Mingus Mountain

Trail: Mingus Mountain
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Where: Cottonwood, AZ
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When: 06/21/2003
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<I>Also includes many photos of the on-road and in-hotel adventures.</I>

• The adventure begins!
• A blurry stop sign leaving Jack's house.
• Me opening the doors to the balcony at the Ritz Carlton, er Sunburst Resort in Scottsdale.
• Me.
• Me.
• Jack.
• The room at the Ritz.
• Me and Nicole @ In N Out...after like a 7 hour drive from the Ritz.
• Nicole.
• Jack.
• Nicole.
• Nicole trying to hide after using the loo.
• Nicole still hiding, post-loo.
• Ditto.
• Me at the "lagoon."
• Nicole kicking sand at me. How mean.
• Nicole's feet, covered in sand.
• Jack's favorite photo topic...
• ...
• Me.
• Nicole and her (*)(*)
• The door.
• The best part of wakin' up...
• Jack is getting gas.
• More gas!
• ...
• On the way to Flagstaff.
• The man opressin' someone!
• The X at the Fabulous Radisson Woodlands in Flagstaff.
• Again, the X.
• ...
• Me, in the suite, at the Fabulous Radisson Woodlands.
• A very slow Subaru on Highway 89A to Sedona.
• Looks like Summerhaven...
• Again, the Subaru...
• View partway up Mingus Mountain in Cottonwood.
• Jack...doing business.
• Part of an old mine.
• An even better view from the trail up Mingus.
• Xterra and me.
• Part of a mining building.
• The base of the mining building. Pretty cool.
• A sign.
• My X and Mingus Mountain.
• A cess pool filled with iron sludge.
• More mountains.
• Skipping rocks in the cess pool. Look for video later.
• Peek-a-boo! We parked here while hiding from a scary white supremacist. Seriously.
• Another view of Cottonwood.
• Some Russian propaganda.
• A lizard.
• OK, the KKK dude moved on, we are on the actual trail now.
• Gorgeous view just before sunset.
• X.
• X, look how studly.
• X from higher up. Look, a tree.
• An old dam.
• The town of Jerome. Super old mining town.
• This town actually died 100 years ago...nobody told it.
• Most of the buildings had broken glass...the old style, with waves in it.
• Quaint city street.
• Believe it or not, this is Highway 89A.
• Almost out of Jerome on the way back to Flag.
• Our departing view of Jerome.
• The stoplight at Mingus Mountain Road in Cottonwood. We drove offroad up one side and then on asphalt through Jerome down the other.
• Jack, waiting for ATM.
• The X's rump.
• The X, in shadow.
• Bad version of the same.
• Looks like I have 50 inch tires...
• The X of a stupid college girl in Flagstaff.
• Jack, drinking tea.
• Jack. Uh, Jacking.
• The TV at the Fabulous Radisson Woodlands.
• Me at the Fabulous Radisson Woodlands.
• Me at the Fabulous Radisson Woodlands.
• Not amused at the Fabulous Radisson Woodlands.
• Jack. Squinting.
• *blink*
• Whaddup?
• Jack, sleeping, at the Fabulous Radisson Woodlands.
• The TV, again for some reason, at the Fabulous Radisson Woodlands.
• Jack waiting to leave the Fabulous Radisson Woodlands.
• The view from the living room at the Fabulous Radisson Woodlands.
• The bathroom at the Fabulous Radisson Woodlands. Note the phone for use in a national emergency.
• My bedroom at the Fabulous Radisson Woodlands.
• My Xterra clowning a soccer-mom SUV at the Fabulous Radisson Woodlands.
• The Fabulous Radisson Woodlands had a 'skybridge' to walk from one building to the next. One end started you on the second floor, but on the other building you were on the third floor.
• This is dripping water as we leave the Fabulous Radisson Woodlands.
• This is on the way east towards Meteor Crater.
• A sign advertising the crater.
• This is how slow I had to go behind a U-Haul.
• This is the stupid U-Haul.
• This is a helicopter taking off at the Meteor Crater site. Note the Xterra in the parking lot.
• An Apollo "test capsule." It's like a tin can. No wonder early astronatus got so many girls, you'd have to be a stud to live in it.
• The wall of fame.
• Subway is a cancer. They actually have one at Meteor Crater.
• The crater. 150 foot long meteor caused this, traveling st 11 Miles Per SECOND.
• Me. Peace.
• The rim.
• Another view of the crater. Immense.
• The visitor's center.
• A feeble attempt to photograph the Xterra.
• Again, the crater.
• Jack at the crater.
• Jack at the crater, but you can actually see the crater.
• Me at the crater.
• The way back.
• There is a "town" called Two Guns.
• Jack, taking a photo of himself.
• Jack eating cheesecake at CPK in Phoenix on the way back to Tucson.
• Jack's half-devoured cake.
• What do you think this means?
• Smoke visible from Picacho Peak. Mount Lemmon is a burnin'
• Picacho Peak itself.
• BURNINATED!
• Ostritch farm.
• A car.
• My feeble attempt to show how cool my X is.
• Skrappy's! I bet Marx would listen to bands here.
• A view of our room, in the dark.
• Nicole and I star in a Jack film.
• Jack talks. Nicole stares at me like I'm a freak. Good times. This is still in Scottsdale.
• I'm "tired." Or "fired." Or something. I was tired, yes. I hate Sarah Jessica Parker.
• Panoramic view of Mingus Mountain near the mining remains.
• Skipping rocks in the cess pool!
• Check out my mad offroad skillz.
• This gives you an idea of how rocky the road actually is. You can't see it, but this trail would eat a car. Not exactly "difficult," but then again I'm a newbie.
• Highway 89A towards Jerome and Cottonwood. The car in front was afraid of me.
• Some sort of view of me in the "bigfoot" cinematic style at the Fabulous Radisson Woodlands.
• It was freakin' windy at Meteor Crater. Look at me.
• I-17 on the way to Phoenix for lunch...then on to Tucson.