Rocks, Gold Mines, and Desert Kayaking

 So here I am at the Wickenburg Gem and Mineral Show, in, of course, Wickenburg- oh yeah, that would be Arizona.  I packed up everything from Quartzsite yesterday, except my booth sign, left a message on the front of my fence for my customers, "In Wickenburg this weekend for the Rock and Gem Show,  will re-open Tuesday", and headed almost 100 miles East to Wickenburg. Al can direct traffic to the website RocksInMyHead.biz with the flyers, and take messages if anyone is looking for me.  Of course, if they are looking for me, it's because they didn't read the sign that tells them that I am in Wickenburg for the weekend- and I'm sure Al won't hesitate to tell them that.   When he is closed, I do the same for him, because his customers don't usually read the sign he puts up, either.

I've been here before- did a show here last year-so I am expecting a busy weekend.  Anyway, there will be more going on here this weekend than there would be in Quartzsite at this time of the season.   This afternoon, during the 3 hours I was setting up, about 30 customers came by wanting to know if the show was open yet.  Hopefully, that is an indicator of how tomorrow and Sunday will go.   Although maybe those people won't even come back.  They seemed aggravated that none of the vendors who were setting up at that time were open for business yet.  Oh, well.  Of course, if they had flashed a handful of cash, I would have been pretty willing to open up early for them.

For rockhounds, gold bugs, and outdoors people alike, Wickenburg is a great destination.  There are several very cool rockhounding sites in this area. Along highway 60 near Brenda there is a pullout for a jasper site in the Bear Hills.   I will have some jasper from this location at the show this weekend.  Choice pieces are deep reds with greens and some browns and yellows mixed in.  It's very good quality for polishing, if you do the work to get the best material.  There are also beautiful agates and jaspers from the Plomosa Mountains north of Brenda, and a site near Brenda where gorgeous "patriotic" agates can be found.  Amazing dendritic agates and some fossilized palm wood has been found near Wengen.   For more information about these sites, check out "Rockhounding Arizona"  by Mr. Gerry Blair.  I met him at the Lake Havasu City Rock and Gem Show earlier this month.   Here is a link to Mr. Blair's book:  Rockhounding Arizona .    I also currently have this book in stock at my booth and on the website.

For the gold bugs out there, Wickenburg is also famous for the "Vulture Mine".   The Vulture Mine was the largest gold producing mine in Arizona.  It was discovered in 1863 by Henry Wickenburg, and in its day produced more than 200 million dollars worth of gold.  A population of almost 5000 inhabited Vulture City during the boom time of this mine.  


The Vulture Mine is also well known for its employee "perks" - a "Profit Sharing" plan and a practice called Highgrading.   Highgrading was a sort of systematic thievery from the mine- workers would pick choice nuggets out of the loads they were hauling and keep them for themselves.  The "Profit Sharing" plan was actually more of a "Profit Stealing" plan, where miners who were employed to work the mine during the day became "self-employed" by night.   They mined their own personal gold from the same mine that they worked in during the day- the ultimate in "Moonlighting".  It was said by the Vulture Mine miners that working for the Vulture Mine for 3 months would produce a year's worth of personal gold.   For these reasons, no one really knows exactly  how much gold was produced by the Vulture Mine.  The recorded figure of $200 million is really only an estimate, that doesn't take into account all of the "lost" - or shall we say "personally acquired"- gold. 

The mine was closed in 1942, and almost overnight the town became a ghost town- but the development of Arizona had already been sparked, and Phoenix was born.  The closed Vulture Mine eventually became the property of the Vulture Mine Preservation and Restoration Association, and tours were given, well, sold, to the public.   Just recently the mine has been purchased by Vulture Peak Gold, who plans on resuming mining operations at Vulture.   I wonder if they will have a "Profit Sharing" plan again?  Hmmm...If they do, sign me up for a few months.  


For more photos of the Vulture Mine click this link  Vulture Mine Photos on Facebook   

And last, but not least, for the outdoor enthusiast - there is kayaking.  Yes, kayaking in the desert.  There are great boating locations in several directions from Wickenburg.   To the north, there is the lake-rich area of Prescott and Prescott National Forest.   To the west lies Alamo Lake.  Alamo Lake is a rockhounding desert kayaker's paradise.  It is a large lake that has been created by the damning of the Bill Williams River.  The drive to Alamo Lake is a scenic journey through beautiful desert landscapes, some red rock peaks in the distance, really cool canyons, and incredible views.   For as far as the eye can see in any direction, there is desert- until all of sudden, a deep blue patch appears on the horizon.   This is Alamo Lake- a large, beautiful body of water surrounded by desert and colorful mountains.  A rockhounding, prospecting, desert-loving, kayaker's dream. There are plenty of places to get out of your boat and hike off into the desert to go rockhounding.  The mining and prospecting sites are on the north side of Alamo Lake, the other side from where you launch, so be prepared to paddle back with extra weight stowed in your boat.  

 Pick a quiet cove to land, and eat lunch there.  That way you can then fill up the food space with rocks for the trip back.  The only problem with that is that the rocks will weigh more than your food.

Just don't replace the water space with rocks- this is the desert, you know.  You will need your water.  Of course, if you think about it, you're paddling, so you are surrounded by water.   So, in reality you could take a water filter, and then you could take less water and have more room for rocks.  Either way, the rocks will weigh more, so be prepared for the long paddle back  with all the rocks in your boat.   Of course, if you are also a hiker, you are probably used to hiking back with all the rocks in your pack.  From personal experience, paddling with rocks is slightly easier than hiking with rocks.  But that's just my humble opinion.

So, anyway, whether you like rocks, gold mines, or paddling, Wickenburg is a great place to spend the weekend.  Of course, I won't get to do any of these things this time around, because my entire time will be spent here, selling my rocks at the Rock Show.   But I have done that stuff here before, and I will get to do that stuff here again- probably at the end of the season.   After everything from my booth in Quartzsite is packed up, it will be time to head off to explore again.   Then play time will begin - the rockhounding, the prospecting, the hiking, the climbing, and the paddling.  Maybe I'll even get to cross two major things off my list this spring- Skydiving and hiking to Havasu  Falls.

But for now, I need to spend my days selling rocks. Come see me at my booth at the Wickenburg Rock Show.  My booth is right at the entrance walkway, under that big sign that says "Wickenburg Gem and Mineral Show", you know the one in the picture at the top of this blog post.  Or you can come see me back in Quartzsite in Rice Ranch, at A37.  And come buy some rocks.  I have lots- cool ones, too.  Buy a bunch.  Because, after all, when play time comes, I will need the room for all the new rocks.