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From: LordOfThyNight@aol.com
To: ParanormalBuffalo@yahoogroups.com, ParanormalGhostSociety@googlegroups.com, paranormalghostsociety@yahoogroups.com, ParanormalGhostSocietyConnections@yahoogroups.com, TheParanormalGhostSociety@yahoogroups.com, SupernaturalFlorida@yahoogroups.com, ParanormalCalifornia@yahoogroups.com, paranormalsincity@yahoogroups.com, Paranormalflorida@yahoogroups.com
CC: vgsgrlt@hotmail.com
Sent: 4/14/2010 4:45:45 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time
Subj: [ParanormalSinCity] My Exploration Of The Chinese Date Ranch & Tecopa California

   
Nothing is prettier then driving under a Californian sky and at least this is how I spent a good part of my Easter.  I woke the boys early they slept out in there tent and we did an egg hunt. Then I dropped them off and headed out to Cali.  Tammy and I packed food and gear for the entire day. We would be heading out on the edge of Death Valley to various locations in and outdoors. Its very important to visit secluded locations with enough food and water in case you broke down or something.
 
On our way up to Tecopa we stopped and got a 9am wiener and mine had mustard. Not that you needed to know this detail but I wanted to give others a chance to know that were a real laid back group of people. So we turned onto the old Spanish Highway still is used today. But its a road with rolling hills.....mountains and desert.
 
I was enjoying the ride as we had the cool air blowing in and I smoked some herb. I think between the music, wind blowing, smoking a joint and having a cute girl on my arm certainly set the tone for my day. I was enjoying speeding going 100 mph in the basin just cruising. We passed a group of very expensive fast cars guy smoking a cigar and standing outside. Tammy told me it looked like they were street racers. Well I found this out as I got about two miles down the road all the cars were behind me. I was leading the way at some point number 1 baby as we corkscrewed around this mountain round and around.
 
That was a great moment until we came to the open road and well 4 cars eventually passed me going over a 100 mph....and their were two more behind me but they did not pass me as one was a classic big old antique car I knew could not handle the rugged hills and bumps. It was a cool little race then I pulled off to my left the car fishtailed as it hit the sand in the road and I sped off down towards the China Date Ranch. Goodtimes my friends goodtimes.
 
This would be a start to one very crazy yet fun day and we really got to see so much. The road we were on went from concrete to dirt. Most websites state this is a bad road with allot of holes but I thought to myself you should take a ride up to Mount Potosi then will talk lol. I had no issue with driving now keep in mind its a major down hill ride into the Armagosa River's basin. This canyon that cuts through they call the grand canyon of California. So yeah I was excited and could not believe how the rolling mountains appeared to go on forever till I came upon the oasis in the Mojave where a China Date Ranch resides.
 
We came out to an area that looked like we were in Africa and so our exploration would begin here as we took on the China Date Farm, Gypsum Queen Mines, Noonday Ghost Town & The Anaconda Mill, Old Tecopa Investigation 2, The War Eagle Mine and the Finale Shoshone Cemetery & The Dublin Gulch. Ill tell you what these were some of the best places we ever visited in California.
 
I finally stood at the gates to the ranch....as we slowly went down the road seen an old mine cart and fenced off mines. This was an invite it said Lord Rick come inside. We pulled in the parking lot at an area which has 6 trail heads. We were so low in the desert snug in the mountains surrounding by date trees...gardens....running water....flowers....historical sites...and  an oasis hidden deep in the desert.
 
You never think much of the desert then you visit a place like this and it just changes your whole entire perspective just like that. We parked in front of the general store which has many date products including the famous date shake and so our journey would begin here.
 
China Date Ranch
 
We hiked on the Mesa Trail which basically hikes you up along a ridge that overlooks the entire farm. The views were breathtaking with every foot we took. There were some old power lines on top of the ridge also perhaps once they brought power to the local mines below.

Now keep in mind I go with the holiday theme so yeah I wore my bunny ears just about the entire time at the China Date Ranch....even with tourist staring at me lol.

Tammy and I hiked down a few small saddles which gave us a view of the Armagosa River from above. There is an area people are not allowed to go where the river widens. There is also a waterfall but we were on the opposite side. Off in the distance we could see the old saloon.

Tammy and I followed the trail for at least a mile then figured we would start cutting to the right so we could check out some of the mines. The trail we were on followed the road we went in on below. We were about 500 feet up had cliffs to our right side with a few steep canyons.

Tammy and I explored one of the canyons which we thought held a cave that turned out to be just a giant hole in the rocks. I did not want to stay on this trail the entire day so we sort of made our way back to the road. We went off the trail not the best of ideas considering we climbed into this steep canyon with many cliffs built into it. I did take some photos of the cliffs around us. Slowly we made our way 500 feet down into this canyon which involved a few walls to climb down.....sliding down rocks etc. I felt this was not a safe area being Tammy walked on this narrow ridge both sides had cliffs to it so we had to take it slow especially after her fall.
 
This would take us to the Gypsum Queen Mine which we took the time to explore after our first hike within the Ranches property. Ill talk about that further below....and of course after we checked out the mines we made our way back to the date farm.
 
On the way back to the date farm we seen an old wood cabin which was turned into a museum....some other historic homes that probably stood there a century ago....and went on a nature trail following the river. The river was much smaller then I expected but then again most of it is underground in the canyon so you cant see it or rather only parts of it were exposed. The part that was exposed was a nature trail through some woods very green full of flowers....crawfish in the stream.....it felt like we were not even in the Mojave.
 
We stopped at the general store to get a date it was very sweet and Tammy told me they had all sorts of different types. I had never eaten a date in my life so I was scared believe me. But it really wasn't at all that bad it was pretty sweet and fresh.
 
We would prepare ourselves for our next hike which would take us along the river to an old saloon then eventually to an old railbed that cut right between the mountains. Tammy and I just got done enjoying some sites surrounding the date farm including an old wagon.....cactus garden.....and wood building.  We seen a few bikers pull up to the store and the guy dropped his motorcycle trying to park it. Maybe the bitch on the back was to big for him to park the bike who knows but they did not look at all experienced at biking.
 
The trail we took was the slot canyon trail which is about 4 miles we almost made it the entire way but since we had other hiking areas we had to cut this one short. The trail led us along the River.....and eventually to the old Saloon. Not much stood but the walls....foundation....a little storage shed....and artifacts surrounding it. I thought it was pretty cool to see something like this in the middle of the mountains.

Beyond the saloon we actually found the old Acme ore company which is no more but there was a structure.....old railbed....and off in the distance a cross right on the railbed itself. Off in the distance I could see the very narrow slot canyon which would perhaps take to much time to get to. Their was also a mountain all composed of Rhyolite. The sun gave it a purplish hue so we hiked up along their then some dunes slowly making our way back to the ranch. I did not find ACME Talc mine but maybe that will make an interesting second trip to explore the region further.  

I actually thought the railbed was one of the coolest sites because you could see where the tressels were gone...and the desert had these natural caves and dunes surrounding it. One could sit back and just imagine a train coming through the mountain at one time.  The railbed was many feet off the ground and some of it had railroad ties...but all the tracks had been torn up.  One day they should lay out some new tracks and get a scenic train in the area going. Where you could get off at different locations and hike around would be cool.
 
Anyhow we made it back to the date farm ate and drank a little. I ran into some people on a few occasions hiking everybody was so friendly guess that is why I love visiting California. I found also the date farm to be friendly here this is how life should be sadly beyond this hidden canyon lies another world one filled with less purity. I ran into some people on a few occasions hiking also everybody was so chill outgoing guess that is why I love visiting California.

We had to get out of the canyon and make our way to a ghost town called Noonday which is an area I visited awhile back with a group of people who got real lazy on me. I was excited to see what this area looked like during the day and I was right an amazing valley full of mines and ghost town sites.      
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Click picture above to enlarge:

this is a UFO taken within the Armagosa Valley just a mile from the China Date Farm. I have examined the object and it is apparent were dealing with an oval possibly metallic type of craft. The sun was slight breaking otu of the clouds strong enough to cause a reflection on the top of the saucer leaving a shadow spot on the bottom.

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