Gold Belt Tour Scenic Byway
Phantom Canyon Road Part 1

I couldn't resist this one: heavily treed valley with big slabs of rock rising up the sides... this Phantom Canyon Road just goes on and on. Still lots of cottonwoods. Notice the moth mullein and chamisa on the right and some pretty big Ponderosa rising straight up out of the rock.

The way this railroad bed was built, there were obviously some pretty good engineers and surveyors involved, never mind the explosives men and laborers, so many laborers. Nowhere along the road so far has there been any kind of heavy uphill grade. I realize that going uphill, the ore cars were empty but there was also a concern with fully loaded ore cars going downhill turning into runaway trains...