“It’s alive and waiting for you. Ready to kill you if you go too far. The sun will get you, or the cold at night. A thousand ways the desert can kill”
The Mojave is a desert of wind, temperature extremes, Joshua Trees and solitude. When most people hear the word ‘desert,’ images of tumbleweeds, rattlesnakes and bleak desolation typically come to mind. In reality, the Mojave is anything but a wasteland. Amongst the sand and sagebrush lie many places of beauty and wonder, and of historic importance. Some are the result of time and the elements, some are the result of man and his efforts to live in the Mojave, both in recent and prehistoric times. Let’s go see what we can find.
The town of Bullfrog, Nevada got its start soon after “Shorty” Harris discovered gold nearby in 1904. A year later Bullfrog was hopping and some 1,000 residents called the place home. The town boasted a three-story hotel, general store, bank, jail, post office, lodging house, icehouse and a number of other businesses and homes. Empty lots on main street were priced at $1,500. Gunfights were not uncommon, sometimes fatally so. The west was still wild.
Read MoreI’d seen pictures of the Wildrose Charcoal Kilns in Death Valley many years ago and had put them on my list of places to visit. Unfortunately, the time between adding them to my ever-growing list and then actually making the trek to see them was a good number of years. But when something turns out to be even more impressive that you thought it would, it more than makes up for the wait. And that was the case with these crazy dome things out in the wilderness of Death Valley.
Read MoreI imagine there are probably hundreds of unmarked graves in the Mojave Desert, the final resting places of prospectors and others who traveled across the sands in search of their golden dreams.
Read MoreThis old homestead is located on Hwy 247 just a short distance north of Lucerne Valley. I had just tracked down the King Clone Creosote and was on my way to Barstow when I spotted someone taking pictures of several abandoned buildings on the opposite side of the road. This place called to me and I had to stop to take some pictures. Something draws me to these places and I often wonder what stories the old places could tell.
Read MoreI was driving west on Route 58, out of Barstow, heading to I-395 and points north. My first stop of the day was going to be the abandoned Boron Air Force Station/Federal Prison Camp located a few miles north of Kramer Junction. As I'm speeding along, eating a cookie, I spot some old stone walls out in the middle of the desert. I passed by too quickly to be able to stop, so I continued up the road until I could turn around and go back to investigate.
Read MoreI’d seen the sign for Convict Lake numerous times while driving by on Hwy 395, but this trip was the time I would turn off the highway and check it out. I’m glad I did. It’s only two miles from the highway, but once you get there it’s like being in another world. You’ve got the Mojave Desert type of terrain along 395, but two miles later you’re next to a 170-acre lake nestled in the aspens of Convict Canyon, with the towering peak of Mount Morrison stretching skywards above you. What a dramatic change in view in just two miles.
Read MoreAfter close to five miles of bouncing and rat-a-tat-tat-ing over a hardpacked, washboard dirt road the strange landscape seen from a distance was now up close and personal. And it was instantly obvious why the Trona Pinnacles were a favorite backdrop for such movies and TV shows as Battlestar Galactica, Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, Lost in Space and Planet of the Apes. The place is eerie and looks like it belongs on another planet.
Read MoreI was driving south on I-95. My next destination was Beatty so I could get a soda and some cookies before heading to Rhyolite and Bullfrog. As it was still early in the day, I decided to head west on Nevada State Route 266 to see if I could find the old mining town of Palmetto. I didn’t make it there, however, as I got sidetracked investigating old mines and stone ruins along the way. I guess I’ll have to save Palmetto for another trip. I did make it as far west as Lida.
Read MoreLocated about four miles south of Johannesburg, the ghost town of Atolia has quite an interesting life story. Gold is generally the reason for most of the mining in this part of the state, but Atolia rose to prominence as a Tungsten Town.
Read MoreMaking it to the Lester Dale Mine complex turned out to be a bit of an excursion. The site rests on the northern slopes of the San Bernardino Mountains, overlooking an off-roaders paradise known as Johnson Valley. The dirt road in (Bessemer Mine Road), is roughly six miles of alternating hardpack, washboard, deep sand, millions or rocks and sometimes a combination of all of those at the same time.
Read MoreThe Mojave Desert holds many secrets and today I was going to find one. I was in search of the elusive King Clone, thought to be the oldest Creosote bush ring in the Mojave and one of the oldest living organisms on earth. Now, when I see creosote bushes in the desert, I’m generally not impressed. These scrawny “champions of survival” are all over the place, due to their extreme tolerance for arid conditions and aggressive nature in competing for water with other plants. I usually just consider them obstacles in my path while hiking and often laugh at them.
Read MoreRandsburg, Red Mountain, Johannesburg….all semi-ghost towns in the Rand Mining District along Hwy 395. And just a few miles northeast, in the Golden Valley Wilderness area, is an area known as Steam Wells. So-called because of the steam wells drilled in the 1930s to power mining activity in the area. Of the mining days there’s not much left to see, other than the ruins of an old stone cabin, a collapsed mine and some bits and pieces from the mining days. And prehistoric petroglyphs.
Read MoreThe Ghost Town of Reward, Cal dates back to the early 1860s, when the Eclipse Mine began operations. It was the first gold mine in the Owens Valley and operated off and on until the 1980s. It’s a fascinating site with stone wall ruins, tailing piles, old mining machinery and colorful mountains. Definitely worth a visit.
Independence…..Citrus….Kearsarge Station. Place names often change during their evolution. Originally established as a stagecoach depot in 1866, Independence transformed to a railroad station in 1883 and soon became known as Citrus. And in 1913 the place was called Kearsarge Station.
Read MoreAlso known as Manzanar Airport and Inyo County Airport, the Manzanar Airfield is one of the best-kept secrets of Hwy 395. I chanced upon it by accident, while heading east on Manzanar Reward Road in search of gold mines.
Read MoreJoshua Tree National Park, the California Gold Country, forgotten places in the Mojave Desert. These are a few of my favorite things.
