Arizona (Mostly) – November & December 2024 – Part Six

please remember you can click on a photo to see a larger version & highlighted text are links to additional information

Please click here for Part Five

 

Homeward Bound

 

Although we’ve visited Rhyolite ghost town before, we’ve not visited the cemetery. This morning, we turned down the dirt track that led to the Bullfrog Rhyolite Cemetery.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Headed north on highway 95, we found our unmarked turnoff to our next destination. It was a long drive across the vast Sarcobatus Flat. The dirt road is incised into the ground and captures debris blown by winds across the flat.  This morning, our way was blocked by a 100-foot section filled three to four feet deep with Russian Thistle. We cleared the road block by hand, a prickly mess, and did not at all feel like singing Tumbling Tumbleweeds.

Good navigation skills led us through the maze of roads as we found our way to a distant spring and another possible archeological site on our list. The last miles were up a deep gravel wash. To our consternation, the rattle in the front end was back again. Damn. Yup, we jacked up the truck, pulled out the tool box, removed the tire, found the top nut loose, and tightened it. This signaled another change of plans – threadlocker – we’d get some back in Pahrump. But that could wait. We got the truck settled into about the only usable spot at the end of the road and set up our camp.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shadows were growing long as we began our search. Our truck is just right of center in the photo below.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The spring had running water. There were hundreds of noisy chukars. Their presence brought in predators. Coyotes and Northern Harriers worked the area.

 

After a good climb, we found the shelter sites we were searching for. This first shelter had a stacked rock wall and pictographs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The second, larger shelter had been used by prospectors.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On a nearby saddle in the ridge line, we were thrilled to find an ancient rock alignment.

 

 

 

 

 

 

What a great site this was! We settled in for the night and enjoyed blazing stars above and the song of coyotes. The following morning – as always – we relished our “morning wander” with Peets Coffee. We made a wide circle of the area.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the photo below, the Lady is coming down from the high point she climbed up to. We split up as there were several possible shelter sites to investigate.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Lady joined me on my highpoint and then we worked our way back to camp for breakfast.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A different front-end noise started before we reached Beatty. It was a classic ball joint “clunk.” The repeatedly loose stabilizer bar link had damaged the ball joints on each end of the link. We crawled back under the truck. The nuts were still tight. We had cell service and we called Dobinsons in Florida. We had fun explaining where we were calling from and the problem. Would they sell us one new stabilizer bar link? They come in a package of two at a hundred dollars apiece. They agreed, would ship it immediately, and it would be delivered at home before our return. We still picked up threadlocker in Pahrump and repeated our well-practiced procedure for getting to the stabilizer bar link. We had no further issue with the nuts loosening.

 

I’ll move ahead in the story and share what the issue was. My mistake was just tightening the nuts. I should have removed the bar link the first time we discovered the loose nuts and inspected it – the shop in Pahrump probably should have done the same instead of just checking torque. I would have found that the banging loose ball joint studs had ruined the threads. The damaged threads prevented the single use serrated flange nuts from completely seating the link ends in place. I think of this whole episode as a good lesson. We also got well acquainted with doing field repairs on our new truck.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

The new link was waiting for us when we returned home. I installed it, torqued the nuts to specs, and it has been fine since and I expect we will live happily ever after.  

 

Pahrump was another detour in our plans so we came up with a good alternative that allowed us to reach a favorite dispersed camp spot before dark. We do not like chasing daylight trying to find a suitable spot to overnight. We settled into our campsite along Lake Hill Road in Panamint Valley.

 

We were ready for a good workout the next morning. Digonnet’s Hiking Western Death Valley National Park describes the hike up Dolomite Canyon on the western side of the Cottonwood Mountains.

 

We got a late start the next morning as we inspected the bar links one last time to be sure they were still tight. The mouth of Dolomite Canyon, in the photo below, is just right of center and is four miles away. The bajada was rocky and rough going and a constant climb.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nearing the canyon mouth, the Lady used her see mores to note our truck’s location.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We made our way up into the wide wash. This was wonderful terrain with Lake Hill far below.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We continued up and found a spot for a break.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Watching our turnaround time, we’d have to save venturing further up Dolomite Canyon for another trip. But we did have time to explore a side canyon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here’s looking back down the first series of dry falls.

 

 

 

 

 

The polished limestone held wonderful fossils!

 

 

 

 

 

 

We continued up encountering dry fall after dry fall. This always puts a smile on the Lady’s face.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The canyon opened up. The cottonwood’s rock layers are spectacular.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The canyon narrowed again, and it was time to turn around.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fossils continued to delight us.

 

 

 

 

 

The Lady downclimbed the first – and highest dry fall. You bet we were having fun

 

 

 

 

 

 

Returning, we stayed in the main wash that took us on a wide swing to the north. It was much longer but easier than crossing the bajada.

 

 

 

 

 

 

As I said, the Cottonwood Mountains are spectacular.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We returned to camp in time to take in evening light. It was a great hike and whetted our appetite to return to Dolomite Canyon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was time to return home to attend to a few things. For our last night out the Tub Whisperer had again scored a tub at Benton. We are addicted but this is also a very convenient overnight on our way home. The restorative healing water worked its magic on us.

 

 

 

 

 

 

So that’s it. This is the story of the maiden voyage. As the world descends into chaos around us, we will continue our explorations as long as there is still public lands and federal agencies to care for it. Time is running out on those. Think of us as gone.

 

Arizona (Mostly) – November & December 2024 – Part Five

please remember you can click on a photo to see a larger version & highlighted text are links to additional information

Please click here for Part Four

 

Noise

 

Since laundry was needed, we stayed one night at the KOA in Needles, California. The campground is nice but is showing wear around the edges. It is about a mile north of Interstate 40. We were not ready for highway noise after so many wonderful nights of quiet. It was a restless night and morning could not come soon enough.

 

We went back to “the list” and drove north of Laughlin, Nevada to Grapevine Canyon, an expansive and well-known petroglyph site.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The rock is granite and the scenery is breathtaking. It was easy to spend a few hours wandering.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We extensively explored the north side of the mouth of Grapevine Canyon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This faded petroglyph was the most fascinating with a man standing on the outstretched arms of another man.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Lady crawled under and around the granite boulders in search of rock art. She did not want to miss anything.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We moved into the canyon and explored up the wash. The amount of rock art is staggering.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We continued up to the end of the canyon. Although we passed the area of rock art, the landscape compelled us on.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We turned around and worked our way back through the grapevines.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Walking back down the wash we discovered more rock art including a petroglyph of the antichrist.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This area is easy to reach from the south. Take the time to visit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We returned to the signed parking area and turned north on the dirt Christmas Tree Pass Road. Although it is a wide graded road, there are a few rough sections. We turned south on highway 95 when we reached pavement. Several miles south on highway 95, we turned west onto the Mojave Road. After a few bumps we realized the noise in the truck’s front end was back. What to do?

“Change of plan,” I said to the Lady. “Any bars with cell service?”

“Two bars,” the Lady answered. “What do you propose?”

“Let’s call the shop in Pahrump that’s helped us in the past. Let’s have them align the front end after we’ve mounted the camper and also find where this noise is coming from.”

 

The shop could get us in the next morning. We turned around and headed back to pavement.

“Let’s stop and check under the truck again,” the Lady suggested. On our backs in the dirt, I took the driver’s side and the Lady took the passenger side.

“Should this be loose like this?” the Lady asked. I crawled under her side and joined her. The mystery was solved. Both ends of the stabilizer bar link were loose with both nuts almost off the threads.

“Twenty bucks says the shop never torqued these nuts after the install. We will check the other side also,” I said with the discovery.

 

A bit of the back story. The Lady and I installed the new Dobinsons suspension parts on the rear end of the truck. Before we could get to doing the front end, I had gum surgery that was previously scheduled. For post-op the surgeon insisted I was NOT to get my heart rate up and possibly cause gum bleed during healing – he did not even want me to go for an easy walk for 2 weeks after surgery – so I did not inquire if he thought it might be okay for me to rebuild the front end of the Ranger with the Dobinsons parts during recovery. To meet our deadline of getting to Arizona before Thanksgiving, we paid a 4x4 shop down the hill to do the install on the front. All in all, they did a good job, except for this one thing just discovered. I should note I did inspect their work but I did not double check torques. This episode is why I like to do the work - if at all possible - myself.

 

Out came the tool box. We jacked up the truck and removed the front tire. We had the required tools, a 17mm wrench and a 6mm hex wrench to keep the stud from turning. It was an easy fix. Back on the road less than an hour later, the noise was gone. (Note: the driver’s side link was tight.)

“Should we still go to the shop in Pahrump?” the Lady asked.

“An alignment check and a double check of the stabilizer bar link won’t hurt. We’ve got many more miles of dirt roads planned for this trip.”

 

With the abrupt change of plans, we needed a spot to overnight on the way to Pahrump. We found a dispersed campsite along the edge of the Wee Thump Joshua Tree Wilderness west of Searchlight. It was cold with a strong wind but the sunset was outstanding.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But we also had bad news. The rattle was back with the bar link. We addressed it early the next morning, removed the tire, and tightened the two nuts with as much force as I could muster.

 

We dropped the truck off at the shop along with a full recounting of the issue with the stabilizer bar link. When the truck was ready, I asked about the bar link and was told I had tightened it to torque specs and all was well. With the change of plans we again consulted “the list” and decided to head into the “Nevada Triangle” area of Death Valley National Park north of Beatty.  We found a great campsite just outside of the Park boundary.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The near full moon rose before sunset.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The sunrise the next morning was incredible.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Coffee was ready as first light spilled across the landscape.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Lady insisted we carry the coffee mugs high on our “morning wander.” She wanted a view.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

First on the list was at the end of a long slow drive into the Park. This was another good workout in 4 low for our new truck. We stopped at an impossible washout and found a spot to back the truck into.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We found the ruins of a small mining camp.

 

 

 

 

 

 

There was a collapsed building.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Its roof had blown off intact and was fifty yards downslope.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our objective was an ancient shelter site above a spring. It was rough going but we reached the shelters along a cliff face.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We found the pictographs we were searching for.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A cave was high above.

 

 

 

 

 

 

You know who wanted to make the climb.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We both did. The Lady surveyed the area from this high perch.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is the route back down.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Back near the spring we located more ancient shelter sites.

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was a cold day, but with our success we returned to the truck.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We made a detour and visited the small Happy Hooligan mine site.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It is on cold days like this one we really appreciate heated seats in the truck.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The heated seats have three settings – heat, roast, and cremate. Anything above the lowest “heat” setting and I start singing, “Chestnuts roasting on an open fire.”

 

We settled into a nice overnight spot back near the boundary. It was another beautiful quiet night with the solitude that sustains us.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The next morning, we headed back into the Nevada Triangle.

 

Our adventure continues. Please click here for Part Six.