Charlie our tour guide for the day, took us out Red Rock Road. This road heads south out of Inyokern, CA and skirts Black Mountain on the west side. This road eventually leads into EP15, the dirt road that winds through the heart of the El Pasos and will take us on to our other destinations for the day.

Our first stop was along Red Rock Road where Charlie gave a brief talk on the historical significance of Black Mountain to the Native Americans of the region. It is considered sacred and has been the site of many tribal ceremonies. I wish that I could have gotten a photograph of Black Mountain, but on this day the sun was quite bright and directly over the mountain.

Our second stop was at the Dutch Cleanser Mines. Here's a picture of the
group preparing to wander around and explore the area. These mines contain very fine pumice which is used primarily in kitchen cleaning products. In fact, it is so fine that I ruined a point and shoot camera there a few years back. Even though I was very careful about the dust, it still managed to get inside the camera and corrupt the CCD (which could not be cleaned without a trip to the factory).

These mines are HUGE. Many of the openings are large enough to drive a large truck into and they seem to worm together, and go on forever inside the mountain. They're extremely interesting.

This is one of the many views from the mines. This area is near Red Rock Canyon State Park and it's pretty obvious how the area got it's name.

Next Chapter - On The Way to Bickle Camp