Aaron's Status

5:38 am

Yesterday we saw the Mesquite Flat sand dunes just after sunrise, the Eureka mining site, the Wildrose charcoal kilns, Mosaic Canyon, and then the dunes again at sunset.

The dunes

I remember the dunes from my previous visits here and they do not disappoint. After breakfast we stopped there for a bit and hiked around on them, the kid loved running up and down collecting buckets of sand in his shoes.

I brought my infrared camera this time and the dunes turned out to be a neat place for it with the shrubs that grow in the sand there contrasted with the sharp dune ridges and clear sky (which is almost black in infrared).

Eureka mines

We rejoined with our friends and started the long drive up to Wildrose.

On the way, we did a quick stop at the Eureka mining site. There are some remnants of equipment and you can try to look into the mouth of the mine. The kid was excited to see a real mine cart track, the inspiration for those in Minecraft of course.

There are a few structures nearby where legendary Pete Aguereberry lived for some 40 years while operating the mine there. I took some infrared photos but I don’t think any were remarkable here.

Charcoal kilns

I think most visitors miss out on these areas further west because there isn’t a ton else around them, but the Wildrose charcoal kilns are very cool to see. The kilns were used to burn wood to create charcoal fuel that ran smelters for lead and silver (apparently), but didn’t operate for very long (like many things in the Valley it seems). They are so well-built, they seem as though the could have been made just years ago.

Mosaic Canyon

Big highlight for us yesterday was Mosaic Canyon. Our friends’ kids were getting pretty tired by this point so they decided to head back to the hotel, but we wanted to do the ~3 mile in-and-out hike through the canyon. It was totally worth it, the canyon is such a cool spot to see.

As you enter it quickly narrows, in places only one or two people wide, and then there are some light scramble areas and beautiful striated rock resembling wood grain. Then suddenly the canyon opens up again and you move through a huge area with boulders jutting up and walls close to 100 feet high on both sides.

The path then narrows again and you reach the “end” of the route, where the path is blocked by more boulders. At this point, you can climb or scramble around the boulders and continue the journey. We were going to turn around but a couple coming the other way said there was a cool area not far ahead, so we scrambled around the boulder jam and continued a little further.

Maybe we should have continued, but without knowing how far it went (for lack of research), and wanting to get back to the dunes area long before sundown, we turned around there. My back was also starting to feel pretty sore and I wasn’t sure how much more scrambling I could do.

Overall, a beautiful and unique hike, and I recommend it fully!

Sunset

Finally, after emerging from the canyon, we drove back down to the Mesquite Flat dunes and met up with our friend who had parked at the side of the road and walked in to find areas free from footprints. The kid had a ball literally sliding on his stomach down the dunes while I took more photos.

At this point, the light got really nice, illuminating the dunes from the west and creating some incredible textures. I think I got some very nice images here. We decided to trek back to the car before sunset to avoid walking in the dark.

All in all, a full day. Everyone was exhausted and I slept like a rock. According to my Pixel Watch I’ve been sleeping almost nine hours, which is unheard of for me; my typical goal is seven hours.

Today!

Today is Monday and we have a lot planned. We’re picking up 4x4 Jeeps around 8am and heading up to the Racetrack to see the moving rocks. They don’t actually move, but they leave trails that make it seem like they’ve moved on their own. It’s the result of some ice phenomenon, but I’ve always wanted to see it.

On the way up, we’ll stop to peer down into the Ubehebe crater and maybe walk some of the trail along the lip of it.

Other than that I think we’re going to see what else we can see up in that area of the mountains where you need a high-clearance vehicle to make the journey. I suppose we’ll spend most of the day up there.