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Thread: Desert Trip....worth it or not????

  1. #1
    Mandelon
    Man, that is the last time I let my father in law pick the spot to camp.
    We left Thursday night to go camping out near Blythe and camp on BLM land. Grandpa is a old time lapidary rockhound type guy. So he thought it would be great fun for us to go out and look for some special rocks. OK...what the heck. Here is where we went.
    http://www.hotboatpics.com/pics/data...Well_1-med.jpg
    Looking at the picture above you will see that it is so boring there, even the dirt decided to leave. It was like camping in a giant parking lot. The wind blew all the dirt away, leaving a tightly fitted rock base. Great for parking his 5th wheel on, I guess. My kids hop out and look for something to climb or play on. There was not a tree or pile of rocks for 3/4 mile!!! (They ended up digging a hole!)
    Thank god for BB Guns and Corona Bottles. I had to keep drinking fast to keep up with these little target shooters. We did em at night too. Drop a Glow Stick into the bottles and fire away. First kid to break the bottle open and free the glow stick wins. (We keep the bottles in a cardboard box, set on its side so as to not get glass all over.)
    http://www.hotboatpics.com/pics/data...Well_3-med.jpg
    One day we went to the "Opal Hill Mine" a rustic open pit where they wanted $15 per person to chip away at their rocks... yeah right.
    http://www.hotboatpics.com/pics/data...l_Mine-med.jpg
    Nice......
    .http://www.hotboatpics.com/pics/data...ll_bus-med.jpg
    Finally we went on a search for a geocache. I enjoy driving my Wrangler off road. That was cool, until grandpa got his big dodge truck stuck in a gravelly wash. Uh, grandpa, 80 lbs in the rear tires is a little stiff, eh? Aired him down to 15lbs each in the rears and pulled him out with a tow strap hung on the back of my little jeep. Sun was going down.....pretty interesting for a while there. But we got him out before dark.
    Found an old cave that used to have Indians living in it. That was pretty cool. It had morteros and some faint pictographs on the walls.
    Stopped off in Glamis for lunch on the way home the next day and the kids had the most fun of all. Duh! I could have told em that before we left and saved a lot of driving....
    http://www.hotboatpics.com/pics/data...a__62_-med.jpg
    Parents...play with your kids when they're young, cuz they sure grow fast!!!

  2. #2
    Scream
    We did the same thing a couple weeks ago near Hector Road and I 40. The rocky plain is called Desert Pavement. It's the washout from the surrounding hills and is the best place to find quartz, agate, jasmine, and other cool "polishing" size stones. We collected tons of them and are waiting for a geologist friend of ours to come back from vacation and set us up with polishing gear.
    We also went spelunking in the lava tubes there. Then the wind kicked up to about 80 and we thanked God we had a motorhome.

  3. #3
    H20 Party Starter
    a taste of Glamis on the way home what a tease

  4. #4
    MagicMtnDan
    Originally posted by riodog
    Glad you all love the desert as much as I. I grew up out there and would only ask that you don't litter and leave the bottles home! The broken glass will be there fore ever and can hurt the wildlife. Shoot aluminum cans instead. Then take um home with you.
    Rio
    Screw that Rio! (I had to say that ) j/k

  5. #5
    H20 Party Starter
    what about burning magnesium VW engine blocks in the fire at night?

  6. #6
    JetBoatRich
    Mandelon. feel bad for the kids by looking at the first picture of course that is one direction, hope that was not the 360 view.
    With the right attitude, come of these places can real relaxing.
    We took the motor-home out to Mitchell Caverns, off the 40. It is about 75 miles west of Needles. We checked out the caves and took the tour, it was pretty cool. Then we headed just down from there and camped. All kinds of off-road stuff and great hiking trails. The have rings mounted in rocks to help get over big rocks. Laid out real nice, I recommend that place next time the desert life is awesome.

  7. #7
    Mandelon
    Originally posted by riodog
    Glad you all love the desert as much as I. I grew up out there and would only ask that you don't litter and leave the bottles home! The broken glass will be there fore ever and can hurt the wildlife. Shoot aluminum cans instead. Then take um home with you.
    Rio
    Rio, we are careful to not leave anything behind but footprints. We take a box from a case of beer and set it on its side. The bottles go inside the box, and the glass stays inside. After we are done, I tip the box upright and all the glass goes home with us. I send the kids out to clean up the area so we take home extra trash too. They get cookies for their efforts.
    Although once they found a pair of thong panties hanging on an ocotillo bush.......

  8. #8
    XTRM22
    Hey Mandelon, it sounds like you made the best of it, shooting the glow sticks in a bottle is a good one I hadn't thought of. We just had our annual Desert Party last weekend, and if I could ever figure out how I'd post a couple pictures. I know we did the same thing trash wise and between what we generated and what we picked up we brought home 5 big trash bags full. WHen it was all said and done I think we had 29 people all togather Sat. night. A trip to the Desert is always worth it!
    CHuck

  9. #9
    AdrenelineOD
    I was living in NY. made a bunch of money. bought a boat (sameboat) in cali over the phone. flew here bought a truck when I got here and when I left, my first stop was Glamis You should have seen what that boat looked like sittin there. people were askin questions like,"You takin that thing in the aquaduct?" I wish I had a picture of it cuz we sat there all night laughin about it. I do love the desert and I`m glad to be back. When I do a desert trip I will definently let you guys know.

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