These photos were taken during an excursion to the DeSoto mine, located north of Phoenix in the Bradshaw Mountains. Though I've explored this area thoroughly, I continue to find new and exciting areas to explore in these mountains and came across the mine after talking with a friend who had interest in exploring the area. This shaft is located about five miles in from forest road 259A. You can find this road right before Middleton. We headed there with a 4x4 Hummer and on our arrival easily found the entrance in. What proceeded past that was an intense and unreal discovery of vibrant blue crystal formations and some spectacular ore samples to take home. The dynamite box photo and top left photos were taken from the Golden Turkey mine, which was visited before DeSoto.

All photographs are copyright Matthew A. Hein. To request a high resolution copy or to comment, please contact me. Thanks for looking!

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