Quartzfest 2015 Part 4

Off Road Trip and Burning SandHAM

It is a beautiful day for a ride through the desert of southwestern Arizona.  I was up earlier than usual and captured the sun rising over our circle of friends camped at Road Runner BLM Campground.

Today I rode along with our friends, Rich and Cathy, on the 4X4 Off Road Trip that was planned by one of the Amateur Radio operators who attended Quartzfest.  Earl stayed back at camp.  It was so much fun!!  There was a group of 40 vehicles on the trip, a lot of 4X4s traveling along the trails of the desert north of Quartzsite.  Here we are all lined up checking to be sure everyone has their tires deflated to the proper pressure and that all of their equipment is ready to go.  I'm not sure where we might need kayaks, but this guy is prepared, as well as one about three cars ahead of him.

Our first stop was at an area that had five abandoned mines.  Most of them were not very deep as you see in the first photo. 

 

However, there was one that was quite deep with old rotted wooden supports and crumbling sides.  It was fenced off so that you couldn't get close enough to see very far into it.   I don't think we would have wanted to get any closer than we did, because the top edge sort of funneled into the hole from about 5 - 6 feet out from the opening where you can see the wood.

This was a good spot to see how the group looked as we snaked around on the trail through the desert.

The next stop was at the ruins of a large rock wall.  There were theories about its reason for being - maybe a lookout made by the Indians or maybe the side walls of a house or other building or maybe someone being very neat about clearing his land. 

It looks too structured for just clearing the land.  It must have had a more important purpose.  Perhaps the person memorialized on the hill to the upper left in the picture above did it or used it.

The ruins of a stagecoach stop was the location of the next point of interest.  There were rock walls and a square in the center of the floor that looked as if it could have been a socket for a roof supporting beam.

 

From here, we could see where we would be having our lunch break.  It  was the site of a mine that had been quite a big operation at one time.  There were the tell tail signs of the tailing pile running off the edge of the hill and concrete foundations of the buildings in the cleared area at the bottom of the hill that were the headquarters of the business. You need to enlarge the picture to see it better.

 

And we're off, over the windy, rocky road, hills and dry wash river beds on our way to lunch.

We were at the lunch stop for about 1 1/2 - 2 hours.  From our lunch spot, we could see a natural bridge.  It is difficult to see because the color of the rock blends in, but there is a couple small slits of sunlight shining through under the arch.  At this angle and time of day, the amount of light isn't very much, but you can see it.  They look like two whitish dots under the arch.  There is a steep trail leading to an area where one can climb on top of the arch and some in the group were brave enough to drive up that steep trail and climb to the top of the arch.

After we had lunch, we went as small groups to do some exploring of the area.  We headed out on one of the trails that went back to some old mines.  You can see that all of us, who are well into our adult lives, have lived so long because we have learned how to follow directions.

 

 Here we go.

 Now we are heading through the tunnel of the old mine.  It is quite tall and roomy.

 

 We made it to the dead end of the tunnel, about 250 - 300 feet in length.

 

 Heading toward the light (at the end of the tunnel going out).  The light in front of the person is the light coming in through the entrance.

Once we got back to the jeep, we continued down the road to another site.  It seems that this structure was used to load the ore, that was mined, into  carts, wagons, or trucks.

 

 These are the shoots.

 

 Back at our lunch spot, someone is testing their four wheeling skills by coming down the side of the tailing pile.  He was not the first to take this course. 

 

This was the last stop on our route.  Now we had to make our way back to civilization.  It sure is interesting what you find back in the hills.  It makes you wonder how and why they decided to come back into these remote areas to set up a homestead or business.

While we were on our off road trip, some folks were back at the Quartzfest site taking examinations to obtain or upgrade their licenses.  There were many new Hams and several who upgraded to the next level of expertise.

The wind had become quite strong while we were gone, but that didn't stop the Burning SandHAM Celebration this evening.  Here is the SandHAM about to be sacrificed, complete with several hand held radios, call sign tattoos, and a Quartzfest T-shirt.

 



The Burning SandHAM Celebration will be seen on the internet Ham Nation Show tonight and again next Wed., Jan. 28,2015.  Just Google Ham Nation and it should take you there every Wed. evening at 9 PM Eastern and 6 PM Pacific, if you are interested.  When I Googled to get the link above, I saw that tonight's episode is under #180, if you care to check it out.  Here, they can be seen trying to make contact with the producers.

 

The torch is ready.

We have a connection aaaand ACTION. 

It is very windy.  Hair and the flames are blowing  We are on the air.  We all were on the broadcast in a sweeping panorama of the audience gathered for the event.

 

 He is fully engulfed in flames.  SandHAM is burning.





Well, it is cold and the wind is blowing pretty hard, so we are going back to the trailer.  We will see the aftermath tomorrow morning.