Mazatzal Mountain Muzzleloaders

In Gila County Arizona the legendary town of Rye was officially founded in 1884 and every November Mountainmen come from all corners of the globe for rendezvous time. Rye has hosted this rendezvous for 36 years. The history and heritage of this beautiful, rugged, and wild part of Arizona could fill volumes, and during the annual rendezvous the air is thick with the distinctive smell of black powder put there by rough individuals, dressed in Indian-sewn buckskin, free men who possess the character and strength demanded of the untamed west. It is tomahawks and arrows flying into wood coupled with a reverence for a sharp blade and a steady hand in the darkest of circumstance. The nightly campfires serve as a beacon to the spirits of those who heard the call of the wild the loudest and answered it with sweat, grit, and heart. The days are packed with mirth, songs, dancing, shouting, trading, running, jumping, singing, racing, target-shooting, yarns, frolic, with all sorts of extravagances.