Fairbank Historic Townsite

"worth checking out. we stumbled upon this place while driving around. there is a one mile hike to Fairbanks Cemetery but I didn't have time to do the hike."

Christina

"Very historic and scenic walking trail! We had a great time."

Courtney Ingerson

"This is a review of the Fairbank Trail Loop via the San Pedro Trail.
We took this trail counterclockwise, since we drove past the trailhead inadvertently and didn't see it, since we parked all the way to the far left of the parking lot. It took us a lot longer (2 1/2 hours) than the time estimate on All Trails (1 hour and 11 minutes) to walk this trail. My husband is a very robust 68 year old, I am a less robust 58 year old so we walked at a fairly slow pace. (I also stopped to take photos, further slowing down our pace.)

Since we did the trail in reverse, the first half was more shady and cool than the other half. There were a few areas where we brushed past growth hanging over the trail, but nothing was impassable. There were many ant holes directly on the trail but they were not bothersome; this is nature after all! Thanks to reading reviews before we left home, we brought bug spray with us. And it was needed, or we would have had bugs around our heads the whole time. The Grand Central Mill is interesting to see looming in the distance, and we eventually reached it and were able to get right up to the remaining walls. Fascinating! There was an old railroad spike and a metal trough nearby. There were about 5 rusted our metal barrels along the trail. We were happy to have 2 deer encounters. Each time we heard loud crashing sounds through the brush and the deer bounded away, one right across the path in front of us. Exciting! We saw lots of small lizards, several butterflies and lots of wildflowers. Too bad the river is dry, would love to have seen water. But the dry bed was still interesting. We could see tracks across the bed that we assume were from crossing deer. We visited the Fairbank Cemetery, which shows its age but the rock pile graves are still visible, along with many aged wooden crosses. Someone had added some white artificial flowers blossoms to several of the graves. This was the only area of the trail that was nothing but rocks. The rest of the trail alternated between packed dirt and loose sand. With the exception of the trek up to the cemetery, the trail is flat and mostly easily walked, with the loose sand somewhat challenging. There were tire tracks from a bike and horse hoof impressions visible on the trail. (Watch out for the horse and dog droppings.) We saw about 5 benches along the 2nd half of our hike. Curiously there were none on our first half. (Which if you walk the route counterclockwise, as intended based on the position of the trail signs, the benches are all in the first half.)

There is ample parking and a clean bathroom just outside the area where the remaining town buildings are situated. Goes without saying one needs sunscreen and lots of water to drink for the hike! I was happy to see no litter along the hiking trail. We did not go into the restored schoolhouse or see the post office since we were tired; maybe on another visit. The trees and vegetation do not vary on the shaded parts of the trail but since it's summer everything is green and the wildflowers are everywhere. In the sunny, open area there is mostly desert scrub and a few scattered cactuses. I recommend this trail as worth the time!"

Jennifer Higdon