Experience the best of Claypool

Claypool is a small community in Gila County, Arizona, next to the town of Globe and about 114 km east of Phoenix, in a copper-mining district where mines have operated since the 1880s. It sits at roughly 1,070 metres in desert hills below the Pinal Mountains, which rise to forested peaks above 2,300 metres. The Globe-Miami area has a historic downtown of antique shops, and Besh-Ba-Gowah, the excavated ruins of a Salado pueblo, lies in Globe.

Roosevelt Lake and its dam, about 45 km north-west, mark the eastern end of the Apache Trail, a winding road through the Superstition Mountains towards the Phoenix area. Tonto National Monument has Salado cliff dwellings above the lake. The San Carlos Apache Reservation lies to the east, and Boyce Thompson Arboretum, a desert botanical garden, lies to the west near Superior.

The local food leans on Southwestern and Mexican cooking, with tacos, green chile stew, tamales and fry bread. Winters are mild and sunny, and spring brings wildflowers and green hills; summers are hot, followed by monsoon thunderstorms from July to September. October to April is the most comfortable time for hiking and driving the Apache Trail.