As you take the 60 freeway East out of Phoenix, you pass through Apache Junction and then Gold Canyon. Continuing on you come to florence Junction. Taking the 79 south, if you keep an eye out for mile marker 144 and 145, between those is Cottonwood Canyon road. We saw this on my moms topographic map and the area around there is Mineral Mountain area. Randy has been back in there I guess a few times, and reportedly got lost trying to get
to the coke ovens, which we haven't been to yet. Nick has gone with randy though box canyon on one of his first adventures out in his jeep and he was worried my dad might have a tough time if he went. We stuck to Cottonwood Canyon and when the road forked we headed right and went down into a wash which turned out to be a dead end. Backtracking we headed back to the left fork and found a great road with a great camping spot for future use that
we could haul in the trailers to and then go explore from there. Just Tweety and Red went on this trip as Randy can't quit his day job to jeep with us all the time. :) We stopped here for lunch of Turkey Sandwhiches and noticed all around the scattered empty shells and broken clay pidgeons left to lay where they fell. Its pretty sad that people have to leave their trash like that to spoil the beauty for others. GOOD news is tha
t my parents can work off their criminal conviction by picking up trash if they can get BLM to let them do this. After eating, we continued down into a wash and followed it not too far until it went up a hill and connected with what we thought was one of the major mine roads in the area. After turning a few corners we came upon lots of old mines
scattered on the hillsides. Most of them just ditches dug to find veins and lots of discarded rocks lying everywhere that were beautiful. Lots of bright green and turquois colors everywhere mixed with red and black and white quartz. To the left is just a small rock with what was lying everywhere. So we grabbed a bunch and loaded the back of the jeep and took them home to put in one of our flower beds outback by the pool. After walking around for about an hour, I could have stayed longer it was so interesting... we left and turned a different way going th
e opposite way we did when we came into the mine area, more towards the south. We passed a huge dump truck that was obviously out of commission on the side of the road. A few turns later we came to a gate that said private property but to the right of it there was this really cool mine. We went back as far as we could see with the outside light but no further. We'll come back with some flashlights and go in deeper. From there we turned around and backtracked our way out. Kids were due home form school in 2 hours so we didnt want to be late. Nick and I drove a little fast as my mom decided to drive making us slightly fear for the back of the jeep. So we kept well ahead to the main road returning home. I cant wait to go back to this place and camp and do some exploring. There are days worth of it in this area.
As you take the 60 freeway East out of Phoenix, you pass through Apache Junction and then Gold Canyon. Continuing on you come to florence Junction. Taking the 79 south, if you keep an eye out for mile marker 144 and 145, between those is Cottonwood Canyon road. We saw this on my moms topographic map and the area around there is Mineral Mountain area. Randy has been back in there I guess a few times, and reportedly got lost trying to get
to the coke ovens, which we haven't been to yet. Nick has gone with randy though box canyon on one of his first adventures out in his jeep and he was worried my dad might have a tough time if he went. We stuck to Cottonwood Canyon and when the road forked we headed right and went down into a wash which turned out to be a dead end. Backtracking we headed back to the left fork and found a great road with a great camping spot for future use that 
we could haul in the trailers to and then go explore from there. Just Tweety and Red went on this trip as Randy can't quit his day job to jeep with us all the time. :) We stopped here for lunch of Turkey Sandwhiches and noticed all around the scattered empty shells and broken clay pidgeons left to lay where they fell. Its pretty sad that people have to leave their trash like that to spoil the beauty for others. GOOD news is tha
t my parents can work off their criminal conviction by picking up trash if they can get BLM to let them do this. After eating, we continued down into a wash and followed it not too far until it went up a hill and connected with what we thought was one of the major mine roads in the area. After turning a few corners we came upon lots of old mines 
scattered on the hillsides. Most of them just ditches dug to find veins and lots of discarded rocks lying everywhere that were beautiful. Lots of bright green and turquois colors everywhere mixed with red and black and white quartz. To the left is just a small rock with what was lying everywhere. So we grabbed a bunch and loaded the back of the jeep and took them home to put in one of our flower beds outback by the pool. After walking around for about an hour, I could have stayed longer it was so interesting... we left and turned a different way going th
e opposite way we did when we came into the mine area, more towards the south. We passed a huge dump truck that was obviously out of commission on the side of the road. A few turns later we came to a gate that said private property but to the right of it there was this really cool mine. We went back as far as we could see with the outside light but no further. We'll come back with some flashlights and go in deeper. From there we turned around and backtracked our way out. Kids were due home form school in 2 hours so we didnt want to be late. Nick and I drove a little fast as my mom decided to drive making us slightly fear for the back of the jeep. So we kept well ahead to the main road returning home. I cant wait to go back to this place and camp and do some exploring. There are days worth of it in this area. 
1 comment:
You can get to the Coke Ovens (actually charcoal) from Box Canyon and Cottonwood Canyon will get you into Box. I have not been in a while and just read on another blog that they are fenced off now. I will have to go check for myself soon. Get yourselves some good maps. I use USGS 7.5 minute which you can purchase at a good map store. All accesses to Box Canyon (which is on BLM land)go through State Trust Land. If you are going to Jeep around Arizona you need to get a land use permit so you will be legal. Go to the Arizona Land Department website. The permits are cheap.
Lastly, I cringed when I read that you went into the mine shaft. Caveins are common since the mines are no longer shored up. There can be vertical shafts inside which you definitely don't want to fall into, and a wide variety of desert critters adopt these ready made shelters. Think rattlesnakes, killer bees, and javelina as a few dangerous encounters. Continue enjoying the Jeeping but please be safe and legal.
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