Here are our recommendations for Things To Do In Clifton Arizona; including dining, lodging, & local history. But first a brief slideshow.
People still live around Clifton, but the downtown is mostly abandoned buildings now (2012). Some say the locals don’t want to do anything with the old downtown. Other say there is a more progressive group that wants to make it into something like Old Town Bisbee. Wouldn’t that be grand?
Coronado Trail
We followed Hwy 191 north from Duncan, Arizona, 28 miles to Clifton, then another 4 miles north to Morenci’. Hwy 191 is called the Coronado Trail because it’s more or less the route taken by Coronado and his conquistadors in their search for the fabled Seven Cities of Gold … which, fortunately for the aborigines, they did not find.
We hear that north of Morenci’ the Coronado Trail (Hwy 191) is one of the best back roads in all of Arizona. If you get there before us, let us know what you think of it.
Other than to explore the abandoned old downtown and a few scattered artifacts, there isn’t much to do in Clifton except take photographs and say you’ve been there. But there is a reason to go to Clifton.
Clifton is the northern entrance to the Black Hills Back Country Byway, a delightful couple-hours drive through the rugged beauty of Greenlee County that takes you from Clifton to Soloman on Hwy 70 near Safford. In fact, before modern highways, this unpaved 21 mile scenic drive was the only road from Safford to the mines at Clifton.