Picacho Resevior to Gila River trip

[timh]

Sunday we took a trip up to Picacho Reservoir near Coolidge, Az. The reservoir is fed by the Gila River and is a couple of square miles in size. It usually fills up by spring but is almost completely dry right now.

On the way to the reservoir next to the Gila canal.

Here we drove out into the reservoir next to a drainage canal. This was the only spot that had any water left in it currently.

We really need some rain!!!!!!!!!!!!

I think these guys wanted to come with us, they were quite friendly.

We had been seeing a helicopter not far away flying back and forth really low, turns out they were herding cattle into a huge corral. The road took us straight through the whole herd. There were hundreds of them and they all kept coming up to the trucks.

Lots of cool looking dead tree's like this on our way east to the Picacho Mtns.

Never knew this existed. Was an old stage stop. It looked like the building had been somewhat restored.

 

[timh]

Here are some random shots from the trail on the way to Hwy 79.

Once we got down to the Gila River east of Florence the road started to tunnel through the thickets along the river.

Lunchtime!

This is the old Copper Canyon railway used to get mining material from the mines in Winklemen/Kearny to the main line. It doesn't get used real often at this point.

 

[timh]

We ran short on time and weren't able to get across the river this time but you could see the Coke Ovens here in the distance.

And finally, the only real wildlife we saw all day. This was off of Willow Springs road on the way home. There were 4 does total but they were sneaky.

 

[photoman]

NICE!!

I want to do this trip sometime. Thanks for posting.

 

[timh]

When it is cooler we will definately do it again. The road through the Picacho Mtns was really neat. I would not mind exploring around there some more!

 

[Clark White]

I can't wait to get back to the South West! Oddly, I kind of miss the Bull Dust...

Clark

 

[Lichen]

Years ago, AZ Game & Fish stocked Picacho. The weekly fishing report always said "poor" (what a suprise). If you can cross the Gila River there, it is a lot easier to reach the coke ovens than from the Superior area.