Rodman Mountains
The Silver
Bell and Silver Cliffs mines in the eastern Rodman Mountains were our
initial goal for today. The skies were blue and the temperatures
were in the low 70's after an early season storm. Any excuse
to head to the desert was a good one, and we had often seen the names
of these mines and wondered what they looked like. We left Highway
40 in Newberry Springs and drove east on the old National Trails Highway
until we picked up the trail heading south into the Rodmans. Things
have changed. Not all routes shown on the topo maps are still
there! We relied heavily on the Delorme topo maps with the real-time
GPS that we run on a laptop. Without that we would have wasted
a lot of time. Eventually we found that a new route that follows
a pole line was headed in the right direction. This sandy trail
climbed steadily up toward our destination. We stopped to stretch
our legs and take some photos of the different species of cholla. Finally
the Silver Bell ruins appeared on the right side of the wash and on
up the hill. There was part of an old rock house, a couple of
foundations, a water tank, mill ruins, the obligatory old car, a nice
can dump, a couple of lizards, a mineshaft, and an interesting tower-like
structure that looked like some type of boiler. Across the wash
is the Silver Cliffs Mine, but someone was camped there and we
didn't want to spoil their tranquility. As we continued
south up the wash we encountered some prospect pits. They were
fun to explore and the reddish rock against the blue sky made for some
good photos. Just before we crested the head of the canyon we
saw two very large light colored raptors soaring high above. The
Rodmans are known as one of the few raptor breeding grounds left in
the Mojave. Golden eagles are one of the birds found here and
possibly that was what we saw. At the head of the canyon we turned
west on the road that follows the big transmission towers, and then
northwest on BLM route OJ233 to visit the Rodman Mountains petroglyph
site again. The skies were brighter today than the
last time we were here, so we thought we'd stop and take a few pictures. This
is such a beautiful spot. The vegetation is lush, the flowers
always seem to be blooming, and there are lots of little critters running
around that love to pose for the camera. After hiking around
we returned to the car to have lunch, and to our surprise the growl
of engines, lots of them, heralded the arrival of the Drifters Jeep
Club. These friendly guys and gals were out doing some exploring. Many
of the rigs were towing trailers with extra gear and camping equipment. We
would have loved to stay, but after a brief visit we headed toward
the Fry Mountains.
Our goal
in the Frys was the Copper Strand Mine. When electric power entered
the picture in the 1900's, copper became an important commodity. This
mine capitalized on the copper boom and operated until the 1940's. To
get there we continued west on OJ233, passing the rich black and deep
red Pitkin Cinder Cone, and then turning southeast on the trail that
runs along the northeast flank of the Fry Mountains. I use
the term trail in a generous sense. We plowed down sandy streams,
dropped over eroded banks, and made roads where none existed. Along
the way, however, we did see lots of bleached white pieces of the skeleton
of a cow. A vertebrae here, a rib bone there, a shoulder blade
over there, and then finally we found the biggest chunk of all, the
remnants of the carcass. Shortly after that we found the remnants
of an old boxcar..........only in the desert! As we got near
the Copper Strand Mine location we picked up some tire tracks in a
wash and felt a bit better. However, there has been so much erosion
that roads leading up to the Copper Strand were impassable. So
we hiked up to the lower tunnel for a little exploring. Lots
of debris covers the ground downhill of the mine area. It was
while we were hiking that Niki saw what she thought was a bug. It
turned out to be a baby horned lizard! As we tried to get
pictures it ran under Niki's foot and I had to caution her to stay
up on her toes while I scooped the little guy out from under her boot. All
this didn't seem to phase it at all, and when I put it down it slowly
wandered off. What a treat!On our
way back down to civilization the late afternoon skies began to haze
over, giving the power lines a silvery look like a long row of spider
webs. The day ended with a brilliant sundog, a compact explosion
of color caused by the sun's rays interacting with moisture or ice
crystals in the clouds. We took that as an omen that we would
be back to do more exploring! If you'd like to do a bit of exploring,
just click on the photo link below.