Temple Mountain 3.0

​This is a VERY nice Jeep trail close to town.  There is a beautiful canyon, uranium mines, mining relics and even a bit of four wheeling.  One of the people with us called it a "Must See" trail.

This is a VERY nice Jeep trail close to town.  There is a beautiful canyon, uranium mines, mining relics and even a bit of four wheeling.  One of the people with us called it a "Must See" trail.

There is a GPS - gpx track at the bottom of the page.

Temple Mountain

Begin the trip with a tour through beautiful Temple Wash Canyon.  The County grades this road, although rain can change things.

Approaching the canyon

In the canyon

After the canyon you come to an old miner's cabin and have the opportunity to look into the mouth of a barred off uranium mine.  Walk a short distance beyond the end of the spur to look in the mine.

Miner's cabin

Uranium mine

Four wheeling begins after this first mine area.  There are a few small boulders and quite a few tippy areas.

Small boulders

Tippy area

Circle around the mountain and view numerous old mines, most of which are gated.

Back side

Gated mine

Climb up to the saddle between peaks.  There are two tracks that cross it, and we like the west one better because it has a great overview lunch spot.  It also allows this view of the Calex Hole.  Both tracks lead to the Calex Hole.

Look at the headframe for the Calex Hole.  The shaft went down 80 feet into the mine.  The bucket was the ride down into the mine, and a man would just hold on.  It was the same bucket that brought up the uranium ore, and then it was dumped into a truck.  Once down to the bottom of the vertical hole, the mine shafts went horizontal as they mined the ore.  The Calex hole was about 36" in diameter and was used for air circulation on the mine as well.

​Lots of abandoned vehicles, including a yellow half-track.

Calex Hole headframe

Abandoned vehicles

Updated 2015.

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