Week ending Apr 27, 2018 Vulcan

This is our last blog until the fall, since we don't have any plans to go anywhere we haven't been already.  We may make an occasional post if we do go somewhere new.  You can check for these in the fall. 

On Friday, the snow in and around the campground started melting.

By Saturday afternoon,  the campground was almost dry.

See you in the fall.

Week ending Apr 4, 2018 Caliente to Vulcan

Time to head for Alberta. Our week was mostly one night stops.  

On Friday, we left Caliente around 7, to head for Wells.  There looked like lots of interesting things to do around Pioche, north of Caliente.  There was a bit of wind but it wasn't too bad.  The climb over Connors Pass wasn't bad as we only had to go up about 2000 ft to the 7700 ft summit.  We stopped in Ely for fuel, then carried on.  On the way we saw a couple of antelope.

North of Ely, near Schellbourne, we stopped at a rest area.  It had information on 'trails' that crossed near here.   The first was the Pony Express trail. Our Nevada Road and Recreation Atlas has the route of that the Pony Express took through Nevada.   Just east of here  there were passes of 7885 ft, and 7650ft.    The other 'trail' that went through near here was the Lincoln Highway, the first paved highway created across the United States, from Times Square in New York City to San Francisco in California. Construction began in 1913, but the costs were underestimated.  It took about 10 more years until state and federal funds were invested.    By the 1940's all references to the Lincoln Highway were removed.

Lots of snow on the mountains (about 11000 ft elev) south of Wells.

We got to Wells about 1:30, so we decided to carry on to Jackpot about an hour away.  We had checked the road conditions before we left, and it showed 'Adverse conditions' for about 25 miles north of Wells.  It looked like they had laid some salt on the highway in that stretch, but it was dry, and the sides were too.   We stopped at the Spanish Gardens RV park in Jackpot.   The manager's boyfriend pointed out the best spot for us.  We setup without unhooking the trailer, or setting up the satellite.  Sloped a bit to the back, but not terrible.   The trailer was about 49 F, but our heaters got it warmed up as we played a few games of WII golf before supper.

Saturday, we headed to Fort Hall, about 3 hours north.  We stopped at a historic site for the Oregon and California Trails west of Pocatello.  

Ruts from wagons on the Oregon Trail with Snake River in the background

Sunday, we had a basic breakfast at the Fort Hall Casino before heading north toward Dillon, Montana.  We stopped at the lava fields and walked the long loop (.5mi). 

Collapsed lava

Tree on the lava

Monida pass was clear, although it had snowed the day before there.  We arrived fairly early at Southside RV in Dillon, but weren't anxious to get to Alberta too soon, given the weather waiting for us there. Usually we drive through to Helena.   We picked up some soup at Safeway for supper.

Monday morning we headed to Helena. On the way we saw antelope, a few eagles nests, and lots of calves, and two separate pairs of cranes, in the fields north of Dillon.  We stopped at Wheat Montana Bakery again, picked up a loaf of whole wheat bread, and whole wheat pancake mix.   We had Big Belt wraps, one with ham.   At first, we assumed it stood for Bacon, Egg, Lettuce and Tomato, but Wheat is in the upper Missouri Valley between the Elkhorn and Big Belt Mountains.

When we passed the Walmart in Helena, there was a fire truck at a mid-sized trailer in their parking lot, and the ambulance was just heading in.   
It was overcast in Helena, and damp on the highway, but the rain held off.  At least it wasn't freezing, although the forecast was for around freezing overnight.  The water at the sites was still off in the RV park, even though the winter rates end on April 15 (yesterday),   so we filled our tank from our blue containers in Helena, and refilled one.   We took advantage of the data remaining on our Verizon plan to bring our GPS up-to-date.

Tuesday, we went shopping for wine in Helena.  Not much success.  We did pick up 3 5l boxes, but instead of the us$14 we have been paying for it, we paid us$20, due to the Montana liquor taxes.   Note: pick it up in Arizona, or Nevada before we head north next time. 

Wednesday morning was 26F, but everything was fine.  The temperature in the water line area of the trailer got down to 36F, so we ran the furnace for a while.   Outside, it warmed up near freezing by about 8:00.  We  put the temperature sensor for the water lines in the truck to keep an eye on it.   We had a bit of a scare when we saw the temperature rising underneath the trailer fairly quickly.  We stopped at an exit to check if the furnace had come back on (it (or we) can be a bit flaky).  It had not come on.  It turned out that monitor was showing the truck cab temperature, not the cabinet.  Oops.
We stopped at the border to pay for 20l of wine ($48).  Still only about 3/4 of Alberta rates.   We setup at Milk River.  The campground has a bit of problem with soft sites due to the snow, but we found a dry site, but only 2 over from one that another truck had sunk in a bit.

Milk River

On Thursday, we drove to Vulcan.  We had been told that the campground at the PetroCanada station had one site available.   After our experience with soft sites at Milk River, we walked through the campground to see what the sites were like.  There was a lot of water running through the campground.   We thought that the site which was deemed available looked pretty soft, but there was one a few sites over that looked better.  The manager told us we could have that one.   We carefully backed the trailer in, making sure we didn't get off the firmer gravel pad into the soft sides.   The disadvantage of this site is that the water doesn't work here.  We decided we could work around that.   It is a bit damp, but hopefully will dry out in a few days.   We paid for 2 weeks, had lunch at the A&W and went into Okotoks to buy meat, vegetables, fruit, etc that we don't like to bring across the border.  Then we picked up our box full of mail, but they did fit it all in the one box, so now we have our insurance documents, the new US Mastercards and our tax stuff.   Also included was a small amount of advertising stuff.

Week ending Apr 12, 2018 Caliente, NV

Friday, we watched Gushue and Edin in the morning.  By the time that was over, it was too hot to walk any distance.  We couldn't believe how many units came in around dark to dry camp in the area. 

Saturday, we got away fairly early because there was a wind warning starting at noon and going to 10pm.  We headed north up highway 93.  Our first stop was a marker for the old boundary between Utah, Nevada and New Mexico.  In 1850, as part of the provisions for organizing the land ceded by Mexico in 1848, the 37th parallel was the boundary between the territories of Utah and New Mexico.   When the territory of Nevada was formed, from western Utah, this remained the southern border until 1867, when the Colorado River became the border on the southeast part of the state. 

Further on we drove through the Pahranagat Wildlife area.  The valley here has lots of water, so some different plant forms.  Further north, we stopped at Alamo for a break, and to read a historical marker about the valley.  North of Alamo, the highway heads east towards Caliente, across the Delamar Valley,  which has a Joshua Tree forest,

then over the Delamar Mountains at Oak Springs Summit (6237 ft) covered with conifer trees,

then  down Newman Canyon into Caliente (4398 ft, 1200 pop).    

We made it before the winds came.  Although there was some wind in the afternoon, it seems pretty sheltered here. We paid for 5 nights in Young's RV Park.    It's been a while since we were this close to the train line.

Sunday we did a walk around town, about 3 miles. The cherry trees are in full bloom.

The town was a division point for the railroad until the diesel engine era, and had a large population during its construction.  It is also subject to heavy flooding, with two valleys converging here.  When there is a large snowpack and heavy spring rains, a lot of water flows through the area.  The rail lines had to be repaired almost yearly from 1906, particularly in 1910.  In 1911, the tracks were moved higher above the valley floor.
It is a bit unusual here that the railway is in a different valley than the highway.  The railway route is too narrow to accommodate a highway as well.
 
The town is divided by the UP tracks, with one crossing at the north end of town, and another where SR317 goes under the tracks past the south end.  A train heading south stopped shortly after we started going north.   By the time we go to the crossing at the north end of town, the northbound train that the first one was waiting for, blocked us from crossing the tracks for a few minutes.   We stopped at the grocery store to pick up a few things.  Then we looked at the Union Pacific Depot, built in 1923 (after a previous one burned down). 

Union Pacific Depot

Then next highlight was a pig farm with woolly pigs.  The only reference we could find to woolly pigs is Mangalica, or Mangalitsa, Hungarian pigs.  

In the afternoon, we watched the NASCAR race and then in the evening, watched the Gold Medal Men's Curling Championship.

Monday, we did a drive down SR 317 from Caliente to Elgin Schoolhouse.  We got just past the state park, which we were going to visit on the way back, and saw a road closed sign.  We checked with the ranger at the state park, and found out the construction was finished, but the sign hadn't been taken down.   SR 317 goes through 'Rainbow Canyon'.   There were interesting colors in the hills. 

On the way, we came upon a flock of turkeys at one of the ranches. 

Elgin Schoolhouse is a State Park site, but isn't being manned at the moment, and the gate is locked.  We were able to read the history, and take a few pictures.

Elgin Schoolhouse

We returned to Kershaw-Ryan State Park ($5/vehicle).  The campground there doesn't have power yet, so isn't an option for us.  We did the 1.5 mi return hike up to an overlook.

Trail Map

There are a few steep spots with loose dirt on them that made them sketchy.  The views from the top were quite good. 

Back at the trailhead, we did the short Rattlesnake Loop.  It was covered in raspberry bushes, which were planted at the ranch that used to be here. 

We chatted with a couple from Seattle who were on a week trip.  They were camping at Cathedral Gorge SP, and recommended it.   We had lunch at a table and watched the geckos enjoying the brick walls, and the catfish in a small pond with water circulating.

 Geckos sunning

Tuesday, we headed for the mining town of DeLamar (originally Ferguson) site of gold mining from 1893 to 1909.  About 1500 people lived there.  $25 million dollars of gold were produced here, making it the leading producer in Nevada around 1900.

To get there we headed west on highway 93 over Oak Springs Summit back into the next valley.  Then we headed south on Pole Road, a good gravel road that follows the power line, then southeast toward the range of hills on Delamar Road.  The main power line has an unusual pole structure, with poles wrapped in cable.

This road was good until we got to a cemetery on the edge of the hills.  Then we drove about 2 miles up the side of the hills on a rough rocky track.   About  mile from the old town site, we decided we had punished the truck enough, and parked it where a side road went straight up over the hill.  We walked down about a mile to the mining area.  It is one of the most extensive sites (except the ones that have been commercialized into ghost town attractions) that we have seen.  There are huge tailings piles, in a most unusual shape. 

 Tailings

These were made by dry milling the process.  Inhaling the dust from the milling caused the death of many of the workers.  Consequently, the town had the nickname of 'widow maker'.   The digs are high on the hill above the mill.

Digs above the mill area

There are a lot of remains of stone buildings, some of them several stories high.

As we were heading back to the truck, we saw 5 jeeps slowing working down the hill on the far side of the valley. 

When we got down off the hill, we stopped at the cemetery, which had about half a dozen marked graves. 

On our way back, just before Oak Springs Summit, we stopped at the Oak Springs Trilobite site.  There is a shale area here that the BLM has marked, put up signage, and created a nice rock lined trail to the shales.    We think it has been pretty well picked over, but if you had the patience, you could find fossils.  It's possible that the black pattern on the left might be a fossil, but we didn't find anything distinct.

Near the trail, we noticed a rare little horned toad.

 Horned Toad trying to be invisible

Wednesday, we did laundry and cleaned up the trailer to head north on Thursday.  However, when we did a walk around the walking path in town, the wind came up.  At one point, we had turn our backs to it so we didn't get sandblasted.   We were planning on getting away early on Thursday because there were wind warning starting about noon, and we wanted to get to Wells before it got bad.   When we got back to the trailer, and checked the weather, there were wind advisories here in the morning as well, so we paid for another night.

Thursday morning, the wind had gone down, so we thought we might have been hasty deciding not to travel.   

Week ending Apr 2, 2018 Route 66 to Valley of Fire Road

Friday, we did our third trip towards Adams Mine.  Yesterday, John had seen the place where the road to Adams left the Wrigley road above Adams Mine where the wash was shallow enough to cross. 

Tailings pile for Adams

We walked down to the tailings pile.  There were a few foundations on the top of the pile,

and a huge shaft (about 37 paces around the outside), that went deep into the earth.  The rarity is that this shaft is not fenced.  

Rather than walk back up the road to get across the wash, we followed a burrow trail along a cliff beside the mine, down into the wash.   Lower down, we came to a cross road which went up to a couple of small tailings piles with shafts.   We believe these were also part of Adams Mine, as they were closer to the GPS location indicated for Adams Mine than the large tailings pile further up the wash. 

Saturday, we were planning on taking a slightly different route from the one yesterday, as there is a road branching off the Wrigley road toward Black Range, but there is an small valley in between the two roads.  As we observed last week, there is usually something at the other end of the road.  However, on our way out, we encountered two fellows who were getting ready to go hiking to the mines.  We asked them if they knew the name of the mine with the long shaft.  Unfortunately, they didn't.  However, one of them told us that if we went into the tunnel in the wash below Black Range Mine, you would actually get to a vertical shaft from above.  We decided that would be worth seeing.  We headed there, and indeed, with the aid of a little led flashlight, found the vertical shaft.  It was about 100 yards from the entrance.   We had passed a Y about 60 yards in, so we headed back to the Y and followed it for about 80 yards.  We stopped at that point, because we could see bats flying ahead of us.  We figured we should not disturb them anymore, so we left.   There wasn't enough light in the tunnels for us to get any pictures.

It's just amazing the number of tunnels and shafts in this small area.   From there we went on to Black Range Mine, then around and above it to a concrete structure.  It was between 12 and 15 feet deep, and about 15 feet long.  It was much deeper than anything, other than shafts, that we have seen at any of the mines.   It was so deep that an animal had gone into it somehow, and then died there.   All that was left was the skeleton.  We figured it couldn't get up the walls, had died, and then been stripped down to the bones by crows or vultures. 

Sunday, we headed for the Oatman Southern Mine.  It is one of a couple that are toward the river from Route 66.   We had to walk along the highway about a third of mile to get to the road paralleling the highwy back to it.  The BLM road was the only one marked on the AZ topo map going to the mine.   It was about a two mile walk, not on the best of roads, as the surface had a lot of loose rock, particularly going across the many washes.  We came to several junctions along the way heading across to the highway, none of them marked on the map.

 One of the bigger artifacts we have seen

Once we got to the mine, the road angled up above a few of the tailings piles, with shafts angling down into the hill.

Angled shaft

It then came back above the lower shafts.  There were a couple of shafts on the other side of the hill, but eventually we got to a point where we could come down to some shafts on the same side of the hill.  One of these tunnels went right through the top of the hill, only about 50 yards. 

  We were able to come back down the east side of the hill, so we didn't have to take the long way back down.

Once we were done with Oatman Southern, we took a road that went straight east to the highway, coming out about 1.4 miles from the trailer.  We walked the edge of the road to get back.  About 1/2 a mile back, we looked down on the buildings of Oatman Syndicate Mine. 

On Monday, we packed up our stuff and headed to the KOA at AVI Casino, just across the Colorado.  Laundry day.  

On Tuesday, we went over to the casino for breakfast.   The breakfast buffet didn't open until 7:00.  Since we were 20 minutes early, we went to Feathers Cafe in the casino instead.  Great service, good size meals, but not quite as flexible as a buffet for about the same price.   Then we headed north through Las Vegas, then east about 20 miles to Valley of Fire Road.  We took advantage of the Moapa Paiute Tribal service station at the intersection to fill up the truck.  Then we went about 6 miles south on Valley of Fire Road to an area with several trailers, and a couple of cars, one of them with a tent.    We pulled into one of the spots available for camping, and got setup.  The north side of the hills here only has a hint of the red rocks that are found about 6 miles further south, but we thought we would explore this area for a few days.   On the way south we saw quite a few vehicles parked along the edge of the road with people wandering around in flat desert.   Don't know what they were searching for, but assume there must be some kind of mineral here that is popular. 

We found a blog about hiking in the Buffington Pockets, one of the points of interest on our Nevada Topo Map in this area.   

On Wednesday morning, which was cooler by about 10 degrees than we have had for a few weeks, we headed off to drive toward Buffington Pockets.   It looked like we should be able to drive parallel to the hills until we got to Bitter Springs Trail.  However, the road that carried on past our trailer split into a bunch of options, only one of which was on the hiking GPS.  It wasn't clear which one went through  so we headed back to Valley of Fire Road, then toward I-10 until we got to the corner where Bitter Springs Trail heads south toward Buffington Pockets.  Bitter Springs Trail is marked as a National Back Country By-way.  However, the comments on the web-site said that they parked at a point beyond which there were no turn-arounds, and a 4-wheel drive would be necessary.   Even at the beginning of the road, we had to go slow due to the washboard.   We parked at a point that was 2.3 miles from the point on our gps for Buffington Pockets.   A short distance up the road, the washboard got a lot better.

About 1.5 miles up the road, we got to a wide area where we could have parked, and just down the hill a couple of SUVs were parked just before the gap heading into the Muddy Mountains.   Once you get into the mountains, (into the 'pocket'?), the color of the rocks changes entirely.  It is an incredible area.  

Near the point marked on the gps, we saw the dam that is mentioned in the blog above. 

There was a hiking group of about 9 people heading toward it.   We asked them if they had seen the petroglyphs.  They said they had seen them about an hour earlier, further up the road. However, there is a smaller group around a corner we had come by already.   After we looked at the stream coming through the dam, we headed back and found the petroglyphs.

Buffalo images ;)

Then we decided it was time to head back, since we had walked over 3 miles.  We got a picture of  a butterfly sunning itself and a hummingbird posing on the top of a bush..

Partway back, we got a call from a 604 area code.  Our phone beeped every minute until we got back to the track telling us to pick up the voicemail.   When we got back to the truck, there was a pre-recorded voicemail from Woody's RV.   Need to get off their phone list.

On Thursday morning, we headed south toward Wyatt Silica Mine.  We had checked the internet for info on this mine, but couldn't find anything.  We looked at the location on Google Maps satellite view, and didn't see anything of significance at the co-ordinates for it.  However, a road ran across from where we are parked to about .7 miles north of the co-ordinates.    On our way out, we passed a couple of sites where people had come in late yesterday.  One woman hung on to her dog as we went by, and the other was walking a golden retriever on a parallel road.  We followed the road on the GPS for about 2 miles to about the closest point on the road to the mine.   There we saw a side road going over a small rise about half a mile away.   We headed across to that road and followed it, heading generally toward the mine site.  After a while, we got to a point where the road was going perpendicular to the mine site.  However, we figured that maybe the mine location was more likely to be near the road, than at the co-ordinates where we couldn't see any development.    At the 3.25 mile point, we were no closer to the mine, and weren't optimistic of finding anything, so we stopped for a rest before heading back.  It was actually a nice little spot on  a wash with some hills similar to Buffington Pockets.  

Interesting patterns in the rock

Odd stem