On this day we celebrate our local neighbor, the desert tortoise. The desert tortoise (Gopherus agassazii), a very shell-tered reptile, is long-time resident of the Mojave Desert. Once common throughout its range, the desert tortoise has been under protection of the Endangered Species Act since 1990 due to a dramatic decline in their population numbers…
To Our Friends: As COVID-19 continues to spread across our country and the rest of the world, Friends of Gold Butte is committed to proactive measures to ensure the safety of our staff, volunteers, and visitors. Because of this, we are temporarily closing the Visitor Center to protect all of our community members. For those..
It is that time of year where the Milky Way (actually The Carina–Sagittarius Arm, but that is a subject for another time) emerges from its winter in the Southern Hemisphere and begins to show its galactic center in our northern latitudes. Starting in February it rises in the South-East around 2 AM and rises earlier each..
When night falls out at Gold Butte N.M., do not just crawl into your tent and give up on the natural beauty of our scenic national monument. Some of the best treasures of our public lands in remote places come on display after dark. If you are enjoying a campfire, step away from it for..
Hollow-pipe mining-claim markers were set up by prospectors during about 1970 to 1990 to mark the corners of their claims. Prior to that time, prospectors in the western deserts used piles of stones (cairns) as corner markers. As would be expected, looking for a pile of stones in the desert, which many people feel is “just..
Black Butte Road has been groomed and is passable in a carefully driven sedan. 2WD-HC is better. Watch for rocks in the road. Beyond Falling Man Trailhead, 4WD is recommended. Jim Boone Las Vegas, NV www.birdandhike.com Sent from my iPhone
Photo: Worst of the washouts on lower Virgin Peak Road. Virgin Peak Road is okay to the corral and not too bad to the old trailhead. The tight narrows is passable again. Normal vehicles can only get a short ways past the narrows, but rock-hopper Jeeps can get to the old cowboy campsite. Jim Boone..
My wife, Susan, and I love sunsets. We love to watch the sunset, and we love to photograph the sunset. We have photographed sunsets from Isle au Haut in Acadia, to Glacier Bay N.P. in Alaska; from the eastern tip of St. Croix to the westernmost shore of Kauai. We have taken pictures of beach..
GOLD BUTTE ROAD CONDITIONS Conditions are subject to change — use your own good judgment. Gold Butte Back Country Byway. The Byway is composed of several roads: Gold Butte Road (paved section and unpaved section), Red Bluff Spring Road, Mud Wash Road, and Mud Wash North Road. See below for details of each road. ===========================..
Little Finland Access Roads. Driving south directly to Little Finland requires using Gold Butte Road (paved section and unpaved section), Mud Wash North Road, Mud Wash Road, and Little Finland Road. Currently, all of these roads are passable in a 2WD-HC vehicle. When the sand in the washes dries out, it will return to 4WD..
