Sunday, Feb 9th 2025, 0700-1100
Mm100.5 to outside of Buckeye, hitch into town, end section 2.
12.5 miles.
I was looking forward to getting into town early, walking across a creosote playa while the sun rose. A massive solar project had just been built to the east…Buck30 unexpectedly got caught up in it when he hiked in fall 2022, that’s how quickly it had gone up. So now the route had to go around it.
Things can change fast in the desert. All these wilderness and National Monument areas that I walked through are probably already under threat of getting axed and sold to the highest bidder. Billionaires selling off OUR public lands to other billionaires, because corporate greed and corruption know no bounds and have no morals. These were all areas designed by congress in the 80s and 90s, but apparently it doesn’t take a congress or consensus of any elected officials to undo all these protections, just one nut job with a pen and unbelievable power. I’m glad I’m hiking the DWTH this year because who knows if it will be off limits in a few years to come. The next Glen Canyon. Hayduke lives!
I’m writing this post during a town stop, so all the news always gets me stirred up. But I’m not wrong to be deeply troubled by things. Anyway, speaking of troubled.. As I was approaching a fence and gate, I came across a guy in a truck and trailer. He was standing outside his truck and looking through binoculars while talking on the phone. He seemed to be involved in some sort of operation and was very shocked to see me walk over the hill. As soon as I got to within earshot, he demanded to know where I was going. To Buckeye, I said. “No, but which way are you going?” “Um, north for a bit then west.” I pointed towards the far hills where I’d be joining some mountain bike trails. He relaxed a bit and said that was fine.
He briefly tried to explain that his cohort was firing a rifle from one hilltop to another over a 2 mile distance! Apparently I had just been walking through a sniper fire practice session. WTF? I’d been hearing shots all morning but they were so far away that I hadn’t given them much thought. I’d just watched the Day of the Jackal series and now I was in it, go figure.
I walked on, not all that concerned cause hey, what could I do? The dirt road I was on was very sandy and with a million small undulations, constantly going up and down. I was glad to make it to the bike trails, but they too had their challenges in roaming all over with no defined direction and were a maze of multiple networks to navigate. These attributes all seem to pop out more when town is on the horizon.
Once I made it to the highway, I took a look at the routed dirt road leading steeply up a hill and just was like nope! So I popped over a fence and simply walked along the highway for about a half mile to the Robins Butte wildlife area turnoff. Buckeye was still 6 miles from this juncture of the route, which is not designed to lead directly into town.
So I checked the Uber app and scheduled a ride. It was taking a minute to find a driver (there’s a nearby prison down the highway, so sometimes drivers are leary of coming to this area). Just for fun, I walked across the 4 lane divided highway and halfheartedly stuck my thumb out. Vehicles were wizzing by at 70 mph, so I didn’t think I had a prayer. To my dismay, the second vehicle to go by stopped! An Uber driver had just accepted the ride, so then I had to figure out how to cancel the request and got charged $5 for doing so, but still it was worth it. The guy that picked me up was very friendly, as was his 5-year-old son in the backseat. I joked that his dad was a bit loony for picking up strangers outside a prison, but I don’t think he understood the joke. A lady in a dress with a silver umbrella didn’t fit the profile anyway.
They dropped me off downtown and I went straight for Calitacos…yum! Then I was able to get a room at one of the 3 hotels downtown, the only one that had any availability. It was $90 for one of the crappiest rooms I’ve ever stayed in, but I guess I got lucky because they were full by mid-afternoon as well. It was clear that most of the clientele were living in the motel rooms. The parking lot was full of white trucks…construction, oil and gas, solar, agriculture, who knows? This seems to be a common theme these days, something to do with affordable short-term housing shortages and the nature of the gig economy. America!
I also didn’t realize that I was walking into town on Superbowl Sunday. As a result, everything shut down super early. I was lucky to get my laundry done by 5 pm, but then had a hard time finding any restaurants open. I was sorely disappointed that the Mexican Japanese fusion place was closed. After the bad tuna, I really wanted to test my chances with Mexican sushi. So I settled on Calitacos for a second time and wasn’t disappointed.
Buckeye is a very odd duck.