Another
great Fall Trip to the desert. We started out with only 3 of us
camping at Calico Ghost Town near Barstow. We explored behind the
town using Nobbies new Jeep Rubicon with all it’s bells and
whistles. A great ride.
Nobbies new Jeep Rubicon.
The
next day we visited the Route 66 museum behind the Barstow train
station. Quite a lot of Route 66 memorabilia. We also visited the
Mojave River museum with its displays of dinosaur bones and local
history. We gathered some information from the docent about local
areas for a future visit.
We
then moved on to Baker and camped behind the Mad Greek restaurant in
the “trees” where 3 more of our crew met us. We drove out to an
old Civil Air Patrol site at Silver Lake. I had found a reference to
it on a desert website. Remains of buildings and a swimming pool near
the high way are about all that is left.
We
had dinner at the Mad Greek.
The
next morning we moved on to Tecopa and our favorite campsite where we
circled the wagons for a 5 day stay. As usual, we drove to the China
Ranch date farm for a date shake followed by a trip to the date
canyon overlook. A very impressive canyon which we hiked down several
years ago through the mesquite trees. A very tough hike.
Our
first goal was to visit Galena Canyon in the southern part of Death
Valley. We had been prevented form doing this trip for the last two
years, first because of road damage due to rains then last year the
Armagossa River was running high due to a rainstorm. This year it was
dry but we determined that the water last year would have been up to
the windows on Jeff’s Jeep Liberty. Good thing we didn’t try it.
Galena Canyon.
This
year no problem, so we explored the talc mines in the canyon and
drove several roads in the area. We also explored an old Indian cave
on the side of the cliff which had also been used by miners as they
had built up rock walls in the front of the cave.
Larry and Jeff outside of Indian cave.
We
also explored several more Talc mines in the area near our camp. Some
of these are way up the side of mountains and required heavy
equipment to make access roads. We drove these roads as far as
possible then walked. All up hill of course.
Talc mine.
We
now moved on to the Longstreet Casino North of Death Valley Junction.
We have a few things we want to see nearby. We visited the Ash
Meadows Wildlife Preserve visitor center which is new and talked to
the ranger on duty. Lots of information. We visited Devil’s Hole,
home of the Death Valley Pup Fish. This area is extremely well
guarded by cameras and surrounded by fencing yet 2 people last year
smashed through the fence and went for a swim in the deep hole. They
caught them of course but they caused major damage.
We
also visited a place called “Point of Rocks” which has boardwalks
and a live stream. Then we went on to the cabin of Jack Longstreet
who lived there and raised horses. Again, lots of water. It is always
a shock to see so much water in the desert.
Jack Longstreet's cabin.
We
next went to the town site of Lee which is located on the eastern
slope of the Funeral mountains and on the road from Echo Canyon in
Death Valley. We had been over the road before but never had time to
explore the town site. It was an extensive site with lots of
buildings and mines. Now of course, all that remains are rock
foundations and tent sites with lots of glass and tin cans.
House foundations at Lee.
On
Saturday October 28th we drove up to Beatty, NV for Beatty
Days. We arrived in time for the parade which was quit long for such
a small town. Many entrants tossed candy to the kids and some adults,
us. We moved to the town park where there was a car show, a chili
cook off, two bands, vendors and food booths. It was well done. We
ate lunch then drove back to Longstreet.
Desert sunset.
(To
be continued)
