Humboldt Mountain Area- Gila National Forest

Access being limited by small private ranches and old mining claims, this is a little visited corner of the Gila, at least by hikers and tourists. We were staying at a  ranch house  that sits on the  flank of Humboldt Mountain( which is really more of a hill). The property borders the national forest and on Sunday morning(11/10/13) we set out to explore. The old road to the northwest is very difficult to see past the cattle trough, and we ended up going through the fence even though we found the  un- gated opening on the return trip. We climbed up through the brush to some tailings piles and then made our way up to the old mine road. We continued on the old road, first north, and then east until we could see an old reclaimed mine to the north and stood on top of another one.  Making our way back, we found the road dead-ended at the old Homestake Mine on the southwest side of Humboldt Mountain.  We found many bits  and pieces of turquoise- like stones as we searched around the dumps of the mine. The mine tunnels themselves were fenced off. At the mine we had views to the house, the Chino Mine and on to the Tyrone Mine and the Big Burro Mountains.  To the north we could see the Twin Sisters Peaks and the higher  peaks of the Pinos Altos Range. It was a very pleasant walk amongst the pinon and juniper hills on a warm fall morning.