On our way back to Show Low after dropping the new issue of the Gypsy Journal off at the printer in Flagstaff yesterday, we took a break to explore the ruins of Two Guns, which was once a Route 66 icon.

There isn’t much left these days except stone ruins, but you can just feel the history of this old place.

Two Guns is sandwiched between Interstate 40 (which replaced Route 66) and Diablo Canyon, a deep, rough chasm with a history all its own. Warring Indians used the canyon as a refuge and to launch ambushes against their enemies. One legend tells of a “death cave” in the canyon near Two Guns, in which a war party of 42 Apaches hid after raiding two Navajo villages. When the Navajos pursuing the war party discovered the secret cave, they set fires at the entrance, sending their enemies to a horrible death by smoke inhalation and asphyxiation.

Early white settlers built a small, short lived community known as Canyon Lodge here, but the town failed before long. Two Guns was built on the old town site.

Two Guns was named for a eccentric hermit named “Two Gun Miller,” who claimed to be an Apache and to live in a cave in Canyon Diablo. Miller operated a trading post and tourist attraction at Two Guns, making a living off the travelers who passed by.  He was a colorful character who billed himself as “Chief Crazy Thunder,” wore his long hair braided, and told wild tales of his adventures to thrill the tourists.

Two Guns was typical of the Route 66 tourist traps that dotted the highway from Chicago to Los Angeles. Miller built a series of stone buildings at Two Guns, including a zoo where he displayed several mountain lions, rattlesnakes, and a collection of other wild animals. Other buildings include a restaurant, Indian curio shop, and a tourist court where road weary travelers could spend the night.

We drove past the ruins of the old mountain lion pens and across an ancient concrete bridge, then followed a dirt road a quarter mile or so to the main ruins perched on the edge of Canyon Diablo. Most of the old stone and block buildings have fallen in, but one turret-like structure still had a spiral stairway winding up the outside of it.

Being careful of rattlesnakes, we walked around the old ruins and wondered about the lives of those who had been here before us. Peering over the edge of the deep canyon, we understood why it was such an important refuge for the Indians who once lived here, and why it was such a roadblock when the railroad came through northern Arizona. 

The road was a bit rough, but our van had no problem getting us back to the ruins. I wouldn’t want to drive it in a passenger car, and in bad weather I wouldn’t attempt it in anything less than a four wheel drive vehicle.

I was pleased to see that, unlike many of the ghost towns I have been too, overall Two Guns is in decent shape. There was evidence of a camp fire, a few broken bottles, but no graffiti or piles of trash laying around.

Two Guns is located on the south side of Interstate 40 at Exit 230, and is visible from the highway. After you turn off the highway, there are the remains of a service station and campground on the hill to your right, but if you go there, you’ve gone too far. The road to Two Guns is an immediate right after you get off the highway. Drive west about 1/4 mile and turn through the fence to Two Guns. 

Thought For The Day – We have enough youth, how about a fountain of Smart?

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I got an e-mail from a lady yesterday that told me she was heartbroken because they had just lost their beloved eight month old Jack Russell terrier when a coyote came into their campsite in northern California and made off with it.

She said her husband had yelled and thrown rocks at the coyote, but it just ran off with their puppy in its jaws, a sight that would haunt them forever. She said the campground hosts had warned them about coyotes, but they never dreamed that they would be so bold as to snatch their puppy while they were sitting outside in their lawn chairs.

We have seen this happen before in campgrounds. At the Verde Valley Thousand Trails preserve in Camp Verde, Arizona a couple of years ago, a couple put two little Shih Tzu dogs outside their fifth wheel in a fenced enclosure about eighteen inches high, and the local coyotes walked right into their campsite, jumped into the pen and grabbed the dogs.

While I’m very sorry for their loss, they have to understand that to the coyotes, these weren’t pets, they were just lunch, and their owners delivered it right into the predators’ living room.

You can’t blame the coyotes (or bobcats, foxes, and occasional mountain lions). They are just doing what comes natural to them, preying on something lower on the food chain. We brought our RVs and our pets into their territory and made them easy to devour. It happens all over the country, though it happens most often in the west. However, coyotes can be found from the deserts of Arizona to the forests of Michigan, and no matter where they come from, they have one thing in common; they all appreciate an easy meal.

And those are not the only critters that are standing in line to eat your critters. Bill Graves, in his America’s Outback column in this month’s Trailer Life magazine, writes about Central Florida, where the locals say the favorite food for the alligators in the region is small dogs. Eagles, hawks, owls, and even feral dogs will not hesitate to snatch small pets given half a chance. It’s all about survival of the fittest.

That doesn’t mean you should avoid the great outdoors and confine your RV stays to urban campgrounds. Especially since I have personally seen coyotes in city parks in downtown Seattle and Portland. Just use some common sense.  

If you love your pets, do not leave them unattended outside at any time, whether tied up or in a pen. And as the folks who lost their puppy yesterday can attest, even being outside with them is no guarantee of safety for your pets. Wild predators are fast, smart, and ruthless when it comes to filling their stomachs. Give them an inch and they’ll take a mile. Or in this case, a Fifi or a Mr. Rags.

Thought For The Day – You have to at least try to live your dream if you want it to come true.

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