We have been in some pretty remote places the past five
years…….but nothing like this.
We are somewhere in the Arizona mountains. Other than that....
We got here by getting sorta lost. Actually just plain old lost, not sorta lost. We were searching for Camp Bouse, one of
General Patton’s Desert Training Centers.
All of the information we have about how to locate it came to naught
this time. We couldn’t find it. So we
just kept driving. Seemed like the
sensible thing to do, or at least a thing to do since you are lost, and away
from anything resembling civilization.
We left Bouse, Arizona, about 30 miles ago, driving on dirt
and gravel roads, fearing the entire time that we would get a flat tire. We have AAA, but that requires a cell
signal, and we lost cell service after about mile five. And, besides, AAA only covers us when we are
on established roads---and we had no idea if we were on an “established” road
since we werw, you know, lost.
The other-worldly part of our drive today is the stark
contrast with the first part of our day.
We left from the Kofa National Wildlife Refuge where we spent two weeks
and re-provisioned in Quartzsite, AZ—water, some food, dumping trash, propane,
gasoline, and a cell signal. Then we
drove from Quartzsite to the town of Bouse.
The road from Quartzsite to the town of Bouse was strewn with RVs parked
off the road at a rate of about 20 per mile. We thought: “great, we are going
to be surrounded by barking dogs and loud music.”
Well, from the time we left Bouse on our 30 mile journey to
where we are now (i.e., lost) we saw nothing.
Zero, nada. Not even a vehicle on
our road. Not only were we lost but we
were lost in the Twilight Zone.
We want isolation, so the RV gods listened us and said: “OK, here’s your isolation, so quit your
complaining.”
About five miles back I saw a sign that said “Swansea 7
miles.” I thought, “GREAT, we can get a
signal and find out where we are—let’s head in that direction!”
Bruhahahahahahaha
We got about four miles down the road when it turned into a
steep and curving mountain road—suitable for 4-wheel drive vehicles. And although we have 4-wheel drive on our
pickup, it is not a real 4-wheel drive vehicle.
It has a very long wheelbase, it is high so we can’t be on roads that
are heavily slanted (for fear of tipping over), it is wide (dual rear wheels)
so you have to be careful to not get close to rocks that will cut the sidewalls,
and most importantly it is heavy. Rocks
that would not puncture our tires if the camper were off the pickup would
puncture them when there are 4500 more pounds on them. Our 4-wheel drive is a fail-safe feature—a
way of getting us out of places we accidentally drive into. But we know, and respect, its limitations
when the camper is on it.
So what do we do when we are lost? Simple.
We said, “since we are lost we might as well look for places to
hike.”
We stopped at the best place we could find, and got ready to
settle in for the night. We thought we’d
hike a day or two around here, since we were, after all, already here, and then
drive back the way we came and continue our search for Camp Bouse. After sitting at our site for a couple of
hours a guy drove by in a cool restored 1984 Ford Bronco, so I flagged him
down. Found out that Swansea is a “ghost
town.” I assume that means there will be
no cell signal, or AAA, or a wine store.
Well, here we are. Surrounding
us are beautiful desert mountains. In
every direction. This photo shows how remote we really are. See us?
And just down the road is a “ghost town.” More Twilight Zone.
We’re still lost by the way.
Next day:
The next day we put on our hiking gear and decided to go
visit this so-called “ghost town.” We
have seen many of them in our travels, including a few where it appears there
still are one or two people living in them.
We weren’t expecting much, as most “ghost towns” we have seen consist of
a few foundation structures and lots of rusted tin cans. But, we were close, so thought we’d check it
out.
What we found was astounding. Nothing short of amazing. The old mountain road we traveled on was stunning. The day was overcast, so the photos don't do it justice.
Three miles from us is the remains of a large mining settlement, one that is exceptionally well maintained by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). I wouldn’t call it a ‘ghost town,” since that term seems to imply a community with houses and a variety of stores, and where families and women and children lived. Swansea was a mine and smelter, large in our experience for the period of 1890-1920 when it was thriving.
The BLM has preserved as much as possible of this site,
designed a walking tour, sealed off areas that people might destroy, printed a
brochure, established camping sites and picnic sites, provided signs describing
the various structures, and even built a bathroom. A bathroom?
We are lost in the middle of nowhere Twilight Zone and find a bathroom?
Swansea is essentially an outdoor museum. The only thing we have ever seen that
compares with it is Colonel Allensworth State Park in California, a restored
early 20th century black American village.
Swansea is located about 30 miles east of Bouse, AZ, on
roads that only off-road vehicles and high clearance vehicles can safely travel
(preferably with 4-wheel drive). And out
here in the middle of nowheresville is this wonderful example of the Bureau of
Land Management at its best---what it can do when it is adequately funded.
Hats off to the people who worked so hard to preserve this
place. And hiking hats off to us for getting lost.
What Swansea looked like in 1918:
Several workers’ cottages still remain. The BLM has been working on these—restoring
the roofs.
Although this will make it so they are not “original,” we
believe this is the correct way of preserving them. Otherwise, in another 50 years, these
cottages will look like another set of cottages that are there:
The copper smelter and dust chamber:
Remains of the railroad bed:
Other hikes from this site:
We hiked a total of four days from here.
Found old roads, cut across desert, went up and down washes, etc. The usual.
What was not usual was a road we found running parallel to
ours, about a mile from us. Along the
road was a pipeline carrying, apparently, gas.
It was old, about 4 inches in diameter, but must still be
operational. The road was built to
follow it, and it was just plain unbelievable.
Because it was designed to be in a straight line, the road
did not weave around on the high areas as most mountain desert roads do. Instead, it just went up and down with the
hills, follow the straight shot of the pipeline.
This resulted a series of incredibly steep grades on the
road---the steepest we have ever seen except on some mining roads from over 100
years ago that we have hiked on.
No comments:
Post a Comment