02-26-12

I have been trying to get some more pictures of wildlife around the pond.

Here are some humming birds;

We have a new pet, she is an Arizona Blond Tarantula and lives in a hole under a rock. She only comes out after dark.

 

Yesterday we took a ride with Becky and Dennis. We drove east to the town of Salome and followed Harquahala Road southwest. (Everytime I try to pronounce Harquahala it comes out like the sound of someone hacking up a luggy)

We followed the wide graded gravel road for a while when I saw some tailings off to the left. Shortly after that we came to a trail going in that direction. We turned off and wound around through some active mine claims. We stopped to check out a Quartz outcrop.

From there we wandered around some more and came across a hole in the ground. Looking down in the hole we could see that there was a tunnel coming into it from the side of a wash.

We drove into the wash and found the tunnel. It wasn’t very deep.

Here is the view looking up the hole.

A short distance from the tunnel was the ruins of an old miners cabin.

From there we followed a trail that went to the east up a long grade. At the summit was a large cement tank.

While we were at the tank we talked to a guy there and he asked us if we had been to the King Tut Mine. I told him that I had heard of it and was hoping to find it. “That’s it right there,” he said pointing across the valley to a large tailing pile with roads going to the top.

“Just go down into that wash and follow it. You’ll hit the trail to the mine. Its pretty rough but you should make it.”

We headed back down into the valley and found the trail to The King Tut Mine. The guy was right. It was kind of rough but we made it with no problem.

We had lunch in front of the opening to the mine

and enjoyed the view.

After lunch, Becky, Dennis and I went into the tunnel.

This was one of the most extensive tunnel systems that we have been in so far.

There were several side tunnels that we checked out. We noticed a spot where the rock had been chipped away and looked like a piece of Jasper.

The longest tunnel was full of bats. They were flying all around us. It was very warm and humid in the tunnel and it smelled of bat urine. We walked deep into the mountain.

Eventually Becky and Dennis turned back. I went a bit further, fascinated by the number of bats that were fluttering around my head.

 

 

Eventually the heat and odor got to me and I turned back. We never reached  the end of the tunnel. I guess we will have to try it again some time.

We left the King Tut and drove back toward the main road. Along the way we followed a wash and came to another vertical shaft. This one wasn’t particularly deep, maybe fifty feet but had a very scary ladder hanging in the hole.

  

From there we followed a trail going west. When we came out into the valley we could see more mining activity to the south.

We worked our way toward the mine following several different trails; we eventually got to the Harquahala Mine. The tailings were substantial and there were several ruins.

It appeared that the mine was mostly surface diggings.

 

We didn’t spend a lot of time wandering around there but that gives us a reason to go back.

We got back on the main road and drove south for a while. We didn’t see any more interesting mines or trails so we turned around and headed back toward Salome. On the side of the road we stopped to check out an old cemetery.

We continued toward Salome and turned off on a trail going west. We followed it around a mountain and back to the main road. There were several trails going off this one so it is something for us to check out next time.

Great ride!