I had the day to myself and I decided to drive over to Nuevo Corral Northwest of Nogales AZ to do some hiking and rock hounding. The Ghost town of Ruby and the Montana Mine are back there as well. I would love to tour that old mining ghost town. There is supposed to be a real ghost with this ghost town. Some horrific murders happened there in the 1920s, so I guess that causes ghosts. I will find out and blog about it soon. Here is the link You have to make a reservation to tour Ruby the information on Ruby Tours is here I sent an email to the caretaker and he said, “When you know the date of your intended visit, send me an email and I will send you a permit.” The money goes for the upkeep of Ruby.
Directions
To get there take exit 12 off the I-19 and go back to Pena Blanco Lake. Then take Forest Road 39 to Forest Road 4186. FR 39 is a rough washboard gravel road and it is 11 miles back.
The drive on FR 39 is something out of Arizona highways magazine, with some high passes and rugged mountains. Turns out it was on Arizona Highways. Lots of rhyolite towers all over. I rolled up on a Mojave rattlesnake and he was very angry at my truck. I was in my truck at a safe distance while taking pictures.
The next left is FR 4186 which is the road to Nuevo Corral. It is a high clearance road some of it over rough bedrock and some fairly deep water holes. I would recommend a 4 Wheel drive vehicle. It is a few miles to get to Nuevo Corral which is the end of the road. There is an actual Corral there so you know you are in the right place.
Apon Arrival at Nuevo Corral
Go down the gulch and after the canyon make a left you will see where other rock hounds have broken off the nodules of geodes in the rhyolite. A rhyolite vein runs right down the middle of the gulch with geodes all over. Don’t spend time here as it has been picked over. The geodes are stuck fast into the rhyolite. The rhyolite makes it difficult to remove the geodes. Chisels and big hammers are called for here. You have to either settle for a piece of the geode or find ones that have eroded almost all the way out. Most of the geodes are small and puck mark the landscape. Search for rocks with bigger geode pockets. The collecting area seems to go on for a long way. I went up the gulch about a half mile. Some geodes had veins of opal too. Mostly small samples of opal where found. but it had a nice blue tint. I believe there is an opal mining operation close to Corral Nuevo too.This link has more information. Look where the cliff is falling into the gulch below and look there to find bigger geode pockets. A wheelbarrow would have been nice to have, carrying out the geodes in a bucket was tough sledding. I would like to go back and camp for the weekend and maybe tour Ruby too. It was a long way to go over some bad roads but it was beautiful. I can’t wait to go back and camp out and see the Ghost Town of Ruby as well. Nuevo Corral Arizona is where to find Geodes and a great outdoor activity.
