Mojave Desert: One Man's Junk...

....Packard car body, sans frame, at Bickel Camp.

What happened to the frame?

More to come.

Mojave Desert Ruins: Goler Gulch.

This is one of the few remaining traces of Goler, a town that sprang up based on rumors of lost gold..

Goler Gulch, El Paso Mountains.

Mojave Desert: Walt Bickel...

Photograph by Scott Schwartz.  All rights reserved.

....adapted scores of small engines for use at his mining camp in the El Paso Mountains.  The photograph on the right shows an aircraft Auxiliary Power Unit ("APU") that is supposed to have come from a Boeing B-17 bomber.  Walt used it to generate electricity at the camp.

Mojave Desert Photography: Lockhart Rocks....

I snapped this photograph, while exploring the desert near the old town of Lockhart, CA.

1/250th sec. @ f/14.

It pays to drive slowly and keep your eyes open.

Mojave Desert Ruins: The Alvord Mine- Final Words, for now...

My friend Ron stares dejectedly at the ground, as I prepare for our departure.
Photograph by Scott Schwartz.

Alas, our time at the Alvord Mine was to be cut short, because my friend Ron began to feel ill.  The mine itself was a few hundred feet further, but we had to head for home.

But, we will return to this place.

Mojave Desert Ruins: The Alvord Mine, Continued....

After a rocky climb of about a mile in four-wheel-drive-Low, we reached a plateau, on which stands the building that has figured so prominently in this blog's photographs.

Mojave Desert Ruins: The Alvord Mine, continued...

Corporate logo on the floor of the ruined building.

Shortly after exiting Harvard Road and turning toward the Alvord Mountains, the pavement ended and I engaged the front axle.  The trail was mostly level, with occasional patches of deep sand.  I won't give turn-by-turn directions here; but, at one point, we crossed a very wide dirt road that is used by the Army to move its tanks and other vehicles from the railroad depot to the Fort Irwin training base.  On previous trips, I have seen very large tracks here, that were left by the huge M1 Abrams tank.

Within a mile of the Alvord Mine, the trail begins to ascend the mountain and becomes pretty rocky.  Here, I engaged my four-wheel-drive low-range gears.

More to follow....