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| | Brown Canyon Pomona Mine, AZ | | | |
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Brown Canyon Pomona Mine, AZ
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| Hiking | 12.20 Miles |
3,622 AEG |
| | Hiking | 12.20 Miles | 7 Hrs 17 Mns | | 2.26 mph |
| 3,622 ft AEG | 1 Hour 53 Mns Break | 15 LBS Pack | | |
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| no partners | | Two more trails that I haven’t been on yet, Brown Canyon and the Pomona Mine Trail. I started this hike at the Brown Ranch which is a restored ranch open to the public. The trail starts at the ranch and heads up Brown Canyon. This canyon is another riparian area that birders like, it is not as crowded as Ramsey Canyon and there is no fee. The first 2 miles to the junction with the Pomona Mine trail are quite pleasant. You will pass by a grave site for Henderson (I believe that’s right, had a hard time reading the marker) and some historic home sites. There is also an old cast iron stove in dire need of maintenance and other odd kitchen piece parts.
At 2 miles in I took the Pomona Mine Trail. This is a steep Trail, follows an old jeep trail for the first 1.1 miles where the trail leaves the road. The road continues on another .2 miles to the lower Pomona Mine. I did not go to the lower mine mainly because I was unaware that it was there. I will have to go back to visit this area again because from what I have seen this is a little more interesting than the upper mine. Where the trail leaves the road it starts getting really steep. It was a steep climb up so far but this is steep on steroids, any steeper and it would be a cliff. Actually it is about 45 degrees at the worst part but the lose rock and dirt made it hard walking. I was on hand and feet for some portions. At one point I thought of throwing in the towel but when I looked at my GPS it was just a quarter inch away, I wasn’t going to let it beat me. Once at the mine you realize it was worth every gasp for air and drop of sweat to get here. There are great views mainly to the east. Sierra Vista Looks like it is straight down from where you are. The Tram wire that goes from the lower mine to the ridge 120 feet higher up is still suspended above you at this point. One large piece of equipment that looks like a drive for the tram is also still up here. I did not go to the saddle above which is another 120 feet up but there is more equipment up there. The Tram cable is also tethered up there. This is well worth the trip, might be a good hangover cure. The trip down to where the trail left the old jeep trail was as slow going down as it was coming up. The loose rock and dirt made the going slow. You wouldn’t want to fall here; it isn’t a cliff you would fall over but a steep jagged rocky slope. By the time you got to the bottom of the slope you would probably think it would have been better if it were a cliff. This was a great side trip to the Brown Canyon Trail.
I continued on the Brown Canyon Trail that eventually crosses a ridge and drops into Ramsey Canyon. The Brown Canyon Trail would be worth doing even without the side trip up to Pomona Mine, very scenic Canyon. Once in Ramsey Canyon I had the option of returning on the Brown Canyon Trail or taking the Ramsey back to where I started. I chose to go down Ramsey. What more can be said about Ramsey Canyon, it is just amazing at least the portion before you get to the Nature conservancy part. Not bad mouthing the conservancy because they did an excellent job preserving the canyon but it is just so touristy. Ramsey creek was running and the scenery so captivating that I was lost in picture taking and sightseeing. I literally did get lost (I know how do you get lost in a canyon? Maybe I should say I was a might bit confused for a while). I continued down the canyon looking and taking pictures and missed the trail where it heads uphill to avoid a narrowing of the canyon. I got down about a quarter of a mile where the trail got hard to follow and ended up at an impassable choke point without getting wet. Something was wrong I don’t remember the trail being like this. I came out of my sightseeing daze and remembered that the trail heads uphill to avoid this narrowing. I back tracked to get back on trail. Not sorry I made that mistake though. The rest of the trip was uneventful. The Ramsey Canyon Park is closed on Monday and Tuesday so I passed on through. Not sure if there is a fee for passing through here. I headed down the Paved Road and back to the Brown Ranch.
Great hike with perfect weather. The hike up to Pomona Mine took a lot out of me, I think without that little excursion this would be a very pleasant in and back hike or a loop like I did here. After today’s hike I don’t feel guilty at all if I stop and down 2000 calories of BBQ ribs and all the fixens. Come to think of it I very seldom feel guilty about doing that. |
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