POST #21-44

 North To Ely, Nevada...

 ...Hunting for Garnets - checking out steam locomotives!

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On April 5, we left the Boulder Beach Campground, and made our way north to Ely, Nevada, a distance of about 258 miles.

Here is a sped up Lo-Res video of the beginning and end of that drive...

Not much to see in the middle part of that trip so we left it out of the video.  The Fell-Resolution copy of that video can be seen HERE.

We called ahead and made reservations at the Ely, Nevada KOA...

We are staying two nights so we can look around a bit before we continue north on April 5th.

Next day we drove up to Garnet Hill, where you can search for semi-precious garnets...about 13 miles.

Here is a sped up Lo-Res video of the drive up to Garnet Hill...

The Full-Resolution copy of that video can be seen HERE.

This is the top of the hill, an outcrop of welded volcanic ash that has Garnets encased in the rock.  

Several folks were hunting for garnets. These had been here since 8 AM.

They found a few after 4 hours of very hard work...

We worked for awhile...maybe 30 minutes, looking for this...

But only found a couple like this...

It was hard, back-breaking work - Bent over breaking up rocks with a pick-hammer and sorting through the pieces. They used to have guys in prison braking up rockpiles!  I think we will stick with our sapphire mining in Montana!

When we got done with that we drove back to Ely to check out their Railroad Museum.   

It’s what's left of the Nevada Northern Railway, completed in 1906. In 1942 the railroad was purchased by Kennecott Copper Corporation. In a series of donations beginning in 1986, Kennecott transferred the entire Ore Line, as well as the railroad's yard and shop facilities in East Ely, to the White Pine Historical Railroad Foundation, a non-profit organization which today operates the property as the Nevada Northern Railway Museum which operates a heritage railroad on this part of the former NN.  Passenger excursion train service is offered between Ely, Ruth, and McGill using period equipment pulled by historic steam and diesel locomotives.

In April of 2006, Nevada's National Historical Landmarks Committee granted unanimous support to nominating the Nevada Northern's East Ely shops complex as a National Historic Landmark.

It's all very cool!  You can even make arrangements to be the engineer of a Steam Locomotive or be the engineer of a Diesel Locomotive.

That would be a super cool experience!  It's a bit pricey at $749 for the Diesel Locomotive and $1027 for the Steam Locomotive!  Maybe some day!!

In the morning we will head out on the next leg of the trip home...Destination - Twin Falls Idaho!

Until Next  Time!

 

POST #21-43

 New Friends And Making Videos At The Boulder Beach Campground

 ...we are featured in a YouTube video with our new friends!

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We were at the Boulder Beach Campground, in the vicinity of the Boulder City, Nevada - Lake Mead area, from March 30 to April 3, 2021.  During that time we became friends with Dan and Patti Hunt of the You Tube Channel "Exploring through Our Lens".  They stopped by and were so impressed by the interior of our Log Cabin RV, that they made a video of it and us to share on YouTube! Check it out HERE!  It was great fun to do it and it turned out very well! 

It seems that when we have our door open, folks see it and stop by to check it out!  

Some of them are working in media and end up creating a story!  See one HERE and another HERE!  We think it's very cool and are humbled!

While we were here I was looking at satellite photos of the area and observed what appears to be another campground nearby...

Zoomed in a bit here...

This is an abandoned campground that was called Hemenway Cove Campground.  Seems it was abandoned many years ago due to the fluctuations of the Lake Mead water levels. This photo shows a part of a loop and a campsite.

A video about the abandoned campground, produced by "Exploring Through Our Lens" can bee seen HERE. At one point the campground was right on the lakeside, but now the water is WAY down, and not likely to rise up there again, due to the heavy use of the water resource by farms and communities downstream in Arizona and California.  The lake is currently 147 feet below full pool.  The low lake level has exposed at least one settlement, St. Thomas, Nevada .  The town was abandoned in 1938 as Lake Mead filled and overtook it.  

St. Thomas was once 60 feet underwater, but what's left of it is now high and dry again. A video about abandoned St. Thomas, produced by "Exploring Through Our Lens" can bee seen HERE. 

Another abandoned place is the Lake Mead Lodge. It was opened in 1941. 

The marina was once very close, but dropping lake levels caused the marina to be moved and the lodge lost most of its business. During its heyday it was frequented by Las Vegas entertainers, but it was abandoned in 2008.  "Exploring Through Our Lens" produced a short video about the lodge, it can bee seen HERE.

We rode our Lectric E-Bikes a lot!  There is an old abandoned railroad grade that runs from the valley up the mountain and over to Hoover Dam.

A video about the trail by the NPS can be seen HERE , and a video about the trail produced by "Exploring Through Our Lens" can bee seen HERE. We didn't get to go the whole way...it was late and we were leaving the area in the morning.  But will go there next year!

We recommend that you visit the YouTube Channel of "Exploring Through Our Lens" ...There are a lot of great videos about this area - Hoover Dam, Lake Mead, Boulder Beach, the Boulder Railroad and much more!

We leave Lake Mead tomorrow and continue North...Next stop - Ely, Nevada

Until Next Time!

 

POST #21-42

 Boulder Beach Campground - Lake Mead!

 ...we get a great campsite and meet new friends!

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On Wednesday, March 31, after spending the night at the parking lot of the Hoover Dam Lodge in the vicinity of the Boulder City, Nevada - Lake Mead area, we drove back down to the Boulder Beach Campground.  We had no campground reservations there as it is all first come-first served.  Nice thing is it's only 10 bucks with the old folks discount!  No hookups in the sites..😒

We got the excellent site, back in the corner on an outer loop, that we looked at the day before!  Look for the arrow in the photo above...

This is a satellite photo pf the general area...

You can see by the yellow pins, the campground and the Lake Mead Marina.  

You can walk out on the long dock to watch the boats come and go and dine at the Harbor House Cafe And Lounge.

As you walk out on the long dock you will see a lot of fish.. I mean A LOT!  There are BIG Carp, some I would estimate up to 50 pounds.  There are Striped Bass, some of them appear over 20 pounds.  Also saw some big catfish. 

At the little store attached to the cafe they sell bags of popcorn to feed the fish and ducks.  The fish are obviously used to being fed!  They would take the popcorn from your hand!  Didn't try it cuz who knows if Striped Bass bite hard! 

Back at the Campground, The Boys (Bill and Ted) became celebrities as the took their ride through the loops!

They have been riding through all of the campgrounds this year and they really like to get out and see the sights!

While we were at the Boulder Beach Campground, we met a couple, Dan and Patti Hunt that is developing a YouTube channel and we became good friends with them!

The YouTube channel is "Exploring Through Our Lens" ...Check it out!  And exploringthroughourlens.com is their website! 

Click on the picture below for their introductory video!

On their YouTube Channel they have several videos covering the boulder beach area, including a couple that we helped out with.  In our next post we will be highlighting some of the videos they produced here in the Lake Mead Area.  We think you will find them interesting!

Until Next Time!

 

POST #21-41

 North To Lake Mead and Hoover Dam

 ...we head north on the first leg of our trip back to Montana

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On March 29, we said our goodbyes to our friends at Morenga Palms RV Park near Wenden, AZ and started another leg of our northward trip home.  Our plan for the day was to get to the Boulder City, Nevada - Lake Mead area.  We had no campground reservations for there which can be a challenge these days.  It was about 227 miles, sunny with temps in the 80's.

Here is a sped up  Lo-Resolution video of part of the drive...

For a Full-Resolution  copy of that video, CLICK HERE...

The Boulder Beach Campground was full, so we went back up the hill and stayed overnight in the parking lot of the Hoover Dam Lodge and Casino...

It was a good place to stay and the view from the parking lot was spectacular!

 

We had dinner at the Lodge , hiked around a bit and turned in.  Tomorrow we will get down to the campground early and get a spot.  We have our eye on a great one! 

Until Next Time!

 

POST #21-40 

Looking For Gold Mines!

 ...we search for abandoned gold mines deep in the AZ Outback!

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On March 27, Razr Driver Jim and I went on an exploration to try to fid an abandoned mine we looked up on the internet, the "Hidden Treasure Mine." We headed south again, deep into the Harquahala Mountains south of our RV Park.

On the way we found and stopped to check out a hole in a mountain far above the road.  The rock formations here have been complexly folded, faulted, and intruded by igneous rocks.. in the drone videos to follow you will see the effects.  The first  drone video flies up about 1200 feet and out about 800  feet to the hole in the wall.  The video is sped up 4X and the drone was flown as fast as it would go.  Here's that video in Low-Resolution...

For a Full Res Video for the flight to the Hole In The Wall, click HERE .

Then we flew it out to try to locate the Hidden Treasure Mine...We found it, drove over and climbed up to the entrance.  Here's a Lo-Resolution video... 

For a Full Res Video of the Hidden Treasure Mine, click HERE .

Here is a satellite photo showing the mine entrance, where we parked and some tailings piles.

When we got to the mine location, we had to climb this very steep hill of loose mine tailings... 

 

 

Then we found this entrance and cautiously went in aways...

Found this door...

Opened it up and went in a bit further...

To here...This is far enough!  I read that it goes in another 200 feet or so.  Its would be very dangerous to proceed!

That's when we saw the bats!

Time to go!  We  picked up a few bags of dirt (to pan for some gold at home) closed the door.  It was a great view from the mine entrance!

We then worked our way down the hill to the Razr and went back to the RV Park with our diggins! 

The mine was very cool.  Some info is HERE and HERE.  Here's story I found about the mine...

The one mine that not many, if any, knows much about is the Hidden Treasure Mine. George Campbell was a good friend of the owner of the Hidden Treasure Mine and their mining claims were very close together.  If you go to the mine there is a lot of the workings still there. At the top of the mountain you could see a tunnel that ran right through the top of the peak and out the other side. This was a pretty big mine works, with quite a few employees in its hay day.

Sounds like a thousand other mines in the desert southwest. But it has a different ending than most. Most old mines just ran out gold, the vein petered out, or it just wasn't worth working anymore. This is what happened to the Hidden Treasure Mine. It supplied a good living for the owner for years, but got to a point where it just wasn't worth working anymore. The owner told George of his plans to shut it down and lay off the employees. He told George there was one more shot he wanted to make in the back of one of the tunnels after the men were gone, as he didn't think it would amount to anything and he couldn't afford to pay them anymore. George told him that if he needed any help to let him know, not expecting to hear from him.

 This is where it gets interesting, as this never happens! A couple of days later George gets a call from his friend, he needs help! So George meets him at the mine and he takes him into the mine to where he had just blasted out the back stope (the back wall). George couldn't believe his eyes, there was a round vug about 6 ft. in diameter lined several inches thick with gold. Vug -- a round hole, much like the hole inside of a geode in solid rock. Now they spent days getting all the gold out. This was his buddy’s retirement. George wouldn't accept anything for helping him. This should give you an idea of what this area's geology is like. Think there might be more there?  Sure sounds like something worth looking at!

We will go through our "paydirt" later to see what is in it.  if it's interesting, next winter we will bring the metal detector and a gold pan or two and play gold miner!

We will be leaving Morenga Palms tomorrow as we continue our way north.  Next stop, Boulder City, Nevada to camp at Lake Mead.

Until Next Time!