We started by going up Route 66, where we knew there would be old gold mines to check out.
Of course we immediately found a rattlesnake. He didn't even warn us of his presence. He just sat and stared at us.
But our persistence paid off, the more we drove around and looked, the more mines we were able to locate. The Route 66 area became a gold mine boom in the mid 1800's, and the holes in the mountains are certainly evidence of that. We found many areas with ruins:
The stone walls were foundations of little homes in the "Gold Road" district. It was neat to see all of them lined up, especially after looking at photographs in the history books showing what they looked like over 100 years ago. I couldn't imagine the hardships of those who came out to look for gold. It's a difficult area; isolated, extreme heat, and back then there were no proper roads!
Some of the mines were closed off, unfortunately.
Down the road we visited a mountainside that has an underground spring seeping out. A small dam was built with rocks at some time to encourage pooling of the spring water. It's about 3 feet deep.
When I peered into the water I just about choked: a jokester had placed a couple of goldfish in there!
We happily encountered some Big Horn Sheep:
And of course there were plenty of wild burros:
On our way back thru to head home we stopped to look around the old mining town of Oatman. The tame burros live there, they hang around begging for food. Gary was getting something out of the cooler in the back of our car and a begging burro immediately wandered over:
Funny little guy.
We went south from there, and discovered many more mines off to the side of the road. We climbed up to take a look, and we were stunned by the 70 degree breeze blowing out of the first one. After investigating, we found that this particular mine shaft went way back into the rock, and then had an enormous hole that reached up to the top of the mountain. The air was cooled as it made its way thru the rock.
The next mine was about 300 yards away, so we walked over. Gary went in first with both our flashlights to check for snakes. As I stood outside waiting, I suddenly heard him yelling. Apparently he'd nearly stepped on a rattler who was hiding among some rocks.
Can you see him? Nope, not really! The way he was hiding was very sneaky. He didn't move, either. We watched from a safe distance, wondering if he was even alive. Finally his tongue flickered and we got our answer. Upon our arrival home I looked up this particular kind of rattler, and they are known for just staying still when they're approached. They will only rattle or strike when they're really being messed with. We left him alone since he was being quite polite with us.
Poor Gary. He came so close to stepping on that deadly snake.
