Back Road by Jeep to Elephant Mountain

TAKE THIS JEEP TO BACKCOUNTRY ADVENTURE

As the Jeep lurched off the smooth black asphalt where Spur Cross Road turns to dirt about 40 miles north of Phoenix, I instinctively braced myself against the dashboard. Clouds of dust billowed around us as we jostled and bumped past thick clumps of teddy bear cholla, ocotillos, and towering saguaros. Suddenly, we were climbing. For a moment, I felt like a pas-senger in a toy truck being pushed over a sandbox hill by a raucous little boy. The Jeep plunged for-ward at what seemed to be a pre-cariously steep angle. Then, just as a knot was beginning to form in the pit of my stomach, we gained the crest. Below us was a broad stretch of desert accented by a grove of sun-washed cottonwoods bright as an emerald. "That's where the town of Cave Creek used to be," our driver told us. "Back in the late 1800s, it was a gold boomtown. Then the gold played out, and the town burned down. They rebuilt it where it is today." He touched the brim of his white beaver-felt Stetson as a mark of punctuation. As we continued One of the two important qualifications for being an Arizona Jeep tour guide must be having a knack for storytelling. Most can spin a yarn in the best Southwestern tradition, meaning it's all right to exaggerate as long as you don't stray too far from the truth. The other major skill required certainly must be driving ability. Several times a week, the average tour guide has to maneuver a Jeep full of sightseers safely into the backcountry along dirt tracks. So, as we began our descent, I couldn't help but wonder: what are we doing bouncing along this remote desert road in a Jeep chauf-feured by a man called Crash? And how did he get that name? Although Scottsdale-based Wild West Jeep Tours had provid-ed ample information about this trip, the answers to my questions were not included. It scared me to think about the possibilities. The couple seated behind me seemed to be thinking the same thing. Michelle and her husband, Paul, were from Washington, D.C. Visiting Arizona for the first time, they were in awe of, and somewhat intimidated by, the rugged rocky terrain. "We're not going up there, are we?" Michelle asked, staring straight ahead at Elephant Mountain. "No ma'am," Crash said, chuckling. Then he pointed over his shoulder. "That's a gold mine on the right. It's called the Phoenix Mine." As we continued to bump along the rutted road, the rolled-up plastic windows flapped against the sides of the Jeep like awnings on a gypsy wagon. Crash was getting wound up. He inter-spersed stories about the gold-rush days with sagas of cowboys and Indians, tales about the desert plants and wildlife, and reports on points of interest. "See that tall cactus over there? That's a saguaro, and the only place you can find it in the United States is Arizona and a little bit in California. I remem-ber my dad used to really get into watching those old John Wayne movies on television. One time, the Duke pulled his horse up in front of a giant saguaro and said, "We're only 30 miles from Clearwater, Texas.' My dad said, 'Boy, is he lost.'" As he spoke, I noticed that Crash's dress was as much a jumble of disparate elements as his stories. He wore muddy work boots, jeans, a dapper gray wool vest, a leather hol-ster with a six-shooter in it, a Navajo beaded hatband, and a meticulously trimmed mus-tache. On him it all seemed to fit together. "That's Skull Mesa over there," Crash said, gesturing toward a distant rock formation. "They found the skeleton of a mastodon up there. Or maybe it was a saber-toothed tiger. I forget."

our tour, I learned that he sometimes did this to show his passen-gers he was through talking for a while. We knew nothing about our guide except what little he told us. That was his name, "Crash" Marusich, and that his family came from Bisbee. "I'm not here to tell you about myself," he joked, when we quizzed him about his unusual name. "I'm here to tell you about this country. And tell he did during most of our four-hour journey.

What Arizona State University geologists Actually found in this area was a fossilized oreodont. And the prehistoric piglike animal was not ensconced atop Skull Mesa, but a few feet north of the boundary of Cave Creek near Elephant Mountain. Embedded in volcanic ash, the creature was 22 million years old. This means it inhabited the land now known as Spur Cross Ranch long before the first archaic hunters arrived. Now it rests inside the ASU geology museum in Tempe.

A sharp jolt tore me away from my musing. We were plunging down into Cave Creek, picking up up speed so we could make it across the sandy expanse. Puddles of water from a recent rain still stood in parts of the creek bed. "Hold on tight," Crash said, grasping the steering wheel with both hands and staring determinedly ahead. The Jeep's tires churned in the deep loose sand. "Are we going to make it?" Paul leaned forward, placing his right hand on Crash's shoulder. "No negative thoughts now," Crash said as the Jeep's wheels continued to dig into the gritty sand. Crash gunned the engine, and we inched forward. When we reached the solid bank, the Jeep jerked clumsily then forged ahead. We all sighed in unison. A broad grin crossed Crash's face as he let up on the accelerator. "Now, there's an interesting plant." Crash screeched to a halt beside a nondescript shrub. "It's called Mormon tea, or longleafed ephedra. You've heard of the cold remedy Sudafed. Well, there is a chemical inside this plant that is the main ingredient. It actually makes the blood vessels get smaller. Mormon tea was a popular folk medicine. It's also effective in the treatment of hay fever and some types of asthma.

We inched forward a few feet. Then we were off down the trail once more. We climbed even higher, and Crash continued to point out the different types of desert vegetation. Resurrection moss. Hedgehog cactus. Mesquite.

"We aren't seeing too many animals today,"

he said, "because most desert wildlife is nocturnal. It's too bad. You just missed the tarantula mating season by two or three weeks. All the boys were out going from house to house." Abruptly, Crash veered across the road. He stopped the Jeep, opened the door, and jumped out. "Come on," he said. "I want to show you something not many people have the opportunity to see."

We got out and walked behind him for about 200 feet. "Well?" he asked. We looked at each other and back at him. "You're standing right in the middle of the old neighborhood," Crash said. "And

JEEP

people,” he said. “If they were, they may have moved up there to extract things they couldn't find in the Phoenix area.” According to this line of reasoning, the inhabitants of this outpost or colony brought what they found back to the larger Hohokam settlements, where they could trade for items they could not provide for themselves.

The other theory is that this was a civilization that “just happened to live in the area, either Sinaguan or some unnamed group,” Redman said.

There also was an earlier civilization that had left at least 200 years before the builders of stone walls arrived: the Hohokam.

“Come here. Let me show you something else,” Crash said, as we stood silently contemplating this place of the ancients. A soft breeze cooled our faces as he led us down to an area beside the creek. Near the bank were two small earthen mounds.

“These are pit houses,” Crash said.

From where we stood, each primitive home seemed barely larger than a dog house. A hole in the top served as a door. There were no windows.

Crash seemed to know what I was think-ing. “All they needed was a place big enough to lie down and go to sleep. They didn't eat

WHEN YOU GO

There are more than a dozen well-established Jeep tour companies in Arizona. Following is only a sampling:

Wild West Jeep Tours

Half-day desert tours in convertible Jeeps focusing on ancient Indian rock carvings, creek crossings, working gold mines, pistol shooting, and mountain trails. This is the only Jeep tour company allowed to take groups onto the privately owned and posted Spur Cross Ranch property. Telephone: (602) 941-8355.

Pink Jeep Tours Four-wheeling adventures through Sedona's stunning red rock country, include box lunches, cowboy cookouts, or even black-tie affairs amidst the sculpted spires. One tour visits Submarine Rock, Mushroom Panorama, and Chicken Point - fanciful formations believed to have inspired Walt Disney's creations in Fantasia and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Telephone: toll free 1 (800) 8-SEDONA, (602) 282-5000.

inside. They didn't sit around watching TV. They spent most of their time outdoors.”I Gazed out over the tops of the pit houses and pictured the creek running with water. I imagined children playing on the bank and women telling stories while they performed their domestic tasks. I thought about the spiraling circle of life etched into a rock by someone who had lived in one of these deserted Indian villages.

It didn't really matter why our driver's name was Crash - and I decided to give up trying to find out. I had other mysteries to ponder along our potholed route back to modern-day civilization.

Travel Guide: For detailed information about the great variety of places to travel in Arizona, we recommend the updated guidebooks Travel Arizona and Travel Arizona: The Back Roads. Both will direct you to exciting destinations and out-of-the-way attractions. Our Arizona Road Atlas, featuring maps of 27 cities, mileage charts, and points of interest, also is an essential tool for travelers. For information or to place an order, telephone tollfree 1 (800) 543-5432. In the Phoenix area or outside the U.S., call (602) 258-1000.

Arizona Bound Tours Unusual Jeep tour experiences that can be combined with rallies, river rafting, or horseback riding. This company also offers cookouts in the desert. Telephone: (602) 994-0580.

Open-air Jeep trips focusing on Indian cultures, desert survival, plant and animal life. These adventures include a Nature hike. Telephone: (602) 263-5337.

Sedona Red Rock Jeep Tours Known as Sedona's “cowboy tour company,” this outfit offers a broad range of experiences from rugged backcountry jaunts into the red rocks to Sacred Earth and Vortex tours. Telephone: toll-free 1 (800) 848-7728.

Trail Blazer Tours Cowboy guides take Sonoran Desert tours into the McDowell Mountains for sunset dinners, Jeep-horseback combinations, and desert gold panning. Telephone: (602) 991-4111.

Lake Powell Overland Adventures Backcountry Jeep tours at Lake Powell can be combined with ghost town or slot canyon exploration, Paria River sight-seeing, and possible hiking tours. Telephone: (602) 645-5501.

Explorer Desert Tours Desert tours in enclosed air-conditioned vehicles include visits to canyons, gold mines, ghost towns, and cattle ranches. Telephone: (602) 938-1302.

Trail Dust Jeep Tours From Tucson, the company offers tours in an open-air Jeep along with information on the desert, Indian cultures, Spanish history, and legends of the Old West. Telephone: (602) 747-0323.

Sunshine Jeep Tours Based in Tucson, Sunshine takes you through the Sonoran Desert and its cacti, canyons, and Indian petroglyph sites. It also offers live reptile demonstrations and cowboy cookouts. Telephone: (602) 742-1943.

Mountain View Jeep Tours On Jeep tours into the foothills of the Catalinas, the guides talk about the geology and flora and fauna of the mountains and the surrounding Sonoran Desert, Indian and Spanish history, and legends. They also offer cowboy cookouts. Telephone: (602) 622-4488.

Remember, it is illegal to remove or disturb artifacts from archaeological sites.