Bryan and I met at the thunder bowl Friday afternoon and headed to the desert. Stopped in Mojave for food and fuel and was amazed at the lack of wind. Things were looking good weather-wise. After we turned off on the Randsburg – Garlock road we were stopped for about a half hour due to road repairs.
Arrived at our Goler camp spot to find Jeff and Loralyn already there. They had come out the day before but found the road closed so they camped at Ricardo State Park thursday night. We got camp setup and had some refreshments around the campfire. Loralyn put together enough lasagna to feed us all. We had a couple of bold foxes visit us looking for handouts. They seemed to like everything except the lime potato chips. Art and his family showed up about 9, set up camp and joined us for our campfire BS session.
Saturday morning we packed lunches and headed out about 9. I decided to go up Goler Wash through the narrows so the people who missed it last year could see it in the daylight. The waterfalls in the wash were not as bad as in past years but they were still fun. We continued up the wash and skirted the base of Black Mountain on EP15. We stopped at Colorado Camp and found a well patinated, bullet riddled electric motor that may end up being the LC maintenance award.
We continued on to Burro Schmidt’s, had lunch and did the traditional head banging tunnel walk. We then went to the top of the mountain and back down into the canyon to the Bickel Camp. This is an interesting collection of mining artifacts that are pretty much the way he left them. From there we went to the Holly Ash Mine to see the snow caves. Skipped the rock house and Dutch Cleanser mine this year.
We finished the run by going out through Last Chance Canyon. Jeff tried to show off by backing up the hill at the top of the canyon but couldn’t make it. Turns out his ARB compressor wasn’t working because his temporary TDS trail fix wiring had burned up. We have a new home for the LC maintenance award. We had to spot Bryan and Art in a couple of places but everyone made it out without a problem. There was a nice F150 following us through the canyon with a man, pissed wife and baby aboard. Jeff spotted them through some of the tough sections and gave him a short lecture on not doing this kind of stuff alone.
Back at camp we started the fire ate dinner and enjoyed the evening. Bryan made up some campfire stew that was enjoyed by all. The weather was perfect. The night time temperature was in the mid 60’s and NO wind. I didn’t even need to change out of my shorts.
Sunday we headed over to the Rand Mountains and stopped at Government Peak to enjoy the views. We then went around the east side of the mountain to Randsburg for ice cream. The malts weren’t as big this year but hopefully that was due to the large crowd. We got back to camp, packed and on the road by 2.
Before we started the first run Jeff loaned Diego and Aldo a couple of geology picks. At every stop the hunt was on for gold. Then Norma and Loralyn decided they needed garden rocks. I think several hundred pounds of rock was hauled home on Jeff’s trailer.
This was a great run and I want to thank Bryan, Jeff, Loralyn, Art, Norma, Diego and Aldo for making it possible. Sorry there was no carnage to report.
-Dick