Today's hike was lead by Karen and David S of the hiking club.
We were a group of 11: Karen and David, SteveA and SteveS, JohnS, JimA, Will and Irene, Peggy, and I. They walked us around the massive mining complex outside of Gleason, the Courtland-Leadville mining complex that contains copper, zinc, silver, gold and lead mines. Tours are led by the owner who charges several hundred dollars for a small group. We got our tour for free. Karen and David are friends of the owner.
The worst part for me was getting up before sunrise to walk Gretchen and Sweetie before driving out at 6:15am to meet the group at the Gleason jail at 7:30. It was cold this morning, and there's no place convenient to stop in in Tombstone for a good cup of hot coffee.
I was the first one at the meet-up site by the Gleason Jail. I walked around the historical site, climbed up the hill that sports a gazebo, watched the sunrise. Soon the first people arrived and Fritz got nervous. He snapped at Will, a man who approached me without warning to pet Fritz. I wanted to warn him not to get any closer when Fritz swiped at him. He missed the man, but he was banished to the leash for the rest of the walk. Just when I think I'm making progress with that dog, he relapses.
He wasn't any friendlier toward Karen's dog Roma, a spunky young heeler with quite the personality. She couldn't understand that any dog would not like her. Whenever she got close to Fritz, he would snarl. Twice he lunged at her. I had to keep my distance from Roma to avoid any conflict.
The mining complex was interesting to walk through. Karen gave an interesting history of the area. There were even plenty of small turquoise chips on the ground. The mines are located along the hillsides of the Gleason hills. Old ruins, abandoned railbeds, incomplete diggings all still remain and make a visit here worthwhile.
There was no water running in the drainages, so we were able to walk through them during our ramble. We even spooked a startled barn owl that flew out of a mine shaft (I'm sure it was not expecting humans to barge in on its privacy!) and later a ground dove that we found frozen to the ground, its wings splayed out and its eyes vacant of any life. I did not capture the startled owl fly away.
The ramble was only 4.2 miles, but that's a good distance for a historical walk with plenty of ruins and mine shafts to explore. The last half-mile was on Ghost Town Trail, a dirt road connecting Gleason Road with US Highway 191.
The hike finished off at the home of Karen and David, as we sat outside in the increasing cool breeze. Fritz stayed in the truck to avoid any more tension between dogs. Karen had already told me "I can't believe you didn't discipline Fritz!" when he lunged so forceful toward Roma that he pulled me down.
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