Mariscal Mine
Call it quicksilver, cinnabar, or mercury. Texas's Big Bend National Park once produced a quarter of this malleable metal for the USA at the Mariscal Mine.
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Rocky Springs Ghost Town
We turned on the radio this morning. It isn't something we often do. We mostly rely on podcasts and music. But for this rare excursion onto regional airwaves, we came across a Jackson station where the radio host was shoveling the burden of content creation onto his listeners: asking them to call in with their favorite places to visit near Jackson. Some called in to recommend restaurants. Others calling in about museums. But one caller caught the host's attention when they described the haunting remains of Rocky Springs Ghost Town. I giggled, "that's our next stop!"
Bodie, California
Bodie is the gold standard of ghost towns. Where other ghost towns have ten or so old buildings in varying degrees of disrepair or renovation, Bodie may only have 10% of its original structures but that still accounts for 110 structures preserved in a state of arrested decay. There is a stamp mill with it's original machinery literally falling through the floor, off kilter structures, and occasional doorways that lead to...nowhere.
Cerro Gordo
Cerro Gordo is not easy to reach. If anything, traveling there was a good reminder of the compromises we make with our living situation and the potential shift in mobility that comes with any change. The route to Cerro Gordo is 7 miles of rough road snaking sharply to the summit of Cerro Gordo Peak. Woe betide any unwitting driver that comes across a car in the opposite direction because most stretches of the road are a single lane with a mountain wall to one side and a cliff at the other. It is a route we never would have attempted with Dodgy I or even if Dodgy II had a top heavy camper. It is Dodgy II's light truck bed shell and 4 wheel drive that makes the road feasible.