“Yeah, Desert Sky - Dream beneath the Desert Sky”
A drive through Joshua Tree National Park might take a couple hours, viewing the park from the road. An exploration of the park would take a lifetime. Joshua Tree National Park has over 550,000 acres of wilderness filled with a variety of plants and animals that make their home in this land shaped by strong winds, unpredictable torrents of rain, and climatic extremes. Every now and then, man intrudes in this wilderness and leaves his brief, passing mark among the surreal geologic features that cover the landscape. Let’s go see what we can find.
Who discovered the Black Butte Mine? How much gold did it produce? When was it in operation? Was it once known as the Gold Tiger Mine? Where was the mining camp? Unfortunately, no one really knows for sure as no early records have been found that would answer these questions.
Read MoreWhy is it called the Pinto Wye Arrastra? I've wondered about that and had a theory, so I decided to see if I could find any facts to back it up. And as things turned out, my suspicions were correct. As it wasn't the only arrastra in the park, it couldn't just be called "the arrastra." That would cause uncertainty and vague feelings of unrest. But as it was located about three-quarters of a mile northwest of a "Y" in the main park road (the spot where Pinto Basin Road meets Park Blvd.), someone somewhere sometime called it the Pinto Wye Arrastra and the name stuck.
Read MoreIt’s always fun to try to find a lesser-known spot in J Tree, one without much information to guide you. There are a lot of such places, off the beaten path with little or no “popular” appeal to the casual visitor. So they remain out of the guide books, they remain unmarked on park maps, they simply remain, until the desert claims all traces of what once was there. I like these places.
Read MoreJoshua Tree National Park, the California Gold Country, forgotten places in the Mojave Desert. These are a few of my favorite things.
