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 will be out in the desert soon.

Besides travelling, I've also added a Hiking Trail Rater. What's that you ask? It allows you (or me) to enter in the stats for a hike and it will tell you how hard the hike will be. I've been using this formula (or slight variations) for years.

Here are news and updates since the newsletter a month ago:

New Guest Author

Matthew Venn of Pockets Full of Dust been kind enough to share some of his amazing adventures here on this site. Matthew gets around. His site is worth your time.

If you would also like to contribute trip reports here, let me know. You might even get a free subscription out of it.

Also, don't think I'm out of trips to post; I'm years behind.

New Trips

Mother Wood’s Saloon, Death Valley

One of the things that I love most about a place like Death Valley is that you never know what you might discover literally anywhere. From the (at least) 12,000 year history of known & unknown Native American tribes that have called this place home to the ephemeral boom-towns selling

Starbuck's ExploringMatthew Venn

Old Hundred Boarding House

Observant travelers heading east out of Silverton on the Alpine Loop might spot a large wooden building high on the west slope of Galena Mountain, as they approach the old mill site of Howardsville. It is an astonishing sight— the structure appears to impossibly cling to a sheer and inaccessible

Starbuck's ExploringHugh M. Smith

Updated Trips

I've rewritten these trips (and even added some new photos):

Hermes Mine and Cinnabar Camp

In 1942, while other mining camps slowly faded into obscurity, Cinnabar Camp was bustling with new construction: a three-story bunkhouse, a dozen cabins, and a mill rising from deep in the central Idaho mountains. This wasn’t gold fever or silver dreams driving the activity. The United States needed mercury for

Starbuck's ExploringGuy Starbuck

Gerstley Mine

Field notes from forgotten corners of the Western backcountry

Starbuck's ExploringGuy Starbuck

Yankee Fork Gold Dredge

Field notes from forgotten corners of the Western backcountry

Starbuck's ExploringGuy Starbuck

Nampaweap Petroglyphs

Tucked away in the juniper-dotted canyons of the Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument in northwestern Arizona next to Mount Trumbull lies one of the region’s most extensive collections of rock art - the Nampaweap Petroglyphs. Scattered across dark basalt boulders are thousands of petroglyphs - not the handful you might expect,

Starbuck's ExploringGuy Starbuck

New Books

I've picked up a few new books:

• The Greenwater Frenzy - Alan H. Patera
• Abandoned Mines of Eastern Idaho - Howard Frisk

Another well-researched book by Howard Frisk. This time on nine mines of Eastern Idaho. Excellent photographs throughout, including some of my own.

Some links are Amazon affiliate links. Purchases through these links support this site at no extra cost to you.

Exploring Joshua Tree Book

And don't forget to check out my Exploring Joshua Tree book. It features unique locations you won't find in any other book.

Happy exploring!