Gold Butte: Twin Point and Grand Gulch Mine.
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We have been trying to find a way to get to get to Grand Gulch Mine and have either found impassible trails or not enough time, finally we made it all the way to the mine.
Best route that I can find in and out is starting from St George, take River Rd south, which turns into AZ 5, turn right onto AZ 103, turn right onto BLM1002, follow BLM1002 all the way to the mine and take the same route out.
Saw this rust bucket peaking thorough the brush approximately 50ft off the road, had to investigate.
Once again I have no idea what make or model this is, if you identify it I will give you credit.
This truck is 1/4mile from the border of Grand Canyon Parashant national monument and Grand Canyon National Park.
So it rained while we were out there and all the signs said that these trails should not be attempted in the rain or within 24 hours of the rain due to them being impassible. We made it, over 100 miles of 1-6" deep mud, Patagonia MTs had no issues in 2wd high.
Onto Twin Point where we thought about camping but the road was too close to the edge of the Grand Canyon and we didn't want to take a chance with the boys falling over the edge.
The road is five feet from the edge at some places.
Wifey would not let me get the truck close to the edge for a picture.
Grand Gulch Mine was the biggest and most profitable copper mine in Arizona and was operational during WWI and WWII, operations stopped due to the low demand and low price of copper as well as extensive transportation costs involved in getting it to the refineries.
Front side of the three room bunk house.
Powder room, is approximately 1/5 mile from the strip mine and at a safe distance fro the two runway airstrip. great place to keep explosives.
Smelter chimney has three levels and is 50-60ft tall.
Sub with the smelter chimney in the background.
Hoppers a a foundation of a building long gone.
Once of the better preserved buildings.
Ore trucks, the mining operation just stopped and everyone left, this is how the camp looked on it's last day.
Due to the remote location and difficult access the trucks are relatively well preserved in the harsh desert environment.
Front truck.
Kids spent nearly an hour driving the big trucks.
They could get into the drivers seat but could not get out, light breeze and shade made for some free time for me to explore the buildings next to the trucks uninterrupted. We returned home the same way we came in. Took us just under three hours of actual driving to cover 125 miles from St George to Twin Point to Grand Gulch Mine and a little under two hours to drive 84 miles back to St George.
We covered over 210 miles and still had enough gas to make it back to Vegas (120 miles). Any other vehicle would have to have brought extra gas and needed to use 4x4 to get up some of the 24" or higher washed outs ledges. Great trip, the weather was a hit or miss with clouds and rain and sunshine. Was not able to get any timelapse videos of Twin Point, but will be back in a few weeks to timelapse BLM1002 to Grand Gulch Mine, Twin Point Rd and Kelly Point Road.
Stay tuned for more shenanigans!
