Diversion Dam Recon

Fresh off the Ripsey ride I had a small mission to accomplish. Find a decent connector route from the Diversion Dam east of Florence back into town & not take the Florence-Kelvin Hwy. I stashed the car at the Gila River crossing and started heading east following my hand drawn track.

So far so good, a little bit of pavement, then some dirt road.

What is this? Re-supply spot?

I came to a 'T' and a giant billboard promoting Moonshine Willy's, so I looked it up at home. It's the home base for Country Thunder & they serve burgers & such, unfortunately they're only open Friday's & Saturday's and we'd be coming through on a Sunday!! Oh well, I guess we'll have to stop by the Rock Bottom Grill instead.

I kept pedaling along the dirt road and before long I found the catwalk that crosses the now diverted Gila River! The rest of the route follows Scott's Gila River Ramble along the south bank of the river. Recon SUCCESS!! I guess I could have scouted this portion in my car, but what fun would that have been? I now have a complete southern section for my Salty-Gila Tour which will debut on April 5-7.

Elevated 'river' over a wash.

Gauging station?

Catwalk across the river.

The diverted Gila River.

A second option to cross, as long as the gate is unlocked.

Speaking of rivers & water, here is a really cool resource for checking flow rates on rivers:
USGS Waterdata