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White Mountains Wickiup

White Mountains Wickiup

I had known about a wickiup, a traditional Native American dwelling high in the White Mountains of California, for a while. I thought it would be an interesting find, so I decided to go on a hike to see if I could track it down. The information I had didn’

MV Mill

MV Mill

I found this hidden mill in 2013. It is unusual in that a Pelton wheel powered it. Water was funneled into a ditch and then a pipe and poured over the waterwheel, which drove the equipment inside. A water-powered mill is a rare sight in the land of little rain.

S and S Mine

S and S Mine

Way back in 2009, we went hiking out into the middle of the white-hot heart of the Mojave Desert in search of a modern mining site. We found it. The operation had been inactive since at least the early 1980s, and the mining camp was nearly intact. Almost everything was

Piedras Grandes Pictographs

Piedras Grandes Pictographs

Back in 2015, we went out to the Piedras Grandes pictograph site. Piedras Grandes means "Large stones," and these granite boulders out in the southern part of Anza-Borrego Desert State Park certainly are that. The site is inside the Piedras Grandes Cultural Preserve, and it is a short

Camel Track Canyon

Camel Track Canyon

My friends, Larry and Janene from Moby Goes, took us on a little trip over to what I’m calling “Camel Track” Canyon out in Death Valley country. The actual small canyon is unnamed on the map. A cross-country hike led us into a small canyon filled with sedimentary rocks,

Sapphire Tunnel Cave

Sapphire Tunnel Cave

We’ve known about this cave for some time, but it wasn’t until 2015 that we were finally able to put together a trip to see if we could find it. After a few hours of climbing ladders and walking miles into the center of a mountain, we reached

Gold Hitt Stamp Mill

Gold Hitt Stamp Mill

In 2006, we took a side trip to check out the remains of a hidden 10-stamp and cyanide mill. The mine and mill were worked around 1915. There isn’t that much left of the mill, even though it is in a remote location. GPS