Last Day at Roper Lake

Tomorrow we move a little further east again, but in the past two days we did some exploring. Yesterday we drove up Mt Graham to an elevation over eight thousand feet. We started from camp at just over three thousand so we gained a mile in elevation! They had a snow storm on January first and they still have the snow above eight thousand feet. The summit is 10,700 and they have an observatory at the top. We didn't want to go any further since the road was becoming questionable and we weren't sure if it was opened to the top.
After driving down the mountain we explored the town of Safford which is just north of the campground. This is an old western town that was geared toward agriculture in the Safford Valley. Safford is quite a bustling large city with lots of conveniences.
Today we drove over to Clifton which is northeast of the campground. This is an old late eighteen hundreds mining town that is still going even though a lot of the old buildings are decrepit and falling down. The neighborhoods are still going and the mine is still operational and appears to be thriving. We saw some bighorn sheep in the cliffs above town. They mine copper and gold here and the mine is eating up a mountain. This is the largest leeching mine in the world. They use water in the mining to sort and move the crushed rock that is produced. The open pit resembles a man made Grand Canyon as it is very deep into the mountain and several miles across and even more miles long. It's amazing how much rock has been moved here in the last hundred and fifty years! Driving to and from Clifton was through the Arizona wilderness and it was amazing to see so much undeveloped country.

A look at Mt Graham while hiking at the campground.

This was at about five thousand feet on  Mt Graham, half way to the top.

The summit at 10,700 feet. The snow is hanging on since the beginning of January.

Bighorn sheep in the cliffs above Clifton, the mining town to the northeast of Safford.

The tremendously huge open pit mine above Clifton. This reminded me of the Grand Canyon!

A burial site at the mine, presumably miners who died on the job and were buried on location. (This was within the huge mining area that is still very active today.

A Vermilion Flycatcher we saw while walking at Roper Lake.