Sunday, November 24, 2013

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.



3 comments:

  1. Hello Devon,

    I truly enjoy your blog. I run the high adventure program for a scout troop in NM and we try to get to the Aldo at least every other year. We were in the fire last year!

    I know that this is not the most private way of doing this but I am hoping to communicate with you regarding some ideas for future extended treks in Southern NM for our kids.

    I am hesitant to publish my phone number but you can reach me at the google address and I would be happy to send you better contact info.

    Thanks again for your blog!

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  2. I'm happy communicate with you further just send me some sort of email address.

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  3. Thanks Devon,

    You can reach me at info@vertikoff.com or at vertikoff@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete