March 2025 News

You know, when you are out in the desert, you've got to keep a sharp eye out. You never know when you will find something interesting.

Things have been busy around here lately:

• I did a thing! I published a book on Joshua Tree
• We have some great new trips
• We did some fantastic updates to trips

See below for all the news.

Exploring Joshua Tree Book

So, I'm excited. Are you excited? I knew it!

I've been working on this book project for more than a year. I went through and re-edited all the Joshua Tree trips last year and finished in October. We've spent the last six months working on editing, layout, and revisions. It has been a long process, and I have learned a lot about creating a book. I couldn't have done it without my good friend Hugh Smith, who served as my editor, contributed a trip, and let me use some of his incredible photos. Thanks Hugh!

Books

Exploring Joshua Tree Exploring Joshua Tree Exploring Joshua Tree is a comprehensive hiking and historical guide focusing on Joshua Tree National Park’s trails and mining history. Buy it now! This guidebook features 42 selected Joshua Tree trips you can bring along on your adventures. The information in the book is

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Exploring Joshua Tree has the same information that paid subscribers get here on the website but in book form! Yay for dead trees you can take with you! Also, if you aren't interested in being a paid subscriber, you can buy a book instead. You can see what trips are included here: Exploring Joshua Tree trips

Will there be more books? Stay tuned.

New Trips

New trips since the last update.

Greenwater Canyon Petroglyphs

The Greenwater Petroglyphs comprise two distinct sites scattered along Greenwater Canyon in Death Valley. Etched into the Pleistocene-era Funeral formation basalt and volcanics, these ancient markings represent a significant Great Basin Abstract rock art collection in the California desert region. One thing that makes this site particularly remarkable is the

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White River Narrows Petroglyphs

White River Narrows is an ancient gallery etched into the volcanic landscape of eastern Nevada, containing one of the largest concentrations of prehistoric rock art in the region. The winding canyon was carved by the White River during the Pleistocene Ice Age (2.5 million to 11,700 years ago)

Starbuck's ExploringGuy Starbuck

Corn Springs Petroglyphs and the Little Chad Cabin

Corn Springs Petroglyphs Out in the open canyon country of the Chuckwalla Mountains lies Corn Springs, one of Southern California’s most significant (and often forgotten about) rock art sites. More than 600 petroglyphs have been carved into desert-varnished granite boulders over thousands of years. This was a crucial stop along

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Emmett’s Lone Tree Cabin

High in the rugged Panamint Mountains, in the shadow of lofty Manly Peak, sits a humble aluminum-sided cabin that represents one of Death Valley’s last authentic prospecting camps. This was the base of operations for Emmett Harder, one of Death Valley’s final true desert prospectors, who spent decades exploring its

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Updated Trips

We've updated these trips since the last update. The Furnace Mine got a history update. The Tungstar Mine got a set of revised photos and text. And the Big Bell Mine got new photos from Hugh Smith, and I added a detailed history and directions. Check them all out.

Furnace Mine

Not far from the semi-famous Inyo Mine, perched at 4,375 feet on a rocky Death Valley ridge, sits what has become known as the Furnace Mine. If you watch carefully while driving on the road below, you can spot its namesake rusted furnace - a testament to 1940s mining

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Tungstar Mine Tram

This very adventurous hike follows an old mining trail which led to the Tungstar Mine, a 1940s tungsten mine high on the western slope of Mt. Tom, the prominent 13,658-foot peak just west of Bishop. The trail was used in the early days of the mine to build a

Starbuck's ExploringHugh M. Smith

Big Bell Mine

The Big Bell mine was discovered in 1904 by Johnnie Cyty, a prospector with the nickname “Johnnie-behind-the-Gun.” He earned this name because he was known to draw his machine pistol on more than one heated occasion. Johnnie optioned out the mine for a small fortune, but the operators only worked

Starbuck's ExploringGuy Starbuck

New Books

I've picked up a few books and reports for my library since the last update.

• Remembering the Early Shoshone and Tecopa Area - Ken Lengner, George Ross
• Exploring Utah's Bears Ears and Cedar Mesa - Andrew Weber
• Back door to California: The story of the Mojave River Trail - Clifford Walker
• Proceedings, Fifth Death Valley Conference on History and Prehistory - Jean Johnson
• Old Time Cattlemen And Other Pioneers of the Anza-Borrego Area - Lester Reed
• California Archaeology - Michael J. Moratto
• Ghost Towns of the Mojave Desert: A Concise and Illustrated Guide - Alan Hensher
• Archaeological explorations in the southern section of Anza-Borrego Desert State Park - William J Wallace
• Desert Between the Mountains: Mormons, Miners, Padres, Mountain Men, and the Opening of the Great Basin, 1772–1869 - Michael S. Durham
• Ghost towns and mining camps: Selected papers - The National Trust for Historic Preservation
• Talking Stone: Rock Art of the Cosos - Paul Goldsmith
• Exploration of the Colorado River and the High Plateaus of Utah by the Second Powell Expedition of 1871-1872 - Herbert E Gregory, William Culp Darrah, et al.
• Mojave Road Reports: Numbers 101 through 150, 1991-1996 - Dennis G Casebier
• Fort Pah-Ute, California - Dennis G. Casebier
• Time, Rocks, and the Rockies: A Geologic Guide to Roads and Trails of Rocky Mountain National Park - Halka Chronic
• A Good Camp: Gold mines of Julian and the Cuyamacas - Leland Fetzer
• Seeing and Knowing: Understanding Rock Art with and without Ethnography - Geoffrey Blundell
• Photographing California Vol. 1 - North: A Guide to the Natural Landmarks of the Golden State - Gary Crabbe
• Photographing California - Vol. 2: South: A Guide to the Natural Landmarks of the Golden State - Jeffrey Sullivan
• Photographing Oregon: A Guide to the Natural Landmarks of Oregon - Greg Vaughn, Laurent Martres
• Photographing Washington: A Guide to the Natural Landmarks of the Evergreen State - Greg Vaughn, Laurent Martres
• Best Easy Day Hikes Yellowstone National Park - Bill Schneider
• Hiking Yellowstone National Park: A Guide To More Than 100 Great Hikes - Bill Schneider
• Iconicity of the Uto-Aztecans - Tirtha Prasad Mukhopadhyay and Alan Philip Garfinkel

More books and reports are listed on my Reference Library page.

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Have fun out there!