Spend the Night in a Ghost Town? Sure, why not!

At the end of 2020 I was really feeling the need for some adventure and also a chance to cut away from the political news that I was starting to obsess over in November and December. I thought a solo backpacking trip would do the trick, but I was also looking for a new experience and an escape from the Northeast Ohio winter. I began to consider heading to the desert, maybe Arizona or New Mexico? I know there are probably hundreds of Ghost Towns in the southwest and maybe I could find one or two and work in some exploration and photography?

I started researching and scouring Google Earth and one place that caught my attention was Ruby, Arizona. Somewhere I had read that Ruby had recently started to allow camping on the property. Perfect! I found an email address for the owner and inquired about camping and we set it up. This is no tourist attraction like some of the other Ghost Towns I’ve been to (Bodie, CA)...after a small payment and a waiver was signed, the owner gave me the combination to the gate and instructed me to find the caretaker who lives on the property and let them know I was there when I arrive.

If Ruby was my only destination on this trip, I would’ve flown to Tucson, but since I also had plans to camp at Lost Dutchman State Park, I flew to Phoenix. Ruby was about a 3.5 hour drive from Phoenix with a few roadside stops along the way. One of those stops was the ruins of this old adobe-style house in Arivaca.

It’s about an hour drive to Ruby from Arivaca, mostly on unpaved roads that increasingly get worse! My rental car was not exactly off-road equipped, but the road was dry and I was able to maneuver around some bad spots, but I did get some looks from the Jeeps and 4x4’s I passed on the way;-)

I finally reached the gate and was very relieved when the combination lock worked and the gate swung open! Within a couple of minutes I passed a rusty Ford truck, an old school house and found the caretaker. She was quite friendly (and so was her dog), and told me that I was the only person there that day and I could camp wherever I wanted. I couldn’t believe it! Twelve hours ago I was in snowy Ohio and now I’m in an abandoned Ghost Town 4 miles from Mexico and I have it all to myself! I only had about 1.5 hours of daylight left and wanted to get camp setup first so i would still have some light to explore. I found an exceptional spot a little ways from town over by the mine tailings and setup quickly. I decided I would save the main town exploration for the next day and instead set out to the surrounding mountains to photograph views at dusk.

I was tired from the long day of travel, but couldn't resist walking over to town and exploring a couple of the buildings in the dark. I have never encountered anything supernatural and going to places that are claimed to be haunted doesn’t bother me, but even I got some uneasy vibes from wandering around this location in the middle of the desert where at least four murders took place 100 years ago.

Mercantile stores were frequently robbed in the old west because of all the money and goods they had from doing so much business. The Ruby mercantile had two double murders, in February, 1920 and August, 1921. John and Alex Fraser were robbed and murdered by Mexican Banditos less than a month after buying the mercantile and just 7 months later, the new store owner, Frank Pearson and his wife were also killed!

I also had a really interesting experience were several great horned owls were flying and calling around me near the old schoolhouse. Even though it was dark, I could still make one out at the top of the old flag pole and in the trees. After checking out a couple houses, I made it back to my tent for some backpackers chicken gumbo and a good night's sleep!

Woke up early, filled my thermos with hot coffee and set off to catch sunrise from the top of one of the surrounding mountains. It was a beautiful and cool morning and a great way to start the day.

I eventually made it back into town and finally got a chance to really explore this old mining town. At Ruby, you can pretty much go wherever you want except for a couple of buildings that are locked that seem to be used for storage and building materials. It’s really incredible to have a place like this without all the usual barricades and modern features meant to keep tourists safe and inline.

I found the caretaker, L.T. trimming back a trail at one point and she pointed me to the bat cave that can have up to 200,000 Mexican bats living in it in the spring. I’ll have to come back and witness what has to be an amazing sight as these bats fly out to eat insects at dusk! L.T.’s hound dog, Hatchy continued to accompany me around as I finished up my wanderings around town. I wish I could've stayed longer, but I had a few more stops on my way to Lost Dutchman and had to get moving.

Ruby has a rich history and I’ve only given you a photographic tour here. Please head over to Ruby’s website for the history and visiting information.
http://rubyaz.com