CHINA RANCH - Tecopa, California

China Ranch is a family owned and operated small farm, It is an Oasis in the forbidding Mojave Deset near Southern Death Valley. Date palms and abundant wildlife, all hidden away in some of the most spectacular scenery the desert has to offer.China Ranch offers several interpretive self-guided nature walks.

Linda and I hiked the Crack Trail, a 4 mile round trip, that is the longest but possibly the most rewarding of the hikes. It involves a 350 foot drop/gain over its course. This trail contains an historical saloon building, an ore loading site, T&T railroad grade, an Amargosa river crossing, all leading to the crack, a narrow twisting slot canyon eroded into the igneous rhyolite rock. The canyon is eventually blocked by two boulder strewn vertical dry falls, ten to fifteen feet high.

We enjoyed the hike to the canyon. We took the oportunity to enjoy or lunch at the mouth of the canyon, with a view of the Amargosa River. The hike concludes at the China Ranch Bakery. Later that evening we enjoyed some datenut bread that Linda purchased before we left.

DUBLIN CAVES

Joe Vollmer (1858-1938) was the first old prospector to carve a home in the clay embankment where he lived quite comfortably. Soon his cronies joined him and a whole series of cave homes appeared. Often famous prospectors like Shorty Harris and Death Valley Scotty stopped by to reminisce. The last resident lived in the caves until the late 1970's.

This was a great stop. Its hard to believe but theses old prospecters lived in these caves. They drilled through the top and managed to put a stove pipe in so they could have heat when needed. Linda and I counted about 12 cave homes but we think there was more.

As you can see from the picture, there rest stop facilities leave a lot to desired. FYI the newspaper was less than a month old.

Jerry & Linda

We are the Hollands. We are retired and live fulltime in our RV. We have a 4wheel drive pickup truck that we use as a jeep, car and a grocery getter. Our goal is to travel the country and see the sights.

Pahrump, Nevada - Lots of sunshine, casino's and wilderness

We arrived in the Pahrump area on March 8th, the drive here from AVI, in Laughlin Arizona, was sure different. We drove through fog and rain on and off. The mountains that we drove through gave us our first glimpse of the Joshua Trees. Linda and I thought they looked more like a cactus than a tree. They get a huge flower on the ends of their branches, it seems everything in the desert is beautiful as well as dangerous.

Pahrump has several casino's, all of them are happy to take your money, and they did. If the casino's in Pahrump aren't enough Vegas is only an hour away. Linda, as expected, played Bingo at all the casino she could. We played the slots and video poker machines and managed to make a few dollars. The trick is collecting your winnings and making it to the door. One of these days I'll make it.

The campground we stayed at was directly behind Terribles Casino. Preferred RV Resort is a nice place to spend a week or two. It has all the ammenities you could want, full hookups, indoor swimming pool, bingo and other planned activities. The only negative we could find was that all the trees in the campground are pine, and loaded with sap!!!

Just outside the campground to the north is the Spring Mountain Wilderness Area, its loaded with descent gravel roads and two tracks. Linda and I managed to come across several of the wild horses that roam free here. We drove up into the mountains here as far as we thought safe. We did manage to go a few miles past the snow line, life is good with 4wheel drive.

To the west of Pahrump is Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge, it is a unique place, its a haven for rare species, some of which are found nowhere else on earth. We started our visit here at Crystal Springs it has a 1/3 mile boardwalk. We look forward to visiting refuge again.