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!

02-22-12

Everybody’s gone for a few days.

Jo Ann, Dave, Junior, Missy, Mary Ann, Randy, Shirley and Bill all went to Laughlin for three days. Suzanne, Roy, Debbie and Mike went to Tucson. Becky and Dennis went to Goodyear. We stayed home because I didn’t want to trust the jeep all the way to Laughlin.

Yesterday, Patti and I went to Parker to pick up our meds and do some shopping at Wal-Mart. While we were there we stopped at an auto parts store and I bought a compression tester.

This morning I checked the compression on the jeep.

Number one cylinder = 130 psi, number two = 60 psi and the plug was sooty black, number three = 110 psi and number four = 140 psi. It is obvious that number two cylinder is the one with the major blow by. Number three is not up to par ether. What I don’t understand is the fact that the engine runs smooth and has plenty of power. Oh well, I will be rebuilding the engine in the jeep when we get home this spring.

We are going to Wellton AZ tomorrow to visit with Dianne and Wayne. It is Wayne’s birthday.

02-21-12

It is always good to have someone new to go on rides with. That way you can go back to places several times. Yesterday we took Bob to the Kofa. I decided to go out “flat tire road” (I call it flat tire road because on our first trip in the Kofa we had a flat tire on this trail) to De La Osa Well. Mary Ann and Randy followed in their jeep and Patti sat in the back seat of Clifford. We took off at 10:00, drove down 95 to Crystal Hill Road where we turned left and followed it to the Pipeline road. We stopped to check out the one cylinder motor that runs a generator that puts a voltage on the underground gas pipe to keep it from corroding. 

We continued along the pipeline road and took the turn off to Scotts well which is a game watering station.

After checking out Scots Well, we continued across the desert and up flat tire canyon where we stopped to walk up a side canyon that we have walked before. It is a pretty canyon so it is always a nice walk.

From there we continued along the trail until we got to the end at De La Osa well, another game watering place, where we had lunch.

After lunch we drove back through flat tire canyon and took a trail to the MST&T road which we followed to 95 and then back to Quartzsite.

The back seat in Clifford was pretty rough on Patti so we will have to do something different the next time we have company riding  with us. 

02-19-12

I took Bob over to see a couple of mines yesterday, We went to the south Plomosa mountains where we visited What I call        the “double-decker mine” because it has two levels. From there we went to what I call them the “glitter mines” because of all the Iron pyrite and mica in them.

On the way we went on a fun trail that goes through a very narrow wash just south of Plomosa road.

Along the trail we stopped to check out a Quartz outcrop.

We took a couple of side roads along the way.

 

On one of them we found a mine that I hadn’t visited before. We had to climb up a steep mountain to get to the tunnel

but when we got up there the tunnel was fairly short.

there were a lot of holes all around the mountain top.

The view from then top was great.

From there we headed for the Double-decker. Some of the trail is a little rough.

After bouncing around for a while we got to the mine entrance.

We dawned our hard hats and went in side. The first thing we did was to climb to the upper level.

The upper level was carved out vertically and went up quite a distance.

At one end we could see daylight coming in from above.

There were a couple of loading shoots coming down into  the lower tunnel.

 

We left the Double-decker and drove north the the Glitter Mines.

These mines are very colorful.

You can see some of the glitter in this photo.

In a pocket in this mine Bob found a nice piece of mica about an inch long, a half inch wide and half inch thick.

We got home around 4:30 and went to supper with Patti, Jo Ann and Dave at La Casa Restaurant. Good Food and plenty of it.