Headed north out of Tucson on 77, THE best direction, all the others involve an interstate.
North of Oracle and through Mammoth I took Aravaipa road and explored the other end of the Aravaipa Canyon where Mike and I had our ‘trapped in the canyon’ adventure last year.
Looking at the western end of Aravaipa Canyon. Need to hike through there some year.
I forgot what a long climb it was north towards the Mogollon Rim. And this Van is loaded down now with a kitchen unit, two refrigerators and a few rocks.
Then headed east and crossed into New Mexico on 78 near Mule Creek.
Ran across Bullet’s cousin Astro. His owner was also in the process of converting the Astrovan 4×4 into a camper. He was living and working out of it.
Headed up into the Gila Wilderness
Narrow one lane road headed up the mountain.
The ‘CDT’ Continental Divide Trail comes through here.
The old Little Fanny mine. More on that later.
Drove through the Mogollon Historic district and up into the high wilderness. Unfortunately a five burned a huge portion of this area a few years ago. But it healing.
Found a nice fire pit with wood and had my first campfire of this trip.
Moonrise over the Gila at 9400 feet.
When getting the van in place last night, it didn’t want to restart but then with some coaxing cranked up. I wondered if it was the altitude? After going to bed I kept hearing bubbling under the van. I found it coming from the charcoal canister. I opened the fuel tank cap and heard a in-rush of air.
So my guess is a clogged charcoal emissions canister causing a vacuum on the fuel tank.
Still carrying some of that Utah dust.
Disconnected the fuel tank vent line and zip tied some nylon cloth over it. Cranked up and no problems after that. Bingo Fixed.
I was camped at 28B the teepee below Sandy Point.
Hiked up into the burned area from Sandy Point the next morning.
Up around 10,000 feet . Eerie sound up here from the burnt trees rubbing together with small wind bursts. With higher gusts it sounds like Coyotes in the distance or the siren song of sailors demise. Very Spooky.
Mid day I drove back down to Mogollon. The lady at the store and I got to talking about the old mine. She showed me some pictures she had of the old town of Mogollon up the ridge. She said it was private property but the owner was Canadian and hadn’t been there in years. She takes pictures of it and told me how to get there.
Signs. I don’t see no signs.
The old Powder House.
This is the old gold and silver mining town of Mogollon. The Fanny Mine closed in the late 1940’s and slowly the town was abandoned.
Its also a little eerie walking around here also.
Slowly melting away.
I noticed some newspapers from the 1940’s and 50’s. Also I found some from the 1970 when some hippies had lived up here.
The Little Fanny Mine.
Looking down the mine shaft.
Old conveyor belt with scoops for moving crushed ore.
Some of the 1800’s mine shafts
Shed of stored core drill samples.
Well as you can see I spent most of the afternoon here.
And up the hill from the mine was the old cemetery.
Mogollon Historic District today
And back in the 1940’s
The Little Fanny Mine
Aldo Leopold Vista of the Gila National Forest
IDIOPATH2018 