Bradywgn71

Sign us up for the trail ride. Will bring a side dish of meatballs, cookies of course, and some gifts. Looking forward to this!

I'll take the other storm one (the bottom right in the picture) Thanks Sarah

Interesting article about Swansea. You can read for free using your google account. Swansea, Arizona: The Fortunes and Misfortunes of a Copper Camp https://www.jstor.org/stable/41695597?read-now

The next morning we briefly drove the area to check out the remnants of Camp Bouse. It's amazing to think of how many soldiers were stationed here. We found the HQ for two of the divisions, the chapel, and lots of sidewalks. Group photo HQ for one of the divisions The chapel area The group then exited the area and left via Alamo road Such a fun trip. We had been to Swansea before but found new areas. I could spend a few days hunting around Swansea again in the future. Thanks to @Ladybug for leading the trip, spoiling us with sweets, and providing the history. You make trips so fun even with the occasional off-track portion!

We got to Camp Bouse with some time to setup camp and build a fire ring. We had a lovely sunset and the wind died down so we could have a fire. Full moon rising over the valley The flag at Camp Bouse Very enjoyable evening by the fire. Glad we put this fully out before bed as they were predicting winds. They were right. It sounded like a freight train rolling in and my tent folder over on top of me. The temperatures dropped and got cold fast too. The funny part at 1am was we wanted to move the Jeep to try to block the wind but didn't want to wake anyone. by 130 we gave up and went outside to put the tent away. Upon stepping out we discovered Mike and Karen were also outside with the same idea! They moved their Jeeps and it helped. We tried moving ours but our location the wind was hitting two sides and going under our jeep. So we gave up and packed everything up. Then "slept" upright, since our seats can't fully recline, until 7am.

We had a perfect night for sleeping and warm temps. Next morning we packed up and headed towards Lincoln Ranch. Cooper waiting on us to get going More good views of the mountains on the way over to the ranch Can start to see where the river is in the distance with all the green. Lots of burros in this area. We remarked there were more hoof prints than tire tracks all day Lincoln Ranch There were parts everywhere The main house had thick walls and was so much cooler inside. A real fixer-upper. The commute for groceries is a long one! "Guest House" . Newer construction and not as cool inside. A giant cottonwood tree crashed through the roof too! The worker apartments After checking out the ranch we attempted to find the trail to a nearby slot canyon. Unfortunately the trail was washed out badly and couldn't safely get across the irrigation canal, plus we weren't sure of how overgrown the trail got. Karma waiting on us to walk back while she enjoys the AC We backtracked to the powerline trail to continue on. Karen remembered and old manganese mine so we took a short spur trail over to that We then climbed a very long hill and just when you thought you were done the trail kept going uphill. Nothing challenging but a big elevation gain Then this view of the valley Karen then led us down some skinny washes to reach camp bouse. These were not well used but easy trails. Some new pinstriping for memory sake!

First time tenting for us in almost a year. We did pretty good and didn't forget anything. The full moon rose quickly while we were enjoying the fire. Karen then spoiled us with a cherry cobbler dutch oven and taught me how to make it. That was tasty! Chris and Mike carved the pumpkin and Chris was the winner for this competition. Karen even had a very cool prize for him. Next year I'll bring a pumpkin but I'm still not safe enough with a knife in the wilderness to carve anything!!

From below the powerplant looking back towards the smelter After we checked out a little but more we were all hot and tired and ready for dinner. We drove back to the group site and got setup. Check out this sunset and view from camp. Plus the lone pumpkin ready for carving.

The group checked out the covered mine shafts next to the housing. I was overheated and waiting in the Jeep sucking up that AC We the drove a short distanced and walked to the dust blower/furnance I swear there was another wall up the last time we visited but this is still neat to see the dust collector and smelter. Check out those views

Some highlights from the Swansea trip. The views on the way to the Swansea pump station were beautiful. We dropped down into a beautiful canyon and found a baby burro. Poor thing kept running down the trail instead of to the side even with us going super slow. Hopefully the baby made its way back to the herd. We walked to what we thought was the river but it was so overgrown could only see mud and couldn't get to any actual water. We found the remains of the pump station on the cliff and a large water cistern in the ground. It was neat to see this new area of Swansea and hard to image them laying ceramic pipe or ditches to bring the water 5 miles back to Swansea. We did find the old ceramic water pipes later near the brick kiln area. See main photo album for more pictures of this area. We made our way back to Swansea and hunted for new areas. On my map scrolling way in found the North Cemetery marked. We parked next to the brick kiln and walked it. Hunted for quite some time and then figured out the cemetery was a large stone hill with grave indentations. Not much left. There were a ton of cans, nails, bottles, etc in this area. Chris found a whole bottle which is a first for us. He left the brown bottle where he found it. Here is an old coffee can lid The housing that's been preserved

I scanned the history packet Karen made for the trip. Some interesting history of the area that I though you might enjoy! Swansea Lincoln Rach and Camp Bouse History.pdf

This is awesome. Better get a patent soon!

We had a wonderful few days following "Moses" around the desert. It's always neat to find new parts of a ghost town you have visited before. Karen spoiled us with cherry cobbler and some very tasty cookies too! I owe a much more detailed trip report but for now here are my photos.

Wonderful trip report and description of the event!! Thanks for sharing!

Home. Need to fix our RV electric plug so for now thankful for the generator. Great to see everyone!!