Where Ever You Go...

Where-ever you go, that's where you are. Well. Here I are! The historic old mining ghost town of Stanton, Arizona. The first camping location established by the GPAA. After a grueling, difficult and extremely dangerous day's journey...oh, wait, that was another time. After a sunny day and an easy going trip from Tucson through Phoenix (Surprise!) we arrived in Wickenburg. From there, a gravel road (wicked washboard, but quite passable if undertaken slowly) carried us across the desert landscape to the base of the mountains and the Stanton LDMA Camp. Our mid afternoon arrival left just enough time to pick out a site (dry camping only) and set up camp. Coach opened. Rincon out of the back of the Quigley and covered for the night. Tables and chairs arranged. A few of the mining supplies organized and readied. Then just enough time to take a stroll around town, if you would like to call it that. More on that as time permits. There's a canyon 3 feet in front of us. Putting it in forward instead of reverse when we leave in two weeks would be a monumental problem. Don't worry. I won't! There's a large Saguaro cactus just to our right. A mountain range right behind us and the Potato Patch ( rounded mound of rock where gold nuggets the size of potatoes have been found (but not recently I am told), just over our left shoulder. Seems like a perfectly splendid place to spend Christmas and New Year. There will be time to cover those activities in future postings. This is not JUST a prospecting camp this time of year. It is a celebration of the old west and the mining culture that is attached to it. Our first sunset over the canyon before us was only slightly less than spectacular, but hey! it's a start!

The Road Less Traveled.....
I had a few other shots in the Nikon, but all that bouncing around on the way in to camp, or all that blasted dust we kicked up, rendered the USB cable incapable of service. I figured a way around it after about 6 hours of techno-gyrating, but the pics I had for today in that camera are gone. No biggie. That's why I shoot multiple cameras. Ah, yes, the Gundy redundancy! To the rescue!