Dead Horse Ranch State Park

Some years ago a young couple came to this area looking for a ranch to buy.  They looked at several different ones and were trying to make up their minds which to buy.  They asked their young children which one they liked.  The children were unanimous in their choice.  They wanted the one with the dead horse.  It seems that on one of the ranches the couple had looked at, there was a dead hose.  The couple took their children's advice and bought that particular property and immediately named it Dead Horse Ranch.  Later, they sold it to the state to become a park but only if Arizona retained the name of the ranch.  Thus was born Dead Horse Ranch State Park.

This was our campsite.  The large live oak would have provided plenty of shade except that the leaves were not out yet.  It had just started to bud.

This is the old mining town of Jerome.  It can be easily identified by the large letter "J" on the mountain above it.  Several other towns in the area were similarly marked.  This view of the town was from our campsite.

There were a large number of these California Quail in the campground.  This group was in our campsite one morning.

A lot of interest was stirred up when our new neighbors moved in.  Their rig was obviously homemade as was the teepee they erected behind it.  I am not sure I would want to live in it but it certainly brightened up the neighborhood.