Sally Ann Mine
Unknown to most people, there used to be a mining camp at the southeast corner of the Racetrack. A cabin and two enclosed yards belonging to the Sally Ann Mine, sitting on the alluvial fan a mile out across the playa. The Park Service removed the buildings, almost certainly because
Abandoned Drott International Tractor (Death Valley)
When I heard a rumor from Guy that there was an abandoned excavator with a view of the salt pan in Death Valley that he had never visited, I knew I had to take a look and see if I could find it. After a bit of research, I was
Black Lava Butte Petroglyphs
Black Lava Butte is one of a pair of mesas rising from the desert north of Pioneertown within the Sand to Snow National Monument, its dark basalt cap slowly eroding at the edges. Lava-covered mesas are rare in the Mojave, and these two stand as remnants of volcanic flows
Lost Burro Mine
Bourke Lee wrote in the 1930s: "There is a Lost Burro Mine on almost every mountain." Prospectors spent so much time chasing their wandering burros through the desert hills that the animals became their best prospecting partners. The Lost Burro in the Cottonwood Mountains of northern Death Valley
Braden Cabin and the Berman Murders
Spend enough time around the warm springs in Saline Valley and someone will eventually mention "the Murder Cabin." The name has stuck for decades, carried by rumor and retold with increasing inaccuracy. The cabin in question once belonged to Roy "Red" Braden, a pistol-packing cinnabar
Cyty's Mill
Just north of the well-known Keane Wonder Mine site lies Cyty's Mill, a smaller, seldom-visited mill site and cabin. A short hike along the base of the Funeral Mountains will lead you past scenic Keane Wonder Springs to John Cyty's 1910 cabin and mill,