Mystery Hike in Phoenix

On our last full day in Phoenix, Dear Husband and I went hiking on South Mountain. We had originally planned to do this in the late afternoon after my brother and his fiancé arrived from San Diego, but he was recovering from COVID and couldn't make it. So DH and I hiked in the morning, which turned out to be the right idea, because the weather had definitely warmed up later in the week, with a projected high of 80.

I had found us a 1-hour-out, 1-hour-back hike up to Dobbins Lookout, named for James C. Dobbins, who chaired the Phoenix Planning Commission that acquired the land for South Mountain Park. The head of the trail was not marked, but thankfully another hiker finished just as we were parking. It was somewhat busy, with lots of folks going in both directions. Apparently it's a popular place to catch the sunset, but then of course you would have to drive up and back.

This is the summit, 2,330 feet above downtown Phoenix, seen here to the north. To the left is a stone structure good for taking Instagrammable photos (while we were there an Indie musician arrived with her acoustic guitar to take promotional shots). To the right is the part of South Mountain we hiked. 

Immediately after we got down, we joined a 45-minute tour of Mystery Castle, the eccentric domicile constructed by father Boyce Gully ( -1945) after he relocated from the Pacific Northwest to Phoenix as "treatment" for pulmonary tuberculosis. He intended it for his daughter, Mary Lou, but he died before he could finish it or reunite with his family. His wife and daughter moved down from Seattle to Phoenix to take possession, and almost immediately it became an unofficial tourist site, and then quickly an official one, as Mary Lou invited the press, guests, and weddings into her home.

Gully scavenged stones from the desert, cast-off bricks, and other materials for building. He worked as a shoe salesman to earn money for food and concrete. Electricity and indoor plumbing weren't added until decades after Gully died, so they had to haul water every day from 1 mile away.

Apparently someone vandalized the house the exact time we were in Phoenix last year, but I hadn't been able to squeeze it into our itinerary, so I'm glad they were able to repair the estimated $100,000 in damages (according to Wikipedia) so we could appreciate this father-daughter duo of collectors and animal lovers.

The floor doesn't slope too much in Gully's bedroom on the main floor. May Lou's bedroom above the kitchen remains off limits despite her passing in 2010. (See the chain across the stairs below.) 

Above are photos of the kitchen and dining areas. Below is the main patio with a view toward the wishing well, the mother-in-law's quarters (accessed by a winding staircase without a handrail...), and the gift shop, which looked like a cheap yard sale. No photos were allowed, however.

"He who does not like cats was a rat in his former life."

This is the entrance to the guest suite, which was mostly complete when Gully died. It consists of two levels: a sitting area above and then down a staircase the trundle bed that stores in a niche under the upper level. Below left you can see the skeleton of the saguaro cactus that was on the site when Gully started building. It lived until he put the roof on. You're no longer allowed to kill cacti like this one, which must have been over 100 years old (given its height and presence of 2 arms).

On the right is some furniture from the underground parts of the castle. Under the trapdoor the alligator is standing on were important documents and money Gully had made from selling what little bit of ore who scraped from the dirt while building. (It's the excuse he gave to acquire the land for free under the homestead act as a "mining operation.")

"Woman who grinds corn grinds away her troubles."

Every castle needs a dungeon, right? I don't know why it needs whatever is going on in the corner below, which is what you see on the righthand side of the above view. Yes, that's a mannequin wearing a blue bandana and a star-spangled top hat. Reportedly they have parties / receptions here.

Above is the organ in the castle's chapel, where I was surprised to hear they were holding weddings already in the 1950s. Below is the "altar" area; they have the couple stand between the stone snakes on the floor. There is also a shelf with a collection of shoes donated by brides who have gotten married there.

With the jigsaw puzzle nearly complete, our vacation was almost over.