Exploring the Black Hills Backcountry Byway, Arizona

Today I drove the Sammy from the Owl Creek BLM campground, along the Black Hills Backcountry Byway, to it's southern terminus where it meets with US 191.

It's a packed dirt road, but not too bad or bumpy if you take things slow.  Since the posted speed limit on this byway is 15 mph, easy to do.  Note:  No speed limit signs, the limit is published at the information boards at the beginning of the byway.  

It was sunny and just a slight wind to remind one that it wouldn't get much above 70 degrees today.  Just right conditions for driving or riding.  Since I spent yesterday on Yagi, my TW200, I took the Sammy out for some exercise.  The whole byway is less than 25 miles one way.

Here's a shot of the Sammy at the turnoff for Mesa Tank Road, this is shortly after leaving the campground:

There's several hills to be climbed as one drives along the shelf road that is the byway.  I liked how this telecom tower was situated:

Right across the road from the above building, is the entry to Guthrie Peak Road.  I figured I'd check it out.  It soon turned quite rocky and steep, and I chickened out about 1/2 mile up.  The Sammy did a 10 point turn on the narrow goat trail that was labeled a road and I got her turned around.

That big whitish scar upon the earth in the distance is North America's largest copper mine.  It's the Freeport-McMoran Morenci Mine.  I'm planning on getting a closer look at it, hopefully.

Continuing on the byway, you eventually reach the winding portion of the road as it skirts the last few hills before heading into lower elevations:

Down in the valley, past the hills, I found a nice campsite off the side of the road.  Good signal and easily reachable via VRRV from the southern entrance to the byway.  It's NOT recommended to take an RV or large trailer from the northern entrance!

A few nearby rock formations served as background subjects for the Sammy:

Quite the cactus population on the hillsides.  I don't think it'd be a good idea to wander around in the dark!

Not sure why, but there was a lot of dust/haze in the air today.  It made taking pictures of distant hills and peaks almost impossible:

As I retraced my steps, I got to a nice viewpoint of the telecom tower with a mountain range in the distance:

As I was almost at the campground, I detoured to one of the two picnic sites located right on the banks of the Gila River.  The river's water contributed to the lush trees and vegetation as you can see:

That's about it for today, the rest of the afternoon was spent reading and relaxing, with some picture processing thrown in for good measure.

I think tomorrow will be a relaxation day and then a tour of nearby towns of Clifton and Morenci on Saturday.  I'm debating whether to displace on Sunday or Monday to my next camping destination.