When we checked into the LTVA on Thursday Mar 7, they marked our two week departure date as 03/20. When I said 14 days should be the 21st, they pointed out the chart on the wall that said that departure date from the 7th was the 20th. I said that meant we didn't get 14 nights, but 14 days. They agreed that was what it meant. Government math I guess.
On Friday, we walked up an ATV trail across from our campsite, heading ESE toward a hill. About 2/3 mi we encountered the end of LTVA sign (day use only area). There were a few campers in the LTVA near the boundary, but lots of space. About half a mile further, a woman in a pickup stopped to chat with us. She has been camped up near the dumpster and toilets, and finds it a bit crowded there, so she was looking for a quieter spot. We pointed out that she was past the limit. She hadn't noticed the sign as she was admiring the saguaro as she drove out. A few ATVs headed out while we were chatting. After that we only saw one other vehicle by the time we started heading back at 2.5 mile, which put us just across from the edge of the hill, with another 2.5 mi to get to the east side of the hill. On the way back, we walked down a wash for most of the way until we got back to the LTVA boundary. There were more flowers and birds and even a few lizards there than near the road.
On Saturday morning, we drove into Quartzite, then east on I-10 to the next exit, Gold Nugget Mine Road. We parked near the exit, and walked the 1.2 miles to the mine area.
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| Filament flowers |
Wandered around looking at a few digs, shafts, old buildings, etc. This appears to be one of the more recent mines, based on the type of structures, and the equipment over one of the deep shafts.
We had a short chat with 2 couples from Alberta who were exploring the area in a Jeep
Sunday we ran the generator for a while so we could run the furnace (this continued almost every day this week). About 50F in the morning inside. Then we went for a 2 mi one-way walk past the south boundary of the LTVA. Pretty flat area. Then Brier finals and Nascar race.
Monday morning, generator again. We went into Quartzite, then east on Dome Rock Road to Mitchell Mine Road, south along it until we were 2 mi from Desert Queen Mine, a reasonable hike. We walked up the road past a house in a little section carved out of the BLM area. They had a sign on the edge of the road.
The dogs barked at us but stayed in the yard area. Beyond that we saw a couple of signs indicating private property, and directing us on the BLM route. These looked like gravel processing areas.
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| small hoist |
A section of the hill was covered in the little purple flowers we see everywhere.
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| purple flowers across hill |
Once past the second area, which had a large pit where the road used to be, we went into a pocket in the hills where Desert Queen is located. We saw a tailings pile on a hill to our left, but DQ was supposed to be in a notch to the right. We saw a couple of concrete structures, a couple of older slabs, and one new looking structure that still had the wood forms along one side. It had an inscription carved in the concrete, Peter Jul 17,1981 so fairly recent. Further along we came to an older cabin, and a three grave cemetery on a slope above it.
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| signs pointing to Penticton and Edmonds,Wa |
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| somebody funny added the boots |
From that site, we climbed up a road carved along the edge of a hill, and came to shoulder were we could look down on the gravel pit areas, and out to Quartzite. We returned back along the road, and climbed up to the tailings on the edge of a hill. There was only a shallow excavation in the middle of the top of the tailings. However, from here, we could see where we missed the road up to the Desert Queen Mine location. It didn't look like there is much there, and we were past the road in, so we continued back to our truck. Today was very overcast, and when we got back to the trailer we got a bit of a sprinkle.
It rained overnight, and well into Tuesday, finally breaking up around noon.
We drove into Quartzite to pick up a few things. It is getting toward the end of the season, so most of the vendors in the marketplace were closed.
Tuesday night was windy, so weather change coming. Wednesday, we went for a 6 mi walk to check out 3 mines about 6 miles southwest of Quartzite. On the way out we saw a small dig, with a memorial for Steven Grooms.
The first mine was Gold Eye Mine at the base of La Cholla Mountain. The site is still active, with a trailer and equipment there, a fellow loading a utility trailer and lots of keep out signs. However, on the edge of the mine is the old mine cabin, and a memorial and headstone for Lehre Harold Erdman.
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| Mine Cabin |
A site with more pictures of the cabin.
There is also the remnants of a tall hoist structure.
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| Hoist over shaft |
From there, we headed around the base of the mountain to Yellow Dog Mine, also marked as an active mine.
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| Yellow Dog Mine |
Further out toward the plain is a small hill with the Yum-Yum Mine on the top. It was a bit of a scramble to get up, as they dumped a lot of uneven tailings from the two large shafts going into the hill near the top. There was a nice little wren singing on a rock on the hill.
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| Shafts into Yum-Yum Mine |
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| Cactus Wren |
We could see back to La Cholla Mountain with the two mines we had just visited.
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| La Cholla Mtn - Yellow Dog on left, Gold Eye on right |
Back in Quartzite, since we had only had a carrot each for lunch, we picked up a couple of shamrock shakes at McDs.
When we got back to the trailer, we found that the strong northwest wind had pushed the solar panels at different angles, even though they are held by a chain with an 8x8x8 concrete block at each end.
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