We were trying to find a couple of mines we had been told about, so we headed up a couple of dry washes we'd traveled before, this time, leaving the main trail and trying some smaller and even rougher trails. The bushes and trees were growing over the trail, making it difficult, slow going, but we did find some Quartz scattered on top of a small hill and on closer inspection, sure enough, someone had done some surface mining there at one time. Quartz in these parts usually means it's a good spot to look for gold. We don't know if they found any, but they certainly scattered some chunks of Quartz around while they were looking. We gathered a few prettier pieces of Quartz and then went looking for more mines.
We don't usually like to go too far into the boondocks without another Jeep along, but we threw caution to the wind and headed up a pretty rough trail. Nope, we didn't find any more mines today, but the trip was worthwhile just for the scenery. We passed a few free-range, Longhorn cattle, some nifty old corrals and some fantastic views before we headed back home. Fortunately, there weren't any mechanical breakdowns, it would have been a long long walk back to civilization.
We got back home, just in time for a nap!
