Dilapidated Stone House Hike

From my Prius abode I can see the mountains to the east and talking to my neighbor HDR, who pans for gold, I am told of an old stone house that is falling down in their mountains.

I  am more than up for a hike and after doing some work on the college course in the morning.  I have a course starting next week.  I head out on my adventure about 1:30 to find this stone house.

After getting off the well maintained BLM road HDR told me to take this road to the mountains.

I meet two hikers coming out as I'm headed in but we only exchange a hello.

Some distance up the road closer to a canyon I come across this claim sign.  I will see others sling my way.

These are not no trespassing signs as this is BLM land and I can stil access, I just can't prospect as someone has a filed claim here.

I continue up the road and pass other similar signs and a number of four-wheelers doing their thing.

I end up in a boxed canyon and still no stone house.  I was starting to think this road went over the saddle in front of me.

Finally I come over this rise and I come across the stone house.

Without roof the house is still appealing with sturdy stone walls that have stood the test of time.  I conger that this was a prospecting house in the past and think about the hard life someone had.  This area is still prospected for gold.

Some decay has occurred due to the weather and other because of people.

Framed windows from the inside tell of life that once walked these dirt floors.

This window would have noted the arrival of travelers to this box canyon house in a time before Arazona was a state.

The back wall in rubble opens up the living area that offered a home.

This teddy bear cholla was beautiful in this light yellow color.

The whole slope was covered with the beautiful cholla.

This strong saguaro stood strong along the mining road with the mountain behind.

I only used the AllTrails app for my return trip.  At just under 7 miles and close to 2.5 hours round trip with over 500 ft elevation change it was a good workout and a great scenic treat all in one.  

It wasn't even on the Roadside America Oddities App.

I park next to this saguaro at night at the RTR.  You can see I'm not sick of the sunsets.

Brent

macaloney@hotmail.com