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| Mount Graham (with some snow) on Hackle Road |
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| Settled in with the flag flying high. |
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| Our patio area under the awning. |
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| A privacy fence made of blooming Ocotillo branches. |
The drive from Benson seemed pretty uneventful but when
we arrived at Hackle Road and pulled into a site that we liked, low and behold
Jeff noticed that we had lost one of our tag axel hub caps on the right
side. This was not good. In Yuma we had to replace one that was lost
at a cost of $116. We had even purchased
special brackets (at $34 each) for each of the axels that are to hold the
caps more securely when traveling. Yeah! Non-the-less, this is just something that you
don’t have control of when you’re traveling down the road – bumpy road or not.
We both looked at each other and knew that we had to
re-trace our tracks from the interstate and give it at least a “snowballs”
chance that we could find it. We were
pretty much resolved to not finding it though, but we do believe that St. Joseph
(who has really been watching over us this winter) deemed that we should find
it. And find it we did. A couple of little dings on it, but still intact that we
could put it back on the tag axel. We
will be smiling about this one for quite a long time to come. Jeff purchased a product from the Ace store
in Safford that when painted on the bracket tips, and thoroughly dry for a
couple of days, this will hopefully keep that cap on for us.
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| Blue rubber compound applied to the bracket tips. |
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| Let's get this cap on tight now! |
The Safford area is really great if your passion is for
adventure. It doesn’t take much for us to
seek out Jeep trips that are unique. We planned a day trip to see some mining towns – Clifton (founded in 1873 and no longer
active) – and Morenci (an active mining town that boasts one of the largest
open-pit mines anywhere). Destination -
the Morenci Mine Lookout which is located about three miles above Morenci. Portals on a security fence allow photo
opportunities. The huge machines and
haul trucks look toy-like compared to the mine’s size.
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| The town of Clifton, nestled in the valley. |
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| This unusual Church structure caught our eye. |
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| The Train Depot in Clifton now serves as a Visitor's Center. |
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| If the waters get high, the gates can be closed to the road. |
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| The road from Clifton to Morenci with the mine in the background. |
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| Getting ready to enter the underground tunnel. |
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| Scrap material that has no value being refined to "dust". |
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| Took this picture through the portal at the Morenci Mine Lookout. |
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| Picture taken from the lookout at 1,500 - 1,700 feet. |
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| Who wants to play with our toy trucks? Amazing, isn't it? |
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| Pieces of mined stone with the beautiful blue of copper. |
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| A 12 ft. tire from one of the dumptrucks. |
Cool stuff happens too!
Free range cattle roam this area and can suddenly become your neighbors
for a few hours. They were sure
interested in us! And, we can't forget to watch "under-foot" for the Desert Horned Lizard - more commonly known as the horny toad - which blend in to the desert landscape and can scare the crap out of you. Kay can definitely attest to that!
Another oddity that we ran across while rock hounding was a section of dirt road that literally has holes burrowed into the ground where bees live. If you look close enough, you can see what appears to be a mud tube coming out of the ground. Kay was going to cross this piece of road and found it quite by accient when she heard a "buzzin" coming from somewhere close. Whoa. . .she stopped dead in her tracks at this point. We believe they are called digger bees that have a habit of digging in desert soils.
Another story about bees that we'd like to share. Has anyone ever been bombarded in their vehicle by a swarm of bees? Chalk one up for the Jeep! Kay didn't think fast enough to get a picture of the windshield after it was just caked with bee bodies. What was so freaky about it was that it was a perfectly sunny day outside and suddenly . . . splat. Jeff had to pull over to the side of the road because he couldn't see out of the windshield which was pretty much a mess with, what else - honey!. We so wish we had a picture to share this odd "bee" event as it was definitely a first for us.
We have always been interested in touring Arizona’s hot springs. Having the opportunity for two such locations within miles was definitely calling us for a visit. Hot Well Dunes Recreation Area is the most popular developed spa in the Gila Valley and is administered by the BLM. The 106-degree artesian well has been channeled into two hot tubs and is located 32 miles southeast of Safford on Hackle Road. We enjoyed the spa in 2015 and continue to be drawn to its therapeutic value of just feeling good.
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| Relaxing in the spa felt sooooooo good. |
The second location, Gillard Hot Springs, is located in a
remote section of the Gila River, not accessible by vehicle. This is in the Black Hills Back Country Byway
(managed by the BLM). The only signs of human activity out here are
the faint roads and isolated cattle corrals.
The trails that we tried to follow to get to the springs were apparently
roads at one time, but because of the lack of use and occasional flash floods,
they have disappeared in places and therefore not really accessible safe on foot. What a bummer! It was, however, a beautiful day for to be out in the Jeep for a new trip and place to see.
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| Mexican Poppies (also known as California Poppies too). |
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| Flower buds from an Ocotillo on the trail. |
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| The hot springs in the far distance over Jeff's shoulder. |
The Black Hills Back Country Byway was quite
impressive. The Byway is a 21 mile long
scenic and historic route offering sweeping vistas of surrounding valleys,
canyons and mountain views. The graded
dirt road has kiosks at both ends providing information on historic sites,
ranching and mining activities in the area.
It also crosses the 22,000 acre Gila Box Riparian National Conversation
Area bringing diversity to the landscape along steep cliffs and narrow
turns. The trip took us about 2.5 hours
from end to end and we would highly recommend the trip. This area had quite a volcanic past active 20 million years ago, followed by millions of years of erosion.
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| Pumice is also an end result of volcanic activity - the large area in the middle. |
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| The "Old Safford" bridge crossing the Gila River. |
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| A beautiful canyon with many trees. |
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| The landscape in this area truly looks "volcanic". |
In 2000 from Graham County, Arizona to the New Mexico
border, the best Mexican cooks and their restaurants can be found in the cities
of Pima, Thatcher, Safford, Solomon, Wilcox, Duncan, Clifton and York. They became world famous for their salsa
recipes, and thus the “Salsa Trail” was born.
Which one do we pick? La Paloma has
been opened for 29 years and is located in the old historic town of Solomon,
once the original county seat and one of the earliest settlements in the Gila
Valley. New Mexican chilies are ground
fresh every day and their enchilada sauce is the house specialty.
Mount Graham is part of the Pinaleno Range, which has
five of the six life zones from throughout the world. It is the area’s highest peak and rises to
10,720 feet with roadside overlooks providing breathtaking views of the Valley. The mountain is an outdoor paradise for
camping, hiking, Mount Graham International Observatory and Riggs Lake which
provides excellent trout fishing. It’s too
bad that the road continuing to the Observatory and Riggs Lake aren’t opened
until after April 15th (if weather permits), as its still pretty
cold up at the summit, we’re guessing.
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| The air was so clean and fresh. |
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| Mule Deer |
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| You can see for miles . . .and miles. . .and miles. |
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| Snowball fight, anyone! |
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| Safford from close to the summit at 9,000 feet. |
Eastern Arizona College is Arizona’s oldest community
college located in Thatcher, and home of the extensive collection of Jack and
Vera Mills, named the Mills Collection. Jack and Vera Mills conducted extensive
excavations on private lands at archaeological sites in the Safford Basin* area
(Southeastern Arizona and Western New Mexico) from the 1940s through the
1970s. They restored more than 600 pots as well as over 5,000 other artifacts from what is known as
the Salado Period (1250 A.D. TO 1450 A.D.), and is an extensive display of the
culture and life-style of the people who inhabited this region. It was quite an exhibit to see and the cost was free.
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| A very nice college campus. |
*“The
archaeological record from the Safford Basin exhibits a great deal of
variation, indicating the ancient inhabitants of this region were also quite
diverse. The diversity indicates that
the Safford Basin was a sort of ‘melting pot’ where people from several
different prehistoric cultures, many of whom migrated into the area in the late
prehistoric times, lived together.
Specifically, material remains indicate
people from the culture areas known traditionally as Anasazi, Hohokam,
Mogollon, and Salado lived in the Safford Basin.”
(The above information was taken from the self-guided tour brochure that we received from the College.)
We will always be interested in these types of artifacts along
with a strong fascination of the landscape that we call home at any given time. We’re not history buffs by any means, but we
love the earth and have a deep appreciation for it's beauty. . .in the eyes of the beholder.
Maybe that’s where we acquired our love of rock hounding. Or, should we call it nature’s treasure. It definitely is a treasure for us when we
find a particular rock and appreciate its beauty.
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| Who's that rock climber? |
Our rock treasures were many and included obsidian, fire agates (an uncommon semi-precious gem) and many others that caught our eye. That's what is so neat about rocks, minerals and gems. They can definitely be a rainbow of treasures.
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| top left corner: rock found at Morenci lookout with specks of Malachite & an agate of unusual color. top right group: (4) fire agates found on Hackle Road Remaining stones are agates found on Hackle Road |
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| Quite a unique collection of rocks & minerals. |
Our 14-day stay on BLM land here in the Safford/Solomon area has come to an end.
Our journey continues into New Mexico as we head toward Colorado. More to come from the Rocky Mountain State!
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| Our last sunset on Hackle Road. |
Hugs.
