Another of the many adventures of PASS PATROL

No matter which of its many names you choose to use, it earned them by taking the lives of travelers without mercy. Even before Columbus discovered America, this passage across baron desert lands was luring travelers into its clutches and never letting go. Although mankind has long since developed the means to boldly go where others have perished before them, grave sites still mark ended journeys from years gone by.

In 1540, eighty years before the Mayflower arrived at Plymouth Rock, Spanish explorers traveled the Highway of the Devil. During the 1690s, it was being used by those traveling between missions. By 1800, settlers were using it as a shortcut to connect points in Mexico to points in California. During the 49ers gold rush, would-be prospectors charged into its summer heat in a dash for California riches. Many of them were unprepared for what they called, a trip through hell. An estimated 400 graves soon lined the narrow dusty path.

The first motorized vehicles traveled the Devil’s Highway in 1915. Our group, Pass Patrol, made the journey in March of 1996. The only similarity between the two trips is the fact that both parties did it. In 1915, the Model T Fords bogged down in the sand, overheated, had to be pushed and pulled, and one even had to be left behind when it broke down. The ’96 Blazer I drove was air conditioned, cruised along at fifteen miles per hour without ever spinning a tire, and made the journey in both directions in three days. Most of the others in our group of nine vehicles had the same comforts thanks to modern technology. El Camino Del Diablo is on a diminishing list of roads across public lands not yet closed to motorized travel. Even those who are aging, physically impaired, or confined to a wheelchair can experience isolation and desolation unsurpassed anywhere else in the country by taking a 4wheeling journey along the Devil’s Highway.

The original Devil’s Highway connected the town of Coborca south of the Mexican Border to Yuma, Arizona. The official boundary survey between the two countries was in 1890. Crossing that boundary anywhere along the Devil’s Highway is forbidden. The road now connects Ajo, Arizona to Yuma. Most of the route is confined within the boundaries of the Barry M. Goldwater Air Force Range. A portion of that range includes the Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge. Crossing either one requires permits which can be obtained at the refuge office in Ajo.

The Barry M. Goldwater Airforce Range was established during the year before Pearl Harbor was bombed and instantly became the premier U.S. training range for aerial warfare tactics. According to the official visitor information: “The range supports flight training operations in air to air gunnery, air combat flight maneuvers, air-to-ground bombing and strafing, low level attack and evasion, tactical coordination, as well as other activities.”

We took a photo of a sign along side the road warning of a “live missile shoot”. Although we already knew the exercise was finished, the fact that the sign was still there provided lots of C.B. chatter.

“Scotty! Get more power to the shields!”

“But, Capn’! We’re running at maximum warp! If I divert any more power from the engines, the whole thing’s gonna come apart!”

“Belay that order! They’re using heat seekers! In this hot desert sun, that red blazer is the hottest thing for miles around! Just keep us away from it!”

After a visit to Yuma, we made a night journey back to Tule Well and came upon a squad of military vehicles performing maneuvers using night vision scopes and running without lights. They stopped beside the road and waved us by.

The Cabeza Prieta Wildlife Refuge is a one of a kind place. You will never be invited to come but once you get there you are welcome to visit. It is set aside as home to the desert bighorn sheep and other Sonoran Desert Wildlife. Sonoran pronghorn, javelina, coyotes, mountain lions, and bobcats are hard to find, but rabbits, kangaroo rats, pocket gophers, and turkey vultures are in abundance.

The only vehicles allowed on the refuge are 4wheel drive. According to Bob Schumacher, Refuge Manager, impact upon the land has significantly decreased since limiting access to 4x4s. One area which can be very soft and deeply rutted was once scarred by those driving around the obstacles. After limiting the use to 4wheel drive which can easily take the original route, the scars are healing.

By definition, a wildlife refuge is home to the wildlife living there. Although we are welcome to visit their home and observe their interaction with their habitat, we must not interfere. The protection of the wildlife and their habitat creates lots of restrictions.

All roads except the Devil’s Highway are closed to public use. Firearms are prohibited. Charcoal fires are permitted, wood fires are not. Camping is permitted anywhere along the highway except within one quarter mile of a water source. Collecting plants or critters is forbidden. Treasure hunting, collecting rocks or minerals, and littering are all major offenses.

So many restrictions are difficult to enforce, yet the future of the Devil’s Highway depends on visitors who will obey those restrictions without being policed. It would be so easy to simply lock up both ends like so many Wilderness areas across the country. It would be so easy to put a post in the middle of the road like so may national forest roads and desert roads throughout the Rocky Mountain region. The Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge has the one thing we would like to see in every Wilderness area … a motorized corridor right through the middle … open access to those of us who can not hike for days at a time living out of a backpack. Protect it. When you visit the Devil’s Highway, obey all the rules.

We began out journey at the Cabeza Prieta headquarters in Ajo where each vehicle was given a permit and all the occupants signed a waiver. From there, we took the Darby Well road into the Organ Pipe Cactus Monument. Just before we crossed the boundary between Organ Pipe and Cabeza Prieta, we passed an intersection for a back road to the Organ Pipe Ranger Station. We saved that road for the last day and continued to the established campground at Papago Well, where we set up camp.

The desert came alive after the sun went down. Coyotes howled all around us and night creatures rattled the bushes as they came to check us out. The sky was full of stars and a half moon lit up the desert around us. Our charcoal fire produced a piping hot dutch oven cobbler and lots of popcorn to go with the campfire tales of near-death adventures that seem to get more dramatic each time they’re told. The night temperature dropped to near 50 degrees, perfect weather for viewing a special treat straight out of the depths of the universe. Our first night on the Devil’s Highway provided the most spectacular view of Comet Hyakutake ever visible from the Sonoran Desert. By 5am, the Comet’s tail could be seen stretching half way across the sky.

On the second day, we reached the campground at Tule Well for lunch, then took the road over Christmas Pass to Interstate 8 and had dinner in Yuma. After dinner, we took the Wellton exit and traveled the southern route back to Tule Well where we spent the night. Of the three established campgrounds within Cabeza Prieta, our favorite was Papago Springs. Tule Well has been abused by visitors unfamiliar with the proper way to dispose of human waste and Christmas Pass is so wide open, the ladies decided there just weren’t enough bushes.

On the third day, we drove back across Cabeza Prieta to Organ Pipe where we explored the back road to the Organ Pipe Ranger Station. Along that route, we came upon an abandoned truck. It had apparently been stolen but being 2Wheel drive it was high centered in a wash about six miles from the border. The last few miles of the back road runs along side the fence that separates us from Mexico. Mexican Highway 2 runs along the fence on the other side of the border and for a while we were running nearly side by side with a bus on that highway. When we arrived at the ranger station, we reported the truck and was told that won’t be the first time a stolen truck would be recovered on that road.

The Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge is a great place to visit. Our thanks to Bob Schumacher for taking time to provide our group with the Department of Interior viewpoint of the purpose of the refuge and its interaction with the public. For more information, maps, and permits, write to Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge, 1611 North Second Avenue, Ajo, AZ. 85321 or call 520-387-6483.

Your visit must begin at the office for the Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge in Ajo, Arizona. You must get a permit before traveling this road. There are no exceptions.

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