theksmith
Explorer
I headed out from Phoenix, AZ to Borrego Springs, CA a day early last week to run trails and see sights. I had to be at the Ocotillo Wells SVRA Ranger Station on Saturday morning for a Tread Lightly training course. Click here to find out about the Tread Lightly stuff.
so I hit the road about 7:30AM friday, leaving from north phoenix. the wildflowers were great the entire trip, even just along the side of the road.
just west of Blythe, CA, is a dirt road (and State Prison, so no stopping for hitchhikers!) that will take you down to the 78, this is Milipitas Wash Rd.
i wanted to hit this because there were a couple of rock hounding areas. there's the Opal Hill Mine where you can pay an interesting couple living in an old bus in the middle of nowhere $25 a day to dig for fire agate. they seemed like nice weird folk, but no time to stop cuz i was headed for something better. the Hauser Geode Beds just to the south west of there, where you can dig for free all day long every day for geodes! now i'm not really a rock-hound, but the idea of finding geode's brought me back to my youth rock collection where a geode from a road-side rock stand was my crowning piece!
this is what it looks like around the geode bed area where people have been digging...
well after an hour of digging with a small pick, i was hot and tired and no longer nearly as excited... what can i say, i never claimed to not have ADD!
all i found was a neat rock that i took home for Brady,
after connecting back to the 78 and heading west more, i reached the Imperial Sand Dunes.
of course i had to stop, air down again and play. you have to have a whip and flag to play there, so i purchased one for $8 and zip tied it to the rear windshield wiper and roof rack to make a temporary mount.
there's nothing like sliding sideways down a dune that you didn't make it up in your daily driver to get the heart rate going! all in all a good time though, haven't been out there in years.
continued....
so I hit the road about 7:30AM friday, leaving from north phoenix. the wildflowers were great the entire trip, even just along the side of the road.
just west of Blythe, CA, is a dirt road (and State Prison, so no stopping for hitchhikers!) that will take you down to the 78, this is Milipitas Wash Rd.
i wanted to hit this because there were a couple of rock hounding areas. there's the Opal Hill Mine where you can pay an interesting couple living in an old bus in the middle of nowhere $25 a day to dig for fire agate. they seemed like nice weird folk, but no time to stop cuz i was headed for something better. the Hauser Geode Beds just to the south west of there, where you can dig for free all day long every day for geodes! now i'm not really a rock-hound, but the idea of finding geode's brought me back to my youth rock collection where a geode from a road-side rock stand was my crowning piece!
this is what it looks like around the geode bed area where people have been digging...
well after an hour of digging with a small pick, i was hot and tired and no longer nearly as excited... what can i say, i never claimed to not have ADD!
all i found was a neat rock that i took home for Brady,
after connecting back to the 78 and heading west more, i reached the Imperial Sand Dunes.
of course i had to stop, air down again and play. you have to have a whip and flag to play there, so i purchased one for $8 and zip tied it to the rear windshield wiper and roof rack to make a temporary mount.
there's nothing like sliding sideways down a dune that you didn't make it up in your daily driver to get the heart rate going! all in all a good time though, haven't been out there in years.
continued....
