Lynn Amber - Travel & Photography
sharing my thoughts through words and images
Photo of the Day 4.19.20
Signage in this area of Southern Arizona is unique. The ironwork is amazing and very intricate at times. I’m not sure who the artist is – or maybe it is multiple artists – but I love the detail and also the simplicity. The gate above is located at the Empire Ranch historic site and marks the entrance to a short trail that travels through the Empire Gulch.
Yesterday, we embarked on a road trip because the wind was pretty intense to the point there were red flag warnings in effect. We made a big loop traveling through the bohemian town of Patagonia, skirting around Nogales and heading north to Green Valley. At this point, we veered off I-19 and headed towards the mountains. We made a quick drive-by through the Madera Canyon area. Although beautiful, it was so crowded that we just drove to the end of the road and returned back to take the Box Canyon Road to Rt. 83. This route ended up being 14 miles of dirt road through a pretty cool canyon. There is about 6 miles of single-land road with no guard rails – that was interesting – especially when there was traffic coming in the opposite direction. We shared the road that day with dirt bikes, ATV’s, pick-up trucks and cars – and a few cattle!
A road sign was posted as we started on the dirt road indicating that the road was impassable for tractor-trailers for the next 5 miles. But then we came to THIS additional sign. So, I guess if you were driving a tractor-trailer and ignored the first sign – this was your final warning!? There was literally no where you could possibly turn a tractor-trailer around here!! Too funny!!
There was a cool, old ranch sign along the road that I just had to photograph. At the top, the words “Hacienda Al Paso” caught my eye. I’m guessing it loosely translates to “Ranch at the Pass.”
It was hard to capture a photograph of the canyon with so many twists and turns of the road, plus much of it was single-lane. It was hard to find a spot to pull over so we were not blocking the road. You can get an idea of the passage from this shot.
Lynn Amber - Travel & Photography 