Striped Butte Fallout Shelter
Was this old mining adit made into a fallout shelter? Maybe it is one of Charles Manson’s secret hideouts? Or the Ballarat Bandit? Perhaps a local resident and miner set it up as an apocalypse bug-out shelter? Maybe it is one of many in the area? Perhaps I know
Lady Lou Mine
Occasionally, a friend will email me and ask if I have been to some old remote and obscure mine that has been long forgotten by normal, non-desert-obsessed (read: sane) folks. Usually, I haven’t. But occasionally, I actually have. Then, I sort through my photos and books and attempt to
Mexican Mine
On a trip in 2005, we were hiking through the thick Sierra Nevadan Forest in search of an old mine with a long tramway. It turned out to be a bit of a longer hike than we thought it would be, and we weren’t seeing a tram.
Newberry Cave Pictographs
Nestled high in the mountains above Barstow, Newberry Cave sits quietly and unassumingly. Caves and pictographs are both rare in the Mojave Desert; this is a unique and amazing place.
The cave was first discovered by locals in the 1930s but wasn’t excavated until 1953 by Dr. Gerald Smith,
Grass Lake Basin Petroglyphs
Song and Star Mines
Not their real names. Morgan, Ric, and I were out exploring the Stanislaus National Forest in 2004, hunting for some interesting mines. These two old steam hoists in separate mines were great and rarely seen out in the wild.
No directions to these sites.