The Superstition Mountains - even more awesome on rainy days.
The Superstition Mountains over on the east side of Phoenix is one of the most scenic and historic places near the city. And it’s still riddled with mine shafts and tunnels (not the same thing – shafts, or adits, are horizontal and shafts are vertical). One of the most-visited is Carney’s Mine in the Dacite Cliffs. It’s also sometimes called the Dacite Cliffs Mine.
Call it what you want – by any name, it’s a solid tunnel offering little danger aside from the overwhelming smell of bat guano. It’s bored into solid volcanic rock, and it’s a cool link to Arizona’s wild mining past. But the federal government has decided to bar it to further visitors. The reasons given?
1. Achieve visitor management in such a manner that preserves the wilderness character of the area, whatever the hell that means. I’m assuming the feds think putting metal bars on a mine shaft matches wilderness character, unlike rock climbers putting much-less obvious climbing bolts in the rock. Go figure.
2. Reduce risk of exposure to rabies, undetonated explosives (I call BS on this – clearing that mine of any undetonated explosives would be faster and cheaper than using metals bars to block the way), carbon monoxide poisoning (again, easier to check for the gas) and keeping people from bugging the bats, as if they’re endangered or something.
Closing tunnels is such a knee-jerk reaction. Shafts can truly be dangerous, and sometimes tunnels contain shafts. But still, why not evaluate them on a case-by-case basis and determine whether the danger warrants spending money on closing them? Can government agencies not comprehend that tunnels, whether natural (like caves) or artificial (like mines) are just fun? What’s the liability difference between letting a natural cave with all its unpredictability versus a human-made tunnel? If it’s one public land, does one provide a greater danger, both in terms of physical safety and legal liability, than the other?
If you see this, you're getting close to the Dacite Cliffs Mine.
I’d hate to see every open tunnel in Arizona close. They’re each a piece of history, and sometimes it’s just fun to walk in those footsteps and go deep into the earth. In this case, I see no reason why the Dacite Cliffs Mine needs to be closed. And there’s even a possibility of compromise – if the government absolutely must protect the bats, why not put the bars a few hundred feet into the tunnel?
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I have absolutely loved hiking in the Superstitions every time I’ve been able to do it. This is some magical landscape and your fog soaked image brought back some fond memories. Thanks!
Not a fan of going very deep into caves or tunnels so I can see why the nanny state (Gov’t) would ere on the side of blocking rather than another choice – what that other choice might be is hard for me to imagine.
Many of our hiking brethren are not very prepared and the odds of something bad increase with the difficulty. However will blocking really stop people? Nah, but that’s what “they” do – try to control us. I honestly don’t know what the answer is; stupid is as stupid does and people will always be free to do foolish things in places where they should be careful, considerate and appreciative – and that applies equally often to Gov’t and the public, right?
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