I found cacti in white rocks
I made my way north from Yuma knowing I probably would not be back this far south again until next winter. I was headed up to Quartzsite to meet Carolyn for her Arizona meet and greet. After that, I had no plans other than boondock somewhere in the area. I have to admit, I’ve been lazier than expected about seeking out new places. When there is no time pressure to see stuff before you have to go back to work, I find I just linger longer wherever I happen to be. But not having a direction to go now left me rudderless. Read on to see where I ended up!
I left Yuma with my check engine light still on. I was hoping the light would clear with some steady highway driving, but that was not to be. The wind was ferocious, forcing my RV to kick down one, sometimes two gears on the slightest hill. So much for steady driving.
Arriving in Quartzsite, I head towards Scaddan Wash BLM camping. To get to my destination at the east side of Scaddan Wash, I had to travel the infamous Dome Rock Road East. The road starts out good at the edge of Quartzsite, but quickly turns into potholed old pavement. The cherry on this is the washboard effect on the pavement. The sensation is so bad that many people just drive on the gravel sides where possible, going really slow. But there is a trick. If you see someone flying along at 40-50mph, they know the secret. The washboard effect is canceled out if you can drive fast enough that your wheels just skip from high spot to high spot without dropping in between. While I did not travel fast enough on the way in as I was not familiar with the road, on the way out, I cruised through at 45mph no problems. You just have to watch for the potholes at this speed, you still do not want to hit them! This trick worked for the Grom motorcycle at 40-45mph as well!
Q&A after the lineup to meet
The meet and greet was located where Dome Rock Road ends and turns south into Mitchell Mine Road. I was expecting a pretty good turnout, which was confirmed by the lineup that quickly formed to meet Carolyn. I did duty as line control officer, and photographer, offering to take pictures with people’s phones so they would have a memento of their meeting. After the lineup, Carolyn did an informal Q&A session with the audience that choose to stick around. Having talked to just about everyone in the lineup was way more socializing than I normally get. It was interesting to see how many of the fans were star struck. Others were more mercantile, looking for a little video clip to help boost their video channel. Some of them assumed I was associated with Carolyn in someway, pressing a little SWAG on me or a business card. I suppose I am associated; but as a friend, not a gateway to her power as an internet star!
Grom at Taco Mio
I had no specific camping plans so I joined friends at a camp spot not far down the road from the meet and greet. Everyone left the next day, leaving me to enjoy the spot myself. But I did get together with the group that had helped with the meet and greet at Taco Mio for a ‘thank you for the help’ lunch courtesy of Carolyn. The Grom proved most handy for a quick dash into Quartzsite, saving me moving the RV to travel in for lunch.
Walking cactus
The Plomosa Mountains were fairly close to my camp, as well as some mines and a historic house. I decided to make a week of it at this spot as there was more here to see than I expected. My first trip was a hike to the hills, taking advantage of foot travel to traverse some off road terrain the motorcycle can’t go on. There always is some strange decaying Saguaro around, like the one I encountered that looked like a walking Cactus. It’s not bigfoot, but you can see how people experience strange mirages in the desert. The shapes and shadows can combine to form all sorts of things in the mind’s eye.
White field in the distance
I climbed a little knoll and spotted a light field in the distance. I assumed this was a mining scar. As it was getting late, I could not walk over there that afternoon, but I resolved to check this out a couple of days later. Approaching the same field, I could see that it was not a mining scar – everything looked natural including the vegetation growing on the light area. Intrigued, I approached the field to see what was on the ground to make things so bright.
White rocks all the way to the outcrop at the top
It turned out I was looking at a field of white quartz, pretty much solid white rocks all the way up to an outcrop that was solid white quartz. Now I know why Quartzsite has its name. It also explains why I was finding a lot of white quartz near my camp – it migrates down to the plains from the hills. The location had a fantastic quality to it. It looked like someone’s cacti garden yet was totally natural! I thought this was a cool find, and I snapped many pictures as a result. I could see other bright patches as I walked about – I suspect there are a few more of these you can visit hiking the hills here.
Decorated veteran claim
There are many remnants of mining around here, and an active mine. The active mine was off limits, but I was able to visit some of the deactivated periphery of the mining area. But my first visit was to what the googles called “Scadden House” on the map of the area. It could have been a long hike, but since I had the Grom, it seemed better as a moderate motorcycle ride. Riding over there, I pass what I presume is the Mitchell Mine, based on the name of the road going there. I’m too lazy to dig into it further but I think it’s a gold mine.
No peeing, backed up by firearms and a backhoe
The road passes through the claim area, with a lot of signage warning you of that. But I have to hold it in until I get through the claim area? I guess they do not want their gold pee’d on. They’ve got firearms and a backhoe to back themselves up! I’m assuming there is a sense of humor here somewhere, but just in case I only stopped long enough to get a sign picture, just in case we are talking crazy miner rather than funny miner. There are a lot of people going through here – the Scaddan wash boondocking area is within an easy walk of the edge of the mine so I’m sure they get a lot of looky loos wandering about the site/claim.
Scaddan or Scadden house depending on your source
I didn’t really know where the claim ended, so did not breath a sigh of relief until I had passed all signs of mining in the near area. I had gone at least a half mile, so should be safe to stop now! Continuing on after watering a bush, I climb up into a gully, then see my destination ahead. I see a substantial stone building, no roof but the walls are almost intact. It’s the most complete miner’s cabin remains I’ve seen out here. Like the three pigs, the lesson is go with stone!
Inside looking out the window down the road
Unfortunately, I don’t have the place to myself. I normally would not be so grumpy about seeing people, who inevitably want to talk about my Grom motorcycle. It’s a great conversation starter. But I had just come off of two weeks of peopling in Yuma, and an intense day of peopling at Carolyn’s get together. I really wanted some time to myself at this point. But like I said earlier, this site is close to Scaddan wash boondocking so you’ll get a few people wandering about, especially to something as substantial as this. The first group of people left, leaving me to finally get some pictures of the building without people in front of it. But then I see another group coming up the road! I’ve had enough, and just wave as I pass them on the Grom leaving just as they arrive.
Part of the remaining processing plant
I explored the abandoned part of the active Michell mining area with the Grom another day. I can see the active mine about a half mile away from the abandoned section. The remains are mostly concrete structures. The main works looks like a bunch of swimming pools all put together. I am assuming that the facilities processed the gold ore, refining it up to a concentrated product at least. The works are tiny by today’s standards – everything now is big for economies of scale. The active mine looks like an outlier on that front – the ‘small business’ of the mining world that is not that common these days.
Saguaro replantings
There always seems to be something new to discover in the desert. This time, it was transplanted Saguaro cacti, just sitting out in the middle of nowhere. Even the road these were near didn’t go anywhere particular, eventually hooking up with the Scadden House road via a very rough bit through a wash. If I had to guess, the Mitchell Mine had to compensate for digging up some cacti countryside by saving a bunch of these Saguaro and moving them here. It makes for quite a site though, looking like rockets propped up ready to blast off in a group. Hopefully these grow and the supports can be removed eventually.
One of many bits of Scaddan rock art
In the not so new discoveries in the desert, I found a lot of rock art in the back forty of the Scaddan wash boondocking area. I was not seeing a lot of people out there, so I’m thinking a lot of these rock art pieces are new from the great COVID camping boom of ’21. Bored people and a lot of white rocks in the area have led to some pretty impressive rock groupings. I ended up driving up and down several strips of desert pavement looking for more of these. They were always towards the back end, way out from the cart tracks leading in. I guess the artists don’t want their creations to be disturbed.
My week at Scaddan Wash ended with some glorious morning light to send me off. The area had been unexpectedly better than I thought it would be. Next time, I will camp further up the road, deeper in the area. But even where I was, there were only a couple of rigs within 200 yards of me. I was headed to Bouse, to try camping in a spot I had scouted out with my motorcycle. It had solitude, plus many hills and mines to hike to nearby. Check out my next post to see how it all worked out!
