It was a great day, a Sunday, November 26th, clear and bright. We left the Charouleau Gap sign-in station in the foothills of the Western slope of the Catalina Mountains about 6:30 am. I looked forward to this outing as one that was long past-due.
Although the Desert Gold Diggers’ Charouleau Gap claims are the closest claims to my home, I’d never been to either of them. My outing partner for the day was Doug McDow, the Claims’ Steward for both of these claims. Doug had a relatively new ATV, a Polaris Ranger EFI 500, and had been to the claims twice before in recent weeks. Doug lives in Saddlebrooke, the community that is within about a half mile of the Gap’s sign-in station.
Doug’s ATV is a champ. Absolutely the nicest ride I’ve ever had with an ATV. We learned, later, that we went about 11 miles up the Gap road. Once you get over the highest western ridge of the Catalina Mountains, the road is much better and you dip down into the huge inner valley between the Catalina Mountain’s western ridge and Oracle Ridge to the East. It is quite a panoramic site with the Canada del Oro stream running through it.
After about 2.5 hours, we stopped at the spot where the road first crosses the Canada del Oro at the southwestern edge of the lower Desert Gold Diggers claim. What a beautiful stream.
We limited our efforts to metal detecting in and around the stream for about ¼ mile. We did not find anything of value, but there was not too much trash either. After about 40 minutes of detecting we decided to move on. We passed the burned out and crumbling line shack at Coronado Camp and moved North on the road about ¾ mile to where the road intersected with the stream again.
Some time after 10 am we parked the ATV and went in opposite directions metal detecting the stream bed and banks. Not far from where we parked I located an old mine entrance a little above the stream bed, but it was full of rock and rubble from the overflowing stream so I made no attempt to explore it. We both detected the area for over a ½ mile in either direction and reconnected for a late lunch about 1:45 pm.
A little after 2 pm we started talking about heading back. Doug patted his jacket pockets and pants pockets and wondered out loud "where are the keys?" To make a long story short, the keys were not to be found on Doug or in or around the ATV; they were lost. We tried to retrace his steps and even metal detected where he had walked...but the keys were not to be found and the only spare was back at Doug’s house in Saddlebrooke. That was the first mistake.
By now it was about 3:00 pm. We made the decision to walk out. That was our second mistake.
We walked back up a little hill above the stream and were fortunate to get a cell signal and each of us called our wife and told them of our situation. We tried to assure them that we were alright. From that location we assessed the map I had of the claims area and which showed some dirt roads going north and northwest toward some old mines that we believed were not too far from the Biosphere. We estimated that we were about 4 miles from the Biosphere and thought we would be able to walk out by 7 or 8 pm. That was our third mistake.
Fortunately I had a Garmin eTrex Summit GPS, two flashlights, matches, a reasonable amount of fluids and other stuff in my backpack. Doug had the remains of a gallon water jug that he had started working on during lunch and a little food. So off we went following the dirt road and stream, knowing that the stream cut a course south of the Biosphere and close to Saddlebrooke and civilization a mile or so North of where we started.
Within less than an hour the dirt road and stream diverged. Our only map was now of little help because we were at the edge of the map and were not sure if the dirt road we were on went to Oracle or toward a rock quarry between the Biosphere and State highway 77. Doug had visited the rock quarry a few days before, knowing that there was a locked gate at a road that went toward the old mines we were heading towards. He was told that the Forest Service had blocked the road a few years earlier and there was no access to motor vehicles, but could be easily walked. We decided to follow the road, hoping that it would lead us to the rock quarry as a more direct route to civilization. That may have been our fourth mistake.
Shortly, the road began to climb up into the "hills," heck; lets face it these hills were mountains. It was exhausting climbing them. Some time after 4 pm, at the top of one of the first "hills," Doug checked for a cell signal and got one. Doug called his wife and told her we were still walking out and could see the Biosphere in the distance. That was the last cell phone signal we were able to get for over five hours.
Continuing to follow the dirt rod, we got to a location below an old mine. At that point we decided to follow the dry wash we were in down and west back toward the Canada del Oro stream, knowing that the stream would flow down hill, hoping that would be the easier course.
The wash did go down and was great going for a while, but at one point it went straight down about 10 - 12 feet and there did not appear to be any way to safely get to the bottom. So we decided to climb up around the drop-off and parallel the wash until we could get back into its bottom. That hill side climb was steep and rocky, but at one point we finally saw a barbed wire fence, the first sign of civilization in over two hours. We were now deep in the Canada del Oro’s canyon and could not get any cell phone signal.
We walked paralleled to the fence and, later, a cross-fence and finally saw a large water tank and what appeared to be a building. Civilization, or so we hoped.
What is was - was an abandoned line shack that was at the junction of the dry wash we had followed and the Canada del Oro we wanted to find. We now were back on the banks of the stream heading west towards the civilization we sought. Occasionally, in front of us we could see the lights of the Biosphere off to our right. But, as we walked, we realized that the Biosphere was farther away than our original estimate of 4 miles. Doug feels that by taking the road instead of the Canada del Oro, we extended our hike out by several hours or more. Neither one of us wants to go back and check his belief out.
About 5:30 p.m., we came upon a dirt road that came down to the Canada del Oro stream from the north. We thought that this dirt road might go toward the rock quarry Doug had visited...so we started up another hill. As we neared the top all we could see was the dirt road going higher and heading Northeast - perhaps toward Oracle. It was now almost dark. We decided it was not the right road and then decided to go back to the stream and take our chances following its banks west. That little side trip really pooped us out and consumed over 35 minutes and our daylight and put us back at the Canada del Oro as darkness quickly fell. It was nearing 6:30 pm and now the two flashlights became very important. That decision to turn around, as it turned out, was our fifth mistake.
We kept heading west down the Canada del Oro stream, hopping boulders in some places and through huge piles and tangles of fallen trees in other places. We must have crossed back and forth across the stream a hundred times. Occasionally, the stream would squeeze to a narrow and somewhat deep course, so we had to climb above the stream until it broadened back out and we could get back to stream level. At a spot where we had to start wading to cross the stream to a walkable bank, we stopped.
It was about 8 pm and we had been walking for about five hours. The night was getting colder as a breeze came down off the mountain and we decided to stop and rest. We each consumed one of the two chewy granola bars we had and drank the last of our liquids. After some initial problems with matches that did not light, one lit and we were able to start a fire.
After about an hour, the rest, calories and fire invigorated us and we decided to push on to see what was ahead, but with a commitment to turn back and restart the fire if the course worsened. We passed an old trailer, some more abandoned shacks and buildings, one with the distinct smell of death and kept moving down stream.
Slowly the banks on either side of the stream lost their steepness and started to become rolling hills. Finally, after more hours of walking, we heard dogs barking on our right as we passed an 8 foot high metal fence close to the stream. It was after 11 pm and "Hello’s" went unanswered, but we knew that we were getting closer to civilization.
A little while later we caught sight of the lights of Saddlebrooke behind us! Now the surrounding landscape was mostly flat. At one point a reasonably broad cattle path left the stream bed in the direction of the lights. We were, finally, in the desert floor at the edge of the Catalina Mountains. We followed the cow path toward the lights. At times some of the lights seemed to move like car lights, but that was a wishful delusion.
Then we stumbled onto a broad dirt road. It was, in places 40 feet across! No more boulders, logs, or water, we kept heading toward the light. Doug got a call on his cell phone from a Deputy Sheriff that was looking for us and was tracking our progress. We gave him our GPS location and moved on toward the lights in the distance.
Finally, as we got about ½ mile away from the lights, we saw the headlights of the Deputy Sheriff’s vehicle. He pulled up to us and made room for us in his vehicle. Since we were both carrying handguns, we placed them into his control. It was a little after 12:00 a.m. Monday morning. The Deputy Sheriff’s name was Doug Poeble and in a few minutes we also met the other Sheriff’s rescue team, Sgt. Messing and Deputy Martin. Deputy Poeble and his search team were very kind and helpful.
We had been traveling for a little over 8 hours! The rescue team indicated that we had traveled about 7 miles from where we left the ATV. Subtracting the hour we stopped and rested and probably another or so hour of shorter rest stops, we had only managed less than 1 mile an hour.
Here is what we learned and what you need to take with you about "walking out:"
Here is what we learned about our mistakes:
1st mistake...Doug should not have put the keys in his jacket pocket; they should have been in his pant pocket. Additionally, the spare key should have been on the ATV or with either one of us, but on a separate key ring.
2nd mistake...neither one of us had any idea that the Pinal County Sheriff’s department would pick up Doug’s key and bring it to us. We now know better.
3rd mistake...we did not have all the maps we should have had. We underestimated how far it was to walk out and how long it would take.
4th mistake...it is possible that by following the Canada del Oro’s stream bed the entire way we could have reduced the walking distance, perhaps by two or more miles. However, neither Doug nor I are interested in retracing that route to check that possibility out.
5th mistake...what we did not know is that the road we thought that went to the rock quarry, did, probably within ¼ to ½ a mile turn back northeast and would have take us directly to a spot north of the Biosphere on the road that intersects with Highway 77. That might have been a much easier route than staying in the stream bed.