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| Walking tour of Pinal City and Perlite Mines, AZ | |
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| | Walking tour of Pinal City and Perlite Mines, AZ | | | |
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Walking tour of Pinal City and Perlite Mines, AZ
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| Hiking | 3.00 Miles |
250 AEG |
| | Hiking | 3.00 Miles | 3 Hrs | | 1.50 mph |
| 250 ft AEG | 1 Hour Break | | | |
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| partners | | A little bit of history, a little bit of hiking and a little bit of mining, add some friends and you've got the makings of a great day. I've been wanting to get back to Pinal City for more than a year now and with the weather being so great, this would be the day for my return.
Haven't been out with Howard (azwhitewing) for a long time so he jumped at the opportunity to get out again when I asked. So it was Howard, Mike (minermike), Dave (from our park) and me. Because there was no reason to start early, we left home around 0830 and arrived in Pinal City around 0900 and got geared up. There was only a couple of vehicles parked here so we pretty much had the area to ourselves.
We spent some time evaluating some maps that I had gotten and hiked up to the top of a small hill where we could see where the town once sat. Main Street with it's banks, stores, saloons, hotels and other buildings was right below us, the King Mill where the Silver bearing ore was crushed was just off to our right on a rocky outcropping above Queen Creek and Picketpost Mountain was a short distance off beyond a ridge. With a little imagination and a time warp, it all came together and there we were in 1891 Pinal City.
With maps in hand we moved around the ghost town, looking for numbered posts that translated to specific locations and points of interest on our maps and soon we were mingling with the townsfolk who had once worked and lived in the bustling mining city. Not much left of the foundations anymore, some are no more than a rock lined hole in the ground where a home had sat or maybe it was a barber shop.
Up on top of the hill, not too far from Highway 60, is an area of volcanic outcropping known as "tuff" where the tracks of the haul wagons are permanently etched as much as 12 inches into its surface. The heavy ore wagons were pulled by a team of 20 mules and in places you can see where the mules, over the years, left their own hoof prints embedded into the surface between the wheel tracks. Looking beyond the haul road to the Northeast was the location of the once great Silver King Mine a short three miles away.
We pocketed our maps, bid farewell to the townsite, crossed a flowing Queen Creek and headed uphill to the Perlite Mines where we should be able to chip a few Apache Tears from the sides of the exposed Perlite. A hammer and cold chisel are the only tools needed for this mining as we look for a shiny black dot among the stark white background. Once found, it was just a matter of chipping away the white rock until the black "tear" fell out. It's pretty easy and we soon had a pocket full of assorted size Apache Tears for our efforts 
With the noon hour approaching, we wrapped up our tour of the ghost town and the mines and headed into Superior to find a watering hole with some food. We found a great "hole-in-the-wall" on the main drag called "Porters" with a good menu, cold beer and a covered patio alongside. If you visit Porters, be sure to try their homemade Salsa, it's got a pleasant "bite" to it that's sure to please 
Well fed and thirst quenched we opted to make a trip out to the old pioneer's cemetery where Mattie Earp is buried. Since I had been here only a few weeks prior, I had the route and location still fresh in my memory cells so I took the guys for a trip through the desert brush along a washed out trail that ended at the gate to the cemetery. We paid our respects to Mattie and made a quick tour of the other graves then headed back to Apache Junction.
What a fun way to spend the day, we mined for gems, toured a ghost town and visited a century old cemetery.... that should hold me for another year  |
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Wildflowers Observation Light
The bright orange Globe Mallow are showing up in numbers now, still hoping for the Poppies though. |
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| On every trip into the Superstitions, I find another Gold Mine. Today the mine was filled with Memories. I can not wait for the next trip. |
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