A couple days ago me and the weird cousin set off to explore some areas around the neat town of Jerome. One of the most famous ghost towns in the West, this mining town's population peaked at over 15,000 people and dropped to less than 100. Today it's an interesting, artsy town full of touristas and a full-time population of about 500. In some ways this town looks a lot like Bisbee and a little like San Francisco.
We started out on a forest road that circles Mingus Mountain that I shall call the "Jerome Shelf Road." It's over 20 miles long at an elevation of 6500-5500 feet. I would have to say it's one of the most substantial shelf roads in the state and those with a fear of heights will definitely experience some puckering. There are several significant springs along the road and also a few mines- some active. This trail is an "easy" 2.5... no technical crawling but slow, bumpy, and scary enough to warrant a solid 4x4 and decent driver.
Next we explored a few areas that included a couple mines and the old Bear Railroad Station, which operated in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
Verde River:
The United States Mine:
The Buckskin Mine, which was an interesting sandstone quarry:
Government Wash:
We finally entered our main area where we would camp for the night and complete a hike to an Indian ruin. This is a little known and very out of the way area. The trails are relatively easy... stock, high clearance type roads. Along the way we visited an old cabin property that included a neat rainwater catchment.
Early morning sunlight emerges over the hills:
The ruin was in great shape and had some roofing which is very rare in these 600-800 year old structures.
The views on this trip were fantastic and I took even more pictures than I usually do... I kept over 100! We had great weather- 70s, light breeze, although that darn haze was in effect which hampered the long distance shots. No issues to speak of and my special style gumbo was mouth watering goodness, yum.
All online pics. AzTacoma out!
Posted
Apr 28 2009, 01:56 AM
by
ryangibson