“Ram on Rocks” Pictographs, JTNP
Recently, I visited a very small native site in the backcountry of Joshua Tree. There is a larger habitation site not far away (which this site is named for). One thing that makes this particular site...
View Article“Steel Indian” Mine
I’ve been wanting to check this remote mine out ever since I first read about it years ago. We visited it in 2010 and it turned out to be a nice find. The site has minor amounts of equipment on it and...
View Article“Wildrose” Pictographs, DVNP
This is a small pictograph site high up in Wildrose Canyon inside of Death Valley. Most of the pictographs have faded due to weathering and time but a few vibrant ones remain. As always, if you find...
View ArticleSilent Sentinel Petroglyphs
Late in the spring of 2011, we were off exploring in the backcountry of Utah’s San Rafael Swell. We spent a week or so off paved roads and camping out. One of the spots we stopped at was the Silent...
View ArticleGeologist’s Cabin, DVNP
Geologist’s Cabin is an icon among the many Death Valley backcountry cabins. It stands picturesquely at the western end of Striped Butte Valley above Anvil Spring with a majestic view of the Striped...
View Article“Wooden Slats” Mine and Mill
We met up with Dan and made a fairly long drive to explore a forgotten corner of Nevada’s mining history. We weren’t sure if we would find anything, as is often the case. We ended up driving over 100...
View ArticleMoho Mine
This is a mine we went to at the end of a four day trip in western Nevada a few years ago. It was a great trip and we met up with Lewis, Bill, Cat and ghost town author Shawn Hall along the way. We...
View ArticleHornsilver Mine
The Hornsilver is a fairly remote silver mine and camp. It was a good producer early on and had its ore hauled to a local mill, but like most mines, was worked only intermittently. The original road to...
View Article“Rose of the Inyos” Mine
These dusty old photos are from a combination of trips to an interesting mine in the Inyo Mountains. Not much is left of this place, but it was nice to see the ore carts. One of them was still sitting...
View Article“Hollow Rock” Pictographs, JTNP
Back in 2010, we came across an unassuming large isolated grantite boulder in Joshua Tree. There are no shortage of those around in Joshua Tree and there wasn’t anything immediately particularly...
View ArticleAlister’s Cave Pictographs, JTNP
Alister’s Cave is a known pictograph site in the Wonderland of Rock area of Joshua Tree. The cave (really a rock shelter) is full of pictographs but they have faded over the years, mostly due to the...
View ArticleEagle Cliff Mine, JTNP
Back in 2000, we decided to hunt down a small rock shelter that a prospector built into the jumbo rocks of Joshua Tree National Park. We couldn’t find this place the first time, but were successful the...
View ArticleCoyote Hole Spring Petroglyphs
Tucked away in a small canyon near the town of Joshua Tree is a seep called Coyote Hole Spring. Cattle ranchers developed the spring in the early 1900s. Today, it usually only has water after a...
View ArticleGolden Bear Mining Camp
Back in 2005, Alysia and I met up with Bill, Dan, Lewis and his daughters Sarah and Rachael for some exploring in the northern Sierra Nevada. We spent a couple of days in the forest exploring mines and...
View ArticleCarlysle Mine
Alysia and I met up with my buddy James to do a little mine exploring back in 1998. We headed out to the Carlysle mine. It was a gold and silver mine mostly active in the late 1930′s. The mine has...
View Article“Moss” Mine
Back in 2004, We met up with Dezdan, Annie and Micah to explore an old mine out in the southern desert. We spent most of the day hiking to this old mine camp. We were surprised to find a few old...
View Article“Slight Chance Quartz” Mine
Back in 2003, Alysia and I met up with my dad, Brad, William and friends to go hunt for a remote old mine out in the Mojave desert. There were several quartz veins here worked for gold as late as the...
View ArticleRosalie, CA
Rosalie, also known as Valley Wells, was the brief site of a large copper smelter and camp for the Copper World mine from 1899 to 1903. It was active again from 1916 to 1918. Copper matte from the...
View ArticleMontague Mine Cabin
Back in 2011, we took a rough 4wd trip up to the top of the Sweetwater mountains and the Montague Mine Cabin. There isn’t much left of the mine or the cabin, but the view is simply incredible and worth...
View Article“Tin Can” Camp and the “Brass” Mine
These are some old mines that were worked and re-worked over the years. “Tin Can” camp dates to 1867 and was worked for lead-silver and later for tungsten. The camp is neat for its remaining building...
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