It took about 2 hours to get out there. You have to take Kelbaker rd from Baker south to the town of Kelso Depot, where they have a visitors center set up by the National Parks system. Here are some photos I took of the area. It is about 35 miles off the I15 to Las Vegas.
The building was built in 1923 and there were about 1500 people there in the 1940's. Mostly miners, who mined ore for use at the Fontana Kaiser steel plant to build Liberty ships. The depot was restored in 2005. They have a cafe inside and everything is in great shape. We got some information about where the Joshua Tree Forest was off Cima Rd, near Cima dome. So we decided to go there next. Stopped to take more photos of a wrecked cabin.
Saw our first Joshua tree blooms here.
Stopped by Mojave Cross across from the Cima Dome hiking trail. We were going to hike out to the Dome but only got 1/2 way. Too much of the same view I guess. So we headed back to the I-15.
Since it was getting on toward 4pm we decided to go to Las Vegas for an unscheduled overnight.
When we arrived we stopped at the Rio Casino thinking we could get a room here. The whole town was booked for the night. We had to stay at the Buffalo Bills Casino outside of town near Stateline. Not recommended. But too tired to worry about it. Jackie got her gambling fix and I watched "life of Pi" on my Ipad. One of the worst buffets we have experienced at Buffalo Bills.
On Sunday we headed out early after a Mcdonalds breakfast.
Since we were not on any schedule we stopped at Calico Ghost town to see what was there. Here are some photos.
The town was restored in the 1950's by Walter Knott the fellow who built Knotts Berry Farm.
I love it! Great start to your blog, Dad! Very interesting history about Kelso supplying the ore for Liberty Ships and the Knott fellow building up Calico. Love the glass bottle house.
ReplyDeleteHappy you retrieved Jackie's glasses! Any critters in there?
Beautiful Joshua tree blooms.
Fun stuff, Pops! Keep yer posts comin'!