Pauline Mine Road - Trip Notes for 03/20/2014

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(Fig. 01) 03/20/2014 Trip Notes: Even though I had visited this area just a month before, my main reasons for returning was to retrieve a rock that I located in the middle of the road on the last trip that contained dozens of fossilized coral (Fig. 02). We only had to walk a quarter mile up the road to the cairn that I had used to mark the rocks location. As the face of the specimen was flush with the road, we used a shovel to dig around it. As you can see from (Fig. 02) the specimen had already been split into two pieces. After freeing it we carefully hid both the rock and shovel for pickup on our return. We then continued on up the road to the Aztec Quarry and a coouple of mines near the end of the road. Shortly after digging up the rock we spotted two wild donkeys (Figs. 03 & 04) that were eyeing us from about 75 yards off the side of the road. Though both of us had spotted wild horses on previous hikes to this area, this was the first time either of us had spotted wild donkeys. What a difference a month can make. As I was unable to spot almost no blossoming plants on my previous trip, I was surprised to find several  (Figs. 05-08) on this visit.

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(Fig. 03 (Fig. 04)

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While climbing around some of the surrounding hills, we had some nice views of the of Goodsprings Valley looking south to the top of Table Mountain (5,140 feet) and the Table Mountain range in the far distance (Fig. 18). Looking east provided views of the Aztec sandstone quarry that overlooks Aztec Tank where we had just hiked the previous month. (Fig. 12) is another picture of my fossilized coral find after I got it home.

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(Fig. 11) (Fig. 12) Return to ... Rainbow Quarry and Aztec Tank