The Silver King

Directions: Take the US 60 to Superior. Take a left at the Silver King Mine Rd. A high clearance 2 wheel drive vehicle is capable of traveling this road.

Dog Friendly: So-so. No jumping cholla but there are other cacti. No water, so bring your own.

This means stay out!

The Silver King Mine's origin is rumored to be a soldier working on the Stoneman Road found native silver where the mine was eventually founded in 1875. This was the richest silver mine in Arizona producing an estimated 42 million dollars of silver ore between 1875 to 1900.

The terrain is mountainous and rugged. The mine itself has caretakers and there is a fence and some clear signage that visitors are not welcome. I did a Resolution Copper Mine surface tour and was told that the care taker does give tours. I hiked so I could at least get some photos of the workings. It's a quick drive through some nice terrain with great views of
Superior so it was worth the time. There are also plenty of side roads to explore on foot.

Hike to Asbestos Point

Directions: 91 miles to trail head. I took US 60 to Highway 188 and then Highway 288. The trail is actually Forest RD 489. This trail .1 miles past Mile Post 277. There is minimal parking on Highway 288 and a couple of spots slightly up FR 489 but you might need a high clearance vehicle.

Distance 7 miles round trip.

Dog Friendly: Yes, there was water but it's probably seasonal,. No concerns about cactus. If you plan on making it to the top, bring lots of water for you and your dog.


This was my second time up to Asbestos Point. The first time was in son's

One of the tunnels of the asbestos mine

FJ Cruiser a little over 2 years ago. It was a pretty brutal 4WD adventure. Since then a lot of the area was devastated by the Juniper Wild Fire.  I wanted to see what condition this left the road. It's not much of road in some places and is completely impassible by motorized vehicles (at least ones I know.).

It was a good hike and the dogs enjoyed it. There was water along the first 1/3 of the hike and then again about 3/4s of the way up. This could be seasonal. It was only 7 miles round trip but it was an almost 2000 foot elevation gain from the trail head. Although it was an old road there will still some steep and rocky sections. Most of the way up your hiking through Pocket Creek Canyon, so it's pretty well shaded. There were still a lot of green trees in the lower portion of the hike but eventually you get to the effects of the fire.

The Asbestos mine consists of few a tunnels and of course the white tailings (Angel Wings) that can easily be seen from below. This mine was founded in the early 1900s, There is also some equipment still left and some ore cart tracks. Remember, abandoned mines can be dangerous even without asbestos!

Sycamore Trail 68 (Tonto Basin)

Distance to Trail Head: Approximately 76 miles from the US 60 and Loop 202 (33.795409, -111.319738)

Directions: Highway 87 to Highway 188. From 188, drive 20 miles to FR 421 (Google Maps says it's NF 255 but the sign says 421), it's .2 miles from Mile Post 258 and if you go over Sycamore Creek you've gone to far. The trail head is 2..2 miles from the turn off and clearly marked. You need at least a high clearance vehicle and there was only was only place where four wheel drive may have been needed. Most of the road was cake.

Dog Friendly: Yes, some cactus, isolated and there was water, for now.

This was a great day hike for the dogs. Didn't see another soul and the water was great. I don't know how long before it dries out. There were several large pools of water and one deep enough for people to swim. The creek crossings were pretty easy but parts of the trail were pretty rocky. It was about 10 degrees cooler than in valley so potentially not a great summer hike. There were also some great views of Tonto Basin.

Riding to Bellevue, Arizona

Time to Parking: 50 minutes from the 202 and the US 60 (33.354949, -110.966477)

Man Made Waterfall

Directions: The turn off is on the right .2 miles past US 60 mile post 236. You're going to travel .8 miles and there will be a turn off on your left and a clearing to park. There's a weird man made wall that created a small water fall.After you park, ride back to the dirt road, take the road to the right before you cross the bridge over the creek. Make an immediate left and cross the creek (creek bed in the summer.) Take this road up for 2 miles where you'll hit Hutton Peak Road. Turn left and this will take you to Bellevue.

Distance: 3.5 Miles to Bellevue(33.332131, -110.945384)

Dog Friendly: Yes, minimal cactus, pretty isolated. There was water but probably not in the summer.

Bellevue's Last Standing Structure

I find a lot places by scrolling through Google or Apple Maps in satellite view. I found Bellevue, Arizona by looking for some places to take the dogs hiking. Bellevue is a ghost town that was founded in 1906 to support the Gibson Copper Mine, there were 300 residents at it's height. The post office closed in 1927 and that was the end of Bellevue.

Copper Mill Equipment

It looked easy enough to get to, at least digitally. My first attempt was taking Forest Road 3 but it ran into a gate saying it was private property. I was disappointed but found a great hike for the dogs. I set out again a few weeks later, this time trying Hutton Peak Road out Top of the World, again ran into a gate and someones ranch or farm. Just like the first time I picked another random road and went exploring with the dogs. That's how I found the jeep trail that google calls "unnamed road".

Turn left here!

I checked it out and sure enough, this road eventually hit Hutton Peak Road well past the ranch. It was steep, rocky and still a good ways from Bellevue. I was already running out of sun light and it would have been a monster hike. I decided that if biked it I would at least be able to cut the travel time considerably by being able to ride down hill.

I'm not going to lie, the climb sucked. I still need to work on my fitness but this would have been tough in my cycling prime. This ride had over a 1000 feet of climbing but it's all rideable depending on your fitness. It's mostly uphill until you get to Hutton Peak Road and then you're treated to a good descent into Bellevue. That descent also means you get another tough climb out of Bellevue. There are some great views from the top of the climb and the decent is fast and fun. Watch out for the bushes on either side of the road, some of the best lines got me bush whacked! Here's link to part of the descent.  http://youtu.be/jJuNV3RjzAA

Gibson Copper Mill

Copper Ore

Bellevue is... well what most Arizona ghost towns turn out to be. A few foundations, a shed and piles of junk. The foundation for the Gibson Copper Mill is there along with some remnants of metal mill equipment. There are also a lot mine tailings and some ore. Along the road there are some other mine workings but nothing to interesting or significant. This was definitely more about the ride than the destination.

View from the top

What this Blog is about.

I started mountain biking in 1987 when I started at ASU. There weren't near as many MTBers back, there were times when we would go riding at South Mountain and maybe see one other group. When I first started riding Trail 100, it was rare that I even saw another biker. 

I continued to bike through most my 20s but that all ended when my oldest son started playing soccer. I became Coach Gene for 17 years, I coached my kids and lots of other people's kids at all different levels with a few organizations.

I'm taking a break from coaching and I've become a "Resurrected Mountain Biker". This blog will have posts about some of the less common rides I find. I have a people intensive job so I like my weekends to be away from it all, I don't spend too much time at South Mountain. If I just need a quick ride, I usually go to the Goldfields or if I absolutely have to, Usery Park.

Besides mountain biking, I'm also going to post dog friendly hikes. Dog friendly means, no jumping cholla, somewhere they can get off the leash and hopefully some water (not always possible in the Arizona desert!). My hiking partners are Ronin the Ridgeback, Raiden the marathoner and sometimes our foster pup, Haole Boy.