A Big Copper Mine and the Coronado Scenic Byway

Today I drove the Sammy over to the nearby towns of Clifton and Morenci.  After picking up some hardware at the ACE hardware store; I cruised on over to the town of Morenci to check out the Freeport-McMoran Morenci Mining Operation.

You can see quite a bit of this large enterprise, since US 191 runs right by it!

There were of course, huge dump trucks ferrying ore to be processed.  Some stats later on these monsters, for now, just a picture:

Yep, the highway crosses through the mining company's property apparently.

I stopped at the side of the highway, it was very lightly traveled today, and took pictures as the scene caught my eye or not:

At the public overlook provided by the mining company, you can get information and a view of the big open pit that is being mined for copper.

The best views of the mine turned out to be from the Conoco Gas Station near Clifton.

Hey wait, what are those animals at center bottom of the picture above?

Bighorn Sheep!

North on US 191, away from the mine and Morenci, one starts enjoying the twists and turns of the Coronado Trail Scenic Byway.  Very curvy and scenic though also heavily forested in the majority so not too many pics taken.  I think it would be an enjoyable ride with a motorcycle.

The "mountain" at far left is the mine

Returning back to Morenci and from there to Clifton after getting gas, I stopped the Sammy in the town's "Historic District".  It seems the place is a bit dilapidated and in need of restoration!

One of the tourist attractions is the old town jail.  It was blasted out of the living rock.  You can go inside and check out the cells.  Not exactly great.

The jail's sole window for the prisoners.

The entry into the subterranean cells

Here's an outside view of the jail, with a narrow gauge steam engine parked outside.  Talk about teeny, just look how close it is to the Sammy in size!

I tried to find Gillard Hot Springs which is located on BLM land near the campground.  I apparently found it according to Google Maps but no hot springs!  It was all just a dry creek bed.  Oh well.  I drove over 4 miles over some rough/rocky and sometimes semi-technical "trails" to find this out.  Lucky the Sammy has 4WD and high clearance, it was needed at times!

Yagi, my TW200, would not have been a suitable steed.  Lots of deep sand/pea-sized gravel in the dry creek beds that formed part of the "road".

Tonight's alpenglow was "ok"