Reef Townsite Group Area

Overview

<p><a href="http://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MEDIA/fseprd1045704.jpg"><img alt="Reef Townsite Campground" src="http://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MEDIA/fseprd1045704.jpg" style="width:40%; float:left; margin-right: 1.5em;" title="Reef Townsite Campground" /></a> This high mountain campground, once the mining town of Reef, offers 16 campsites, as well as a reservable group site. That remote outpost got its name from the nearby Carr Reef, a tall band of quartzite-bearing cliffs that form the Huachuca Mountains&rsquo; dramatic eastern front. Mining activity along the Reef began during the last few years of the nineteenth century and proceeded in fits and starts all the way into the 1950s.<br />&nbsp;<br />The property occupied by the mines and the town was returned to public ownership in 1970, and in 1988, the Forest Service constructed a campground on the townsite. A number of picnic tables and tent pads were placed within the visible outlines of old cabin foundations.<br />&nbsp;<br />Many relics of Reef&rsquo;s mining history, including the remains of the town&rsquo;s old water system and miscellaneous features, are still visible in and around the campground. Evidence of old mining digs and foundations for an ore mill provide points of interest along a three-quarter-mile interpretive trail which begins and ends at the northeastern end of the campground.<br />&nbsp;<br />Garbage bins available. Black bears in area.</p>