Twin Arrows

Twin Arrows is a stop along I-40 in Northern Arizona, on a stretch of the old Route 66 alignment.  There is not nearly as much to see here as there was at Two Guns, and they do not want people stopping and wandering.  There is like no parking in the area, everything is blocked off by big cement barriers, however we were not the only car slowly driving along the frontage road snapping pics, there was one in front of us and one behind us as well.  It made it hard for my hubby to argue when others were doing it too.  =0)

The place is named for the Giant Twin Arrows that some entrepreneur years ago put up to attract attention to their trading post and hamburger stand.

In this photo you can see the trading post and some of the gas pumps and in the bottom left of the picture you can see a bit of the barriers which block the whole area.

A closer shot of the arrows, they have recently been restored, it was not to long ago that they were missing pieces and the paint was faded and chipped away...

The trading post and more of the gas pumps, there were a lot of gas pumps hanging out around this building...

The Diner!

The future, there should be a casino going up at this exit in the near future, what this will mean for the old Trading Post and Diner is still unknown, but I for one am hoping for a resurrection of this unique spot along Americas Mother Road!

Two Guns

Two Guns is a stop in Northern Az off of I-40 and old Route 66, it was a truly amazing place, and it has a truly great history.  I did not get nearly as many photos here as I wanted to.  I had both of my boys with me and there is a canyon running through the middle of the site.  So here are the photos I did get, and a promise that I will go back and explore, this place screams for hours of my time...

This is the old pueblo, it was built as a tourist trap, as was most if not all of the building here.

I think this building may have been the home/store of one of the families that worked there.  You can also see the old bridge in this shot, we did not make it that far in, but from what I understand you do not want to walk across this bridge, much less drive across it.

I believe this is the original entrance to the zoo...

Part of the old Route 66 alignment, you can drive down part of the alignment right up to the Mountain Lion building, after that I would not recommend it, and only go that far if you are in a high clearance vehicle!

The main 'Kamp" building, this is one of the newer tries at the site...

A more recent Gas station..

This was the caretakers trailer up until a few years ago, the site is now open, though there may be a no trespassing sign around, I did not go to far because of the boys, and recommend obeying all laws!

As you can see most of the pictures are from far away, this site is somewhere around 300 acres, everywhere you looked there were falling down stone buildings, and that was from the interstate, I would give just about anything to get back there and have the time to wander, there is just so much to see.  To finish off I want to leave you with a few links, the first ones are to the history of the site, which is long and fascinating, there was an Indian massacre way back, as well as more recent murders in the not so distant past, they say the place is cursed...  The last is to a site that has better pictures as well as some pictures from back when this place was booming...

http://www.hkhinc.com/arizona/twoguns/richardson.htm
http://cityofdust.blogspot.com/2012/02/someplace-wicked-two-guns-arizona.html
http://www.roadsideresort.com/photos/two-guns-arizona

I hope you guys enjoy learning about this site as much as I have, it has been on my 'must see' list for a few years now, and while I get to cross it off, it has been added to the 'must return' list instead, I am not sure which is better!

Unknown Ranch!

Hey all, so while I was out riding with a friend this past week she told me she had this awesome place to show me, so off we went and what we found was an old abandoned ranch in Hereford,  I am not going to post the exact directions, just that it is off of Canada road.  If you want more info email, and I would love to know some of the history of this place, so if you know anything please share!

Our rides outside of the main house.

Inside the smaller of the two main living quarters, I am guessing this was the bunkhouse.

These were awesome, just hanging around, no idea what they are though...

Part of the roof had blown off.

This was inside what I believe was the original stables, but was eventually used as storage...

Back of the above building.

A look inside the main building.

A beautiful fireplace.

The other side of the main house, I just love the rock work...

Inside view of the fireplace.

Add caption

You can tell there was a fire.

I am thinking an alter, but I do not know for sure.

This doorway was very odd, you could see multiple variations of it.

I found this modern painted door in the middle of all of this interesting. 

Another view of the main house.

The smaller building/bunkhouse.  There was evidence of people shooting and paintballing out here, the local kids definitely know of this places existence, which sadly means they will fall apart faster....

The back of the barn/garage had to smaller rooms, what looks like a workshop...

And an outhouse.

The other part had started collapsing in on itself...

One whole wall was basically dust.

The other one will be going soon enough, it was not to stable.

I am guessing this was the pumphouse, but it may have been something else.

The watering hole was very well put together, this was a really nice area...

There was a lot of misc crap hanging around the site, people have obviously been dumping out here.

The still standing part of the barn

In this shot the barn is to the right of the main house, but it is a good shot of the other three buildings...

A front view of the bunkhouse before we head back to the stables to take care of our mounts...

As I said, I have no clue what this was other than a ranch, I would love to have any information on it, so please, please, please share if you know anything.  Thanks so much!