As we have done for as long as I can remember, Cindy and I made our way down to the Mojave Desert to kick off the New Year with good friends both old and new and out on the trail. For 2016, we decided to revisit a part of the Mojave that we hadn't been out to in a few years and it is known as, the Black Mountain Wilderness. Along the way, we made our way up through a historical stage route where travelers back in the late 1800's left their signature along side petroglyphs that are thousands of years old. We also visited caves that were once inhabited by Native Americans and dug for fire opals at an old mine that was once owned by the Tiffany Corporation. Of course, to wrap things up, we drove out to the middle of an ancient dry lake to pose for a group shot and to have some fun racing our Jeeps around it. Here are some photo highlights of all the fun we had, I hope you enjoy them.
Meeting up with everyone over at the Flying J in Barstow.
A quick drivers meeting before heading out.
At the trailhead and airing down.
Our first stop was over at the mouth of Black Rock Canyon.
This canyon is a place where ancient Native Americans had been leaving petroglyphs for thousands of years but it's the signature of an A. Tillman of San Francisco that left his signature here back in July of 1874 that a lot of people come to see here.
Moochie and Adam used the opportunity to do a little geocaching while we were there.
Moving out and exploring the beautiful Mojave Desert.
Our next stop was over at a grouping of caves that Native Americans used to use for shelter.
On the move again and heading out to our next destination.
And here we are, Scouts Cove.
Back in the early 20th century, Scouts Cove was a fire opal mine that the Tiffany Corporation used to own and operate.
The miners who worked this claim dug out this old tuff tower and made it into their home.
Making our way over to the digging site to try our luck at finding some fire opals.
A shot of a few specimens we were able to dig up.
A look back at all our Jeeps before heading out again.
Our next stop for the day was a place known as Inscription Canyon.
For thousands of years, Native Americans pecked away at the basalt to create intricate geometric forms and illustrations of big horn sheep.
After exploring and examining the petroglyphs in Inscription Canyon, we made our way out to the middle of dry lake out in the Superior Valley.
It's hard to imagine that about 12,000 years ago, this was all under water. Of course today, it makes a great place to take a group shot of all our Jeeps.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!
On our way back to civilization, we decided to make one more stop over to an area known as Murphy's Well.
As was the case with most of the other sites we visited, beautiful petroglyphs can be found here as well.
WooHoo!! Off the trail and airing up before sundown :crazyeyes:
Time to pack it in over at Tommy's Burgers and kill that New Year's resolution to lose some weight with a big fat juicy chili burger!
And finally, a final CHEERS to the few who decided to stick around to the bitter end.
To see even more pics that others who joined us on this trip took, simply click on this link:
http://wayalife.com/showthread.php?33199-2016-WAYALIFE-New-Year-Kick-Off-Run-01-02-16/page12
I hope you all enjoyed seen pics from our 2016 New Year Kick Off Run. A BIG THANKS needs to go out to everyone who joined us out in the Mojave Desert and made this trip so much fun. Cindy and I would like to wish all of you a wonderful year to come and with any luck, we'll see you on the trail.
Meeting up with everyone over at the Flying J in Barstow.
A quick drivers meeting before heading out.
At the trailhead and airing down.
Our first stop was over at the mouth of Black Rock Canyon.
This canyon is a place where ancient Native Americans had been leaving petroglyphs for thousands of years but it's the signature of an A. Tillman of San Francisco that left his signature here back in July of 1874 that a lot of people come to see here.
Moochie and Adam used the opportunity to do a little geocaching while we were there.
Moving out and exploring the beautiful Mojave Desert.
Our next stop was over at a grouping of caves that Native Americans used to use for shelter.
On the move again and heading out to our next destination.
And here we are, Scouts Cove.
Back in the early 20th century, Scouts Cove was a fire opal mine that the Tiffany Corporation used to own and operate.
The miners who worked this claim dug out this old tuff tower and made it into their home.
Making our way over to the digging site to try our luck at finding some fire opals.
A shot of a few specimens we were able to dig up.
A look back at all our Jeeps before heading out again.
Our next stop for the day was a place known as Inscription Canyon.
For thousands of years, Native Americans pecked away at the basalt to create intricate geometric forms and illustrations of big horn sheep.
After exploring and examining the petroglyphs in Inscription Canyon, we made our way out to the middle of dry lake out in the Superior Valley.
It's hard to imagine that about 12,000 years ago, this was all under water. Of course today, it makes a great place to take a group shot of all our Jeeps.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!
On our way back to civilization, we decided to make one more stop over to an area known as Murphy's Well.
As was the case with most of the other sites we visited, beautiful petroglyphs can be found here as well.
WooHoo!! Off the trail and airing up before sundown :crazyeyes:
Time to pack it in over at Tommy's Burgers and kill that New Year's resolution to lose some weight with a big fat juicy chili burger!
And finally, a final CHEERS to the few who decided to stick around to the bitter end.
To see even more pics that others who joined us on this trip took, simply click on this link:
http://wayalife.com/showthread.php?33199-2016-WAYALIFE-New-Year-Kick-Off-Run-01-02-16/page12
I hope you all enjoyed seen pics from our 2016 New Year Kick Off Run. A BIG THANKS needs to go out to everyone who joined us out in the Mojave Desert and made this trip so much fun. Cindy and I would like to wish all of you a wonderful year to come and with any luck, we'll see you on the trail.
