Return to the mountains...

We returned to the mountains this morning. It's beautiful and so nice and cool up way up there among the tall pines above the 5000 ft. elevation. This trail is another one in the Reynolds Creek Area. The trail ends at a cliff side, far below we could see Cherry Creek Road and the Sierra Ancha Wilderness seeming to stretch on for miles. It's difficult to capture the depth of these canyons and the wide panoramic views in one dimensional photographs, but they are truly spectacular to experience first hand. We hiked a little way up a trail, there's an old mine up there, but you'd need to be a goat to reach it now. It's hard to imagine how ore was ever hauled out of such a remote location.
A nice morning, now for some food and a nap ... it's a rough life, but someone's got to do it.

The trail ends here.......

This is a very deep, steep canyon

it's hard to show the dimension

in a photo

The Sierra Ancha Wilderness spread out below

One false step here and it's a long way down

Manzanita in bloom

Ralph with Old Peep's Jeep and Old Blue

Blue Spotted Fungus Beetle

Reynolds Creek Mill

Our curiosity got the best of us, so we set out at 6:30 this morning to take a closer look at the mill we spotted along Reynolds Creek yesterday. Larry & Jean decided to follow a hiking trail leading off into the mountains while we crawled around the old mill ruins. From what we've been able to find after doing some brief research, the mill operated from the late 1800s on and off until the mid 1940s. We were correct in our speculations yesterday, after examining the extensive mine tailings, we were able to determine that Asbestos from the areas vast mining operations was being processed there. Huge mounds of Asbestos tailings were piled alongside Reynolds Creek.
Larry & Jean returned telling us about a wonderful oasis complete with a waterfall that they located about a mile up the trail. They also reported that there were several more mines in that general vicinity. We'll head back there during the Winter months to check it out, once the temperatures are more bearable and the snakes are sound asleep.
We spotted three King Snakes near the creek, they were living under an old tree root. I suppose as far as snakes go, these guys were particularly pretty ones, wearing very vivid colors. They're shy, non venomous snakes, who preferred to crawl back into their tree root that to stick around watching us.

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Asbestos tailings mounded along the creek

Old Asbestos Mill

According to the NY Times, the foundry
that made these mill parts burned to the
ground January 1, 1900

More mill remains

Here's Larry wrangling (annoying) the King Snake

One King Snake, there were two more under the log.

Reynold's Creek Trail

One of the beauties of reaching the so-called golden age is the ability to come home from a Jeep ride, eat a full meal, curl up on the sofa and take a nap, all without the necessity of feeling guilty or explaining to anyone why we're doing so....today was no exception.

We headed out at 7 this morning with Jean & Larry to run a trail up in the Sierra Anchas. The air was crisp, clear and downright cold at that early hour, an invigorating change from the desert heat we've been having lately.

Reynold's Creek Trail is simply beautiful, there's no other way to describe it. The scenery changed as we rounded each curve in the trail. Tall, thick Pine forests gave way to rolling meadows, crowned by rocky cliffs and soaring spires. Deer wander the area at will, grazing the abundant greenery. We saw a few deer, plus evidence of elk and bears. The bear tracks looked fresh and very large, we must have just missed him as he stopped to drink from a puddle in the middle of the trail leaving just his huge paw prints behind.

Everything was blooming, Manzanitas, Locust trees and Pines decorated the landscape. Columbines were in full bloom alongside Reynold's Creek

The trail itself is a nice one, a bit rocky, rutted in places with a few large to mid size boulders thrown in for a challenge. The Jeeps did just fine, taking us where we wanted to go in a reasonably comfortable manner.

This area was once heavily mined, we saw remnants of what appeared to be an old mill built right alongside Reynold's Creek, although we'll have to do further research to determine what was being milled there. Asbestos and Uranium mines dot the hillsides. We'll definitely return to explore the old mill site further.

We came home, ate a great meal and took a 2 hour nap, Ahhh life is good.

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Columbine in bloom

Columbines along the creek

The remains of an old mill

Sweeping views

Big bear paw prints

Locust trees in bloom

Inside the old mine, looking out at Ralph, Jean and Larry

This short tunnel looks like they were digging sample holes. If I had to guess, I'd say they found asbestos.

This is the only old bat we saw in this mine.

Some more wildflowers

Cactus Garden 2009

Since we planted our cactus garden a few years ago, it's been growing, maturing and continuing to amaze us every day. Many cacti bloom only at night, the blooms quickly fade and die when the sun rises. Every morning in Spring and Summer we check the garden just after the sun rises to gather pictures before these fantastic flowers wither.
The aromas are intoxicating, we can smell them as we approach the garden. I wish we could upload the scent along with the pictures so we could share the entire experience with you.....

3-Bar to Oak Flat Trailhead

We headed out early this morning with Jean & Larry to check out a trail we've seen but never tried to follow. It's located just a few miles from our house, in an area overlooking Roosevelt Lake. We were hoping it would be a through road, although it's an unnumbered trail and doesn't show on the Forest Service maps. We put the Jeeps through their paces as we climbed steadily uphill. The road was off camber in places, rocky and rutted, but nothing the Jeeps couldn't handle. Unfortunately, the road wasn't a through road, ending just before the top of another mountain ahead. It was well worth the ride anyway, the scenery alone was breathtaking, added to by the wildflowers in bloom all over the mountainsides. After leaving there we headed down the trail to the Oak Flat Trailhead, a nice ride that took us across a couple of scenic creeks. We stopped there for a while just to chat and enjoy the scenery and cool breezes.

On the way home, the trail was blocked by a small Western Diamondback stretched out across the middle of the road, sunning himself. He refused to move so we tried to drive around him. He decided he didn't like being disturbed and crawled under the Jeep. Hmmm not knowing exactly where he was or how angry he might be, we decided to NOT get out of the Jeep to check. Ralph pulled the Jeep slowly forward so as not to run him over....Oops, he ran over his rattles. Needless to say, the snake was a little more than a bit perturbed as the Jeep parked on his tail. He repeatedly struck a the Jeep's tires, of course being such a small rattler, he didn't manage to sink his fangs in. Ralph rolled forward a bit and after giving his rattles a good shake, he slithered off, no worse for wear.

Nice ride, although our friend, the snake might say otherwise.

Looking down on the Jeeps from the mountain

high above

Cooling our tires

Roosevelt Lake far below

Spectacular scenery along the trail

These "crowned" or "crested" Saguaros are rather rare.

It's not known what causes them to crest on the top,

it's speculated that it's caused by a genetic mutation.

Parking on a rattler's tail adds a whole new meaning to

"road rage"...hey buddy, quit tailgating!

The downside of rural life

Sorry we haven't been posting much lately, we've taken some time out from the trails to do some well-procrastinated work here at home, but, hopefully, we'll hit the trails again soon, we're both going through trail withdrawal.
There's a downside to living in the boondocks, this morning's events showed it all to clearly. We couldn't sleep, so at around 2:30 AM we were sitting in the den in front of a cozy fire, having our morning coffee when suddenly, we were shaken by a loud boom, minutes later a second, even louder BOOM rattled the entire house. At first, we thought it was just an electrical transformer until we looked outside and saw the mobile home down the road, fully engulfed in flames. We tried to phone 911, the line was busy, probably from other people reporting the same fire. Ralph ran down the road to see if there was anyone who needed help, but by the time he got there, the place was obviously a total loss. The volunteer fire department took at least 45 minutes to arrive on the scene and when they did finally arrive, two more houses were burning. The pumper truck ran out of water quickly, when another pumper truck arrived, the pump wasn't working. Finally enough tanker trucks arrived, but by the time they were able to put some more water on the multi fires, it was too late, all three places were a total loss. From what we've been told, the fire was started by an electric heater igniting an elderly man's oxygen. The first boom was a small portable tank, the second boom, was a large oxygen tank. Luckily, nobody was injured, but it looks like the elderly man's dog was killed in the fire. Very sad. The only house that was occupied at the time was the one belonging to the elderly man, the others were vacation, weekend homes.
We take our chances to live the rural "quiet life", events like these tend to show us just how risky the chances can be, but all in all, people living in the peace and solitude of life in the boondocks, wouldn't change a thing, us included.

Fully engulfed

Tankers not working

The fire's last gasp

Total devistation

This is why we take the risks

FR 225 to mines

Great weather, although again, it's a bit hot for March, 82º as I write this, hopefully, our Winter isn't over yet.
This morning we rode up a dry-wash not far from home. It's an interesting area, old corrals and several old mines. We've checked out one of the mines on a previous visit, it's flooded and impassable. On this trip we parked in a different spot since there were cattle near the gate, we decided not to drive through and chance letting them out. After looking around a bit, we headed back to the Jeep and happened to glance over at a nearby hillside. We noticed a couple of more mine adits that we hadn't seen on previous visits. We weren't prepared today to check them out, but we'll return in the near future prepared with hiking boots (snakes are probably waking up since the temperatures have been so high) and flashlights. This particular area was known for gold mining, with some fairly rich strikes being claimed in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
Not to worry, if we strike it rich, we'll post it in our Journal...one last time.


We noticed this mine and tailings on a hillside as
we were leaving

An old windmill still pumping water

at this corral

This mine is flooded, no entry here

This bunker was once used to store the

explosives used in mining

The explosives bunker built into the hillside