Exploring Arizona- abandoned, wrecked cars & trucks, old hiways, etc

Hey it's great in the desert. All you need is a roll of duct tape. Get into a cactus, put duct tape over the spot and rip it off and out comes the stickers.
Wish I could do what you guys are doing but I don't have enough gas.
Mike

 

Yes, I bought the last GTO out of that yard, a '67, in 1995. My new yard is not far from there. Nice country and looking forward to living up there permantently.

 

Awesome thread

 

Aw damn, I'm sorry that I couldn't be on yesterdays excursion! I got sick last week with this damn cold/flue/black plague thing and am so far behind that I just couldn't justify thinking about the day off. Not to mention not wanting to infect everybody else... Still thinking about burning all possesions! I did think about you guys while I was punchin' stuff yesterday, though, wondering what you found.

Is that mine on the slope the one you can see from the hiway on the opposite slope of the canyon right before you start to drop down?

Looks like good time was had by all.

 

Now onto creepy crawlies! The real secret is that we only let those out when we see a bunch of folks either swimming in a pool on a 70 degree day, or wearing shorts in Janurary... That's how we know you aint from around here! Seriously, killer bugs and plants are out there, but once you kinda know where they hang out you get used to expecting them.
I pulled a brake drum off of a Mustang II at a wrecking yard last Monday, and came face to face with a Black Widow that was abou the size of my schnauser. I kid you not it was wearing a name tag... A sane person would screamed like a 12 year old girl and ran, I simply squished it between one of the brake shoes and my thumb. Hot Rod Ron wasn't freaked out either, 'cause we both knew it would be there.

As far as cactus, generally, if you leave them alone, they leave you alone. Jumping Cholla? Steer way clear, right Alex?! It actually works on static electricity just like that dryer sheet you don't see stuck to back of your dark pants until you stand up in front of 50 high level people to give your report later that morning.

Endlessearth's snake is another deal altogether. He lives in the most beautiful section of what can be considered the valley, about 30 miles north of my house in down town Phoenix. Thing is, his house and surrounding developement wasn't there 5 years ago, and the local wild life still hasn't figured out that all this new stuff isn't just cool hunting grounds or a place to sleep. When I was a kid growing up about about 7 miles south of where he is now, (30 years ago the end of civilization, I might add) his neighborhood was still open range for several working cattle ranches. So the critters are just adjusting to a new habitat. The real unsung hero in the deal is mrs. Endlessearth, who along with Napolean the beagle went to make coffee that morning and found the snake crawling out of the cabinet!

 

Not sure if you are asking about the building or the mines themselves.
You can see this building from the bridge.
You cannot see the mines we explored from the bridge but, you can see several others.

Like last time, we ran out of daylight so, will be planning another trip to this area soon. Everyweekend in March if full with car stuff so, unless we wait until April, will have to do it again on a weekday.
It was a cool wintry day, we did find more 20's-30's tin too.

I prefer to do these trips in the winter where there is less of an issue with snakes.
will be posting more pics too.

 

The tin shed is visible from the other side of the canyon. The tunnel pictures are of the mine above Mule Hoof Bend. There are several more mines in the area but just didnt have the time to check them all out. Saving them for another day!!! Ya missed a great trip!!

 

Week days are generally no problem for me... kinda nice to be my own boss - at least until the business owns me, or Miss Judy gets home!

 

great thread

 

Man, what a trip! It was great hanging out with Applekrate, Mechanickeith, and the other Arizona guys.
Here's PhatRat, from Michigan, driving the project car we found in the canyon yesterday.

 

That hike looked like a ton of fun. I definately vote for a weekend if you're going out again. I'd make the drive to go check stuff out!

 

Like many others i love this thread. Many years ago i travelled thru Salt River Canyon so this brings back nice memories. Thanks Applekrate and all others contributing. Makes me wanna go back!

 

Great thread! My parents are from AZ (Joseph City and Snowflake) my dad's old 36 Plymouth is out there somewhere...

I have to confess, when I was a small child I would shoot anything I could find out in the desert, now I cringe when I see those cars riddled with bulletholes.

 

Two words: pet mongoose!!!!!!

 

Guys,

I am new to the area and would love to meet up with you to do some exploring.

Please send me a PM next time you do it on a weekend ( gotta work during the week).

Thanks,
Tex

 

Pete, we could have done without that pic of me you posted! Steve, if you thought it was a cool wintry day yesterday be glad we weren't up there today. My wife and I went back to Sedona by way of Globe, Showlow and Payson today. It was winter with slick roads in places. Between the canyon and Showlow we had visibility of only about 100 yrds at times. Didn't run out of snow on the ground until around Strawberry. I'll email you some pics I took up there today. Thanks guys for the great camaraderie and an excellent time. Keep in touch and if you're still doing these outings the next time I'm out here I would love to go again.

 

Man, I wish I lived closer to Arizona.

 

Great pics!

 

Our trip this week started with a good breakfast at the IHOP at Val Vista and Baseline. Then, we headed to revisit the Claypool tunnel. Of the 6 of us on this trip, only Todd and I had already been there.
Sadly, we found barricades placed on both ends of the tunnel. Of course, it was easy to go under them but, i can only guess it will not be long before they put up fencing, etc to keep people out for good.



Not sure what the real threat is safety wise but, if you wish to see this old hiway tunnel, I suggest you do it pronto as it looks like the days to be able to do this are numbered .

Here is some old tin I spotted yesterday. 4 of us went down to look it over and took many pics. late 20s to mid 30s is our best guess.







This is part of the old hwy 60 west of the Claypool tunnel built in the 1920s.

 

I found an old fender like that out near Bagdad, California. It was dumped in a ditch with some other old tin. I could only fit the fender in the car. When I took autobody class at the local college I worked on the fender. Quite often I used a 5lb sledge to move the metal. Took alot of work but today it is fairly straight and now useable. Don't know what it goes to but I thought it was cool that I saved what was pretty much useless.

Great find!

 

There's so much spectacular country down there, I hope you all keep posting , I love it

 

This is so hard for all of us in the group!! Every time we go out we find so much neet stuff & other areas we want to search. There just is not enough time in the day to take it all in!!! I have been doing a lot of Google Earth searching & have located a bunch of areas in & around the Salt River canyon that looks interesting. Am going to mark them on a map & take with on the next outing!!

 

The hood you found on Monday is a '28 '29 Ford. The fender is a '22- '25 Ford "T" coupe right rear.

 

Love the pic,s guy,s. Hope to spend nxt winter down there and join you on a tour. thanks again;

 

We knew the hood was a Model A, the cowl, twisted drivers door and some body parts was a few yards further down the mountain hillside. A few pieces would be salvageable but getting them back up the mountain would be extremely difficult if not impossible. We're not just talking steep climb here we're talking about steep rock/boulder climbing

 

The pictures can be decieving!!!! The areas we are going to take sometimes an hour to get down to & MUCH longer to get back out. Let alone trying to carry tools with us or lug something back out. With a bum shoulder, there have been several places I just stayed up top. Dont want to risk getting hurt in the bottom of a ravine somewhere & end up on the 10 oclock news being carried out in a chopper gurney!!!

 

Oh absatively understood! Your talking to a guy that hiked the back portion of a '24 "T" touring up a slope near Jerome! Just that kinda dumb sometimes... Still tyin' to figure out how to get a semi complete early Dodge touring out of the same near shear ravine!!!

 

Some of what Keith refers to as a ravine would IMHO be more aptly called a canyon. LOL

 

There's gotta be a hamber with a helicopter around AZ somewhere...

 

Whens the next outing? And is there a nonformal meeting place for the group to gather in the mornings?