Starbuck's Exploring

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Guy Starbuck

Guy has explored the deserts and mountains of the Western US for over three decades. In that time, he has found a couple of hidden and remote locations that don't see many visitors. The best way to contact him is on this site.

532 posts

Parson's Ranch Petroglyphs

Parson's Ranch Petroglyphs

A friend showed me these modern petroglyphs over a decade ago. He didn't know what to make of them and neither do I. They are clearly modern but why are they here? What do they mean? Why did someone bother to carve them? The symbols are carved into

Cary's Castle North Petroglyphs

Cary's Castle North Petroglyphs

In 2016, on an adventure north of Cary's Castle (one of many), I stumbled upon these petroglyphs hidden among the granite boulders of the Eagle Mountains. The abstract designs appear to be Desert Archaic in style, likely created by indigenous peoples who traveled these washes for thousands of

October 2025 News

October 2025 News

A Few Updates As this site has grown to over 500 posts, I've been thinking about how to make it sustainable while keeping it ad-free and independent. So I'm making a couple of changes: Newsletter schedule: This newsletter will now be quarterly. Base pricing: The

September 2025 News

September 2025 News

Normally, I wouldn't send out another newsletter so soon since it has only been a month since the last one, but we've been busy, so... My trips this last month have been up north again. I will let you guess where. Don't worry, I

August 2025 News

August 2025 News

Summer is almost over. My travels have taken me to some amazing places—Yellowstone, Northern Michigan, and the Central California Coast, among others. While I've posted a few photos on Instagram, I wanted to share some here too. Click on any photo to enlarge. Also, we did some

Burham Canyon Pictographs

Burham Canyon Pictographs

Two things make Burham Canyon remarkable: the vibrant pictographs painted in red, white, black, orange, and traces of blue, and the fact that women from three different tribes traveled here specifically for childbirth. The Kitanemuk considered it home territory, but Kawaiisu women came from the northeast and Tataviam from the

Chemung Mine

Chemung Mine

The Chemung Mine tells two stories, and neither one ends well. The first is about phenomenally rich gold ore that someone discovered in 1909 – ore so valuable it ran "several hundred dollars per ton" in an era when that meant real money. The second story is about a