Fun in the AZ desert with a SR91

Well, as many of you know, I work as a peace officer as well as doing leatherwork.

Yesterday I went out in the desert for an evening shoot with a coupleof my friends, and these outings are usually followed by a night hike of somekind. I find it a great excuse to bring some lights along, and so I had packedup my SR91 and S12 just for fun. We decided to go hiking through a wash thatled to a bridge over I-10. The area is known for illegal immigrants coming upfrom Mexico, and is a big drug running corridor, but then, most of the deserthere in AZ is known for that.

Now, the reason we picked this particular bridge as our destination, is thatit covered with graffiti underneath. Not the typical graffiti one sees, butmurals that are quite interesting, and indeed took someone with a lot ofartistic talent to create (let's hope they put that talent to legitimatepurposes later in life.)

So off we go, rather well armed, for our night hike. We are not quiet whenhiking and talk and light things up as we go. Well, as we were about 150 yardsfrom the bridge, I light it up with the 1500 lumen SR91 turning it intodaylight. We are in the wash and looking at the underside of the bridge. Wecontinue to approach, and I have the S12 in one hand lighting up part of thebridge, while using the SR91 in the other to look down the wash. My friends,while not equipped with light canons like myself, used their lights to checkthe sides of the wash, and we noticed a chair, backpack, and bottle of VitaminWater (full) by the chair. I figured it was not illegal's from the vitaminwater and they don't generally pack a chair with them.

Well, suddenly we hear "Police! Show us your hands!" and threeBorder Patrol Agents come out of well placed positions in the desert. Turns outthey were expecting a mule hauling dope from the south (we were approachingfrom the north). Their lights were, well, unimpressive. After a short talk whenthey realized who we were, and we headed back north hoping we hadn't alertedany mules with packs of dope.

Anyway, I can't help but wonder what they thought when I lit up that bridgewith the SR91. We didn't stay and talk long as we didn't want to screw up the stake out.

Just more fun and exciting times out in the desert in AZ.

I guess with an SR91 in one hand and an S12 in the other you got flood & throw pretty much covered...

Nice story.

I thought you might actually have spotted a mule who surrendered himself because of the SR91. That would have been funny, but very interesting story nonetheless.

Are you talking about the Red Rock exit (AKA Sasco by some)? If so, you're crazy for going out there during the night. I'm wary of doing it even during the day, after a group of people I know encountered some suspicious activity, and had to go around a large hill to bypass the group.

bstrickler said:

Are you talking about the Red Rock exit (AKA Sasco by some)? If so, you're crazy for going out there during the night. I'm wary of doing it even during the day, after a group of people I know encountered some suspicious activity, and had to go around a large hill to bypass the group.

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No. Not the Red Rock exit. I maybe crazy but certainly not insane... well... if I could get the county to issue me an A-10 Warthog...

The bridge is not an exit. Just a bridge over a wash. The closest exit would be the Marsh Station Road exit. Still, a lot of "activity" goes through that area. I have a friend with a ranch in Arivaca. I gave him some IR equipment to use on his ranch as things have gotten so bad down there. They find backpacks of marijuana every once in a while and have BP come in and take it out. But according to Janet, the border is secure. We never hike alone, have at least one carbine or semi-auto rifle in the group, and all are well trained and armed.

Hogokansatsukan said:

No. Not the Red Rock exit. I maybe crazy but certainly not insane... well... if I could get the county to issue me an A-10 Warthog...

The bridge is not an exit. Just a bridge over a wash. The closest exit would be the Marsh Station Road exit. Still, a lot of "activity" goes through that area. I have a friend with a ranch in Arivaca. I gave him some IR equipment to use on his ranch as things have gotten so bad down there. They find backpacks of marijuana every once in a while and have BP come in and take it out. But according to Janet, the border is secure. We never hike alone, have at least one carbine or semi-auto rifle in the group, and all are well trained and armed.

Click to expand...

Don't know the area. I used to hike/photo out around Sedona/Cottonwood as well as Pintop in the White Mountains then the Painted Desert and the Flagg, Scottsdale, Jerome, as wel as some model shoots for a couple of girls wanting to get into some nudie, tattooed chicks mag.

I never hike alone either whether I'm on the Oregon coast, Pa mountains of AZ deserts even when I'm by myself.

watch your six ot there.