The day dawned quiet and peaceful. No road noise, no people yapping, no generators. About the only sound is the distance whistle and hum of trains passing, about two miles from my site. My plan was to do a hike in the morning then head back to Quartzsite to meet Larry and Carolyn for New Year’s Eve. I figured I’d hike onto the nearby hill and see what the view was like. Not many Cholla up there, so I could get there without getting pricked by them. But I find new discoveries up there too.
I admire the view out from the back of my Rig in the morning light, looks like things are starting to brighten up so I might get better pictures today. The walk over is the same as yesterday – up and down ridges, into gullies – a little tougher since I’m heading for a specific point rather than going the easiest way the terrain will take me. I climb the hill, not a difficult job at all.
As I near the top, I spot a hole in the ground, obviously human origin. I look at it a moment and realize it’s a test pit. We dig the same sort of holes in my line of work. These diggers were looking for valuables in the ground; we look for contamination. I look at the tailings, trying to figure out what sort of valuable they were looking for. I quickly spot these unusual blue rocks. The look almost spray painted on, but looking at a few samples I see that the color definitely originates from the rock, not something added on.
I see the same color in the test pit – pretty sure whatever they were interested in was in the blue-red-blue layer in the pit. I jump down in to inspect, only once in the pit does it occur to me that this could be a mine hole, and I’m standing on a covered hole I could fall into. But that does not seem to be the case this time!
I collect a few of these rocks – going to look them up when I’m back at the RV, see what these might be. But in the meanwhile I admire the view. Can you see my Rig, way back there?
The sky parts a little allowing me to get a few pictures with a little more punch to them.
Plus this neat fruit, This is a Pincushion Cactus, if I have pulled the right image up in the googles. They are edible, sweet fruit, if you can get them out without being pricked.
I return to camp, and pack up for a return to Quartzsite. I am certainly considering coming back here another day, this is a pretty area and has at least one more hike in it to do!
