Day Tripping in Western Arizona: Fish Bowl Spring in Golden Valley

Route 66 winds through

the Black Mountains. 

 I love the rugged landscape...

... & take way too many pictures.

Millions of years of erosion

produced the erratic

mountainsides.

The valley below...

The road hugs the

 mountainside.

Eric stops the car and says, "This is where Fish Bowl Spring is."  A man named Shaffer noticed water seeping down the cliff walls while working on a WPA project during the Depression of the 1930s.  He shaped a basin at the spring's base to collect the water.

I'm not scrambling up that 

mountainside in sandals 

to look at a spring.

The rough-hewn staircase

to the spring is behind

our car.

According to Explore Kingman, stairs were cut into the side of the mountain to make the Fish Bowl available to visitors when this road was built.  

I want my trekking poles for this steep hike.

Eric leads the way...

Sometimes visitors see Goldfish

left by the locals in this

small pool.

Not today...

Eric takes a selfie.

A shot with the road below.

It's a long way down.

Eric starts off to give 

me something soft 

to land on, if I fall.

I need the trekking poles on the steep downhill return trip.  

I'm glad that we stopped at this unique attraction.  Don't get discouraged when you get to the tiny turnoff.  Just look for the stairs.