politicians of San Diego and Los Angeles counties to see who could get to Phoenix first. San Diego won, even though their car was dragged 7 miles across the sand by horses. The BLM has fenced off the remains of this road to preserve what little is left. Our last stop for the day was near Holtville, the McCabe Geothermal Power Plant. It is very accommodating to the wishes of the BLM, including raising the pipes 2 feet off the ground to allow the tortoise and horned lizards to pass below. An offshoot of this drilling produced a hot spring, now in the BLM's control. It is located directly across the street from the hot spring Long Term Visitor Area (LTVA). The inhabitants were crusty folk quite reminiscent of the Saline Valley crowd. They are permitted to live in LTVA'a for up to 9 months by paying a $25 feel There are no provisions or hookups-they must Lie completely sell contained. Greg left for his home in El Centro and we backtracked to the Picacho State Recreational Area, making it there about 5:45pm. After a quick dinner, we went to the campfire program that evening where a ranger described verbally and visually the interesting history of the Picacho area including the mine activity 5-1/2 miles away at the Picacho Nine near (Little) Picacho Peak and the stamp mill & steamboat port of Picacho on the river. Evening brought a beautiful sunset and perfect camping weather and temperature. Sunday morning we awoke to a gorgeous sunrise and the sounds of quail and coyotes. A burro herd had passed through our campsite during the night only leaving their footprints and bodily excretions. We took a quick walk to the Colorado river shore and then began our second day of study. First, we hiked to the Stamp Mill via the Picacho Historic Trail. Several pieces of evidence remain showing the 700 man operation was a thriving mine at one time. The views were clear and long. Because of warnings of sandy areas by the ranger and residents, we did not take the road west to Indian Peas west but rather we went hack to Winterhaven and the Ogliby Road and then east on the Indian Pass road, stopping at the Gold Rock Store on the way. It was a store filled with antiques, old bottles, books on the desert and its inhabitants, and, junk. A MUST stop for desert visitors in the area. We made our final stop at Indian Pass. A few hours of searching gave us delight in finding old Indian trails, shards of pottery and that special feeling of being a part of the desert. We found the Singer Geoglyph Area of Critical Environmental Concern. Thanks to participants including Charlotte & John Gullsby, Hillary Gordon and Andrew Ledford.

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