Although I wasn’t aware of the Pinto basinin at the time, I was probably 12 when I first ventured there. My brother and sister were just kids, and Mom was driving a Toyota Landcruiser along with their friends through the desert of Palm Springs in the late 1970’s. We were far from our home, I was certain. We felt as if we had traveled to the other side of the sun. Long ago, the earth was no longer populated by city streets or golf courses. The earth was no longer made of sand, stones and hills but a few patches of scrub grass.
Lee and Dad came upon a series of hills that were located at the end of an abandoned valley. This is what Joshua Tree national Park is called. That was something I had known. As I looked up, I could see that the road had been a lot more rutted than any Dad attempted in his four wheeler. The urge to explore the area beyond the ridge was too strong. Instead of driving too far to get help, we decided to hike to the top and look over the edge. We saw the shifty dirt that indicated a mine had been dug. Then we trekked the other way and discovered not one, but three mines.
This was both the deepest and most intriguing. The hill it was built from had been several hundred feet back to me. You had to climb down onto your knees and crawl into the hole left by a cave-in. Next, you would have to traverse an old plankboard laid on top of a hole that was eight feet wide. It had an old, rickety ladder that ran down for miles. To determine its depth, we dropped stones down the maw. The rocks hitting the holes a few times could be heard. We heard absolutely nothing at the bottom. It was old and had split. I was scared to death by the hole. However, I managed to walk across.
Further down the mine, I found something that was truly amazing. I told many others but they were skeptical. I’m no geologist. If a mine was marked with a neon sign, it would be difficult for me to spot the veins of gold. But, it is turquoise and I can’t miss it. In its natural form, it’s bright and deep in color. It was visible in that wall, running from floor to ceiling through the cave. The streak ran beneath the floor of the mine.
We left the mine that morning with claw hammers ready, and an armed five-gallon paint bucket. After ripping the stuff from the mountains’ grasp, I chipped, clawed and brought my entire bucket home. I displayed it in my bedroom with a Star Wars backdrop. The rest of the turquoise was given away to Christmas gifts. It included blue-green rocks and as large as my fists.
Although not quite as spectacular, the other mines were enjoyable. Like the one in the first mine, the other went straight down. However, there wasn’t a horizontal route to follow. One had an older rail track that was still in place and a broken rusty mine car at the cave’s mouth. It went only fifty feet, and then there were two ladders going down thirty feet for what appeared to be a landing. Because I was small, my father allowed me to climb the ladder. It was a dead end. I tried to climb down to the top, but it didn’t lead anywhere.
With great stories and memories to last a lifetime, we returned home in darkness that night.
Twenty-plus years later, it was the middle of 1990. Although I was determined to find it, I was not able to pinpoint its exact location. It could be found on the other side of Joshua Tree National Park. But that meant I would have to travel through a great deal of desert. The map was not enough so I created a section on it and used that as a guide. First time, I was only with my two children and my spouse in my Jeep Wrangler. It wasn’t found. We rented another Jeep Cherokee Cherokee because we had more children. There were no further finds. We found gold on our third visit, this time in a large rented Ford Excursion four-wheel-drive Ford Excursion with an extended family and in-laws.
The dirt road we were taking took us farther into the desert that I can remember. As I was driving down the road, I saw a series of hills with an old worn road leading up to one. My skin tingled. My skin tingled. We pulled up to the bottom of the road, grabbed flashlight, hammer, and bucket. A host of children and families were behind us. The shifted dirt from the original mine was visible at the top of the crest. A small group of men in old clothes spotted a rusted Toyota pickup truck near the bottom. It was also discovered by others over time.
This was the end of it. After climbing through an older cave-in I entered the mine. When I reached the vein of turquoise, I was surprised to see that it had been taken out. For old-time sake, I still had some pieces of the original I remember. By kicking the dirt, I also found some blue-green pieces on the ground. The main area of turquoise went to boys and other families. The mine was found by us and it will be my forever destination. It is my personal slice of the Lost Southwest landscape, with all its tales, treasures, and stories.
Chris Shurilla was a good friend and came to visit me a few years later. I was equipped with rappelling gear, so we set off to explore the mine. After passing the cave-in, we climbed up to the mine and gazed into the dark hole. The ladder seemed endless. An old wooden trellis was built above the hole. I missed it because I wasn’t paying attention to where my feet were and how far I got on previous trespasses. The beam was tied and we clung onto it. We then dropped 200 yards of rope into the hole.
Chris was unfazed. The rope fell at his frantic pace as he leapt over the empty space. As a virgin bride, I was careful, going down each rung of the ladder, even though I was secured and safe. One of the old rungs gave way to my weight, and I leapt into the empty space. Chris laughed and shouted at me to get moving. My descent was accelerated once I cleared my throat and coughed out my heart. Chris was suspended in midair from a bigger chamber when I reached him. It had opened into a narrow cavity that measured thirty to forty feet in diameter. It was still visible in the dark, where the ladder crossed the cavern wall. The whole thing was straight out of Stephen King’s novel. On each side of the earth, there was a cavern that led to the dark side. Chris responds faster than me. “I’ll go check it out,”Unhooks his harness and trots along the old planks, in darkness as if a cat perched on a windowsill.
“Chris, you idiot,” I yell. They are likely over 100 years old. Without any concern, he comes back to me bouncing under my feet. “Oh they’re fine,”He said it. He said it. What would he, or I do if they fail? “That end,”He said it, moving his thumb towards the hole that he had just examined. “only goes a few feet and dead ends.”He disappeared again in darkness and went to the opposite side. “This side too.”The man returned, tied the rope and then we continued down.
The rope was still about 75 feet long, and we were able to get close enough to touch the ends of it for our comfort. Chris hung on to the rope comfortably, his hands not touching the ladder nor the sides of the rock hole. It was still a good idea to hold on to the ladder for its age. I felt it better than nothing. We knew that Chris was hanging there, and we couldn’t go any further. We pulled a rock from the hole’s side and dropped it. Despite being 200 yards from our original point of origin, the rock did not make a final resting sound. The second time, we did the same thing with another rock. But we couldn’t hear the bottom.
Our wives and children were pissed off so we climbed up again. After being down the hole for several hours, our wives and children began yelling at us. Their only knowledge was that the rope was still taut. It occasionally swinged.
All of Pinto Basin’s area is littered by mines. You have a very good chance of getting sick if your go there. This is not alarmist. Seriously, though: There are many holes in ground large enough to put a car through and others that have no bottom. Caves can be found in mountains for hundreds of miles, through holes, cave-ins, and rotten support. You’re only hours away from assistance even if your car is parked. What if your car stops working?
If you don’t have the right experience and are not prepared, do not venture out. It’s amazing to me that it was something I could do as a child, then again with my parents, then again with my friend, then again with repelling equipment and another rope.