|
Things To Do:
Off-Roading
--Mohave County Arizona--
|
Unpaved Big Wash Road twists up to the crest of the Cerbat Mountains, where you can enjoy expansive views, picnicking, camping, and hiking among pinyon pine and chaparral. The road begins near Milepost 51 on US 93, 1.5 miles north of the Chloride junction. It's graded but too steep and winding for RVs or trailers.
Packsaddle Recreation Area lies nine miles in, and the Windy Point Recreation Area entrance is 1.5 miles beyond. Both areas have sites with picnic tables and vault toilets but no water; a camping fee may apply at Windy Point.
Cherum Peak Trail climbs to near the 6,983-foot summit of the peak, second highest in the Cerbats, then it's a short rock scramble up the last 200 feet to the top. This five-mile roundtrip hike takes about 3.5 hours. You'll pass through pinyon pine groves and large areas of chaparral, which contains shrub live oak, manzanita, Wrights's silk-tassel, broom snakeweed, skunkbush, New Mexican locust, Gambel oak, and desert ceanothus. Many wildflowers bloom in early summer. The trailhead (elev. about 6,000 feet) is on the left, two miles past Windy Point. See the 7.5-minute Chloride topo map and the handouts available from the BLM Kingman Field Office (928/692-4400, www.az.blm.gov). Only high-clearance 4WD vehicles can negotiate the steep, rough descent to Chloride past the trailhead.
Cerbat:
Gold and silver deposits in the Cerbat Mountains brought miners to the area in the late 1860s. The town of Cerbat was founded and several mines were opened including the Esmeralda, Golden Gem, and Vanderbilt. Cerbat became the Mohave County seat in 1871 but two years later nearby Mineral Park took over that role. In 1912 the Cerbat post office closed.
The turnoff for Cerbat is 9 miles northwest of Kingman along US 93 at the historical marker near Milepost 62. Go east 0.7 mile on the dirt road, turn left and drive 0.6 mile, then turn right going another 2 miles to the site. Stay to the left when passing a ranch and a group of modern mine buildings just outside old Cerbat. The last 0.3 mile is too rough for cars. You can still see the Golden Gem mill and head frame. There are also stone foundations and ruins of other buildings.
Mineral Park
During most of the 1870s and 1880s, Mineral Park was the county seat and also the most important town in the area. In 1886 Kingman held both titles. In 1912 Mineral Park's post office was closed. A few crumbling cabins, a head frame, mill foundations, and scattered mine shafts still survive. The huge piles of tailings that can be seen from US 93 belong to a copper and molybdenum mine that operated from 1961 to 1982. It still contains the world's largest turquoise deposit, which is mined along with decorative rock. The signed turnoff and a historical marker for Mineral Park is 14 miles northwest of Kingman on US 93, between Mileposts 58 and 59. Turn east 4.3 miles on a paved road, then left 0.3 mile on a well-used gravel road; the turn is just before the fenced-in modern mine
|
