The Hike to the Belmont Mine, History and a View

The Belmont Headframe

Directions: From Phoenix take the US 60 to Highway 177 South in Superior. Drive .9 miles to Apache Leap Rd. Travel 1.2 miles to what's left of an old mining road through Belmont Canyon. Stay on this trail and avoid any spurs to the left until you see the Grand Pacific Mine. The trail switch backs left just before the Grand Pacific.

Dog Friendly: So-so, there isn't any water most of year so pack enough for you and your pooch. This is not a summer time hike, Fall through early Spring. There is cactus through most of the hike but the teddy bear or jumping cholla disappear as you gain elevation. Just beware and make sure you have a cone and some needle nose pliers. I did not come across any open shafts on this hike but we stayed on the road.

If you're looking for a short, challenging hike with the opportunity to visit history, this is the hike for

The Belmont Shaft

you. The trail head is just outside of Superior, along Apache Leap Road. The hike is only around three miles round trip but you're gaining over 1,000 feet of elevation. Plus if you take some time to explore the areas around the Grand Pacific and Belmont Mines, it will add some more time to your trip. The trail is actually an old mine road but I think it's been deliberately destroyed to make it more difficult to get to the mines. It's weathered into a very rocky, rough single track.

The Belmont Mine is tucked into Belmont Canyon under the looming cliffs of the Apache Leap. Copper, gold, silver and host of other minerals have been dug out of the ground at the Belmont Mine. The area was first prospected in 1899 and mining began in 1913 through about 1945.

Ronin in the hoist house.

The site has two buildings still standing and the Belmont Shaft, that is caged for our safety. I had the dogs with me and for once I was grateful for the protection. The shaft is 1,600 ft deep, I leaned over the cage to look down and it appeared bottomless. When I dropped some rocks down it, I could hear them hit the sides but never heard the definitive thud when they hit the bottom. Besides the shaft there are supposed to be over 30,000 feet of underground workings. One of the surviving buildings is the hoist house that still has some of the machinery inside. You can smell the grease. The other building might have been a workshop and there were some rock walls as well that may have been another building. There were also two rusty water tanks. This is one of the few abandoned mines I've come across where the head frame is still there but unfortunately it's now at the foot of the tailings pile in Belmont Canyon. It would have been cool if they had left it standing.

The view along the hike is tremendous. You look west towards Picket Post Mountain, Superior and the Superstition Mountains. You look east upwards at Apache Leap, named from the legend of when 45 Apache Warrior cornered by cavalry troops chose to leap to their deaths rather than surrender. This legend is part of the argument against the Resolution Copper Mine at Oak Flat. An interesting side note is that when I took the surface tour of the Oak Flat Mine site, the guide who is a member of the San Carlos Reservation disputed the legend.

The Belmont Mine

The Rugged Trail to the Grand Pacific Mine

Direction: It's only a short distance from Superior off of Apache Leap Road. The Google Map coordinates are: (33.269810,-111.070980). The road or trail is hard to see from the road, there is a ditch and mounds of rock. The road is rugged and is now only a single track trail but it's easy to follow.

Dog Friendly: So-so, there are cactus and there is no water. I didn't come across any open shafts but there is lot of mining in the area.

The Grand Pacific Mine claim was first discovered in 1900 and mined in 1916. The last year of production was 1955. Copper was the primary commodity, although they also mined silver, gold and manganese. I found a lot of tailings, a few foundations and a gated adit (see photo). There is also a lot of abandoned ore cart tracks.


I decided to make this another hike-a-bike adventure to save time on the descent but it was rugged trail. I was able to ride alot of the down and I was pretty cautious since I was alone. If you go by bike or hike, look out for the cat claw and other thorny bushes. Overall it was a good adventure, the mine was pretty cool and views were great.

Magma Mine Building

I've been on Highway 60 through Queen Creek Canyon more times than I can count since I was kid. It's always been a fascinating place with the steep rock walls, hoodoos and remnants of the one of the most productive mining areas in the country. One thing in particular always caught my eye, high on top of a ridge right before the Queen Creek Tunnel. It was just an old metal building with what looked like an old head frame next to it. Still, for years I wondered what that building held and what the view was like from up there. The climb looked steep but no more steep than what I usually hike. I think part of it was I knew I'd hike up there and it would be an empty warehouse filled with graffiti and junk.

Yesterday, I got out of work early and decided it was day to get up that ridge. The hike up was easier than I expected, there was an old, weathered road that led to the top. The building itself was bigger than looked from below and it was not disappointing. Far from empty, it was filled with machinery from the mining boom that ran from the late 1800s to 1890. This building housed motors for either the aerial tram or the hoist house for Magma Mine. The machinery was excellent condition and the smell of grease permeated air. The structure that looked like a head frame was part of the tram or hoist system. It was impressive.

The road kept going to the west side of the ridge to another old building that may have been a transformer house and excellent views of the rest of the Magma Mine workings, such as the cooling tower and smelter. This property is now part of the Resolution Copper Mine.

Note: I did not give exact directions for this hike because there are dangers to being around mines and abandoned buildings. I also know this blog is for hikes that are dog friendly (this one is not) or mountain biking but I also have interest in Arizona mining history and the Superior/Oak Flat Area. I admire the hard work and ingenuity of the early miners. I still hate to think about losing Oak Flat to another copper mine.