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Ripsey PLUS 2.5

​Ripsey Wash, Ripsey Mine, Florence Lead Silver Mine and Hackberry Mine all in a fairly small area.  Lots of interesting things on this Jeep trail.
​
This GREAT TRIP is easy enough to run in either direction, but will be described here beginning at the Ripsey Wash entrance.

The west entrance is shorter if you are coming from that way.
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​There is a GPS - gpx track at the bottom of the page.
​
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Ripsey Mine
Ripsey Wash is a mostly sandy wash, beginning wide then narrowing down to interesting canyons as you travel up its length.
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Ripsey Wash lower portion
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Ripsey Wash higher up
The Desert Willow Tree was in bloom when we did this trip in May.  We also saw two gila monsters the same day.
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Desert willow
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Gila monster
Ripsey Mine has an unusual amount of equipment still in place.  Please do not disturb any of it.  The first photo at the top of this page shows an overview of the mill remains.  We believe the first photo below is the base of an arrastra.  The second may be a crusher.
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Arrastra
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Crusher maybe
First photo below is a shaft just above the mill and a cable reel for the headframe that was above it.  Also the major boiler for the complex.  Second photo is a nearby open shaft.  Looked kinda scary.
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Boiler, shaft and cable reel
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Scary open shaft
Drive to the end of the road and find a horizontal mine shaft.  Rail lines are still in place, and there is a spot where they cross over a vertical shaft to a lower level.  A small ore bucket on rails took ore from the lower level and dumped it into large ore cars to be taken out of the mine for processing.
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Shaft to lower level on left
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Looking down shaft
The next major attraction is the Florence Lead Silver Mine.  Mindat.org says this was a former surface and underground Pb-Ag-Cu-Au-Mo-Cr-Zn mine.

I found an article from the American Mineralogist that said the mine was operating in 1970.

The road going in is somewhat rutted.  This area has great views.
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Road to Florence Lead Silver Mine
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Hayden smelter
There is room to park a few vehicles on the far side of the remaining building.  Walk beyond the parking to the major shaft for the Florence Lead-Silver Mine.
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Inside the mine
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Wheelbarrow
Go back down to the main trail and turn right, then take a left down a beautiful, narrow canyon to the top of Hackberry Dam.  Be careful you do not drive off the top of it - there is no warning sign here.  You will take a safer route to the bottom later in the trip.
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Hackberry Dam canyon
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Do not drive off the top of the dam
Follow the track down into Hackberry Wash and view Hackberry Mine and a building reported to be an old pumphouse.
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Hackberry Mine
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Pumphouse
The last stop is a quick side trip to the bottom of Hackberry Dam.  A shady spot to take a break.  Interesting mineral deposits in rocks just below the dam.
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Hackberry Dam from below
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Interesting mineral deposit
Now you can choose how to end the day.  You can go back the way you came, or you can go down Hackberry wash and ford the Gila at Kearny.  We did the ford when the river flow was 280 fps and had no problems.  Would probably try it at 350 fps.  

Updated 2019.
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Fording at 280 fps

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Picture

ripsey_plus_2.5.gpx
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  • Jeep The USA
  • Trails
    • Arizona Jeep Trails >
      • Apache Junction Jeep Trails
      • Kingman Jeep Trails
      • Lake Havasu - Parker Jeep Trails
      • Phoenix to Flagstaff Jeep Trails
      • Quartzsite Jeep Trails
      • Tucson - Benson Jeep Trails
    • California Jeep Trails >
      • Death Valley
    • Colorado Jeep Trails >
      • Breckenridge Jeep Trails
      • Buena Vista Jeep Trails
      • Grand Junction Jeep Trails
      • Montrose Jeep Trails
      • Silverton - Ouray Jeep Trails
    • Nevada Jeep Trails >
      • Las Vegas Jeep Trails
      • Mesquite Jeep Trails
    • New Mexico Jeep Trails >
      • Elephant Butte Jeep Trails
      • Las Cruces Jeep Trails
    • South Dakota Jeep Trails >
      • Black Hills Jeep Trails
    • Texas Jeep Trails >
      • Big Bend Jeep Trails
    • Utah Jeep Trails >
      • Blanding Jeep Trails
      • Green River -Hanksville Jeep Trails
      • Moab Jeep Trails
      • Page - Escalante - Kanab Jeep Trails
      • Saint George Jeep Trails
    • Wyoming Jeep Trails >
      • Bighorn Mountains Jeep Trails
      • Lander Jeep Trails
  • Difficulty Ratings
  • Use GPX
  • Interactive map Tutorial