Two day trips we took with our friends Sandy and Jody were to the Lucy Gray Mountains and to Chloride, AZ
One of the hardest things to figure out about the Lucy Gray Mountains is how to get there. The mountains are being considered for Wilderness Area designation, and I have signed up with the Friends of Nevada Wilderness to monitor the area. The mountains are south of Primm, NV and east of Nipton, CA. The easiest entry, the one we took, is through Nipton. We drove south on I15 to the Nipton turnoff and then to Nipton to the turnoff to get there. Then we followed the railroad tracks to the turnoff to the mountains. Jody had a hand held GPS system that we played with on the way there.
The road into the mountains was your typical dirt road maintained by the BLM, with occasional warnings about how you might get stuck on the road. We finally got into the mountains, looking for a likely stopping place. We eventually stopped in a broad wash and climbed into the hills. The road is not in the Wilderness Study Area (WSA) and an area of about 100 yards on either side of the road is also excluded according to maps. We found a very well kept mine shaft, which none of us climbed into as we ascended the hill . We also found few animals, it being the middle of January. We disturbed one jack rabbit, which ran off very rapidly. We climbed most of the hill to get a better view of the area, then descended a narrow, dry creek bed.
We drove on from there to ana rea where the road split. After parking, we walked up the most promising fork. We could have driven, but wanted to walk. About a mile up the road we saw an old house about 100 yards off of the road. We passed it, determined to explore it on the way back. We continued to another mine shaft. We climbed up to it and saw a caterpillar tractor in the distance. It was bright yellow, indicating to us that it had been put there recently. We walked up to it and found a sign indicating that there was an active mine in the area, complete with blasting. Whether or not the mine was in the WSA is unclear. Of course we took our pictures by it, then continued back to the house. We found newspapers and magazines in the house from the 1950's through the 1970's. We also disturbed a rabbit that was in there but never really saw it. The house had a generator, propane tank and other conveniences, including a TV antenna, but had been abandoned for quite a while.
We walked back to the car and started to drive out. Going downhill and following tire tracks from other visitors, it was easy to get lost. We could see where we wanted to go but often followed where others had gone on an incorrect way back. This even included seeing where the other driver's tire tracks had ended and they had decided to turn around. This is where the GPS system provided useful. It told us that we were in a wash, but also told us that this wash was not the "road." We retraced our steps until we found the right "road" according to the GPS and made our way back out safely.
The drive to Chloride, AZ, takes you across Hoover Dam. This has become a slower trip since September 11, 2001. However, the delay was not that great, considering that the dam is a traffic bottleneck anyway. I, for one, will be glad when they have the bridge across the Colorado River below the dam completed. You drive for about an hour on US 93 before you get to the Chloride turnoff. We did not stop in Chloride to see the antique shops, the saddle shop or the touristy places. We continued through the town to the murals.
After admiring the murals for a while, we hiked the road past the murals until we came to a turnoff that wound along the hillside into the mountains north of Chloride. The trail climbed and wound around the hillside, past a mine shaft. About a half mile farther we came to another mine shaft where a system of towers and cables took loads of ore down the mountain to a mill. While few towers still stood, you could see where they had fallen and where the cable lay on the ground. The only tower still standing seemed to be the most exposed one where the trail went past a steep, exposed drop off. We looked at the wooden structure, then hiked farther. We got to a point where the trail seemed to end, but we did not let that fact deter us. We took off cross country straight up the hill along a pair of quartz containing dikes that had intruded into the limestone. They helped progress and kept the terrain interesting. We admired the view from the summit. We could see of to the peaks around us and back down to Chloride. But the nearby mountains were taller, keeping the view from being an expansive vista. Having had our fill of the view, we hiked back down to the murals, admiring how the view of them had changed as the light shifted to putting them in shadow. The sun's glare, even in January had dulled their color to our eyes. The appeared newer and more brilliantly colored in the shade.
The drive back to Las Vegas was uneventful; we again saw no mountain sheep grazing by the road.
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