A short but thrilling ride in the foothills of the Santa Rita mountains in Santa Cruz County Arizona, the Mohawk Mine Trail is a spur off the Solero Road (FR143) and a must see when driving along that road. The Mohawk Mine is a former small underground, Lead, Copper, Gold, Silver, Zinc mine which produced ore from 1928-1929. Owned at times, or in part, by the Squaw Gulch Mining & Milling Company, and finally worked as marked on the cabin, by James Marcum in 1937. This is still an active claim, with taxes paid in 2018. The best part of this trail is the cabin at the end of the road which seems to have been built last week. As a final fun challenge, there is a steep hill climb that you can take that loops above the cabin with stunning views of Mexico.
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From the old rail station in Patagonia, AZ, cross AZ82 and go West on 3rd st. Take the 3rd St near the Patagonia Market West until you reach Pennsylvania St. Here you will turn left (South) and travel for about 3 miles until you intersect with the Solero Rd. (FS#143). Turn right here and travel 7.6 miles until you see the sign for Squaw Gulch Rd (FS#144).
This trail is entirely on US National Forest land.
The trail to the old cabin is basically overgrown to the point you can’t see where to drive. The grass near the cabin is waist high and the sun was setting so I only went as far as the tailings pile next to the cabin. Lots of tight trees pinstripes are guaranteed past waypoint 3
This is a nice side trip when running the Solero and Bull Springs Trail if you want to add more challenge to the trail ride. I would only run this in 2WD if you're an experienced driver. We ran the latter portion of the trail in 4-hi in a stock Jeep Rubicon on 33" tires to avoid bouncing on the boulders. Note that you also may experience some pinstriping, especially as you approach the left turn heading up to the mine near the end of the trail.
The cabin looks like it is still in use. The inscription on the door has been charred and some of it is unreadable, but otherwise there are still pans hanging from the wall. The views from the cabin are spectacular. This was a fun option!
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I moved to Arizona in 1984 and bought my first offroad vehicle the next year. I had lots of adventures, seeking out the Old West on paper topo maps in my Toyota FJ40 and can say, fortunately, that I never had to walk home. In 2005 I saw the prototype for the FJ Cruiser, and in the middle of my FJ40 resto project, someone came into my garage with cash and bought it out from under me. (Some regrets) In 2008, I flew out to LA to pick up my FJ Cruiser, special ordered with the Offroad Package (Locker) and MT6. My area of operations has been Southern Arizona, from the New Mexico to California borders. Unfortunately, the FJ Cruiser burned in a fire in August 2020. Now I'm building up from the ashes, literally, salvaged parts from the FJ are going on my Lexus GX470. SO, that's what's coming out next.
I have been an active member of AZFJ.org where I'm the top post contributor, and have many trail reviews posted there that I plan on enhancing, revisiting and documenting for this authoritative source. I have a login to Ih8Mud and fjcruiserforums but don't lurk there very much.
in my career, I've had the pleasure of traveling in Canada, the Caribbean, and Australia but never had the opportunity to wheel there. (bucket list). But, I hope my 30 years of Southern Arizona discovery, teaching and leading people into the backcountry will finally benefit a wider audience here on Trailsoffroad. There's nothing I enjoy more than finding a historic site, a little-used trail that had significance or the opportunity to take that one photo that defines what we do. (I stink but I'm willing to learn).
Oh..Added benefit...I'm the GIS analyst for a fire dept and as such have some skills in ArcGIS.
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