much a cowboy town.










Hot rods were very popular. Very few young people have these old cars, they are just not interested. Wonder what's going to happen when the old boys can't show them anymore.














Vulture Peak on the left, Sawtooth on the right. A 4 1/2 mile hike up and back to our RV. Don't trip or you land on one of the many cacti growing alongside the path. Our dogs had to stay behind for this hike.

Isn't she pretty! A saguaro which is protected in Arizona.

Hiked about a mile to this spot for lunch before the big hike and climb ahead of us. Quite a cool wind was blowing here, but of course the wind dropped as we started the hot climb.












You can only see part of the trail. There were a number of switchbacks from where the path seems to stop up to the Saddle between Vulture Peak and Sawtooth. The Saddle was our destination as we heard that the last 300' were very steep and you had to shimmy up a stove pipe of rock.

This is the area just below Vulture Peak.

Partway up and we can now see Wickenberg in the foreground. Don't know what the other town is in the distance.

The Sawtooths were impressive. Much larger than they appear here.

Around this area and up close to the sawtooths before climbing up to the saddle. Well marked path, but with lots of loose rock beneath your feet. Amazingly cacti grow on anything.