Calipidder

On the northern side of Anza Borrego there are the remains of an old calcite mine. In operation around WWII, they mined optical calcite for use in gunsights. It didn’t last long, since around the same time a synthetic alternate was discovered, making the mining of calcite financially no longer feasible. What is left are [...]

Our last full day of the annual Thanksgiving Trip to the desert was an adventure! We decided to do the run up Warm Springs canyon into Butte Valley, but instead of continuing through the valley and up towards Mengel Pass, we turned off towards Arrastre Springs to explore that area. The day was primarily spent [...]

We had some turkey and pie to work off on the day after Thanksgiving, so after a morning of hot breakfasting around the cabin’s wood stove, we headed towards Ibex Peak, the highest peak in the small Ibex range in southern Death Valley. It’s not a biggie, but it did have some great views of [...]

I don’t have a lot to say about Thanksgiving day in terms of exploration, but I can’t go without mentioning the incredible food and friendship that we find in the most remote of locations every year. This was our fourth year in Death Valley with friends and each year it gets better and better. We [...]

Our fourth day in the desert was a half day since we had to get to Vegas. We headed out of the park to the east, towards Searchlight, and took a quick detour to the Hart Townsite just outside of the park boundary. Hart was a small town of about 400 gold miners, and there [...]