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| Hiking | 4.90 Miles |
1,050 AEG |
| | Hiking | 4.90 Miles | | | |
| 1,050 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | Went on a 4 day car camping trip to the Sierra Ancha to celebrate finishing my tax returns. I started out with two nights near the Bull Canyon Trail Head at the end of FR203A. Lots of great views and plenty of solitude due to it being the middle of the week and the muddy road. I went on a number of short day hikes exploring the area. I had made plans for this hike to upper Deep Creek before leaving home. While exploring the area on Google Earth I had seen what appeared to be the remains of an old road along the canyon wall above Deep Creek about 1.5 miles north of where Deep Creek enters Bull Canyon. An old 1985 Bureau of Mines report on the area mentioned several uranium mines in this area: the Donna Lee Mine on the west face of Deep Creek canyon and the Sue Mine on the south face of Bull Canyon across from where Deep Creek enters the canyon. I plotted an off-trail gps track on Google Earth which avoided as much brush as possible following what appeared to be either old road beds or animal/cow trails to the old Donna Lee mining road. After a night camped at the trail head to the Nordhoff-Hope cliff dwellings, I set out for Bull Canyon Trail Head for the hike to Deep Creek. The upper levels of the Sierra Ancha had a dusting of snow from storms earlier in the week which made for great views. My Google Earth planning paid off leading me across a fairly open grass covered plateau to the Mesa tank, an old corral and from there to the start of the mining road. This amazing road had been blasted out of solid rock for much of its 1 mile length - a feat most likely driven by the Cold War need for uranium in the 1950s.
The views of the canyon along the mining road were spectacular and locating a path which leads to the creek below was a bonus. The area looked like it had few visitors in recent years. However after getting home and reviewing some HAZ member's photos from the area I discovered one that was an almost perfect match to one I had taken in the creek bottom and taken only 12 days before my visit.  It seems like no matter how remote the place is in AZ, someone from HAZ has been there before. |
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