Pink Caves and Jerome Del Monte Shaft

There are two caves located in Del Monte Gulch (actually, one of the mines is located in a side wash that empties into Del Monte). They are known as the “pink” caves because of the pinkish tint to the rock walls they are located in. A few of us had hiked to both caves in 2009, but decided that now would be a good time for a return hike. This time we would also hike to the old Jerome-Del Monte shaft, located about 0.3 miles farther up the gulch from the northmost of the caves.

We took Black Hills Drive to Yavapai College and turned in at the easternmost drive near the winery. After turning in, we followed the road slightly to the right and drove for about 100 yards before parking on our left. After parking, we returned to Black Hills Drive and followed it west for around 0.3 miles to where it made a 90 degree turn to the south and became Haskell Springs Road. We continued south, made a slight jog to the west and then, about 0.3 miles from Black Hills Drive, continued straight ahead (south) on Windmill Lane where Haskell Springs Road makes a 90 degree turn to the west. We continued south on Windmill Lane and then on a faint trail running along the fence delineating a private property boundary for another 0.3 miles and crossed a fence at a locked gate. A large boulder was provided to assist in crossing the fence (above).

After crossing the fence, we turned generally west and angled toward the wash at the bottom of Del Monte Gulch. The trail along here is very faint, but look carefully and you can see that it follows the track of an old road.

About 0.4 miles from the fence crossing, we entered the wash and then followed it upstream for something like 0.3 miles to a junction with a side wash. Del Monte Gulch appears to lead straight ahead (southwest); however, as I had previously determined from a map, it actually turns to the right (northwest), so we continued up that fork for another 0.2 miles toward the north cave. The south cave is located a like distance, about 0.2 miles, up the side wash.

Our path along the bottom of the gulch was pretty rough and we took a good deal of care to navigate safely, but we soon arrived at the north cave (left).

Luckily, the area below the cave slopes gently down and we found it easy to climb up to within a few feet of the mouth. By carefully placing our feet on stone outcroppings, we were then able to climb into the cave.

We thought that the cave was too perfectly shaped to have occurred naturally and that it must have been created by miners, perhaps as a prospective dig. On the other hand, there were no tailings in the canyon below the cave opening. It is possible that it was a natural cave that was extended by prospectors, leaving only light tailings that were carried away by flood waters.

The front of the cave is high enough to stand in, but it rapidly becomes lower and, at first, seems to end altogether about 30 feet in. However, on closer examination, a small opening does extend further and Dave continued on hands and knees for about another 10 feet before turning back. To go farther than that would involve traveling on ones belly like a snake, so we really have no idea how far it actually extends.

We took our time examining the cave, with 16 hikers climbing into and out of the rather small space, and then paused in the wash for a midmorning snack before leaving the site. The photograph included here (right) shows hikers leaving the cave.

Following our snack we proceeded on up the wash toward the old mine site known as Jerome-Del Monte shaft. None of us had hiked this far up the gulch before and we were utterly surprised to find, less than a hundred yards ahead, what at first seemed an insurmountable barrier, a sheer rock ledge about 10 feet high.

Closer examination, however, disclosed a series of small indentations along one side that would serve as steps. These “steps” were close against the canyon wall and for safety required some support to avoid toppling sideways while climbing up. I braced myself against the rock ledge and offered my shoulder for this purpose. Even so, 5 of our hikers decided to turn back, climb the canyon wall just below the cave, and hike along the rim.

Once past the rock ledge and a smaller, cactus-infested ledge just above it, the way was relatively clear the rest of the way to the old mine site. That is it was clear except for rocks and cacti. In what proved to be a miscalculation, I angled up the slope toward our goal, located above the gulch on the right (northeast) side of the wash. Every few yards we had to change direction or backtrack to avoid another patch of prickly pear cactuses. These seemed to have been strategically placed in transverse bands so as to obstruct our path. Meanwhile, each step required great care to avoid loose rocks hidden in the grass. By contrast a few of our hikers who had continued up the bottom of the gulch had a much easier time of it and were waiting for us when we arrived a the site.

The site has a main shaft which, according to mindat.org, is of unknown depth, about 60 feet in diameter and “has been backfilled by weathering and erosion.”¹ In the below photograph, the main shaft in marked by the tailings at center while the smaller dumps seen to the right (below) are “Quartzite, Chert, Sandstone and other discard.”² Minerals listed for the site include Calcite and Hematite.

Main shaft at center, smaller dumps running to the right – from across the gulch

Just upstream from the shaft are located some large concrete blocks (left) with reinforcing rods running through them. We could not determine their purpose.

When we were through examining the mine site, we continued on an old road that crosses the gulch just above the site and then leads back down the other side. Meanwhile, only one of the 5 hikers who had chosen to climb out of the gulch below the cave and hike along the rim, had continued all the way to the mine. The other four were waiting for us on the old road across the gulch, just about at the location from where the photograph of the mine was taken.

We followed the old road down the other side until it turned away from the gulch. From that point, we just bushwhacked toward where we thought the south pink cave was located. Our intent was to descend to the cave from above and slightly downstream. This had proven, during our 2009 visit, to be the easiest approach. Unfortunately, we aimed too far upstream this time and had to either travel back downstream along a steep rocky slope or descend to the bottom of the wash, travel downstream and then climb back up to the cave. Some chose one way, some the other, and some of those who descended to the wash just chose to eat lunch there, viewing the cave at a distance. The rest of us ate in the cave.

As seen below, as befits a naturally-occurring formation, the south cave is more irregularly-shaped than the north cave.

South pink cave – located up a side wash about 0.2 miles from Del Monte Gulch

This cave shows what appears to be smoke discoloration, possibly indicating Native American use. The opening and the main chamber of the cave are larger than those of the north cave. The chamber is about 20 feet deep and there is room to stand upright in most of the area. As was the case in the north cave, this one also has a small opening in the rear that runs for an undetermined length. The two caves are located in the same strata about 0.1 miles apart, and I have heard that they are connected by the small opening. That doesn't seem reasonable to me, and I am certainly not going to test the theory by slithering further into the small opening in either of them.

Indicating possible use by early settlers, we found the date 1897 painted in yellow (right) on the wall.

After lunch we hiked the short distance down the wash to the junction with Del Monte Gulch. Some of the hikers had traveled directly down the bottom of the wash, while others had angled down the slope toward the junction, so we all paused there to regroup. This was the opportune time for a group photograph.

Left to right: Terry Johnson, Anita Jackson, Don Kling, Dave Beach, Ruth Frazier, Teresa Schnack 

(kneeling), Kwi Johnson, Collene Maktenieks (kneeling), Lila Wright, Pete Bolinger (rear), 

Connie Woolard, Bob Coates, Felicia Coates Daisy Williams (front) and Jim Manning 

– author not shown

We made good time back down the gulch and were soon again crossing the fence by use of the big boulder at the locked gate. Rather than return by way of Haskell Springs Road and Black Hills Drive, we took a trail that runs roughly diagonally from the end of Windmill Lane to where we were parked near the Yavapai College Winery. Another alternative would have been to turn east immediately after crossing the fence and follow another trail that runs roughly parallel to the way we went.

The GPS Track for this hike is shown of the included map (below). The red track on the map shows the way (by Black Hills Drive and Haskell Springs Road) from the parking lot to the north cave, on to Jerome-Del Monte shaft, across to the south cave and back to the junction of Del Monte Gulch and the side wash. This track has been edited to remove the extra distance we hiked due to misjudging the location of the south cave. It now shows the correct path. The alternative return path we took from the gate, is shown in blue and still another alternative return path is shown in yellow.

Because of inaccuracies due to erratic readings while entering the caves and traveling in the narrow gulch, my GPS showed a total hike distance of 7 miles. We actually hiked only 5.3 miles and, had we not misjudged the location of the south cave, it would have been 4.3 miles. Our highest elevation was 4378 feet and the elevation difference was 809 feet.

1 http://www.mindat.org/loc-63506.html

2 Stet