Friday morning Allison and I got out for a nice long walk. Once back, we both packed lunches and got ready to head out for the rest of the day on our 4-wheelers exploring and doing a little more geocaching.
While I was making our lunch, Steve got his drone out for some 360 degree shots of the area here. Unfortunately at our current location at the time of this blog posting we don't have sufficient WIFI to load it on the blog so we'll post it at a later date.
It was 11:00 when we were ready to hit the trails. I took another Relive video...Wickenburg
Hunting for a geocache...
Found the geocache...
The rest of us waited down below...
He found it!
And more geocaches....
Amazing how birds can build nests in Cholla
Wow...what a view! So much greener than the area around Quartzsite...
This abandoned settlement nestled into the breathtaking landscape of the Sonoran Desert, was established in 1863 and developed to meet the needs of Arizona's most successful gold mine. Vulture City’s population quickly rose to 5,000 residents. From 1863 to 1942, the mine produced 340,000 ounces of gold and 260,000 ounces of silver and has been credited with founding the town of Wickenburg. This rise to fame came as swiftly as its fall and in 1942 the War Production Board ordered the closing of all non-essential mines to ensure that resources were focused on the war effort. The closing of the mine determined the fate of Vulture City and the town was abandoned shortly thereafter.
Earl is heading up this hill in search of another geocache...
If interested check out Steve's GoPro photo album...Wickenburg Ride
We were back just after 4:30...the trails around Wickenburg are great and it's such a beautiful area!
After cleaning up, we ended the day with happy hour and dinner at Earl and Allison's.
Saturday (Mar. 12) morning, Steve and I drove to Vulture City Ghost Town...arriving at 10:00 when it opened.
Vulture Mine History- Fact and Fiction
Some of the old structures and machinery have been relocated from other areas on the property and reassembled, while others were rebuilt. Still under reassembly is the building that houses the engine from a 1917 submarine that was used to power the town...
Our tour guide...an interesting fellow. He and another guy started rebuilding Vulture City in 2017. We kept our distance indoors from others on the tour so missed some of his tour talk. Steve also went back to the beginning after the tour was over to take most of his photos...
Drill...
Upper photo left...
Upper photo center...
Upper photo right...
Active mining still going on next door. Our tour guide said that in a bad month they take out no less than $200,000 a month in gold. Vulture City is owned by a couple of Canadians but we're not sure if they are involved with the current mine...
An interesting outhouse...
Apparently some of the buildings are haunted. Pictures on the wall are from several different paranormal shows that have been shot here...
This structure covers a mine shaft...
They've placed 6 lights leading down the shaft, each spaced 10 feet apart. The sixth light is blocked from view in our photo...
The large building is the Assay Building. Apparently three men died in this building. One from an accidental fall into a pit, a murder, and a suicide. Our tour guide said he had seen an apparition of a man in this building. Going through old records and photos he showed our group a picture he found of the man he saw, wearing the same cloths...Hmmm!
Rebuilt from this...
Bullion Storage Room Vault Underground gold and silver bars stored here before being shipped out...
Looking down into the vault. As a joke our tour guide had buried a skeleton here then asked his helper to dig out the vault which freaked him out when he unearthed the skeleton...LOL!
Steve had me stand under the Brothel sign...LOL!
Bunkhouse. A couple of the rooms are used for weddings...
Grooms room...
Brides room. The tour guide said he's surprised nothings been broken here because the women are wilder than the men!
Kitchen - Bar
They don't have a permit to prepare food here so caterers come in when functions are held...
Well that was a very interesting visit and well worth it if you're in the area!
They also hold weddings here...
Pictured on the bar wall Vulture City when 5000 people lived here...
This building was moved to Wickenburg, then years later moved back and actually consists of three separate structures and if Steve remembers correctly was the mortician's house...
There was a roping event on at the rodeo grounds across the street this weekend so it was very busy...lots of people, horses and horses-trailers. Steve took his drone up and captured this picture but being late in the day the events were over for the day.
Sunday (Mar. 13) I tagged along with Earl and Allison to the laundromat...so exciting, I know, but it has to be done. After coming home to put laundry away, I headed off with them again...this time to do some grocery shopping.
So that was how my morning was spent. Steve was also busy...he loaded the quads back into the truck and took care of a bunch of chores in preparation for leaving tomorrow morning.
With the work done, after lunch we joined Earl and Allison for a drive around the area in their truck. They wanted to check out trail access on the other side of Wickenburg. We ended up taking some gravel roads up into the mountains that were better suited to 4-wheelers!
Beautiful area though. On our last ride we tried to find access to the Hassayampa River which is mostly a dry riverbed. The area has changed and we had come across some signage that made us think we couldn't continue on so we turned around. Today we drove past those signs and found the staging area...dang, we will have to wait for a return visit. We rode it 10 years go and it has some neat canyons. That's the Hassayampa in the distance...
And that ends our week in Wickenburg. We definitely will not wait another 10 years to return! We love the trails and scenery here!
Tomorrow we start our slow journey north....
Wickenburg and Vulture Mine are cool places. Take it easy heading back!
ReplyDeleteTen years was way too long not to revisit Wickenburg. Safe travels to you guys as well.
DeleteWow, Vulture City sure looks interesting! So nice that they are taking the time to restore it and give tours. I think I could spend an entire day there just looking at the old mining equipment, stores, homes and other buildings. You guys sure know how to do it right, taking your time and enjoying yourselves on your trek north.
ReplyDeleteThe restoration of Vulture City is a huge monumental task when you see what they’ve had to deal with from the before and after photos. It’s very well done. 5 days of nonstop driving to get back home is no fun so thought we would get back to some exploration. 😉
ReplyDeleteYou should almost be tucked into Peace Arch by the time you see this. Welcome back! Wickenburg looks like a fun area to explore, the old mining town looks really cool. Just reading the comment above, careful when you say 5 days "nonstop" driving to the Nelson's!!! They do Oregon to South Dakota as day 1 lol. Cheers guys.
ReplyDeleteWe are! Thanks.
DeleteWickenburg is a great town and the surrounding area is beautiful, well worth checking it out!