In April we made a long geocaching exploration of the southern California deserts. The objective was to find a cache on every DeLorme map page. I had carefully planned a route and locations and travel times, but things didn’t go according to plan (the desert is really big) so we had to modify plans on the fly. After returning home from the trip, I set things aside and promptly forgot about writing a post, so while I’m dating this post in April, I’m actually writing it five months later in September.
We started with a short overnight visit with Mom in Shafter and then headed to Barstow on April 9. Our first stop was at the Tehachapi loop. Conveniently, a long west-bound freight train passed through the loop just after we arrived.
Freight train at the Tehachapi loop
Next, we made a short stop at the Mojave Airport to look for a cache I had failed to find near the replica of Space Ship One (see my previous post from my Death Valley trip). I still couldn’t find it, so we quickly moved on to Boron for a cache and a couple of museums. I enjoyed the Saxon Aerospace Museum (small, but crammed with stuff). The caretaker was an interesting character who spun some good stories.
A long way from twenty mule team borax wagons
Then we drove on to Barstow and its restored Harvey House (Casa del Desierto). The museums were closed, but the building exterior and outside displays of the railroad museum were interesting. After a short look, we made a quick drive through Rainbow Basin. This deserves a longer visit because of the interesting geology with layers rich in land-mammal fossils. Collecting is not allowed without a permit, but just exploring would be interesting. Following this, we drove a loop on Mule Canyon road near Calico—starts off easy but gets rough at the end. It’s also worth another visit to check out old mining ruins and to try and find some insect fossils. This was a long day—we ate a late dinner at Chipotle (one of the few gluten free restaurants in the area) and stayed in Barstow for the night.
Entering Rainbow Basin
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