JANUARY 2016 (CONTINUED)
From there we backtracked to Mesquite Canyon Rd and drove to the Walsh Cabin. It is situated on top of a mtn peak and is famous for being a windy spot. The cabin is actually tethered to the peak.
Unfortunately, vandals/idiots have destroyed this once nice cabin as the doors were shot out or even removed for firewood. Some people are complete idiots!
From there, one of our crew had to leave and so we were now a party of four. Here we are driving south over Garlock Mtn.
This is Bickel Camp. Unfortunately no one was there so we weren't going to be able to see all of his stuff up close. I recommend you look up the history of Walt Bickel. He sounded like an interesting man.
Bickel Camp
The next morning we took our obligatory group shot before heading out.
Bad news came in fast as our husband and wife team had a "check engine" light pop up on her FJ Cruiser. We tried to diagnose the problem on the spot but the truck kept running on 5 cylinders. As they both drove separate rigs (gotta love that!), they both departed and headed to the CA-14 and got a tow back home from Mojave, CA. It turns out that some rodents crawled up into her engine bay at our campsite and chewed through one her wire harnesses.
So our party of four was now only a party of two as we continued into Bonanza Gulch along the Bonanza Trail (Trail EP 15). This road is basically a horse-shoe that starts and ends at Trail EP 30. The first cabin we came to is named Johnson's House. Gotta say the commode was painted colorfully even if a little bit weathered.
Next up was the Joni-Jac cabin. Again, lots of history with this place and it is one of the few that is maintained by an outdoor club. I'd sleep in here if I needed to.
Further up the trail is Sears Cabin, so named after the store.
At the northernmost point of the trail is the Post Office. It was badly damaged over the years by idiots and so the BLM unbelievably didn't let it wrought, but actually rebuilt it. While empty inside, it was clean.
We took a jaunt off of the Bonanza Trail and drove up to some random mine claims not fenced off. I didn't have the courage to go down this one.
So we continued on to the Holly Ash Cleanser Mine, which unfortunately was fenced off. Again, idiots shot at the steel posts holding up the barbed wire and basically shot down the metal posts creating an opening to walk through. Apparently they wanted to see the short caves up close instead of using their zoom lenses on their cameras. I have a feeling this stuff is going to be closed off forever someday based on the stupid things people do.
