The Gold Rice Trail Again.

 

Doing Trails Twice.

One of the problems with Jeeping with two different groups is that you end up doing some of the trails twice.

The Wednesday ride was one of these instances of doing a trail a second time.

The last time we did this trail was on December 27. See the blog for that date.

The Gold Rice Trail Again.

We met at the fire station around 9:00.

Once everone was there we headed north toward Parker. You can see the sleeping gorilla mountains in the distance it looks like the gorilla is still dreaming of that pretty lady gorilla.

We had to stop at the Running Man gas station and topped off the tanks.
I was leading the first part of the trip as we found a short cut the last time.

From the gas station we headed west on Mojave Rd. and when we got to the Agnes/Wilson Rd.

we turned right and followed it across the Colorado River to US 95.

Here we headed north for a couple of miles to where there is a building with a bunch of antenna’s on it. Just before you get to the building there is a small dirt track going west.
We missed the road and had to turn around and go back. We eventually found the trail and stopped to air down. Once we were aired down I lead the way to the large cement block where the Gold Rice Mine Trail starts.

The last time we were here there were five chairs. Now someone had added an umbrella. We hung around here for a few minutes taking pictures and eventually headed south on the Gold Rice Trail.

The Jean Mine.

The trail goes across the sandy flats for a while and shortly before you come to the turn off for the Jean Mine, it enters the hills.

We drove out the trail to the Jean Mine.

The Jean Mine has a deep vertical shaft…

and a lot of wood and other stuff laying around.

We wandered around here for a while. I found a nice  piece of Quartz here.

We left the Jean Mine and followed the trail back to the Gold Rice Mine trail.

There is one spot on the trail that gave some of the drivers a little trouble on the way back and they needed a little spotting to get through.

Once we were back to the Gold rice trail we turned south.

This section of the trail is kind of fun as it goes through a few deep ravines.

Lunch.

Eventually we came to the same lunch spot as the last time we were here and we stopped for lunch.

The Trail Continues.

After lunch we got back on the trail.

The trail goes into a beautiful canyon and becomes a bit rougher.

There is one spot that takes some careful tire placement and a good spotter to get through.

There is a steep drop off on the passenger side and some big rocks to go over once you get past the drop off.

After getting through this spot the trail goes uphill fairly steeply and eventually gets to the mine which is on a saddle between two peaks.
There is a vertical shaft that has caved in…

and some great views of the rugged mountains.

 
Heading Home.

After walking around the area for a while we headed back down the trail.

When we got back to the Cement block…

three of us turned right and went back to the highway where we came into the area. The rest followed the Videl/Blythe Road north to Videl and then to Hwy 62 where they returned to Parker.

The Clunk.

While we were on this ride the clunk in the rear of the jeep got worse. I originally thought that the clunk was being caused by the tire carrier bouncing around on the rough roads. While we were stopped for lunch I did some more checking and found that the shock bushings were worn out and that is what is causing the clunk.

In search of Shocks.

When we got to Parker I went to a couple auto parts stores to see if I could find a set of shocks. After checking a couple of stores and a repair shop without any luck we decided to go to Walmart to do some other shopping. I’ll order some shocks tomorrow.

Chinese Supper.

After Walmart we stopped at a Chinese Restaurant for supper. The part of the group that went to Videl were in the restaurant just finishing their supper when we got there.

Cactus Blooms.

As we were wandering around in the desert we noticed that several Beavertail Cactus were getting buds.

You can see some pink in these buds.

We got home around 6:00 it was a good ride and of course it was a lot of fun.