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03/20/2014 Trip Notes: As this was our third visit to this area, several of us opted not to go all the way to Weiser Ridge and the quarry area at the end of the road, but rather decided to hike some of the washes and ravines in search of fossils near the California Ridge (Fig. 02), the first mountain range that you cross through (Fig. 01) after you travel across several miles of desert from the I-15 exit (Fig. 03) and begin to enter this area of the Muddy Mountains. The areas highlighted in yellow in (Fig. 02) show the general area that we hiked. Harvey Smith and Cynthia Pace climbed to the top of a ridge on one side of a ravine (Fig. 04), while Blake and I hiked up the ridge on the opposite side (Fig. 05). In one of the washes, Blake and I did find several large boulders that contained evidence of some shell and sponge fossils (Figs. 06 & 07). While hiking the road on the way back (Fig. 08) “Buster” Brown, another of our hiking partners pointed out a fossil (Fig. 09) that he located in the cliff side next to the road. Could it be a turtle? Though there are several varieties of cacti scattered about (Fig. 10-12), blossoming plants inside this very rocky, mountainous area are quite limited. As many times as I have visited this area, I always find hiking around its unique geology (Figs. 13 & 14) fascinating.
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| (Fig. 08) |
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| (Fig. 09) |
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| (Fig. 10) |
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| (Fig. 13) |
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| (Fig. 14) |
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