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

Hensen Well and the Pinyon Mine

Hensen Well and the Pinyon Mine

This hike is an adventurous cross-country ramble exploring a few historic mining ruins in the seldom-visited Pinyon Mesa country at the end of Geology Tour Road in Joshua Tree. Few people venture out here, which is a shame as it is a neat area. The mines below were at the

Gold Butte Mine (Mojave)

Gold Butte Mine (Mojave)

Recently, I had a request to post my photos of this mine and camp out near Goffs in the Mojave Desert. I had forgotten all about it. I originally went out and visited the site in 2014. I found a few empty cabins and old cars in camp - not

Halloran Spring Petroglyphs

Halloran Spring Petroglyphs

Surprisingly, just off the I-15 freeway northeast of Baker in the Mojave Desert of California are four or five groups of rock art scattered across small basalt hills and along a sandy wash. The main site is right next to the freeway. And when I say right next to the

Outlaw Mine

Outlaw Mine

The Outlaw Mine is one of those places that beckons to the adventurous explorer, not for what remains, but for its sheer remoteness. I knew there wouldn't be much left at the site, but the allure of visiting one of Joshua Tree's most isolated mines was

John's Camp and the Boulder Cabin

John's Camp and the Boulder Cabin

In 1929, the Gold Hill Mine, comprised of five claims about a mile west of the Pinto Wye Arrastra in Joshua Tree National Park, was owned by C.H. Wiser and Anvil B. Johns of Rialto, California, and J.A. Johns of San Bernardino. To support their mining endeavors, they

Porcupine Wash and Ruby Lee Millsite

Porcupine Wash and Ruby Lee Millsite

Down in the southern reaches of Joshua Tree National Park are Porcupine Wash and the Ruby Lee Millsite. The Park Service says the mill dates back to the 1870s. They probably know something I don't. I could only find evidence that the mill site dates from the Depression

Hackberry Springs Pictographs

Hackberry Springs Pictographs

Hidden in a limestone canyon in the Mormon Mountain Wilderness of southern Nevada are two alcoves with pictographs (and a faint petroglyph or two) on their walls. Some of the pictographs are of riders on horseback—a clear sign of historical contact with the Southern Paiute and really fascinating to