Have you ever been anywhere near a volcano? I'm standing near the top of
Mt. Mingus, in north central Arizona. It's about October, 1988. Behind me
is the Black Mountains range, which forms the southern side of the valley
named after
the Verde (green) River. The National Park System and/or the Forest
service maintains the visitable ground I'm standing on. The eerie thing
about this place is the Pumice stone. Strewn all over the place - in size,
as big as a small boulder all the way down to pieces you can hold in your
hand. In fact, Mt. Mingus is one of three prominences left after a huge
Mt. St. Helens kind of eruption left a caldera of an ancient volcano. This
volcano is now believed to be extinct. US 89-A goes right up through the
caldera on its path down the southwest side of
the mountains to Prescott. So many visitors were taking pieces of pumice
stone that the Park Service had to erect a sign saying that removing any
of the pumice pieces is illegal. One thing for sure, you get an awesome,
palpable impression of the terrific chthonic forces at work in and on this
planet Earth!
You may now check out other photos from my visit to Jerome!
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