20201112 - 20201116 Clifton Arizona

 North Clifton RV Park, Clifton, AZ - 12 November 2020

Good job of backing into that tight space. Watch out for the tree limbs. This is a City of Clifton RV Park along the San Francisco River. 

We could see these Desert Big Horn Sheep as we looked out our door and across the river. 

In a group of 20 individuals this male seemed to be the dominant animal. We were told the entire herd routinely wanders right through the campgrounds, but we only saw them up on the cliffside. There are two bridges in town they can use to access the slopes across the river where we saw them.  

3 Males chasing a female.  We won't show the "R" rated picture. The male on the right was the chosen one. 

Hike around our campground area. The area is home to several copper mines, all but one having closed. The Morenci Mine is still in operation, representing one of the largest copper reserves in the United States and the world with an estimates 3.2 billion tons of ore.

I'm glad we didn't have to cross this one-lane bridge with our RV. It could handle our weight but the width would be questionable and it is obviously too short. The Morenci Mine keeps Corporate housing in Clifton for use by visiting executive from the Sumitomo Group which owns the mine. The two pictures on the right is a retired mining shovel. The Morenci mine, like many in Arizona, is an open pit mine.  

Clifton Cliff Jail. Blasted from living rock in1879. Local tradition says the first inmate, in 1881, was the miner who built the jail. He went to the nearby bar, got drunk and fired off a couple shots from his revolver. The bar owner was a deputy sheriff who arrested him and took him to the new jail. The jail is below grade of the town so during the flood of 1891 the prisoners had to be rescued through a ventilation window. Closed due to Covid.

Clifton visitors center was originally the train depot. Closed due to Covid.

 

A few more sights around our campground. 

 Catwalk Recreation Area, Glenwood, NM - 13 November 2020

A daytrip back to New Mexico. Entrance to Catwalk Recreation Area which began, as many places in the southwest, as a mining area. The name refers to the original wooden plank-board walkway placed atop the steel pipe that was used to bring water to the ore processing plant, ruins of which can still be seen near the parking area. 

Part of the Gila National Forest

Carol pointing out some of the original anchors for the pipeline. 
In 1889 silver and gold was discovered in these mountains. The town of Graham was founded in the mountains, and water was needed to operate electric generators. It came from a pipeline reaching up into the canyon, and was held onto the rock walls of the canyon with timbers and iron bars that were in constant need of maintenance. Hence the need for the wooden walkway.

Workmen dubbed it the Catwalk. Today it is the site of the one-mile Catwalk National Recreation Trail, a universal access walking trail which follows the route of the old pipeline, clinging dramatically to the side of Whitewater Canyon above Whitewater Creek.

Remnants of the 18 inch pipeline which replaced the original 4 inch pipe. Pipe used in the water line was delivered to the site on wagons drawn by teams of up to 40 horses. This is very rugged terrain with switchback roads and rising and falling elevation. On our way back home, we passed a sign for a local hot springs but we were loosing our light and needed to get out of the back country before dark. 

A couple of the birds which flit around the rocks and water. A small Canyon wren and the always entertaining American dipper that is America's only aquatic songbird. It catches food along the stream bed by swimming and walking on the bottom. 

 North Clifton RV Park, Clifton, AZ - 15 November 2020

Washing the truck, what fun! 

North Clifton RV Park, Clifton, AZ - 16 November 2020

Crossing one of the bridges over the San Fransisco River we were walking the dogs down the road and suddenly came upon this Shrine. It was very well built and maintained but had no identifying plaque. We asked the Campground manager who said it was built by the families of the townspeople who had been killed during the flood of 1983. The waters of the River sped through town at 90,000 cubic feet per second.Over 700 homes were destroyed. It wasn't until 1994 that floodgates were built and installed.