Humbug Arizona Ghost Town

This is where our day began on our off-roading trip to Humbug. Humbug is a gold-mining ghost town north of Phoenix in the Bradshaw mountains at about 2600 feet.

The road ahead

Arriving at the ghost town, the main house. This setting caught my attention. I love rock collections and the collection on the table was amazing. Later on the caretaker of the property explained many of the rocks and their composition. As well as explaining the process of gold mining in the mountains and panning for gold.

It was difficult to photograph its amazing glass like mica. That silver looking area looks just like a pieces of glass embedded in rock.

I didn't realize as I took this picture that the rock on the left would turn out looking a bit creepy.

Skulls and Lace

These rocks are Indian artifacts. The reddish piece would have been used to bake bread and the darker stones were grinding implements.

A shot of the ghost town from a distance.

This is a smelter. Many other pieces that were used in the smelter were scattered around the property.

An old Frigidaire

The Chicken Coup

Interior of caretaker house

An old Ford truck

A house built on this property by a wall street investor in the 1930s. Built in a santa fe style with two walls. The inner wall is made with mud bricks and the outside wall is a form of stucco. (You can see the original condition of this house in the link I provide below)

If you can see the people down below, they are lined up to walk into the mining tunnel of the Mountain Chief Mine. This tunnel is about 200 feet below ground level.
Around 1882 about 5,000 oz of gold was taken out.


Late in the day and leaving the ghost town.

The drive back to the main road.

Sunset

Thanks to Dave our tour guide. If you are interested in touring this ghost town make sure you have an off-road vehicle since there are major ruts, clearance issues, and driving along ledges. You also need to call Dave in advance to meet him at the town and unlock the gate, phone number: 1-480-899-7317 More history about Humbug is related at the Arizona Pioneer & Cemetery Research Project.

Did you guess Ouray Colorado?

It's amazing to me that someone actually stopped by my blog, almost as soon as I posted it, and guessed correctly on where I was headed to for vacation! You certainly made me laugh Wakegrace. And, it was great to know that people looked back through my blog to see if they could figure out the destination.

We did go to Ouray, Colorado for a "LOT" of off-roading and other fun. The picture of the huge building tumbling down (an old mining camp) was on the way to Imogene Pass, which reaches a height of 12,500 feet. (last summer there was snow on the ground, I got out to take a picture, and got zapped by a mild lighting strike --I didn't get out this time!).

The preceding photo is a photo of the ghost city of Carson on the Continental Divide. It is the newer city of Carson which was in existence between 1898 and 1903. There is an older city as well, but we didn't have time to go further. I have a lot more pictures to share and I will try to control myself on the number that I post here. I think I will have to put up a flickr link, since I took around 3,000 pictures! The wildflowers were out, there was snow, and incredible views from 14,000 feet up above Telluride!

And, now for the winner, chosen by the list randomizer:

Congratulations to WakeGrace!

Wake, come visit my etsy shop, link is in the upper right, convo me and let me know your size and preferred colors.