Exploring Copper Butte On a Mountain Bike

Heed This Warning!!

Directions: Copper Butte is located off of Battle Axe Road which is 12 miles South of US 60 on Highway 177. You're going to stay on Battle Axe until you reach a locked gate. Becareful, at about 1.9 miles you'll come to a fork, stay to the right for Copper Butte. The other road takes you to the White Canyon Wilderness, which is pretty cool as well.

Dog Friendly: Nah, wouldn't take my dogs here. No water unless it rains and the pits fill up.

Copper Butte is the location for the Copper Butte Mine (clever name), which is a copper mine, duh. They also mined silica and small amounts of gold and silver. The area was discovered in the early 1900s and was mine until the 1970s by various companies. At one point there was a 400 foot inclined shaft and a 114 foot vertical shaft that led to a 700 foot tunnel. There were also several pits of various sizes. When I went this weekend I found what may have been an inclined shaft with debris pushed up against the opening. I climbed to the top of the debris and could see into the opening. I couldn't tell how deep it was and based on the condition of the opening of the mine I wouldn't go into the mine. If you go don't be fooled by what looks like some interesting adits from a distance both are extremely shallow.

Both of these looked enticing from afar but we're shallow.

The surrounding area is amazing. I had wanted to explore Copper Butte since I went to explore some small canyon's near Battle Axe Butte. The views from Hwy 177 are great and they're even better from Copper Butte. It's rugged and beautiful place but it's the desert. It was cool for August when I arrived but it was still hot as hell. I never would have brought the dogs. I was little worried about myself and I'm pretty used to the heat. There was definitely more to explore but saw most of the main mine workings. I don't know if I'll come back to Copper Butte, if I do it will be in December. I am going to come back to explore the White Canyon Wilderness.

Battle Axe Butte viewed from Copper Butte

I brought my bike because I knew about the locked gate. I've used my bike for exploration before because I lift it over fences. Plus for Reymert and Bellevue it was great because there was a lot of climbing and even though there were times when I had to push it uphill, it more than made up for on the way down. Copper Butte was a practical MTB ride but not a great ride by any means.

No Sleep til...Brooklyn Basin

Directions: I'm not going to give exact directions. Brooklyn Basin Mine and Ghost Town are several miles off of Bloody Basin Road in the Aqua Fria National Monument. This drive does require a 4wd and it was the first time that I would have been stuck without one. I was able to drive to within 1 mile of the mine but didn't trust the road at that point. I probably could have made it further but the road was severely eroded in places. This area was affected by the Goodwin Fire and the roads will be affected.

Brooklyn Basin was established as a town in 1907. There was a main building that served as boarding house for the miners that worked at the mine as well as several smaller buildings and residences. The walls for the boarding house is still there, as well as a chimney from a house. The chimney was made from rocks from the mine, you can see copper in some of quartz in the rocks. The house was reportedly made from wood and when it was purchased after the mine was abandoned, it was torn down and the lumber used in another nearby town. There are more rusty cans than I've seen at any other site, they're everywhere, in the town and near the mine. I think part of it might be the fire clearing all the brush.

The Brooklyn Basin Mine was a copper, gold and silver mine. There was some belief that it was going to be one of the most productive copper mines in the world, this didn't pan out and the mine was eventually closed. I found two shafts but neither of the them were very deep. I read that the main shaft was 400 feet and the tailings pile makes that seem likely. It's possible that it collapsed or was capped and back filled at some point, although it's still 50 feet deep or so.

In addition to the mine and town, there are remnants of an Native American Pueblo. Pueblos were built from rock and mortar but the only thing left at this point are piles of rock. There are ruins in the area that can be accessed from Bloody Basin Road.