So, the same day Eric and I climbed Humphrey in Az, we drove over to the Canyon that afternoon. We were tired, but we did manage to poke around some at the rim before retiring to the hotel.
We hadn't done any research, so we just played it by ear. We were both awed by it, and were pretty much just walking around with our mouths hanging open for a while. Here Eric looks like he's ready to try to fly. Don't worry, he didn't really try.
This is a shot of Horseshoe Mesa, from the rim. It looks far away. It is. We only had about 5 hours of daylight left, and toyed with hiking to the bottom, and back.
We would have spent the night and cowboy camped, but we had to get back to Phoenix the next day, early in the afternoon, so an overnighter wasn't in the cards. The mesa is just right of center in the photo above.
We made it to the mesa, but after exploring the area, which was an old mining site, we didn't have time to descend the last 1000 feet to the bottom of the canyon.
This is an old mining house on the mesa. We had lunch and rested here for a while, as we contemplated what it must have been like to live and work down here.
Other than not having a roof, the structure is pretty much intact. In the background you can see the mesa, which is closer than it looks.
This is one of three or four open mine shafts. This one is rather shallow, opening up horizontally into a ten by ten foot room. A perfect base camp, no need for a tent. Another shaft we found went straight down about thirty feet before veering off. Too bad we didn't bring rope!
Endless climbing and scrambling opportunities. We took a ton of photos. Yes, we'll be back. Soon.
This place is calling me to come back again. I'd love to spend at least four days down in the canyon.
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