Barry Goldwater Range - Area A

The Trail:

A trail runs through the northern portion of Area A in the Barry Goldwater Range - a free permit is required to be obtained from the Gila Bend Auxiliary Air Force Base. We drove the trail to recover benchmarks, but we saw some interesting sites along the way and found that it drove through a nice section of the Sonoran Desert. A side note - the personnel at the Base indicated the road is frequently used by smugglers at night, so it's recommend to only travel it during the day.

Rating:

1.5

Runs:

Date: 2/6/2009

Suspension: TeraFlex 2.5" Spring Lift, stock tires

Photos:

Start of the trail - not very scenic:

Some of the many washes along the way:

Entering the Range Area A:

The saguaro are starting to pop up:

Scenery:

Along the way we stumbled on Papago Indian Chief Mine (oops, forgot to take pictures of the mine). I think it was a small copper mine. After we looked at the mine (we didn't climb down into the crack), we continued down along the trail and found what was probably the smelter:

Another view:

Close up of the top:

You can see the Jeep on the trail on the right, the furnace toward the middle, and the mine (not visible) to the left:

Back on the trail:

We found Stouts Well which is located alongside a wash:

No water in here right now - plus the windmill is gone:

Further down the road we ran into the remains of Stouts Ranch and another well. No good pictures, but the well still had water and only the foundations of the buildings remain:

Out of the Range and almost the end of the trail: