Indian Pass 


Before
heading south to Indian Pass we explored a four wheel drive road
that led to an old manganese prospect. We found a deep
trench and a very poignant memorial to Karen Hyduke. Any
information that you might have on this memorial would
be appreciated. We then retraced our tracks on Highway
78, turned south on Ogilby Road, and just before Gold
Rock Ranch turned east on A272, Indian Pass Road.
This is a wide,
well graded road all the way to the pass itself. Along
the way there are some good collecting areas for petrified palm
as well as for dumortierite, a rock that looks much like lapis
lazuli. On a previous trip we had stopped
here and done some collecting. This time we were going
all the way to the pass before we stopped. It is at the
very top of the pass that prehistoric Indian trails can be found,
along with an unexplained type of petroglyph that consists of
scratches through the varnish on hundreds of volcanic rocks. These
scratches take the form of lines, squares, diamonds and oblongs. To
view this area stop at the turn out to the right of the pass
where the BLM interpretive panel is. You will then walk
into the field of lava rocks to the north to find the trails
and scratched rocks. Harold Weight wrote a nice article
on this area in the February, 1949 issue of Desert Magazine.

After
exploring this area and walking on the old Indian trail and seeing
the incised rocks, we found ourselves yearning for a time machine
so that we could find out what was going on here! It's
a beautiful area with sweeping vistas and jagged peaks. From
the top of the pass we dropped down into Gavilan Wash that would
eventually lead to the Colorado River. This section should
only be attempted in a four wheel drive vehicle. The eroded
road drops swiftly into a sandy wash and then twists its way
to the magical, life giving blue and green environs of the river
itself. There is a nice campground at 4-S Beach. It
was completely deserted when we passed through. The juxtaposition
of the arid, forbidding hills we had just passed through and
this watery paradise we were now viewing was quite a shock. As
the sun dropped low we headed back toward it on the Indian Pass
Road. Our day was over, but if you'd like to relive it
then click on the photo link below!