This week we decide to go somewhere close to Phoenix and the east side is less explored given where we live so there we go. We focus on an area near Florence Junction mostly following the Mineral Road into the wilderness and finding caches and just enjoying the beautiful desert landscapes and wildlife.
The one thing we notice in this area is that there are cows, lots of cows. They are everywhere and we have to be careful to avoid any that are jumping in front of the car or are walking in front of us not caring about the car behind them.
When there are no cows the road is quite smooth and we stop many times to find caches or just explore the area.
On top of one of the many hills we find something interesting, the possible remnants of an Anasazi village. We search around a bit more and we find something even more interesting, lots of petroglyphs.
Some are more recent but most seem to be quite old given the topics depicted, they look quite similar to other ones we have seen previously.
The next major stop is at an abandoned mine. There are quite a few structures and mine shafts here so we have to be careful as we explore the interesting site.
We climb towards the most obvious mine mechanism, it is a lot more impressive from close up and we examine it from all sides.
We then explore some mine shafts, most of them appear to be treasure caves from Indiana Jones movies with traps including rickety supports and cholla strewn on the floor. But there are a few that are stable and we enter and explore for a short distance before moving on.
It is getting late in the day now with the sun starting to set. As we stop to enjoy the views we discover the site of a carnage, a cow killed by something or that died and then was dismembered. Quite scary.
Now it is time to return back home enjoying the beautiful sunset and finding a couple more caches along the way. Overall we really enjoyed the outing and the opportunity to spend a few hours exploring the desert.
