Quartzsite; Showgoers; Camel Stop Auto Repair; Hike; Yellow Dog Mine

January 22, 2012

My first sip of coffee is just awakening my taste buds as I type this at our boondock site just off Dome Rock road here, outside Quartzsite. I can see mountains out all windows, smell the chicken soup Leah is making, and feel a slight 65-degree breeze coming in through the open door. Lovely. Ok, I can also see I-10 traffic zooming past in the distance at the base of the mountains in one direction, so it's not ideal, but on the whole, a beautiful situation.

Click on any photo to enlarge it

Quartzsite boondock site

Quartzsite is a town with a full-time population of about 3500, but in January and February, it becomes the 3rd largest city in the state, as a million or so snowbirders in RVs flock to the area for the warmth, beauty, and the various shows and flea markets. RVs of every description are parked in and around Quartzsite, as well as in the surrounding BLM land for miles in all directions. It's really quite unusual. Google 'aerial images of Quartzsite' to get an idea of the scale.

We've been parked here for almost a week, and have visited the famous RV show, gem show and flea markets, tasted Big John's Texas BBQ (good), Silly Al's Pizza (also good), gone for a few short hikes in the hills behind us, and breathed in the ATV dust. For us, the flea markets were the best of the shows; the RV show was mostly RV-related stuff being aggressively hawked in the big tent, and while there were RVs for sale, they were from only one dealer, so variety was limited. The flea markets sold a lot of the same stuff as the vendors under the tent, but cheaper and without all the hawking and pestering. I got 4 Columbia UV shirts and 3 pair of zipoffs for about $20 each from a guy selling out of his car. These were $60-80 each at REI. Some were 'lightly used', but you couldn't tell. The guy was eccentric and full of himself ("When I was talking with George Bush, I told him that if he wanted to fix the healthcare system, he should invade Canada and steal theirs"), but knew his stuff (there was no change room, so he told me which pants would fit me--and he was right!).

Quartzsite is a giant assemblage of old guys with beer guts, wearing faded rock concert T-shirts and baseball caps driving around in ATVs. At the show, many were being golf-carted by show employees from one RV to the next. Quite a few were so overweight that they drove their own electric carts around the show grounds. Really, Quartzsite is the place to go if you want to feel young and thin! On the other hand, give those people credit for getting out there and enjoying life, even if they happen to be heavy, or old and frail...or both.

Showgoers

Another thing we saw were many older folks (there are people older than us!) who take their dogs with them everywhere--in strollers, with sun shades. Jazzy might actually like that! 

Some even dressed the dogs for the sun:

A show-goer

Camel Stop Auto Repair

While in town I saw an old abandoned building that harkened back to the 1940s and 50s. Not sure why, but certain of these old buildings draw me.

The Camel Stop Auto Repair

'Camel Stop' is an allusion to the US Army's failed experiment in the 1850s to use imported camels for freight hauling. The camel handler who came with them, Hi Jolly, as he was called, is memorialized in a plaque in town. 

Hike

Back at our camp...a hike in the hills behind the trailer:

Can you spot Leah?  

A fellow boondocker metal detecting for gold. Met one guy who did this, and found some!

Leah, with aptly-named Dome Rock, where trailer is parked.

Leah's Comment: Notice in the previous picture how I look like I just rolled out of bed and got dressed in the dark. Richard, on the other hand, is perfectly groomed and matching on our wilderness walk where we will not see another person.

Found this near our trailer. Real grave?

Saw this and thought of you, Cathy and Jerry:

Yellow Dog Mine
Left Quartzsite late in the afternoon and followed a dirt road 'til we spotted some old buildings. Had to investigate. 

Sign said, "Yellow Dog Mine". Looked around...no 'No Trespassing' signs...felt a bit creepy, but approached the buildings:

White sign (above), middle right, says:

Looked around...didn't see any cameras. Didn't look like anyone had been there in quite a while-- except that the grounds appeared to have been raked! Nonetheless, I went inside:

Pulled out a couple of books. Copyright dates in the '60s and '70s. Some were mouldy and crumbling. Didn't appear to have been touched in quite some time. Nothing new or even recent, anywhere. Left it as I found it.

Went outside again as the sun was setting. What a contrast with the inside of the cabin:

I'm sure working the Yellow Dog mine was hard, hard work. Wonder if they appreciated the view??

Back at our camp, the night was really clear, with a nice moonrise...

Biosphere 2

January 5, 2014

About 23 years ago I asked my students to summarize a Globe and Mail article on a fascinating space colonization experiment in the Arizona desert called Biosphere 2, in which 8 volunteers were to be sealed inside a giant Buckminster Fuller-type structure for two years, from 1991 to 1993. Could they be completely self-sufficient? It contained enough land under glass for the inhabitants to grow or create all their own food, air and water--in short, everything they needed. It was entirely sealed off from the outside world, just as a space colony would be. I'd always wanted to see it, and today, along with Leah and our friends, Barb and Jeff, I finally did. 

The place is quite large, so I couldn't photograph the whole thing from my vantage point; here's an aerial view (Photo from Jane Poynter's 'Life in the Biosphere 2', a TED talk, and worth a watch. Jane was one of the eight volunteers sealed inside):

Aerial View of Biosphere 2

The glassed area at the top, bookended by two pyramid-like greenhouses, comprises the various biomes, including a rainforest, an ocean, a mangrove swamp, and a desert. Just below the biomes structure, in the non-greenhouse building with what looks like a minaret in the center, was the living area for the Biospherians. It includes individual living quarters for the 8 volunteers, a communal kitchen and dining room, as well as offices, labs, and conference rooms. Attached to the living area is the tiered set of greenhouses that covers the 1/2 acre garden where all the food was grown. The bottom round white dome is, I believe, one of the two 'lungs' that equalized inside atmospheric pressure with the outside pressure back when Biosphere was sealed (today it is not).

Approaching from Visitor's Center

Living quarters, lower level. You can just see the spiral staircase to the upper level bedroom. It's hiding behind the white pillar. Each person had a two-level private apartment.

The communal dining room, with our tour group seated around the table, and our guide standing. Leah claims Biosphere looks like the set from Lost!

Kitchen viewed from dining room table

Kitchen viewed from side hallway

Our guide, Claudio, mock-chatting with one of the volunteers sealed inside--through a phone and glass window, jsut as in a prison. That's how Biospherians visited with family and friends during their two years inside.

This is the Ocean, one of 5 or 6 representative biomes. Some of the others are a desert, a mangrove swamp, and a rain forest.

This is part of the desert biome.

Another part of the desert biome

The rain forest biome, a huge oxygen producer for the Biospherians. Our friends, Jeff and Barb (center), are thin, but not quite that thin. The vertical stretching is caused by my wide angle lens. Tried to capture the vertical size of the rainforest...but failed. It's 90 ft tall.

This is part of the basement. The entire Biosphere rests upon a gigantic basement, where all the pumps and mechanicals reside. If you follow the sign (above) you come to... 

...this: the tunnel to the South Lung--pictured below:

South lung

This is the first building I've heard of that needs a lung--but Biosphere 2 was originally built to be a completely sealed structure, so it needed to expand and contract to equalize the inside and outside atmospheric pressures. The black ceiling material is a very thick, rubbery membrane. It expanded upward when the Biosphere atmosphere heated up and expanded during the day. The expansion forced air through the long tunnel (previous photo) and caused the membrane to rise. The reverse happened at night when the atmosphere cooled and contracted, and air traveled out of the lung back into the Biosphere 2. The round metal disc with legs is attached to the membrane, and prevented it from rising too far or falling too low. 

You might think, as I did, that Biosphere 2 was a NASA or US government-funded experiment--but you'd be wrong; it was built with $150-200 million dollars of a Texas oil billionaire's money. It is an engineering marvel, and is now operated by the University of Arizona for various on-going experiments in ecology. It is a microcosm of earth (Biosphere 1), but unlike earth, ecological variables like rainfall, temperature, etc. can be controlled, hence its suitability for science.

Soooo, did the 8 volunteers manage to survive totally sealed off from the rest of the world for two years? Well, sort of...the experiment failed in some ways, succeeded in others. Just google 'biosphere 2' and/or watch Jane Poynter's video (link near the top of this post). (Note: I tried to link to an article on Biosphere 2, but was unable to get enough signal to make it work.)

Worth a visit if you're ever in Tucson, Arizona.

At Catalina State Park Campground, Sunday, Jan. 1, 2014

Oliver Lee State Park, NM: Dog Canyon hike

Photos from the Dog Canyon hike, the one Leah describes as "up!" (picture a hand held vertically):

Part way up Dog Canyon, you can see our trailer just left of center. Right of center: stylish hiker.

This is a nothing photo, but Leah insisted I include it.

Dog Canyon climbs 6 miles up to the ridge at the top (above), but we only went 3 miles--to the 'Line Cabin', which is at the far end of the meadow above. Ranchers used to run cattle up here during ranching's heyday. Had lunch and a rest there. Just before we turned back, our new friend from Salt Spring Island, walked up behind us and sat down to chat. She and her partner had hiked up to the top, whereupon he had hiked directly back, whereas she had lollygagged and taken pictures and was just now coming down into the meadow. As the three of us were chatting, the father from a family who were also hiking Dog Canyon--and were on a grand adventure in their motorhome--walked up and handed us a heavy-duty plastic box with latches, saying his daughter had found it not far away ("She always finds things"), and that we might be interested in it.

Examining the contents of the cache box 

We were! It was a sort of geochache, but not one you find with a GPS; rather, it was a family's tribute to a man who'd recently died. Apparently, Dog Canyon was one of his favorite hikes, and the family decided that leaving a cache of some of his favorite items, as well as a short biography and 'visitation log', would be a fitting memorial. The three of us read the biography, signed the register, and intended to leave an item of ours, something the family asked visitors to do--but couldn't think of anything appropriate that would fit into the box. What a wonderful way to pay tribute to someone! We were impressed.

Leah chatting with the young girls from the Rolla Missouri family on a grand adventure in a class C motorhome. They're home-schooling (rather motorhome-schooling) their girls.