Our rockhounding outings usually follow some sort of a similar script. We go to our rather “extensive” library of rockhounding books.   Find the book/books for the state we are in and find a site near where we are.

We then have a look at a map that looks something like this:

I/WE then study the map and say “yup… looks pretty straightforward”  “Just turn onto 4th street in Palo Verde and go 5 miles west.”  At this point we usually leave the book behind because it seemed SOOOO straightforward.  Then you get out there and there ARE no roads heading west, there is one going south west, and so you take that one thinking that perhaps writer was just vague… So you follow THAT road for about 7 miles. Now I should tell you here that the term “road” is also somewhat ambiguous. It can mean many things.  It can look like this:

Or something like this:

And you never really know if you are just following the tracks of some crazed ATVer……

And then when you come to something like this you KNOW  you have been following a crazed ATVer….  WHOOPS dead end.

At the end of a wash. To fully understand the area, you have to take into account that when it rains a lot in a short time the water takes out the roads and leaves you with “washes” which are basically “part time” rivers.  So we hike up to get some sort of an idea of where we are, and at the top of the hill, there is just a bunch of OTHER hills. The glitter is just the sun shining off of the Rhyolite…. no beer bottles.  We have found that when we are searching for a site, and come across broken beer bottles… that we must be close, because at least someone else has found this place.  I can only imagine what broken beer bottles and rockhounding have in common…. but Broken Beer bottles = you are close!

So when you look out at a landscape like this you have to think how easy it would be to lose the JEEP….

JEEP, what jeep…?  🙂 Makes me think of Fargo. It was down one of these dips 🤔

NOTE to self, NEVER forget where you left the jeep.

ON this particular day we did not find the place they were talking about, but on the way back we DID see a road that DID actually go west, that MIGHT be the one we were looking for… I guess another day.

I wish I had better camera skills, or perhaps a better camera (I just use my phone, or iPad) But these mountains are truly breathtaking. These are the mountains within the KOFA wilderness refuge, and with the jeep we were able to drive right up into the centre of this HUGE area, so see these mountains from the other sides.  Having the jeep is definitely worthwhile getting us to places we would never have gotten to without it.  The motorhome just sits in one place for a few weeks, while we take side trips in the jeep.

The area in the centre of this range was more green than anywhere we have been locally. Apparently there was more rainfall in October than is usual as well

And as usual we are eating well.  We bought a Paella pan last year thinking it would fit in the small motorhome oven. WE did have to make some minor adjustments to make it fit…. but had our first vegetarian Paella.  I used my roasted tomato sauce instead of the canned tomatoes that the recipes all call for, and I think it was the very best Paella we have ever had.  Peas from our garden as well.

Today we head off into the Palo Verde wilderness in search of….. broken beer bottles.

MUCH LOVE to those who “travel” along with us.  Janet