Lodes of Mines

Head-frame for the Monte Cristo

After a few successive 90+ degree days here in central AZ, It seems hard to recall the chilly temps this past January when my brother-in-law and I headed for the tiny western town of Wickenburg, AZ. Exploring the old mining ruins to the north was our goal…with a side trip to the locally-famous Hassayampa River box canyon.
I had originally planned to stage at the top of the Weaver mountains in Yarnell (made infamous by the loss of 19 fire-fighter’s lives in a wildfire 2 years ago), but instead chose to stage at the base of these mountains, dropping another 1800 feet or so in elevation. This turned out to be a wise decision, as the temps at the top would have been intolerable by the time we got back.

Hassayampa box Canyon

Hassayampa “river” flows underground in large sections unless large amounts of rainfall have occurred, and the canyon in question allows just enough to poke through the surface to make for a refreshing splash most of the year. But not on this day.
The Surprisingly cold temps had snow on the edges of the canyon, and ice in the slower moving sections of water! The temps in Wickenburg are usually only 5-10 degrees cooler the central Phoenix, so patches of snow in the deserts north of Wickenburg are a relatively rare sight. Despite the cold, we met a family out for a ride (one of several groups), and the youngsters were whooping it up quite well. Ahhh! The exuberance of youth!

We explored the box canyon and then checked out some small side canyons that featured both interesting geology and some tree cover. This place is pretty popular on summer weekends, and I can see why; Good place to camp and have a party or two, but you better claim a spot early.

Soon we were heading up a side trail in route to Constellation road, one of the main arteries into the Wickenburg Mountains. The town and these trails owe their existence to the mineral wealth these mountains hold, and even our side trail had several remnants of mines…a few of which we checked out.

Unknown mine

By the time we had traveled Constellation road several miles, the sun had warmed the land enough to be a nice day out in the desert. Winding our way around Saguaro, washes, and countless side trails, we came to an area known as King Solomon wash, and a dot on the map marked as Sayer spring. Truth be told, we had been here a few weeks earlier in our quest to find Bradshaw’s grave, and I had noticed some foundations here, but it wasn’t until I consulted Google that I learned there was a commodity here more precious than any in the desert: Water!

Turns out this area was the location of a small community known by various names with a somewhat tragic past. Up the hill from the foundations was what seemed to be a tunnel dug to hold the water from the spring…or maybe one of the thousands of mines in the area that accidentally hit the spring? Either way, it made for an interesting artifact in the middle of the bone dry desert.

A few more miles of climbing and descending mountain peaks saw us arrive at the Monte Cristo mine, the 1st in a string of larger operations on Constellation road. First discovered by Mexican prospectors around the turn of the century (and subsequently taken over by Anglo prospectors after the original “owners” were run off), this mine has an interesting back-story. As recently as 1984 attempts were made at working it, and as a result, there is still quite a bit to explore here.

Monte Cristo...

...the workings...

...and the shaft.

Directly across the canyon, you can see the remnants of the Black Rock mine, and the mountain just above this was the turnaround point last time we were here, so anything further was virgin territory for us. There was supposed to be another larger mining operation or two, a ranch at the terminus of Constellation road, and adjacent to that, the Hassayampa river canyon again. All I saw was one of my favorite sights: A winding road leading off to the horizon. Unfortunately, we would have to settle for pictures of the Gold Bar mine from a distance.

An increasingly common trend ( as far as our explorations here in Arizona goes ) is seeing cool pictures of people exploring things on the internet, and arriving at the same location shortly thereafter to see gates and Posted signs. This trend continued with the Gold Bar mine, and while I had seen pictures from on the property from very recently, they were apparently the last ones, as a fresh steel gate and warning sings confronted my brother-in-law and I when we arrived. This property has probably always been posted, but the increasingly litigation happy world we live in has probably made it more important for the owners to protect themselves than any concern over property damage. At any rate, such things are rare in the west, so it’s hard to complain. After snapping some pics, we moved on.

Gold bar mine...

...and tanks.

By this point, the road spends most of its time going up and down short-but-steep ridges as it nears the Hassayampa river canyon. Google Earth made it look like their might be a side roads around the ranch, but this narrow canyon meant that we would have ridden nearly through someone’s yard to go by. While this is actually a pretty common occurrence in this part of the country, I like to get confirmation from others before I do this, so I decided to turn and head back to the hill above Sayers Spring for some lunch.
While we were enjoying our spaghetti and meatballs, I was surprised to see a fairly new Ford truck round the curve above us. Constellation road is probably passable by a passenger car in dry weather, but a shiny new truck was still a surprise. Even more so when the driver stopped beside us. Turns out the old timer driving was just out exploring like us, and just wanted to chat for a bit. A short time later, he went on his way. Soon we did the same…heading back for Wickenburg.

As we neared our turn onto Blue Tank road and then our side trail, the sun had fully set. I’m sure it happens elsewhere and I have just never noticed it…but the desert takes on wonderfully warm glow at dusk. I find it very difficult to make an effort to leave it, but the temps were dropping, and folks were waiting at home. Still, I did my best sandbagging, driving casually between all the prickly desert things, and over ridges with the glowing lights of Wickenburg just a few miles away. Slipping past black voids of abandoned mine entrances, it was after dark by the time we crossed the Hassayampa canyon and hit the last set of trails to the waiting trailer. The desert had one more epic moment in store as a full moon rose against the silhouette of the many Saguaro the Sonoran desert offers. It’s moments like this that keep me coming back, as I will do again soon…