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California

326 posts

Kennedy Mine

Kennedy Mine

As you depart the downtown of historic Gold Rush town Jackson heading north on Hwy 49, a large headframe and three-story building can be seen on the hillside below. A small sign advertises weekend tours of the Kennedy Mine. This only hints at the enormous scale of this major

Garvanza Mine

Garvanza Mine

The Garvanza Mine sits in an unnamed canyon on the north slope of the New York Mountains. Few visitors find their way in, and the road does its best to keep it that way. The last mile is a slow crawl over large boulders, the hike is a wash scramble

Sally Ann Mine

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)

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 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

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

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