Exploring - Mountains and Ghost towns

When its too windy to fish (not too cold) we've been doing some day trips to the mountains nearby. We've driven into the Gila National

Forest up in the mountains and driven in the foothills toward the Black Range mountains.

There's gold in them there hills. We've been checking out the BLM maps and they show where gold has been found. You can pan for gold on public lands -- can't wait to try it -- what the heck!

The top left picture is a ghost town -- population 1 ( a BLM employee) not sure that really counts but the town had one phone and was occupied until the 50's. They mined manganese here. We have driven through many towns that used to have large populations but when the mines played out they went bust. You see old adobe walls and houses made of mud and straw that are really pretty. Not sure how they survive the rainy season. Lots of signs that when it rains -- its a big problem. All the creeks overflow and run across the roads and deposit huge amounts of gravel on the roadways. They have to plow the gravel off the road. There is a good side to this -- in the right areas these are good places to pan for gold.