Trilobite Wilderness Area
So I set out on a reconnaissance mission to the Trilobite Wilderness Area in the Mohave Desert. I didn't find any Trilobite fossils, and I'm not even sure if I was on the right mountain, but I had quite an adventure.
When I started in San Diego it was raining
, but it was not raining in the
desert. I used this web site as a guide because I couldn't find any other helpful tips on how to get there. I parked almost two miles away from the mountain
because I couldn't find a traversable road
that led to the base of the mountain. The desert didn't look very forgiving
for a sedan. Once at the mountain base I found the road
, but still could not see where it came from.
The walk to the mountain wasn't so bad, although judging distances was difficult due to the mountain being much larger than expected
. The mountain is very steep
which made fossil hunting difficult. Every step created a mini avalanche of rocks and debris. I constantly checked to see if my car
was okay. Perhaps my radio was being stolen by Jawas. The car looked very far away
.
Fossil hunting was difficult. I couldn't remember much from geology 101 and the
web site I was using for a guide seemed extremely vague once I was looking at
many different colored rock outcroppings
. I did find a nice plant fossil
and another not so nice plant fossil
and something that looks like a Trilobite
and also a fossilized tree branch segment
, but I will have to return
another day to find a worthy Trilobite specimen. If it was the correct mountain, I
think the fossils are another 100 yards further than where I was searching.
After about three hours of tortuous scavenging and being harassed by Yellow
Jackets, I started back towards the car
. On the walk back I found a lot of cans like this one
, this one
, and this one
. I also found a fork from a mess kit
and a 50 caliber shell casing
. The shell casing is made in St. Louis in 1943
and is quite large
. Considering the area and date
of the shell, it could have been fired from a B-25, but lots of aircraft used 50
After getting the hell out
of the desert, I saw Roy's Motel Cafe
, and a shoe tree
(a tree that people throw shoes at).
Until I head back and actually find some trilobite fossils, here is a nice photo of the