In The Desert
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Clanton Hills-Hyder, Arizona
Northeast of Dateland and I -8
After leaving Hyder and turning left onto 571 st. if you look to the right (East) you'll see Montezuma's Head. It's his head and he's laying down looking at the sky. Seen in the photo at the right. This is visible for quite a ways off. It's name on the topos is Montezuma's Head.
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This is an active Maps.google Satellite Map. You can zoom / out and change the formats to Map or Terrain; drag the map to scroll. Try it! Shown here is Clanton Hills.
On the last stretch of paved road you'll come to a metal roofed building missing the walls. It has a nice concrete floor that at one time was for a vineyard that no longer exists here. The plants are all dead now. Right up the road however is a flourishing Jojoba bean plantation. Inside the metel roofed building are these big 6 ft. tall bags of Jojoba Cake. It's used in cosmetics and shampoo.
Here's a look at one of the mountains in the Picacho Hills. Now this area may be off limits now as the state has requested permits be bought for entry into State Trust Lands. There is a checkerboard of State Trust Lands in this area. So educate youself and don't get into trouble. We're not condoning access into this area.
Here's few pieces of obsidian, and a piece of chert that are flakes from the making of arrows, knives, and maybe spear points that we found in the area -and left exactly as we found them! Obsidian is not native to this area, so they had to travel quit a distance to acquire it.
And here's a real find. Pottery sherds from a Hohokam encampment that was at one time quite big. I counted at least 12 stone circles for houses. We found over 300 sherds in this area and left them there exactly as we found them --please do the same if you find this area -- it's not located on th Garmin GPS topo track.
Something else neat we found. There are other places where you can find desert roses but this is the first place where we found them in the rock matrix like this.
Desert Roses, also called Calcedoney are more than plentiful here. I mean acres of them laying on top of the ground. So many it was hard to find a specimen that you wanted to keep. You'd find one then find another nicer one. These are thicker then most that you find in other areas.
As you progress on this trip you'll have to look closely for this marker alone side of the road. One side is for Maricopa County and the other is for Yuma County. This is the dividing line and was set in place in 1918! It's still here.
Here's a friend going down into a mine shaft. He didn't go far and doing this is not recommended! Mine shafts are dangerous and should be regarded that way. Be safe, stay out! This is at the Big M Mine in the Clanton Hills area. This area is full of old mines prospects.
Here's something that we were wondering about. The dark square spot on the far hill. It's a water hole constructed by the Game & Fish Dept. for sheep and deer. They really went to a lot of trouble to construct this so the animals would have a supply of water during dry spells. Nice! We've seen quite a few deer and sheep in this area too. None close enough for a photo though.
A lot of nice over looks in this area as well. Keep your camera handy as you never know what sites, or animals will pop up here. This is a neat trip and shouldn't be over looked. There's a lot more here and to the East of here. Like Yellow Medicine Wash, look that one up on your topo map. Have fun....
