Offroad: 21 Goats Petroglyphs

What do you do when you've been to a place many times, wish you could be there even more and someone tells you that now the only way you can be where you've always been is to be one of the "pretty people" in their private click?

That's the dilemma that we have right here on Gold Butte and if we think what the government did to native people has ended we're mistaken. The government, in the form of the BLM, still shows their avarice; but, now it's for whoever has the money – I'm looking at you Sierra Club and Harry Reid.

If you're one of the "pretty people" who still has stamina and good joints – You're the ones the BLM-Sierra has decided are deserving to be able to see the glyphs.

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Offroad: Davidson's-Toquop Wash

I feel a bit bad that it's taken me this long to post one of the nicest rides we took during last years riding season: The Davidson Graves-Toquop Gap Loop.

It was one of the few rides that dad felt he could go on, not too long, not too far away, of historical interest and not too bumpy.

We trailered to one of the common trailheads around Mesquite – the East Mesa Interchange Trailhead (commonly called "the truck stop" by locals). That's the easiest and most convenient access point to the Mormon Mountains from Mesquite. There are several graded dirt roads, which that year had been maintained for the use of the power line they were putting in.

It only has one problem, which will become evident as the tale unfolds, and that is: there isn't but one or two east-west trails crossing the whole mesa and if you miss one of them it's a long way to the other.

To begin, it's almost a straight shot north to the East Mormon Mountains. The gap the trail runs through is formed under Davidson Peak which is named after the ill fated family whose graves solemnly attest to the struggles of the early settlers of this land and where we will make a stop.

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Rare Joshua Tree Bloom In Full Swing

It's that time of year again – the Joshua Tree's are blooming in the Mojave Desert. Only this year it's the rare full out effort!

Our first year of snowbirding in Mesquite, SIX years ago, we were treated to the magnificent splendor of riding through our newly discovered old growth Joshua Tree forest in North Valley a couple of weeks before we re-migrated back up north for the summer. If you haven't been there, the trees are all above your head in a canopy and are all hundreds of years old as evidenced by their extensive branching.

The crisp protected valley's air was so sweet with fragrance you could taste it on your lips. We'd never seen such a site before and were eagerly awaiting the site again the next year. Unfortunately, it was not to happen.

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