DWTH Day 35: Turtles to Old Woman Wilderness

Daily Miles: 20.0, Total Miles: 535.3

Another gorgeous sunrise and I continued on into the Turtle Mountains, passing alongside Lost Arch Peak, old mine workings and maybe even a legendary lost rich gold mine.

Soon after leaving the Turtle Mountains and now facing the broad Ward Valley, I reached the next quail guzzler. Had lunch and happy to see the guzzler was 3/4 full and easily accessible, just had to work around the busy bees.

Now to walk west across the wide, sloping Ward Valley nearly six miles across the Old Woman Wilderness on the other side. The valley floor is full of creosote, yucca, cholla and I found one tortoise shell. There is a road but very sandy, and at times, more of a wash.

The valley actually runs N-S on an undeveloped stretch of desert for nearly 65 miles. A bit of history – Ward Valley was the site of a proposed low-level nuclear waste dump in the late 1980’s. Tribal and environmental group resistance, including an 118-day “occupation” in 1998 was apparently successful.

On the other side, I entered the Old Woman Mountains Wilderness, designated in 1994 and encompassing 164k-acres.

The name is derived from a 5,000’ granite monolith faintly, and with some imagination , resembling an old woman. I can see the forehead, mouth, chin and a little tongue sticking out. It is also where the Old Woman Meteorite weighing over 6,000 lbs was discovered in 1975, largest found in California and now on display in Barstow.

At dusk, I gladly bedded down in a sandy wash with large rocks nearby to reinforce my tent stakes.

No one seen today.