March 9, 2013 – Original Quartzsite

Blue Sky and SUN this morning – YEA!   Another road trip – YEA.

Looking at the “Stone Cabin” Booklet, we decided to try to find the old Quartzsite Town Site and Petroglyphs and Grinding Holes.  The directions were to first go thru the BLM Long Term Visitor Area.  This area is a fee area to camp - $40 for 14 days or $180 for 6 months.  It is dry camping but there is access to a dump, water, and garbage disposal.  We did not have to pay anything to drive thru it.

We found the “ Old Yuma Road” and turned left onto it.  Here it is:

 

Compared to some of the other dirt roads we have been on, this is like a super highway.   We were looking for BLM Road 356.  For those who don’t know, the BLM marks most of the roads in their area with a brown metal “pole” that lists the road number.  So every road we passed, we slowed down, first to find the marker and second to try to see the number.  Well, we went all the way down to the paved La Paz Road.  Hmmm, we missed it or maybe we should have went the other direction.  Well as long as we were here, we checked out the La Paz Road area and then the area around MM99.  Every January, the Escape Amateur Radio group has a rally.  Andy has stopped by but always went in the back way (not good for a MH).  We wanted to check how to get in with the motorhome – nice area.

Okay, back to finding BLM Road 356.  We go back thru the BLM Long Term Visitor Area and turned right.  Lots of folks in this area but no 356.  And then I realize that I have a BLM map of this area with me – LOL!!  Our comes the map, and we go back down the way we first came.  Now here is what is strange..the roads are numbered in the 500’s and then the 600’s.  Right after 620 is 356 – no wonder I missed it – :-))).

Here is the road back to the petroglyphs:

 

We parked the car here and walked down to the outcrop and the wash:

Tyson’s Wash:

This is part of a mine – not sure what they were mining:

 

The petroglyphs:

Tyson’s Wash was HUGE!  The wash goes from the rocks on the right to the trees on the left.  I took Andy’s picture for a perspective.

This is the outcropping with the petroglyphs – notice the width of wash:

Looking down the wash:

 

We headed over to the outcropping on the right and found the cave where Indians once lived.  This is part of the cave – it was starting to fall down:

We found the road to climb to the top – it was worth it for the views.  This is the area of the original town site of Quartzsite.  It was washed away in a flood and then rebuilt on higher ground in its present location.  It is said that there is a safe full of gold buried beneath the sand at the bottom of Tyson Wash somewhere near the spot.  The safe was apparently carried away in the “great” flood.

The road across the wash is where the car is parked:

The group of houses in the center is Rainbow Acres – yep, it is in the middle of nowhere:

 

This guy was enjoying floating on the breezes and looking for some food:

We headed back to the car and then back into the long term visitor area where we found this RV with a garden (must be one of the long termers).

Oh, by the way, we did not find the grinding holes.  I am sure they are there cause I did see posted pictures but we couldn’t find them – maybe next time :-)

We headed back home where we enjoyed a sunny afternoon.  We started a fire late afternoon, cooked supper, and enjoyed more of the campfire.  The clouds started moving in again – made for dramatic skies (sorry no pictures).

Another great day!