Starbuck's Exploring

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Guy Starbuck

Guy has explored the deserts and mountains of the southwestern US for more than thirty-five years. In that time, he has found a couple of hidden and remote locations that don't see many visitors.

500 posts

Bronze Mine (Live Oak)

Bronze Mine (Live Oak)

The Bronze Mine, also known as the Live Oak Mine, was a lead-silver mine that also contained some tungsten and fluorite. The vein is in a contact zone on the eastern side of the New York Mountains between a Goodsprings dolomite formation and a quartz monzonite intrusion. The mine was

Maverick Boulder Petroglyphs

Maverick Boulder Petroglyphs

Like the Lonely Stones Petroglyphs, this is another isolated boulder outcrop that makes you ask why Native Americans would pick this particular boulder to leave their marks. The answer to that question remains a mystery. I did find a small tinaja; however, that makes me think they would have stopped

Diamond Solstice Pictographs

Diamond Solstice Pictographs

Nestled in the Wonderland of Rocks and just around the corner from Alister's Cave in Joshua Tree National Park is another rock shelter with pictographs: the Diamond Solstice Pictographs. The main symbols here are a sunburst arc, diamonds, and diamond chains. Their meanings have been lost to time,

Aiken's Arch Pictographs

Aiken's Arch Pictographs

The pictographs inside of this arch, which formed from a collapsed lava tube, are some of the oldest, if not the oldest, in the East Mojave and have been dated to 9,300 BP. The symbols are mainly in red ochre and depict a variety of figures, primarily abstract, but

August 2023 News

August 2023 News

This summer has been an eventful one in the Mojave Desert. The York Fire began on July 28th and burned over 93,000 acres of the New York Mountains in the Mojave Preserve, reportedly destroying several mines and cabins, including the Sagamore. I plan to visit the area soon to

Indian Mine (Death Valley)

Indian Mine (Death Valley)

Over in eastern Death Valley, just north of the Keane Wonder Mine, is the Indian Mine in Monarch Canyon. It is a small mine that was worked for gold with only minor workings and was never profitable. What makes it a worthwhile visit is the mill and its remaining single

Lanfair Buttes Petroglyphs

Lanfair Buttes Petroglyphs

The Lanfair Buttes Petroglyphs (also known as Indian Wells Petroglyphs) are one of the more extensive sets of petroglyphs in the Mojave National Preserve. There are hundreds of petroglyphs here on desert-varnished rhyolite boulders. Almost one whole hillside is covered with them. Ancestral Mojave and Chemehuevi probably camped here for