COLLECTING AT CAMP VERDE SALT MINES,
VERDE VALLEY, ARIZONA
(Calcite, Aragonite, Halite, Glauberite,
Gypsum, Selenite and Thenardite)

by Ray Hill

 

I've been fortunate enough to have collected at this site on three different trips to Arizona while attending the Quartzite and Tucson shows. I go in late January and stay through the first week in February when the shows are going on and usually try to do a couple of days of collecting while there. For me, going on field trips and collecting is the most enjoyable thing about the trips! Sure, I've got to attend the shows to find the lovely mineral and fossil specimens to bring back to Great South Gems and Minerals, but the field trips are really what make the trips worthwhile for me!

Camp Verde is located about 90 miles (country miles folks, 'cause you have to go up and down a lot of hills on the way!) north of Phoenix. But, thank goodness it's freeway all the way. From Phoenix, take I-17 north all the way to the Camp Verde exit. You can't miss it.

Here's a shot of me standing beside the road at the Carefree exit. A fellow in another car had stopped to take pictures and took this shot for me. Look at that scenery! Once you leave the civilization of the city, this is typical Arizona country.

Notice the huge Saguaro Cactus to the right. (Side of the road - Carefree exit)

As you drive north you'll pass large road cuts on both sides of the road. What amazed me was in many of these road cuts, even those on top of mountains, there were water-tumbled river rocks sticking out; clear evidence that at one time the area was covered by running water. I stopped at a couple of these on one of my visits and climbed over the banks, and found some nice jasper, agate, and chert pieces. Nice cabbing material.

And here's another shot with me in the foreground and the valley behind me.

From this location it's only about four or five more miles, all down hill, to the Camp Verde exit.

Get off I-17 at the Camp Verde exit and turn right. Follow this small road until you come to the end of it, then turn right. Go to the first road on the right. It too, is a small one. When you turn there, you can see the hills in the distance, straight ahead of you, where the collecting site is. Follow this road to where it makes a sharp turn to the left and go about one half mile.

You'll see a fence on the right around the mine area. You will see the white salt hills in the distance and ... This is it! - pull off to the right and park!

From here you will need to hike just a couple hundred yards to the huge salt piles where you will do the best collecting. You'll see a path where people have been going up to the old mine.

Here's a picture taken from the path leading up to the collecting area.

Note the white mound of salt!

Here's a shot taken a little further up the trail.

Huge salt dome.

Notice the timbers in front and to the right of me. These are from the old mine that has been closed so folks can't enter and get hurt. They dynamited the entrance a few years ago for safety's sake.

I am kneeling in an area covered with glauberite crystals.

The white objects in the picture are glauberite crystals all around me. They were everywhere, thousands of 'em !

Here's a picture of the distant hills showing the salt.

I noticed that all around the base of these hills, the ground was covered with a tan/light brown sand or dust and when you walked on it your foot would sink in an inch or so and show the white salt around the foot print.

When visiting this great collecting site you'll want to carry scratching tools, a bucket, lots to drink, your lunch if you're going to stay long, maybe some newspaper for wrapping those beautiful but fragile specimens, and you're going to need SUN GLASSES. You'll need the glasses due to the glare that comes from the snow white domes and hills.

You'll find more material here than you'll know what to do with so you might want to hi-grade as you go along. You can literally lug buckets full of "junk" out and wonder why in the world you brought it back when you get home. Don't worry, there are plenty of nice crystals there.

Take your camera and bring back some memories of this great collecting site.

Now, if you go to all the trouble to visit Camp Verde and the Camp Verde salt mines, you've got to include in this trip a visit up to "Montezuma Castle" Indian ruins in the side of a limestone hillside a short distance north of Camp Verde. From the salt mines, take the road you came in on back out to the dead end. This will be Camp Verde Road.

Turn left and follow the signs through the small town of Camp Verde to the Montezuma Castle ruins. These ruins were built in the 12th century by the Sinagua Indian farmers that lived in this area. The dwellings themselves are in a cliff recess a hundred feet above the valley floor.

Verde Valley was a melting pot for at least 4 prehistoric cultures. The first permanent settlers there were the Hohokam. They started farming about 600 AD.

The Sinagua lived in the nearby areas beyond the valley. They, like the Hohokam and the Anasazi, were also farmers in this very dry region.

The Hohokam abandoned the area about 1000 AD and the Sinagua moved down into the valley. About 1125 AD, they began building this well protected dwelling that sits 100 feet above the valley floor.

In the 1400's, the Sinagua suddenly disappeared. It is not known why; perhaps disease, short term climate changes or maybe someone found a long enough ladder to reach them?

Although later European settlers named this structure for the Aztec King Montezuma; actually it was abandoned about a century before Montezuma was born!

Montezuma Castle is a five-story, 20-room cliff dwelling.

You will be glad you took the time to visit this beautiful area. It is quite impressive!

On my way back out to I-17, there was a Native American gentleman selling modern artifacts: pottery, baskets, and sand paintings.

I bought the sand painting he's holding. I told him I'd buy it if I could take his picture with it.

This is a good one-day trip from Phoenix. You can get there and back in one day. You can even stop and take pictures along the way, have a picnic, see the cliff dwellings, collect some nice crystals and specimens, and meet the local folks.

Take your time and Enjoy!

Ray Hill
Great South Gems & Minerals, Inc.
www.greatsouth.net
888-933-GEMS

Note: Only rock clubs have permission to print this article but must give credit to the author, Ray Hill, and Great South Gems & Minerals, Inc. For everyone else, please email us for permission.

Great South Gems & Minerals, Inc. www.greatsouth.net 38 Bond Drive Ellenwood, Georgia 30294 USA 1-888-933-GEMS (4367) FAX 770-474-4507