RonnieAdventure #0084 - Route 66, Kingman to Oatman, Mohave County, Arizona

Half of the driving fun when traveling to Oatman (Arizona) is following old Route 66 from Kingman (Arizona) to the Colorado River. Historically, this was one of the most intimidating parts of the “Mother Road” and in the days before power steering and disc brakes, travelers would often pay locals to drive their cars over Sitgreaves pass. Although the road is paved, it is very narrow and crooked with many hairpin turns and steep grades as it winds its way across the Black Mountains. When the road signs say “15 MPH,” they really means 15 MPH. There are numerous old vehicles that can be seen down in the ravines as you go around the sharp mountain curves.

The first stop along the way is Cool Springs, which has the slogan “Something happened here once.” The original gas station and tourist cabins were abandoned in 1966 and then in 2001 the property was sold and the new owner rebuilt the main building and reopened it in 2004. The Cool Springs sign that is now on the building is an exact replica of the vintage sign visible in old pictures and post cards. Many of the old post cards also show Thimble Mountain in the background, which is one of the most recognizable landmarks along Route 66. Since the movie Cars was released, the population of Cool Springs has been increasing and three of Mater's cousins now call Cool Springs home!

Ed’s Camp is the next historic site along the road, but the property is not open to the public. Ed, the original owner, was a prospector and then in 1917 he put up some walls with a tin roof cover (mostly from salvaged building materials) and started offering services to Route 66 travelers. He soon discovered that there was more “gold” in providing tourist services than digging in the dirt, so never did go back to prospecting. 

Shaffer Fish Bowl Springs is between Ed’s Camp and Sitgreaves Pass, but I was so busy watching the road that I missed the pull off for the springs.

When you reach the top of the hill, most people stop at Sitgreaves Pass to take pictures and enjoy the sweeping views of California, which is visible on the western side of the Colorado River. If you look closely, you can also see remnants of the Old Beale Wagon Road as it wound its way down the hill to the settlement of Goldroad.

Goldroad is now a ghost town, but you can still see numerous old building foundations and walls in the gulches, and on the hillsides, that were constructed using native stones found in the area. At one time there were 180 men that worked in the mine and Goldroad had its own post office, general store, and Freight Company. However, when the gold played out, the town was abandoned and the buildings were razed in 1949 to save taxes. In 2007 the price of gold increased and mining resumed at the site.

Oatman began as a tent camp in 1915 when gold was discovered in the area and the population grew to more than 3,500 in less than a year. In 1921 a fire burned down most of the buildings, but somehow the Oatman Hotel was saved. The Hotel is now a historical landmark and is especially famous as the honeymoon stop of Clark Gable and Carole Lombard after their wedding in Kingman (Arizona) on March 18, 1939. Clark Gable loved the town and in later years he often returned to play poker with the miners. However, as part of the Country’s war effort, the mines were closed in 1941 and did not ever reopen.

Today, Oatman has undergone a renaissance of sorts, thanks to the worldwide interest in historic Route 66. Tourist now come to Oatman to see the old mine remnants, historic buildings and “Wild West” gunfights that are held on the streets. Wild burros freely roam the town and surrounding desert lands and seem to like having their pictures taken with the tourist; especially if fed “burro chow” that is readily available from most stores in town (just be careful of where you walk). The burros are decedents of pack animals that were turned loose in the desert by prospectors and are now protected by the US Department of the Interior (DOI). 

When leaving town, the Tom Reed Mine ruins can be seen along the side of the road. 

RonnieAdventure #0083 - Christmas Tree Pass and Grapevine Springs, Clark County, Nevada

It was late in the afternoon when arrived at the turnoff for Christmas Tree Pass, and I typically do not start a trip across the desert in the evening; but since I knew that this was a well-maintained dirt trail we decided to take a side trip to Grapevine Springs and then continue on to US Highway 95 (about 15 miles away).

Christmas Tree Pass is a beautiful scenic drive across the rugged Newberry Mountains that received its name because the local residents historically decorated Juniper Trees along the trail at Christmas time. However, the US Bureau of Land Management (BLM) frowns upon this practice and has tried to stop the tradition; but some residents ignore the warnings and still decorate trees and other desert plants at Christmas time. Since it was only a few weeks after Christmas, we were certain that some of the decorations would still be in place.

It is only about three miles from the highway to the Grapevine Canyon junction and then an additional 1/4 mile to the trailhead for Grapevine Springs. This site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984 because there are more than 250 petroglyph panels that cover rocks around the springs. It is believed that the petroglyphs were carved between AD 1100 and 1900, but no one knows for certain when they were made, what they mean, or who did the artwork. 

After leaving Grapevine Springs the mountains consist of broken surface rock that takes various shapes (some people even see animal outlines in the broken stone) and then the road climbs fairly steeply up to the Juniper Trees that are decorated at Christmas. Beyond the Juniper Trees the road has a steady downgrade for about six miles before reaching Highway 95.

 

At this time of year, the sun drops behind the mountains to the west fairly early, and it was dark by the time we reached the highway; however, we did get to see a beautiful desert sunset!

RonnieAdventure #0082 - Anniversary Mine and Narrows, Clark County, Nevada

Anniversary Narrows is a great place to spend a Saturday afternoon if you like to see spectacular geological creations, which is one of the reasons that it is a popular place for geology student field trips. If you visit the Narrows on a weekend, you are undoubtedly going to see other people.

Many of the local guide books list this destination as a six-mile hike, but over the past few years the once four-wheel-drive trail has been improved to the extent that it can now be negotiated with a two-wheel-drive vehicle; thus, greatly reducing the hiking distance. The dirt road passes over several parcels of private land, so drivers need to respect the private property owner’s rights and stay on the road when driving to the Narrows.

After passing the Ore Cart Mine, which is now owned by the local Gem and Mineral Club, the road drops into the wash where the Anniversary Mine is located. It is only recently that the road into the wash was improved, so historically most people parked on the ridge overlooking the wash and used this location as the unofficial trailhead. Even though it is now possible to drive all the way to the Narrows, it makes a more enjoyable trip to park at the old historic unofficial trailhead to start the hike.  

As you progress up the wash, you first come to the Borax (Colemanite) Anniversary Mine, which is privately owned and should not be disturbed. Although vandals burned down the ore loading chutes a number of years ago, you can still see some of the timbers and the two tunnels that were constructed to move ore carts from the mines to the ore chutes. Several of the mine entrances in this area have been closed, but there are still a number of open tunnels that are very dangerous and should not be entered.

The hike from the mine to the Narrows is less than a mile farther up the wash. As you travel up the wash, there are signs of historic mining activity along the hillsides, and several open tunnels. A short distance from one mine entrance is an excavated room that was used for the storage of blasting materials.

When you enter the Narrows, the wall become very close together and in some places you can reach out and touch both walls. The canyon walls are so high that only occasionally does direct sunlight reach the canyon floor. Because you typically cannot see direct sunlight while in the Narrows, the reflective sunlight illuminates the canyon walls differently throughout the day and at different times of the year, so you never get tired of taking pictures. The only problem was trying to figure out which pictures to include in this blog!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



 

 

 

RonnieAdventure #0081 - "Double Negative" by Michael Heizer , Clark County, Nevada

In 1969 artist Michael Heizer was looking for funding to sponsor a large “earth art” project called Double Negative on 60 acres of land in Nevada when he met art dealer Virginia Dwan. Dwan was the heiress to the founder of 3M Corporation in Minnesota and owner of Dwan Gallery New York, a contemporary art gallery closely identified with the American movements of Minimalism, Conceptual Art, and Earthworks. After considering the magnitude of the project, Dwan agreed to finance the "earth art" sculpture if Heizer would deed the property to her when completed.

Using heavy excavating equipment, Heizer removed 244,000 tons of rock to create two 30 foot wide, 50 feet deep, and 100 feet long trenches facing each other in a straight line on opposite sides of a canyon’s walls. The total linear distance from end-to-end of the trenches is 1,500 feet, which includes the space between the canyon walls. (The name Double Negative gets its name from both the man-made and natural negative space that constitutes the work; i.e. the sculpture consists of what is not there - rather, what is missing.)

The project was completed in 1970 and the land was deeded to Dwan, but then for some unknown reason Heizer prevented Dwan from selling the property in 1971. In 1984 Dwan and Heizer finally reached an agreement that the “earth art” sculpture would be donated to the Museum of Contemporary Art (MoCA) in Los Angeles. As part of the agreement, MoCA can do no conservation work on the sculpture, and according to the artist’s wishes, nature will eventually reclaim the land through weather and erosion. Although Double Negative can best be viewed from the air, Heizer reportedly does not want aerial photographs of the work displayed in a museum gallery because he feels that the sculpture can only be appreciated through an on-site physical experience. This sounded like something that I needed to experience!

View Southwest

 

 View Northeast

 

After finding Double Negative and while taking pictures I was startled by a bearded young man that came walking out of the canyon. I told him that I didn’t expect to see anyone at the site because I did not see any other vehicles in the area. He said that he didn’t have a car, and he didn’t even know how to drive a car, so he had ridden his bike out here. I could detect that he had an eastern accent, so I asked him where he was from and how he had even learned of this place. He explained that he was an art student at NYCC (New York City College) and Double Negative was discussed in one of his art classes. After the discussion, he felt a special prompting that he needed to visit the sculpture to find its true meaning. He said that it was similar to the feeling that the people had in the movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind when they were drawn to Devils Tower in Wyoming.

Anyway, after learning about Double Negative he could sense that this was a special site that had linkages to many universal forces. He had arrived yesterday so that he could watch the sun come up this morning and had been sitting on the edge of the canyon all day waiting for a revelation; but nothing had been received.

It was getting to be late in the afternoon, so I suggested that he start back to town before it got too dark but he said that he that he couldn’t leave until he found the answer he was seeking. I was surprised when he asked if I would help him. He suggested that we try combining all of our resources and hold hands while standing on the edge of Double Negative, humming the same pitch to create a sound spectrum for telepathic waves to travel on. I was a little skeptical and wondered what people would think if they saw me standing in the middle of the desert holding hands with a stranger and humming to the same pitch; however, after looking around and not seeing anyone else, I agreed to help him.

After about two minutes of holding hands and humming, he asked if had received any revelation. I had to admit that I hadn’t and I told him that the only thing that came to my mind was that double means two, and two negatives make a positive. He immediately started jumping around shouting “Yes! Yes! Yes! That’s it! That’s it! That’s message that I’ve been looking for! Don’t you get it! Two negatives make a positive! Double Negative is a positive message to the World! That is why it was carved into Mother Earth! Love Mother Earth! Be Positive! It stands for World Peace!” Love One Another! Have a happy, healthy, and prosperous New Year!