Remains of processing near Little Butte mine
It was time to resupply. Rather than hit Quartzsite with its limited grocery options, I went up to Parker. Parker isn’t big city level of selection but it’s a hell of a lot better than Quartzsite. My plan was to make use of the scouting information I picked up with the Grom the last time I was in the Bouse area. I was going to camp at what looked like an awesome spot from my little five minute visit with the motorcycle. Read on to see if the spot lived up to my expectations!
My spot with the two little hills blocking my view of the neighbors
It certainly was nice to know where I was going to end up after my trip into town. That meant I could take my time getting out there. Even if the spot I had in mind was now taken, (unlikely this far out) there were other spots nearby that would do. I drove out of Bouse on Yellow Bird Drive, which changes from pavement to cart track as soon as it passes the last house. The road is good other than one rough bit over a hill to get into the little nook I found with some desert pavement. I saw no one there and settled in. There was one RV over the hill I drove on coming in, out of sight thanks to that hill. I heard silence, and only could see a bit of Bouse in the distance between the two little hills separating me from my neighbor.
Yellow Bird Road atop the hill looking back to Bouse
I felt the Zen of this spot – I have found my spot with the hills around me! There looked to be so much to explore in every direction. Well, perhaps not back to Bouse, but every other direction! The afternoon was sunny and calm. After a little jaunt to the nearest hill, I settled in to catch a few rays in the glorious silence of the spot. Of course silence can’t last. I’m not that far from the road and an ATV comes by to break the spell. But the traffic was light here – silence returned and stayed around for a long time.
Two Desert Foxes. They probably have a den with kits judging by the dug up light earth.
Basking in the sun I caught a movement out of the corner of my eye. I saw nothing but a large pale rock on the hill where I thought I saw movement. I resume my reverie, looking at the light rock. I was getting the sense that this is not a rock, so I approach the hill to get a better view. I suddenly comprehended what I was looking at, a sleeping Desert Fox! I quietly back up to my RV and get out my camera and binoculars. Snapping a safety shot first (get a quick picture, THEN try for a better picture), I observed my newly discovered neighbor in the hill. The fox seems to be sleeping without concern, I saw them raise their head and look my way momentarily, then put their head down and go back to sleep. It seems I had been accepted as a non-threatening visitor to the area. I sat watching my foxy friend, when from above a second fox appeared! This one sat watching me for a couple of minutes, with me snapping away with my camera, then just taking in the moment in nature.
Another shaft down, but big
While the foxes were quite the sight to start off my week here, they did have a downside, in that I’d not be having anyone else out here, especially people with dogs. Visiting with people again could wait another week! In the meanwhile, I had lots of exploring to do. My topo map showed a lot of mines off to the north of me. I did one hike to some of the closest of them, but the further mines I rode to with the motorcycle.
Two tanks at the remains of a processing site, near Blue Slate Mine
There are cart paths all over the place out there to let you get to most of the holes and scrapes in the desert. The reason for all of these is gold – there’s gold in dem dar hills! Or at least there was, now only the scars of all the attempts to remove the gold are left. There is also some remaining infrastructure. According to mindat.org, the tanks I found are part of the Blue Slate Mine group, a copper-gold mine closed in the 1930s.
Tank foundation built 1940, Little Butte
But these also could have been part of the Little Butte mine, which operated until the 1950s. At least, what remains seems too ‘new’ to be something that shut down in the 1930s. At any rate, the Little Butte mine did have some blue rocks to add to my collection. Judging by the number of ATVs and the lack of pretty rocks, this area has been picked over pretty good over the years. But the occasional rains and winds always expose new material in the remains piles, so you never know what you’ll find.
WTF is this?
I did have one strange find that had nothing whatsoever to do with mining pits it turned out. I was returning from Little Butte mine and saw what looked like some mining infrastructure in the distance, back towards highway 72. Since I’m riding the Grom, it isn’t a big deal to go over and satisfy my curiosity as to what this could be. I motor over only to find something completely unexpected.
The front side reveals a facade of a western town.
I actually have to drive around the ‘front side’ of this thing to confirm that I am looking at the facade for a western town street. I was looking at ONLY the facade, there were no buildings behind this – only framing holding up the facade. I don’t see anything else around this other than a shelter structure nearby – the facade doesn’t provide much in terms of shade once the sun gets around to late afternoon. I speculated at the time that this was a failed attempt to build a tourist attraction, based on the “Store and Museum” part of the facade. As it turns out, the cart track leading away goes back to Bouse in short order, so with some road improvements this could be visited quite easily.
Berm they might have shot into
Now I had a real mystery to solve. The googles had no information. I queried at the Bouse museum (more on that next post) and they had not even heard of this structure in the desert. “It might be on private land” (it is) so they don’t cover that stuff. A few days later, I ran into a local while waiting to fill up my water at the community campground. He’d been around for only a couple of years but had heard a story repeated by old timers in the area. It turns out that a reality TV show out of Vegas was making an ‘Ironman’ competition show where shooting targets was one of the events. The facade was a set, where they would shoot targets through the openings, firing into the berm at the back. The show never went anywhere, and the set was abandoned.
We have guns very big
The story makes some sense. There is even a basic airstrip close by that Hollywood types could have flown into for the filming. But it is only a story told by a local, I can’t say if this is the real reason for this facade in the desert. I do have a word of caution if you decide to visit this site, it is marked private land, with a gate off La Posa Rd you just drive around like every other ATV has. I’d walk the third of a mile from the road to visit. There is no posted ‘no trespassing’, so technically it is legal to go visit this, for now!
The remains of a tank with some target figures
I visited some more civilized parts of Bouse as well, being quite close even with my solitude. Join me next time when I show you the museum, the military history, and some random bits of Bouse. Plus I visit an expected bar out in the middle of the desert. See you then, cheers!
