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Confidence Wash Upper Mines

Confidence Wash Upper Mines

The Confidence Wash area of southern Death Valley has always interested me. I’m not sure why. There isn’t much out there. It is a wildly desolate and forsaken stretch of desert and can only be visited in the coldest of winter months as the rest of the time

Contact Mine

Contact Mine

Information on these gold mines is sparse. Phil Sullivan, an early pioneer of Twentynine Palms, located the Contact claims by at least 1921. He filed a homestead there in 1897. (Also see the Silver Bell Mine.) Along with Bill McHaney (see the Desert Queen Mine), Sullivan reportedly built an arrastra

Garrett’s Arch

Garrett’s Arch

This trip is a nice cross-country hike into the granitic maze that is the Wonderland of Rocks to find its best arch. Finding it will be much simpler with a map and GPS, so don't attempt the hike without either. It is easy to get lost back there.

Clark’s Pass Bullseye

Clark’s Pass Bullseye

During World War II, the vast deserts of the Southwest became unlikely training grounds for military personnel. One lesser-known spot was a bombing target now tucked inside the northern border of Joshua Tree National Park. Bombs were dropped on Joshua Tree? Yes! Apparently so. But at least they were only

Johnny Lang Mine and Quail Mountain

Johnny Lang Mine and Quail Mountain

I’ve hiked to the top of Quail Mountain from Covington Flat, but I wanted to visit the Johnny Lang Mine. Johnny Lang, being noted for his involvement at the Lost Horse Mine, made me curious about his mine on the shoulder of Quail Mountain. He worked this small mine

Owlhead Mountains Fuel Tank and Dart

Owlhead Mountains Fuel Tank and Dart

You never know what you will find in the desert. My friends Dale and Brian hiked with me out to an intact military aerial target dart and an aircraft auxiliary fuel drop tank. We were way out in the wilds of the Owlhead Mountains in the southern end of Death

Samuelson’s Rocks

Samuelson’s Rocks

This isolated rock outcrop known as Samuelson’s Rocks was once the homestead of Johann (or John) Samuelson, a Swedish immigrant who arrived around 1926. He must have had some time on his hands because some of the boulders here have 1930s Depression-era political and naturalistic commentary. Search around the