MOJAVE-X 01.01.2016 : An Exploration of Shadow Valley & Turquoise Mountain

wayoflife

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Being that the 2016 WAYALIFE New Year Kick Off Run was going to take place out in the Mojave Desert, Cindy and I decided to make our way down to SoCal a couple of days before hand and do some exploring. Even though we have covered vast sections of the Mojave over the last 25 years, there were still places we had yet to see and some of them were out in an area known a the Shadow Valley and Turquoise Mountain. Fortunately for us, a few of our close friends were willing to join us out in Barstow on New Year's Eve and join us out on the trail the following morning. Here are some pics highlighting the things we saw and all the fun we had. I hope you enjoy.

Moby all packed up and ready to head south on a cold and snowy morning.
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Fortunately for us, the drive down the 395 was a gorgeous one.
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Of course, when it's this pretty out, how can you not stop to take a photo or two.
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Home for the rest of 2015 and the beginning of 2016.
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How lucky we are to be able to spend our final night in 2015 with good friends - HAPPY NEW YEAR!!
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Bright and early on the first day of 2016.
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Our first stop of the day was over at the Old Copper World Smelter and Valley Wells town site.
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Looking across the slag left behind from the smelter.
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The molten slag left behind has a lot of cool looking patterns.
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Pieces of the slag almost look like obsidian.
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Scattered throughout the area were small blueish green rocks, a clear sign that a lot of copper ore made its way out here.
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Looking across large concrete structures that were used in the processing of copper. Beyond, you can see the Clark Mountains, the source of the copper ore that was brought to this smelter.
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You would never know it unless you knew to look for it but, this was once a town. The people who lived in this area found an ingenious way to survive the blistering heat of summer, freezing cold of winter and the powerful winds that often blow through the area - they built their homes underground.
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The hills in this area are blanketed by a hardened layer of rock, maybe volcanic ash and the earth under it is soft and the residents of this community simply dug away the soft dirt and used the hard layer above as a roof.
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Taking a look inside.
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Some of the homes had portholes that allowed you to see into the rooms next to it.
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A close up look at a support beam.
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View of the desert from inside one of the homes.
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Not all the homes had a natural roof and the guy who lived here needed to improvise.
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On the move again, we made our way up to the north a bit to pay our respects to some of the old residents that once lived in this town.
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Clearly, the mining life was a hard life and for Joseph Riser, it came to an end at the ripe old age of 21 years.
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A final poem left by his wife "The voice I loved is forever stilled. A place is vacant in my heart which never can be filled."
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On the move again, we made our way across the Shadow Valley to check out something I have known about for years but have never seen in person.
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The only name I have ever found for this unusual location that has an enormous round and conical steel structure is - The Saucer.
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What's amazing about this place is that from space, you can see how small the steel saucer is compared to how large the concentric circles of earthen berms surrounding it are.
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Taking a peek inside.
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Pieces of the saucer.
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Some kind of pump next to it.
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And finally, some kind of large concrete foundation out on the outer ring.
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Time to move on out to our next destination.
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It took some effort to find but we finally made it out to an airway beacon that I had known about for a long time and have been dying to see.
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This is 1 of only 2 that I know of in Southern California that still has a concrete arrow.
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But, even more amazing than the arrow is the fact that it actually has a generator shed still standing on the tail of it. This is something I have not seen on any of the airway beacons we have found to date.
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You can see more photos of the airway beacon here:
http://wayalife.com/showthread.php?...Airway-Beacons&p=632305&viewfull=1#post632305

After exploring the remains of the airway beacon and having some lunch, it was time to make our way to the final destination of the day.
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And here we are!
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Gotta explore some of the old mine shafts.
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Well hello there my flying furry friend.
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Okay, it's time to go digging for some turquoise.
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So, it's not as easy as it looks and this is far from being quality specimens but here's a shot of what some of us found.
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With the sun going down, it was time to head back to pavement.
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Thanks to all our friends who were willing to spend their New Year's Eve with us in a hotel out in Barstow and then wake up bright and early to do some exploring out in the Mojave Desert. Of course, this was all before joining us out on our BIG kick off run the following day as well. Cindy and I had a great time with all of you and look forward to doing it again soon. :cool:
 
You all have the best adventures! Looks like it was a ton of fun, thank you for sharing. :thumb:
 
Thanks for sharing! I hope to travel West to see all this cool historic stuff one day! It's really cool!
 
Awesome photos and thanks for sharing yet another batch of awesomeness! :thumb:

Hope you don't me asking and it's possibly been asked before, what type of camera(s) do you use to take these epic shots? ;)
 
Thanks for having us along Eddie n Cindy this was an awesome way to start off the year!

I need to get coilovers tho the ride up to the arrow was rough with stock suspension lol
 
Such an awesome recap. So glad we were able to share this adventure with you and all the others. The family had an awesome time. [emoji106][emoji106]

I had no idea the berms around the saucer were that large. Crazy! Need to figure out what that equipment was used for.
 
Such an awesome recap. So glad we were able to share this adventure with you and all the others. The family had an awesome time. [emoji106][emoji106]

I had no idea the berms around the saucer were that large. Crazy! Need to figure out what that equipment was used for.

Don't know how I missed this earlier but it was great that you and your family were able to join us for this trip. :thumb:

Amazing photos! I am still bummed we weren't able to make it. :icon_crazy::doh:

Yeah, it was a bummer that you couldn't make it out but some things are more important. Hopefully you can make it out to the next run.

love going through these threads - you guys wheel in such amazing places, so jealous!

Thanks - Donnie

LOL!! Thanks, we do feel lucky that there's so much to see and do in this great country of ours :cool:

Awesome pictures and trail.

Thanks! Glad you enjoyed the post :yup:
 
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