Got a message from Mike Pierson a little over week ago saying that he and Robyn were going to be in the area and wanted to know if we might be interested in hooking up. Apparently, his Frey Ranch whiskey supply was running dry and needed a restock. Anyway, being that Cindy and I were actually going to be in town, we were happy to oblige and on Friday, we decided to make a run up to Bruno's for some ravioli and of course, Picon Punch and to make things a bit more interesting, we made sure to do a lot of it on dirt. Need I say, the following pics was from the fun we had and I hope you enjoy them.
Being that we met up for breakfast and took our time hitting the road, we got kind of a late start but made sure to get on dirt as soon as possible. Here's us airing down for the trail ahead.
And, we're off!
Always love the wide open desert and the rugged mountains you can find out here.
Our first stop of the day was over at an old stamp mill that processed tungsten from the early 1900s until the late 1950s with the greatest amount of work being done during WWII.
Up until a couple of years ago, this place remained devoid of lame ass "artists" vandalizing the concrete foundations but as is always the case these days, the internet and social media has a way of bringing out the douchebags amongst us and ruining things.
NOBODY asked for this shit and whoever is responsible for it, you and your so called "art" SUCK! I literally hate you for ruining places like this for your self-entitled lame ass ego back in 2024.
For reference, here's what this place looked like just a couple of years back.
Making the best of things in spite of the graffiti.
Parting shots before heading up the canyon to visit one of the mines that supplied ore to this mill.
Mike and Robyn working their way up the canyon.
And here we are at the mine.
Temping as it was to go in, the collapse at the entrance of the mine looked a little sketch.
On the move again and on to whatever comes next.
Back in the valley floor, we decided to take a seldom used trail that lead out to the lake bed to give it a closer look.
And, this is about as far as we felt comfortable to drive.
The lake bed was covered in minerals that made it look like snow.
Working our way out of the lake bed and valley floor, we made a stop over at a rock formation known as a tufa.
It's hard to imagine now but as recently as 1939, this valley was filled with an ancient alkaline lake and tufas like this formed when calcium-rich groundwater seeped up through carbonate-rich water and created porous limestone deposits that looks a lot like coral.
Of course, that's just the scientific Ripley reason for how these formations were created.
Clearly, aliens are really how they got here
As you can see here with the soot on the ceiling, ancient people used caves like this for shelter.
Being that we met up for breakfast and took our time hitting the road, we got kind of a late start but made sure to get on dirt as soon as possible. Here's us airing down for the trail ahead.
And, we're off!
Always love the wide open desert and the rugged mountains you can find out here.
Our first stop of the day was over at an old stamp mill that processed tungsten from the early 1900s until the late 1950s with the greatest amount of work being done during WWII.
Up until a couple of years ago, this place remained devoid of lame ass "artists" vandalizing the concrete foundations but as is always the case these days, the internet and social media has a way of bringing out the douchebags amongst us and ruining things.
NOBODY asked for this shit and whoever is responsible for it, you and your so called "art" SUCK! I literally hate you for ruining places like this for your self-entitled lame ass ego back in 2024.
For reference, here's what this place looked like just a couple of years back.
Making the best of things in spite of the graffiti.
Parting shots before heading up the canyon to visit one of the mines that supplied ore to this mill.
Mike and Robyn working their way up the canyon.
And here we are at the mine.
Temping as it was to go in, the collapse at the entrance of the mine looked a little sketch.
On the move again and on to whatever comes next.
Back in the valley floor, we decided to take a seldom used trail that lead out to the lake bed to give it a closer look.
And, this is about as far as we felt comfortable to drive.
The lake bed was covered in minerals that made it look like snow.
Working our way out of the lake bed and valley floor, we made a stop over at a rock formation known as a tufa.
It's hard to imagine now but as recently as 1939, this valley was filled with an ancient alkaline lake and tufas like this formed when calcium-rich groundwater seeped up through carbonate-rich water and created porous limestone deposits that looks a lot like coral.
Of course, that's just the scientific Ripley reason for how these formations were created.
Clearly, aliens are really how they got here
As you can see here with the soot on the ceiling, ancient people used caves like this for shelter.
