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California

302 posts

Ryan Ranch

Ryan Ranch

Ryan Ranch is an easy hike that offers visitors a glimpse into the area's ranching and mining history. It features the ruins of an adobe ranch house and other remnants of early settlers. Ryan Ranch was homesteaded in 1895 by three brothers - Jepp, Tom, and Matt Ryan,

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

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

The Lost Arch

The Lost Arch

No, there is another... In 2022, while brainstorming for our annual Turkey Day Vacay, I recalled a saguaro that I’d seen in Vidal Valley and wondered if it was still there. The problem was that I’d never been to Vidal Valley, so I couldn’t possibly have seen