We took a ride out into the Kofa Mountain Wildlife Refuge with Bob in his Pinzgauer. It was a great ride in some beautiful territory. Here is a vid… enjoy.

A few pics of the beautiful Kofa Mountains and desert scenery.

 The key feature of this ride was to see faces in the rocks.  Do you see the silhouette of a Native American here?

I thought this one looked like the back side of a head of a serpent.

A dog.

An Easter Island face.

A smiley face.

It really was a beautiful canyon.

We went inside this cave.

And found nodules embedded in the Rhyolite ceiling.

This one was a cute little geode.

Although this area is very popular with Bighorn Sheep, we weren’t lucky enough to see any that day.

We headed out into the Kofa Mountains of Arizona’s Sonoran Desert today in search of Desert Roses with neighbors Ralph and Roberta.

Ralph and Roberta’s baja bug got us there safely and in fine style.  We normally take a walking stick to help steady ourselves on rocky terrain and to help warn rattlesnakes we are coming.  (wouldn’t want to sneak up on them)

Here is what we are looking for, Desert Chalcedony Roses.  They form in weathered volcanic rock and have a white translucent appearance.  The bitryoidal surface resembles flowers, thus the nick name.

But we also found some real flowers and they were beautiful.

The terrain was rocky and the cacti were sharp.

This little guy came out to take a peak at us.

Only he wasn’t that little.  He was about a foot long… and not too shy either.

Then we found an interesting line of Chalcedony nodules embedded in the bedrock.

Roberta found a piece of pottery left by some ancient pottery makers.  She’s got sharp eyes.

We started to get pretty far away from the bug.

And then we started to play a game of “Where’s Ralph”.

There he is!  At the age of 84, Ralph sure does get around.

Billy got lots of exercise.

It’s hard to convey how beautiful the Kofa Mountains are.  The name Kofa comes from the abbreviation K of A which stands for the King of Arizona Gold Mine.  Millions of years ago, these mountains were actively volcanic, ejecting ash-flow materials from long, thin fissure vents.  These mountains sprung up as molten material broke through the stretched and overheated crust.

Evidence of volcanic activity could be seen all around.  This area is called the Kofa Mountain Volcanic Field.

That’s part of the formation of these sweet little rocks, the Desert Chalcedony Roses.

Some were coated with desert varnish… 

… and some had inclusions of Limonite, making them Fire Agates.

 After about 5 hours in the sun, we said goodbye to the desert and headed home.

I had some news during my two day rock cutting session.  A family member had passed away.  So I was able to find peace in my rocks, cutting them open and reveling in their ancient beauty.

The beautiful patterns inside this Wonderstone lifted my spirits.

When I cut one of them, I was surprised to see these black patterns inside, and realized it was Salinus Wonderstone.  This reminded me that in life, there is always a new surprise waiting around the corner.

When I looked at the inside cuts of this Serape Crazy Lace I saw a warmth I wasn’t expecting.  These stones suggested to me to live every day with warmth in my heart.

These slices of Red Horn Coral were the last before the red agatization disappeared and I was left with only white.  It was a reminder to appreciate what you have, nothing is forever.

This beautiful Botswana Agate has a warm glow shining from within.  This stone announced to me to continue to let my light shine.

I cut some Dinosaur Bone pieces.  They weren’t the highest grade Gembone, but I liked the colors and patterning, so I gave it a try.  Some pieces crumbled, as they weren’t fully agatized… but, I managed to come away with a few usable pieces.  This indicated to me that losing comes with winning, but you don’t gain anything if you don’t take a chance and try.

This awesome slice of Noreena Jasper was a thrill and made me feel grateful for every moment I have to experience things like cutting rocks.

Not sure what this Agate/Jasper is called, but I thought it was kinda pretty, even if it was a little dark.  The outside was much darker, so it was nice to see these colors.  This was an indication that when things look darkest, look harder and you will find something of beauty still exists, maybe even some crystal pockets.

Compared to the previous Noreena slice, this one is a little boring.  But…as I was reminded… boring can be beautiful and we should appreciate boring too.  Okay…this one is not all that boring.

Angie was a good little helper and took a nap the whole derned time.  Don’t know how she can sleep with that saw running, but she’d rather be out rock cutting with me than not… and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Whether we’re on this side, or on the other side, remembering that we’re all in God’s hands, through good and bad, helps us to keep moving forward on our journey.  We’re only on this planet, in this skin for a relatively short time, compared to the ages of these rocks, that is… let’s make it count!

More vendors packing up and leaving in all the various venues around Quartzsite.  It’s kinda sad, but gives us southwest snowbirds a little breathing room.  I’ve just gotten over a flu-cold crud that took most of my energy away and am slowly getting my energy back.  Hate it when all I can do is lay in bed and have so many things swirling in my head waiting to be created.  Luckily Angie kept me company.

My first Fossilized Sand Dollar pendant found a home.  This is my wonderful neighbor Roberta with her new treasure.  She loves it and looks beautiful wearing it.  I’ve since made two more pendants.  The sand dollars come from California and I bought them from a vendor here who dug them out herself.  She says it’s a labor intensive process, cleaning them off with hand tools to uncover the fossil.  The site where these sand dollars come from is closed to hounding now, so chances of any more coming from that location are slim.

Did some shopping for a client who collects hearts.  She loves Malachite and I searched all over for one of these and finally found one.  I also found some crystals and slabs for her.  They should arrive today.  Hope she like them.  😉

This piece of Agatized Red Horn Coral intrigued me so I purchased it from my friends at Idaho Rockshop and took a slice off.  It sure was purty and I couldn’t hardly wait to see how it would look turned into a cabochon.

And here is the result.  The piece is nicely agatized revealing amazing color, depth and detail.  I’m visualizing the wrapped pendant now and will probably produce something in the near future.  Still deciding whether to use gold or silver… decisions, decisions.

We’re having some beautiful days here.  It’s gradually getting a little warmer, but nights are still cool, in the 30s and 40s.  Every time I take on more rock, I have to bring everything out and re-organize and that’s what I did yesterday.  Gotta cut some of the rough I bought.  That’s on my agenda for today.  Then I’ll line them up for grinding cabochons.  We have set aside next week for taxes, and then when they are finished, I’ll start some classes at the Gem and Mineral Club here in Quartzsite, the largest in North America.

I’ve been putting a box together for my friend Randy, so I went to T-Rocks to see what they have.  I’m planning to go back to take pictures for an upcoming blog post so keep your eyes open for it.  It has a huge and amazing collection of rocks to buy and is highly educational to see all types of rock in rough form.

Bingo started up again last night here at the campground.  I feel silly to say how much I’ve been looking forward to it.  This is a small group and is very low key (Bingo can get pretty serious), emphasizing fun. It was great to hear our host Tommy calling out the numbers again and his beautiful assistant Cheryl doing the Vanna White thing.  It’s White Elephant Bingo, so the prizes always make you chuckle.

Lastly, our neighbor Ralph has been making Tin Men.  He started yesterday and I got a picture of Ralph with his creation. 

They are just too cool.

This is a view of Quartzsite coming in from the west (California) on the I-10.  Usually there is a halo of dust in the month of January.

In the open land on the outskirts of town, BLM land, there is dry camping.  That means no hookups.  No electric, no water, no sewer.  Some dry campers have their rigs fitted with solar panels or use generators.  Water and sewer dumping trucks come out and service them for a fee.  It’s quite a popular thing here.  More information can be found on the BLM website here.

Now we’re going to visit Main Street which runs parallel to the I-10 on the northern side.  On the left (not shown) is T-Rocks, an open all year rock shop, and ahead is the Main Event, the first selling venue in Quartzsite.  It’s popularity has decreased somewhat in the last years and has shrunk a bit.

As we turn right on Main Street we see Quartzsite’s newest restaurant on the right.

This camel is in front of Gem World. Camels have a historical significance here in the desert southwest.  The US Army ran a project to try out camels for carrying supplies. While they proved suitable for the work and the terrain, their dispositions made them difficult to handle and the horses were afraid of them, so the project was abandoned.  The lead camel driver was named Hi Jolly and lived out his days here in this townand is buried here. The camels were bought by a man who took them to British Columbia for use for the gold rush. Some camels escaped and sightings of feral camels existed into the 1930s.

 Continuing down Main Street heading east, we see Hardie’s Beads, a lapidary supply store that is open from October through May.

More shops and stores with everything under the sun.

Southwest style gift shops.

The Q-Town Cafe is the second newest restaurant in Quartzsite and it is very good too.

More flea market style venues.

The Big Market, one of the three grocery stores in Quartzsite.

You have to be careful driving Main Street.  You never know what type of driving you are going to encounter, so it’s best to drive with caution.

One of the several RV parks along Main Street.  Information of Quartzsite’s RV Parks can be found here.

This is Tysons Wash.  It runs north-south through the center of Quartzsite.  When it rains hard, the water has to run somewhere and this dry river bed comes alive with running water.  When it is dry, like now, it is used as an off-road trail.

Yummy things here.

Silly Al’s is probably the best pizza place in town.

The road to the QIA where several community events and the Pow Wow are held.

La Mesa RV dealership is one of several RV sales venues on the east side of town on Main Street.

You can find fun little spots like this all around town.

The eclectic charm of Quartzsite.

Not to miss is the bookstore, home of The Naked Bookseller, Paul Winer, just before leaving town. 


Hope you enjoyed our little drive through town.

It’s the last week of January.  Many of the vendors pulled out after the Pow Wow and headed for the Tucson shows.  Many still stayed.  More will leave the first of February, and so on as they trickle out and the rock related business closes out by May with only T-Rocks and Hardies Beads remaining open.

Well, I’ve shown you two of the Quartzsite venues, Desert Gardens and the QIA Pow Wow.  Now it is time to show a little of Tyson Wells, which is on the southern side of I-10, next to Desert Gardens.  Traffic can get pretty tricky through here in the month of January, so, in these pictures I’ll try to show many of the modes of transportation you will see in Quartzsite.

This is called the big tent.  There are a couple of large buildings and a couple more large tents here.

Inside one of the tents.

Lots of these too

Lots of these all over

Walking

Bike

Dune buggies.

Lots of golf carts.

Scooter.

I see a green bug.

A three room log house made from a giant redwood.