We figure out where we are camping

Sometimes adventures just fall into your lap.

For nine nights we have camped next to what we assumed was an old, small home in the Mojave National Preserve. But the home, abandoned, trashed, didn't seem quite right. There was something about it that was, for lack of a better word, off.

Well, two days ago Vicky figured it all out. It is not an old home. Instead, it was the bathhouse and laundry for a very old trailer park!

See our camper? May need a magnifying glass.

 

By exploring the area we discovered several concrete pads, complete with old electrical and water hookups.

 

 

 

There are perhaps a dozen of them. Plus other spots where there were hookups but no pads.

Then we started looking at the building more closely. What became apparent was that there was a men's and women's bathroom and shower, and spots for four washers and dryers.

 

 

Where the four washers drained.

 

The old fuse box. No circuit breakers, as in modern buildings. The inside box at the right has an address that is pre-1961 because there is no zip code, and Connecticut is abbreviated Conn., instead of CT.

 

View out the women's bathroom.

View out the social room (we made this up):

 

So, what was this place? A trailer park for employees of the Golddome mine? That is our best guess. Our other guess is that it was built in the 1950s.

We have had some wonderful hikes from this camping spot. We have explored the old town of Vanderbilt, where Virgil Earp had his business in the late 1800s. We have walked the old California Eastern Railway, which went out of business in the early 1900s. (I found an old railway spike, and wanted so much to keep it as a souvenir, but it doesn't belong to me, it belongs to everybody, so I hid it in a bush--knowing that some people who would find it would keep it). We found dozens of old mines. And dozens of old homes that were built of stone, probably originally with tin or wood roofs that are long since gone.

A home probably from the late 1800s, in the ghost town of Vanderbilt.

 

The work to get the California Eastern Railway into this area was impressive. Look at this culvert that was built so the train could cross a large wash. These are all along the railway here:

 

Over a hundred years ago a mighty bridge crossed this large wash, from where the photo was taken clear across to the other side. It was probably taken down when the railroad went out of business, and the timbers and other materials were scavenged for mines in the area.

 

At points in history this area was bustling with people, animals, machine, and noise. Now, it is quiet. Really hardly anybody but us. We have hiked 32 miles in these hills, and seen so much.

 

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