Jeepin' to McMillenville

We decided to head for the former town of McMillenville yesterday. Back in the 1800s McMillenville was a fairly large silver mining town, it even had a post office, established in November, 1877 until October, 1882. Nowadays, not much remains of its former glory.
During the town's heyday it was subjected to a major, brutal Apache raid. It seems that the area was once part of land designated by the government to be part of the Apache reservation. Then, silver was discovered there by a pair of wandering prospectors, Charlie McMillen and Theodore Harris, March 6, 1876. It wasn't long after that the government decided to "resurvey" the reservation, low and behold the government determined that the land containing the rich silver strike wasn't part of the reservation afterall... hmmm mighty suspicious, (seems typical of government activity but that thought is for another post and probably not appropriate here...okay Laura, step away from that soapbox!) anyway, it's a small wonder the Apaches were angry.
In Nell Murbarger's wonderful book, "Ghosts Of The Adobe Walls", Nell describes the town as she found it back in 1950. There were still adobe ruins of old miner's cabins present but even then, not much remained of the town. The original main mine, the Stonewall Jackson is now located on private property, the rest of what remains is on Tonto National Forest land.
We found outlines of old buildings, some Indian ruins along with the old tin cans that can usually be found at this kind of site. We even found a shard of Indian pottery laying near an eroded wash.
Although little remains of the ghost town of McMillenville, we stood amid the ruins with Nell Murbarger's words echoing in our ears, " I left the old town of McMillen to its gray adobe ruins, its small gray lizards....and the gray ghosts of its departed dreams."

barely the outline of an old adobe cabin

a miner's cabin probably stood here

Ralph checking out more ruins

after McMillenville we checked out FR 584, oops the road ends here

The view from FS 584

Seneca Lake

It's been cold here, lots of rain with more on the way beginning tonight. This morning although it was cloudy the sun was trying to come out so we decided to take a ride to look for the former mining town of McMillenville. There's nothing left of the town, but we're hoping to find where it once stood. It had quite a bit of history in its day, Indian attacks and lots of silver mining. They even had a post office for a couple of years back in the late 1800's. We didn't locate the town, or any of the silver mines so we rode a bit further down the road to Seneca Lake, located on the Apache Reservation. At one time Seneca looked to be a really nice place, a trading post, cabins and a pretty campground, all in a sad state of disrepair now. It's a shame to see everything falling down and being vandalized. The lake is still pretty and supposedly has some good fishing, but since it's on the reservation, the $25 per day fishing permit is a bit pricey for a few bass or trout. Past the lake, we tried another road, it led to the edge of the cliffs overlooking the Salt River Canyon, the pictures can't do the place justice, you've got to see these views to believe them. Spectacular to say the least.
We'll do some more research and see if we can find the exact location of McMillenville and make a return trip to the area, if nothing else, the scenery alone makes the trip worthwhile.

Some of the ruins of Seneca, a shame to see it all

falling down

Seneca Lake





You've got to see these views to believe them!




Salt River Canyon far below


Oh my, that's a longgg way down!

Our voices echoed whenever we spoke here

No Turkey, Just Murder and Asbestos

We left our turkey snug and comfy, sitting in the freezer where it belongs and headed to the ghost town of Mule Hoof Bend with Larry and Jean and both pooches yesterday morning. We've read about it and had been told that it was worth seeing, so we finally decided to go. I have to admit, I was dragging my feet for a year or so on making the trip, I knew the elevations were well over 5000 feet and the views were spectacular. Whenever I hear someone say "Oh, the views are awesome" it gets me nervous because along with those views comes my fear of height issue. Well, this time was worth swallowing my fear because it turned out to be one of the most beautiful places we've been thus far. (Thank you Andy B for the history information, preview pictures and report on the road conditions!)
Mule Hoof Bend a former asbestos mining town is located high above the Salt River Canyon. It's got a rather sordid history because the owner of the mine, Guy Phillips was murdered there. His wife, Ruby Mae was charged with the crime but a jury failed to convict her, much to the chagrin of the sheriff at the time who thought he had a solid case against her. Guy Phillips had made a lot of enemies and when people were asked who they thought had committed the murder, they'd reply, "just open the phone book and stick a pin in any name".... I guess he wasn't a very nice guy. If Ruby did indeed commit the crime, people probably understood her reasons behind it, particularly the jury.
There are quite a few remains of the town including the house where the murder took place and even a small jail located in the basement of one of the buildings. Ordinarily, I believe the forest service would have "reclaimed" the entire town by bulldozing the remains, but in the case of Mule Hoof Bend, the whole place is built out of asbestos, even the stucco walls are asbestos, thus requiring a hazardous waste removal, a very costly proposition. Fortunately for us, there is a lot left to see, including the extensive honeycomb of mines located on a mountaintop above Mule Hoof Bend.
After seeing Mule Hoof Bend we drove further down the road toward Regal Mine, we didn't find the mine itself but we did find more and more ruins of abandoned cabins, houses and cars dotting the landscape.
The weather was as perfect as it could be, we couldn't have custom ordered a better day. We'll return to the area in the near future, there was just too much to see in one day, in the meanwhile, our turkey can wait, we enjoyed our grilled steak dinners and the company of a day spent with good friends a whole lot more.
Yep, we do have a lot to be thankful for....

Salt River Canyon far below

One of the mine tunnels

Inside one of the tunnels, they honeycomb the entire

mountain

Another rustic shack further down the road

Umm could you check my oil? I seem to have a "miss"

abandoned houses at Mule Hoof Bend

This small jail is located in the basement of one

of the buildings.

Buddy and Growlph ignoring each other

The murder house, not exactly house beautiful anymore.

More canyon views

Wow, that's a longgg way down!

The detective novels of the day covered the story

We'll never know who really committed the crime.

Ruby Mae and Guy are both dead and if someone else was involved,

they're not talking.

Short Run, No Gold

Just a short run this morning with our friend Larry. We'd noticed some old prospects dug into a hillside of one of the trails up a wash not far from our home so we decided to check them out. According to our information from the Arizona Department of Mines and Mineral Resources, there were quite a few claims at one time in this specific area filed by people looking for gold. I don't know how successful they were or which of these mines might have produced gold, but there sure wasn't any evidence of it today. The old mines didn't look very inviting, none of them were cut into hard rock, just tunnels dug into the mountainside. Some had old timbers used for shoring, and some had experienced cave-ins sometime in the past, at any rate, we didn't feel comfortable enough to venture too far into their dark interiors. The old miners had to be a hearty lot, imagine crawling up the side of a mountain and saying, "let's dig here." We couldn't help but wonder what might have lay beyond the cave-ins, I suppose we'll never know.
If was a beautiful day, clear and cool with a slight breeze, perfect for a nice, comfy Jeep run.

The hillside is carved with old mining prospects

Here's an old bat outside one of the mines

This one was dug into fairly soft rocky dirt

The shoring of old wood and rotted beams didn't

do much to prevent the ceiling from collapsing



No gold, just rocks and dirt...darnit

I guess this cave-in will keep us

from finding what lays beyond

There's Roosevelt Lake

The group of buildings in the valley foreground is where we live.

Cherry Creek to FR 202

We've been wanting to check out a trail off of Cherry Creek Road for quite some time. The trail, FR 202 skirts the Sierra Ancha Wilderness as well as the Apache Nation's Reservation. It runs from above Roosevelt Lake to Young, taking many twists and turns along the way.
Yesterday morning we headed out with Jean & Larry to check it out. Of course we took the Jeep, but since Larry and Jean were taking Buddy, their HUGE dog, they took their Toyota Highlander, Buddy wouldn't fit in their Jeep. We were concerned that the trail would be too much of a hazard for the Highlander but it turns out we worried for nothing. The trail was a bit rocky in places but as we approached the northern end, the road smoothed out into a dirt super highway, dusty, but great traveling. The weather couldn't have been better, cool in the high elevations with the sun shining brightly. We stopped for a picnic lunch in the shade of a tall pine forest just outside of Young.
Growlph did just fine, he's a little trooper. Since he's such a Daddy's boy, he spent most of the trip with his head contentedly resting on Ralph's shoulder. It was a long trip, we left at 8 A.M. and arrived back home at 4 P.M., dusty and tired but very glad to be hitting the trails again. When we arrived back home, Growlph ate his dinner, then went to bed, growling at us when we asked "wanna go in the Jeep?"...smart dog. I seem to recall growling as well last night, when Ralph asked me, "wanna go Jeeping?" ... we can learn a lot from our dogs.

Smoke can be seen in the distance from a fire burning on

the Apache reservation.

The road was dusty!




A rustic corral along the way

Larry, Jean, Ralph & Growlph

(Buddy is in the Highlander)


Some cattle kept a close eye on us

Nice smooth road!

Turning tail on the trail

This was our second experiment into the possibilities of camping on the trail. We'd hoped to establish a way to head out on the trail into far reaching destinations and be able to camp for the night when we got tired instead of heading home. Well, to put it mildly, it just isn't going to happen, leastways, not in the winter time...come to think of it, probably not in the summer either.
We headed for Burnt Corral along the Apache Trail again. We were optimistic upon arriving, the weather was perfect with temperatures in the upper 70s. Setting up the tent was easy with no wind at all. That evening we were happy campers as we enjoyed a meal by the campfire. The next day dawned bright and sunny as well but by mid afternoon the winds began to pick up, gusting at times to at least 40 miles per hour. The tent ballooned and billowed but held its ground. The temperature began to drop adding to the chill factor. Of course with the high wind we had to eliminate the possibility of a campfire that night, we had no choice but to head to bed early and hope for a better day the next day. That night, the winds blew without ceasing, at times we wondered if we'd make headlines if our tent decided to blow away with us inside, (ala "balloon-boy" )
The next few days didn't improve as almost record low temperatures hit Arizona. Sleeping proved to be a challenge in the cold so we decided to use our propane heater designed for use in a tent. Ah warmth at last...but what we didn't count on was the condensation the heat on the tent walls that would be created when the heat hit the cold walls of the tent..getting dressed in cold, wet clothes the next morning only set the mood for the entire day and seeing Growlph with his teeth chattering from the cold eased our decision to pack it all up and head for home. I dunno, maybe we're getting too old for the adventure lifestyle although we would hate to ponder and possibly admit to it.
We'll still be hitting the trails and doing our jeeping but if we're going to be away overnight, perhaps we'll be phoning ahead...for reservations.

Cozy by the campfire on day one

What a beautiful sunset over Apache Lake!

Ah camping at its finest

It only got better...

The next day, gray, windy and dismal

Back To Nature...sorta

It was an idyllic week. We decided to go camping last Monday to spend the week at one of our favorite campgrounds, the spot where we spent our honeymoon, Burnt Corral on Apache Lake, along the Apache Trail in the Superstition Mountains.
We drove into Globe on Monday to pick up a few last minute supplies. In order to get a jump start on getting our campsite set up, we stopped for lunch at a local eatery instead of preparing food at the campground. We were proud of ourselves for ordering "healthy" salads instead of the usual greasy burger and fries.
Arriving at the campground, we had the place almost to ourselves, and picked a choice spot, close to the lake, close to the rest rooms, close to the fresh water source. The day was clear and cool, the birds were serenading us from the trees surrounding our campsite. We spent the week enjoying ourselves, fishing, relaxing, appreciating the breathtaking scenery of the Superstitions. Pretty boring huh? ...Well, read on....
Now for the truth of the matter. Yep, we went to Globe on Monday, yep, we had our "healthy" lunch of nice salads, however, we didn't count on the food poisoning that followed. Monday evening our stomachs were queasy, by Tuesday, there was no denying it, we had food poisoning, along with all the symptoms I won't go into details describing, suffice to say, we paid homage to the forest service, self-recycling toilets. For those of you have never used one of these modern marvels, imaging plunking your bare butt over a dark, seemingly bottomless pit and feeling a cold wind blowing were no winds should ever reach. There are times you simply must put your trust in Mother Nature to take care of you, this was one of those times. By the next day, we had recovered fairly well, resolving in the future to stick to greasy burgers and fries and leave the so-called "healthy" salads for those more adventurous than us.
Getting our tent set up was no small feat, the wind was whipping without any letup. The birds weren't merely serenading us, they were poking their bird beaks into anything that even resembled food. We quickly learned that we had to put all our food out of reach of prying paws after a kitfox invaded our chocolates and dog biscuits one evening.
We assume Growlph had never been camping before, proven by the fact that after hearing the coyotes howling around our tent at night, he refused to sleep in his own bed, insisting on sleeping smack in the middle of ours' instead. We tried to assure him that the coyotes weren't interested in Schnauzer stew, but being the smart critter he is, he didn't believe a word we said.
Fishing wasn't very good at all. Ralph caught three...well actually, he only caught two because the second bass proved himself to be the dumbest bass in Apache Lake by allowing himself to be caught twice, we could identify him by a small wound on his belly. What are the odds of that happening?
We came home twice to rest up at home during the heat of the day, Burnt Corral is only about 20 minutes from our house, so we had the best of both worlds. All in all, it was a wonderful experience despite the stomach wrenching beginnings. We'll do it again in the near future, this time, sans salads.

Home Sweet Home

All the comforts of home...well, almost

Ralph trying his luck

Here's Ralph with the dumbest bass in Apache Lake

This is the face Growlph makes now if you ask him,

"wanna go camping?"

This is the face I make now if you ask me,

"want a salad?"

The view from our campsite

Growlph keeping the birds away

There's no denying the scenic beauty of Apache Lake

Homage to the "self-recycling" rest rooms,

(whatever THAT means)