SUNRUNNER THE JOURNAL OF THE REAL DESERT
hwy 62 open studio art tours
reservation road trip
the best of
ridgecrest
$1.95
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We’re looking for someone who can communicate, be creative, and help desert businesses and organizations market themselves effectively and affordably through our publications and television productions. We’re looking for representatives in the hi-desert, Coachella Valley, Yuma, and other Southwest locations. Full or part-time. If you’re a self-starter, someone who likes being independent and wants to create your own media sales and marketing position, then send your resume, references, and letter of introduction to: publisher@sunrunnersw.com, or: PO Box 2171, Joshua Tree, CA 92252. Candidates must have sales and/or customer service experience, and reliable transportation and insurance. Media sales experience a plus.
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SUNRUNNER The Journal of the Real Desert
Fall 2016—Vol. 22, No.3 The Sun Runner Magazine PO Box 2171, Joshua Tree, CA 92252 (760)820-1222 • www.sunrunnersw.com Publisher/Executive Editor: Steve Brown Publisher@sunrunnersw.com Assistant to the Publisher: Juliet the Cat Founding Editor Emeritus: Vickie Waite Literary Editor: Delphine Lucas Distribution: Yucca Man
Don’t be left out
Contributing Writers: Cynthia Anderson Lorraine Blair Steve Brown Roger Naylor Donna McCrohan Rosenthal Contributing Photographers & Artists: Chris Brewster • Steve Brown •Bill Dahl Spelman Evans Downer • Marcia Geiger Rik Livingston • Delphine Lucas Karin Mayer • Roger Naylor
Cover art: Tin Goose, Marcia Geiger.
The Sun Runner features desert news, issues and commentary, arts & entertainment, natural and cultural history, columns, poetry, stories by desert writers, and more. Published quarterly. MAGAZINE DEADLINE: November 18 for the Desert Holidays issue, for advertising & editorial. Please send press releases (preferably with photos and artwork) to publisher@ sunrunnersw.com, or mail to: The Sun Runner, PO Box 2171, Joshua Tree, CA 92252. Detailed information absolutely will never be taken over the telephone, dictated from loquacious cactus wren messengers, shape-shifting reptilians, strangely shaped clouds, or telepathically (it hurts!). SUBMISSIONS: By mail to the address above; by email: publisher@sunrunnersw.com, or stop us when we’re at the JT Post Office like other folks do. SUBSCRIPTIONS: Now just $12/year U.S.A. ($24/year International, $50 trillion Intergalactic). Enhanced digital subscriptions available internationally for all tablets, computers, and smart phones at Magzter.com. Copyright ©2016 The Sun Runner. Permission for reproduction of any part of this publication must be obtained from the publisher. The opinions of our contributors are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of the magazine, or even reality. Honest. We have made some effort to be accurate, but we are a desert publication after all, and we are not responsible for errors or omissions in material submitted to us, occasional lapses into vortices, nor claims by advertisers, Congress, the BLM, NPS, or sometimes, even ourselves if we’ve been out in the sun too long. Advertising, press releases, public service announcements, doodles, Pegleg Smith’s lost gold, UFO parts, cosmic poetry, love letters, Yucca Man sightings, and cryptic messages from other dimensions far beyond our own are accepted at the baffling discretion of the hermit king publisher. Oh, and thanks for your support for the past 21 years!
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the 3rd edition of our
Joshua Tree
gateway communities visitor guide closes soon. 760-820-1222
publisher@sunrunnersw.com
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27 out & about 27
features
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The Hwy 62 Art Tours Return
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departments 11
Dry Heat
by Steve Brown
by Steve Brown
Cover Artist Marcia Geiger Goes Mobile
by Roger Naylor
Scrims & Bindlestiffs The best of Ridgecrest this fall by Donna McCrohan Rosenthal
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Steve Shigley
Reservation Road Trip
Ramblings From Randsburg On the trail of...Tents, Cabins and Cottages ... in a Mansion-less Mining Camp by Lorraine Blair
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Trojan
by Cynthia Anderson & Bill Dahl
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Find more online at:
Studio #36
sunrunnersw.com
Scott Doten
jttortoisetelegraph. com
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Thomas & Amara Alban/MazAmar Art Pottery Snake Jagger More Art Tours
southweststories.us (including full episodes of Southwest Stories)
and coming this November... JoshuaTreeVisitorGuide.com www.sunrunnersw.com Fall 2016
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he arts have always been part of desert life, from the earliest residents who lived here for thousands of years prior to the arrival of white settlers, through today. We’ve been blessed with a great variety of talented artists who enrich the desert experience for all of us, and I’m grateful for their presence. The arts “season” recently launched with September’s fourth annual Joshua Tree National Park Exposition in Twentynine Palms (see photo above). A total of 49 artists were juried into the exhibition, with seven receiving special awards for their work. The exposition included a gallery exhibition, art demonstrations, a community mural project, an art market, music, and more. It continued with the Joshua Tree Music Festival, which continues to build upon its visual arts offerings as a complement to the superb selection of local, national, and international musical acts that play under our beautiful hidesert skies twice a year. Now, the hi-desert’s premier annual cultural event, the Hwy 62 Open Studios Art Tours, will be arriving soon, with more than 136 artists participating at nearly 100 locations across our area. This is an excellent way to spend a couple of weekends—you can explore the hi-desert, visit artist studios, see their work up close and personal, and spend time with the artists and others on the tours. The tours are truly exceptional, and they’re completely free, though you’ll be smart if you purchase art during the tours as prices are very reasonable and it all supports the artists in our community. Prices can be so reasonable that if you find a piece you want, make sure to purchase it right away. There was a painting I wanted one year on the art tours, but before I could purchase it, an art dealer from
Dry Heat/
By Steve Brown
Beverly Hills literally bought everything on the walls. I was pleased for the artist, but I went home empty handed. And while we’ve seen some major press talk about this artist or that artist “bringing” art to the hi-desert from wherever they came from initially, usually Los Angeles or New York, art has been here all along. So after the two weekends of the art tours, one of my favorite local arts events comes along the first weekend of November—the Weed Show. The Weed Show is an authentic homegrown arts show that has its, uh, roots, back in July, 1940. It was then that the Women’s Club of Twentynine Palms invited Pasadena printmaker, Mildred Bryant, to lecture. It being July, the ladies of the club lacked fresh flowers with which to honor their guest. Brooks reportedly asked the ladies, “Why do you need fresh flowers when you have so many beautiful weeds?” Members of the club quickly gathered native desert flora from around the grounds of the 29 Palms Inn, and the annual Weed Show began the following year and has been an arts institution of the hi-desert ever since. This year’s entry categories for the Weed Show revolve around the theme: Jumping Cholla Book Club. All ages can enter, and admission to the show is free at the Old Schoolhouse Museum from noon to 4 p.m. on Saturday, November 5, and from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday, November 6. It’s a one-of-a-kind arts event, and it’s got to be seen to be believed. I strongly encourage you to get out for the two weekends of the Hwy 62 Open Studio Art Tours, and follow that up with a visit to the Weed Show in November. Our horizons are pretty expansive already, but these events help push those horizons out even farther. Enjoy! www.sunrunnersw.com Fall 2016
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The Hwy 62 ArtTours Return/
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he 15th annual Hwy 62 Open Studio Art Tours are on their way, with more than 136 artists participating at nearly 100 hi-desert locations over two weekends in October. The art tours are the hi-desert’s premier cultural event, allowing desert residents and visitors to meet the artists in person, experience their work, and mingle with others who are out and about going studio to studio. Each studio stop offers a different experience, making the tours a great way to explore the area at your own pace. We’ve featured a few of the artists on the tours to try to give you a feel for the variety of art you’ll encounter on the tours. These are, by absolutely no means, the only artists you should visit. These are just a few to get your creative juices flowing. With the Hwy 62 Open Studios Art Tours catalog, available free at information centers for the tours (see page 26 for hi-desert and Coachella Valley locations), you can assemble your own list of favorites for each weekend and explore to your heart’s content. So grab yourself a catalog, and plan your own art tours, from Morongo to Wonder Valley!
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Steve Shigley Metal Work Painting Sculpture
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Studio
#15
Both Weekends
Hwy 62 Open Studio Art Tours
teve Shigley (see photo above) is a self taught abstractionist with a no rules approach to art, and unique processes that define and inform his work. Known for his colorful dead Joshua tree sculptures, using trees that were burned by the Sawtooth wildfire of 2006, Shigley now includes large scale indoor/outdoor steel sculpture, wall sculpture, acid painting, and custom furniture in his work.
Cover Artist
Marcia Geiger/ goes mobile T
his is cover artist Marcia Geiger’s fourth year on the Hwy 62 Open Studio Art Tours. Most of her pieces this year are painted around the “Mobile Desert Domiciles” theme, though there will be other subjects on display at her studio, including her bovine skull series and small pieces on paper from her trip to Maine last summer.
Studio
#50
First Weekend
Hwy 62 Open Studio Art Tours
All of the subjects for Mobile Desert Domiciles are locally sourced, from the Tin Goose, on the cover of this issue, to Bien Venido 1, a dolled up 1950s “canned ham” that the owner calls “Cutie.” The Tin Goose may sometimes be seen parked in front of the Joshua Tree Saloon. Along with original art, Geiger will have postcards, cards, prints on paper, and new this year, custom prints on stretched canvas in a variety of sizes. She notes there is a little something for everyone if they are in a buying mood, or they can just stop by and see a real working studio. There will be live music provided at her studio by master guitar player Bradley Trafton. She says, “My studio is a little out of the way, but worth the trip! “My feature piece, Willys All American, is also among the artwork depicted on the Studio Tour Catalog cover,” Geiger www.sunrunnersw.com Fall 2016
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notes. “To me, it represents the veterans who came out here to train for war, and who returned later and made the desert their home for the peace. Proud, staunch, independent.” The Tin Goose was selected this year for the 47th Annual Palm Springs Artists Council Exhibition 2016, which runs through November 27. “People seek out the desert for many reasons, and it never fails to make a change in them,” Geiger says. In my Mobile Desert Domiciles series, I show people’s changes that are outwardly reflected in their choice of habitation. “Like so many, the Tin Goose was originally nondescript, a humble 1940s era bus that once hauled school children. Now the Goose stands out, revealing the owner’s inner character, while at the same time blending in with its surroundings. “The same could be said for those who seek to live in this welcoming yet unforgiving climate. They are at once free to break from the rules of conformity from which they have escaped, even as they are absorbed into the very soul of the desert.
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During my 20 years in its outer reaches, the Mojave Desert has provided me with an infinite procession of transformed buses and campers to regard as subjects, and also to get a glimpse of the people who plant them out here, paint them, and very often abandon them to the elements. “It is not enough to merely want to capture an image with my brushstrokes; I want my work to give the viewer the essence of what inspired me to paint it. Careful study of composition, form, and color in relation to the whole is equally important. “I enjoy the camaraderie and friendships that come from living in the thriving artists’ community of Joshua Tree. My remote private studio north of town provides me with the open space, peace and solitude I find necessary for my creative inspirations to grow and flourish.” In the past Geiger has helped with organizing the Hwy 62 Open Studio Art Tours, from proofreading, and taking photos of artist’s work for inclusion in the catalog, to designing the cover for the 2014 catalog, and assisting with the 2015 cover. For the past two years, she has served as treasurer of the Morongo Basin Cultural Arts Council, the organization that produces the art tours.
“All in all, it is a very vibrant, exciting time to be involved in the arts community of the Morongo Basin,” Geiger says.
Cover: The Tin Goose. Page 13: Marcia Geiger at work. Dun Roamin’. Page 14: Willys All American. This page: Throne of Hearts, above. Bien Venido 1, right.
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Trojan Studio
#36
Both Weekends
Hwy 62 Open Studio Art Tours
Photographer Bill Dahl Paul & Kathi Klopfenstein, Bear Court Baskets/Gourds Deane Locke, Watercolor Nichole Vikdal, Crystalline Glazed Porcelain Pottery
I belonged to hordes who came this way in the olden time— a tribe of warriors. Only I’m left, gone inside a stone— no longer wary of hidden danger or secret artifice. Battles done, I sit stoic among these rocks with lifetimes of looking behind me— though I wear this mask, even I can’t say what it means—
Photographer Bill Dahl, above. Trojan, by Bill Dahl, right. Poem “Trojan” by Cynthia Anderson, Dahl’s wife. Anderson and dahl have produced numerous books of photography and poetry which will be available on the art tours. Their work has been featured numerous times in the sun runner. 16 Fall 2016 www.sunrunnersw.com
– Cynthia Anderson
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Studio
#36
Both Weekends
Hwy 62 Open Studio Art Tours
Also at Studio #36 both weekends, Paul and Kathi Klopfenstein, who do gourd art and basketry. Paul is also president of the Morongo Basin Cultural Arts Council, the organization that produces the Hwy 62 Open Studio Art Tours. Along with the Klopfensteins and Bill Dahl, Deane Locke, a watercolor painter (below left), and the crystalline glazed porcelain pottery of Nichole Vikdal, will be featured.
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Scott/ Doten fine art & design
Studio
#53
Both Weekends
Hwy 62 Open Studio Art Tours
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oshua Tree artist, Scott Doten, will be sharing his studio space with photographer Georgia Toney both weekends of the art tours.
Doten has a surprise for those visiting his property during the art tours—a new 15,000 square foot art installation he calls, “Fly-N-Model-AA.” We don’t want to give away too much, but it appears there may be a flying Model A coming in for a landing at the drive-in. It may also involve a lot of heads. You’ll just have to see for yourselves, and we hope you do. Scott’s Studio Shangri La is always a welcoming destination for art lovers. www.sunrunnersw.com Fall 2016
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Thomas & Amara Alban/ MazAmar Art Pottery
MazAmar Art Pottery ceramic art Thomas & Amara Alban Urthen ceramic art Caitlin Deane Geoffrey Fennell, painting, digital art, jewelry, photography Toby Verhines, Heathen Divine, digital art, drawing, photography, 2D mixed media
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Studio
#11
Both Weekends
Hwy 62 Open Studio Art Tours
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homas and Amara Alban are two of our favorite hidesert artists. Their MazAmar Art Pottery studio and shop up on Mane Street in Pioneertown is one arts stop that’s a must on this year’s Hwy 62 Open Studio Art Tours. They’re sharing their studio space with the incredible Caitlin Deane of Urthen, Geoffrey Fennell, and Toby Verhines, so you can’t lose. If you want to see their studio and their magic in action before you visit in person (along with hear some of their music), watch the Pioneertown episode of Southwest Stories, our desert travel series for KVCR PBS. The episodes are available online at www.southweststories.us. www.sunrunnersw.com Fall 2016
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Studio
#5
Both Weekends
Hwy 62 Open Studio Art Tours
Snake/ Jagger
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t’s no secret we’re huge fans of hi-desert artist Snake Jagger. Snake has been on the cover of this magazine and featured in it multiple times. He’s also been featured in our KVCR PBS TV travel series, Southwest Stories, and you can watch Snake do lip-ups and talk pirate in the Morongo Valley episode, available online at www.southweststories. us. Snake’s whimsical surrealism provides desert art fans with a skewed, if orderly, view of desert scenes. But Snake doesn’t stop there, and he’ll no doubt have a few surprises for the crowds that always visit his studio during the art tours. Make sure to explore the premises, and his art extends across his property in Morongo Valley. And pick up a copy of the Joshua Tree Tortoise Telegraph while you’re there— the current issue features the first installment of Snake’s autobiography, which makes for very interesting reading. A visit to Snake’s studio will always be enjoyable, and we think you’ll enjoy getting to know him as much as we have! www.sunrunnersw.com Fall 2016
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Studios
#1-90
Both Weekends
Hwy 62 Open Studio Art Tours
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e can’t say this enough: grab a Hwy 62 Open Studio Art Tours catalog, sit down at the dining room table, and browse through all 136+ artists and nearly 100 studios before you hit the road. We wish we had enough pages to feature each of these talented artists who are participating. Find your favorites, make your plan, and get out there and enjoy yourselves. This is hi-desert art at its best—informal, fun, and experienced at your own pace. No stuffy big city gallery show here (our local galleries have fun art receptions, but getting to visit the artists at their own studios is a real treat). Thanks for supporting our hi-desert artists and those businesses who support them as well. We’ll look for you on the tours!
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Catch the work of local teachers Diana Shay Diehl (above), and Krista Wargo, at Studio #22 the first weekend of the art tou rs. Enjoy the work of Ray and Christine Lamb at Studio #28 both weekends of the art tours, below.
If you go... And you should!
1. Pick up your free copy of the hwy 62 open studio art tours catalog with maps at any hi-desert or coachella valley information center. (see next page for listings) 2. review the 136 artists at the nearly 100 participating studio locations and note those you absolutely must see. 3. Note the weekend their studios are open on the tours and the location of their studio and plan accordingly. 4. plan your visits with enough time to enjoy them. you won’t be able to get to every studio. don’t worry about it. take your time.
6. Bring layers of clothing. This time of year, warm days lead to cool, crisp nights filled with starry brilliance. 7. gas up your vehicle when you begin to run low. Bring water with you, even though many studios will have wine, and some may even have a nice cocktail. Drive responsibly. bring snacks if you get hungry between meals, though many studios will have a nibble or two for you to enjoy.
5. don’t try to drive through soft sand or if it’s raining, avoid washes. we want you to stay safe. cell phones frequently lose service, and please do not rely on your gps for directions to studios. Directions are 8. buy your gifts while you’re on the available in the catalog. we want tours. supporting our artists is you to have fun. supporting our communities. www.sunrunnersw.com Fall 2016
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Pick Up a Free Art Tours Catalog at one of these Information Centers or go to hwy62arttours.org for more information
Hi-desert Morongo Valley
Purple Agave Gallery and Cactus Mart 49889 29 Palms Hwy Morongo Valley Art Colony 11165 Vale Dr
Joshua Tree
Plaza Art and Frame 57246 29 Palms Highway
29 Palms
29 Palms Creative Center 6847 Adobe Rd
JTAG 61607 29 Palms Hwy
29 Palms Art Gallery 74055 Cottonwood Dr
Joshua Tree Health Foods 61693 29 Palms Hwy
29 Palms Visitor Center 73484 29 Palms Hwy
Joshua Tree Chamber 6448 Hallee Rd
Coachella Valley
Gallery 62 61607 29 Palms Hwy
Desert Hot Springs
Yucca Valley
Rainbow Stew 55509 29 Palms Hwy ArtFX 55836 29 Palms Hwy California Welcome Center Yucca Valley Chamber of Commerce 56711 29 Palms Hwy 2 Guys Pies 56969 Yucca trail Oasis Office Supply 56925 Yucca Trail Old Town Gallery & Gifts 55922 29 Palms Hwy 26 Fall 2016 www.sunrunnersw.com
Miracle Springs Spa 10625 Palm Dr
Palm Springs
Desert Art Center 550 N. Palm Canyon Dr Conga Room 411 E Palm Canyon Dr
Cathedral City
Colliding Worlds Art Gallery 68-895 Perez Rd
Palm Desert
Venus Studio Art Supply 44850 Las Palmas Suite D
La Quinta
Jules Market 78130 Calle Tampico
Reservation/ RoadTrip
Author Roger Naylor takes us on one of the most intriguing Southwest road trips
canyon de chelly. photo by steve brown.
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n some ways, the drive between Tuba City and Canyon de Chelly may be the most intriguing road trip in Arizona.
State Highway 264 is the only major road that crosses both the Navajo and Hopi reservations, sampling the cultures and providing a time capsule experience. And it’s set amid a bewitching landscape of stark badlands, high desert plains and rock-crowned mesas. Begin the 154-mile journey in Tuba City where the two reservations meet. U.S. 160 serves as the dividing line. On
the north side of the highway is the Navajo community of Tuba City. Literally across the street is the Moenkopi Village, western gateway to Hopiland. Chief Tuuvi founded Moenkopi in the 1870s as a summer farming area using the numerous springs for irrigation. Businesses include the Tuuvi Travel Center, which features a gas station, stores and cafĂŠ, and the Moenkopi Legacy Inn & Suites. Opened in 2010, the comfortable hotel pays homage to Hopi villages with its use of color, symbols and pueblo-style architecture. www.sunrunnersw.com Fall 2016
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Views of Canyon de Chelly, including Spider Rock, bottom, and the White House ruins, right. Photos by Roger Naylor.
Experience Hopi Tours This summer Moenkopi Legacy Inn & Suites introduced a daylong tour to give visitors a chance to learn the history and customs of the tribe and explore the scenic beauty of the Hopi Reservation. Experience Hopi Tours begin at 8:30 a.m. in the hotel lobby with a quick overview of the facility and introduction to tribal art. From there, the tour continues to stunning overlooks of colorful Coal Mine Canyon and two petroglyph sites, including Dawa Park, a box canyon lined with thousands of images etched into the rocks. Meet Hopi artists like acclaimed silversmith Duane Tawahonga who demonstrates the detailed process of creating a piece of silver overlay jewelry. Lunch is included at the Hopi Cultural Center with the option of sampling traditional dishes such as noqkwivi, a corn hominy and lamb stew with blue frybread. Guests are also treated to a walk through Oraibi Village, among the longest continuously inhabited places in North America. The tour concludes back at the hotel at approximately 4 p.m. To schedule an Experience Hopi Tour ($145 per adult, $89 for children) or to book lodging, contact Moenkopi Legacy Inn & Suites, 928-283-4500, www.experiencehopi. com. Hopi Villages Visitors are welcome to drive across the Hopi Reservation on their own. The Hopi people live in 12 villages scattered across First Mesa, Second Mesa and Third Mesa, lofty buttes that are fingerlike extensions of sprawling Black Mesa. State Highway 264 threads them together as it crosses the high plains that break apart against the rising tablelands. While language, customs and traditions are similar, each village conducts its own ceremonies and has unique characteristics. That’s why it’s important to follow proper etiquette. Photography, videotaping and sketching are prohibited. Do not explore non-designated areas. Do not pick up loose feathers, pottery shards or other items. If you are fortunate enough to encounter a ceremony or dance,
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observe quietly from the background. The best approach is to stop at the galleries along the drive. You’ll have a chance to discover beautiful art work such as woven baskets, hand-carved kachina dolls, pottery, painting, silver overlay jewelry and more. While browsing you can ask the shopkeepers about events in that specific village. For gallery info, visit www.hopiartstrail.com. The exception is historic Walpi Village on First Mesa, which can only be visited in the company of a guide. Unlike other villages, Walpi does not have running water or electricity. But perched atop a narrow thrust of stone 300 feet above the valley floor makes for a particularly dramatic setting. Walking tours last about an hour ($20 adults, $10 children) and can be scheduled at 928-737-2670. Trading Posts After leaving First Mesa behind, you’ll soon reach Keams Canyon, the easternmost community on the Hopi Reservation. Thomas Keam built a small trading post here in the 1870s. The McGee family purchased it in the 1938 and established McGee’s Indian Art. They have a longstanding reputation for kachinas, jewelry and pottery. There’s also a service station, store and café. 928-738-2295, www. hopiart.com.
Two views of Hubbell Trading Post. Photos by Roger Naylor.
Back on the Navajo Reservation, a mile west of Ganado, the Hubbell Trading Post was founded in 1876. This is the Louvre of trading posts. Named for John Lorenzo Hubbell, this National Historic Site is part museum, part art gallery and is still a fully functioning trading post. Scuffed floors creak at every step. The store is crowded with goods and spicy with old aromas. A trader sits in the jewelry room, which also contains carvings, paintings and clay work. In a third room, gorgeous hand-woven rugs are stacked in casual piles. Admission to the park is free. Wander the grounds at your leisure. Ranger-guided tours through the Hubbell home are offered daily for $2. 928755-3475, www.nps.gov/hutr. Canyon de Chelly From Hubbell, backtrack west on State Route 264 for about five miles and then turn north on U.S. 191 at the big traffic circle. It’s 30 miles to the entrance of Canyon de Chelly National Monument in Chinle. The park contains a complex of canyons unlike anything else in the state. When we peer over a canyon edge we expect to see a landscape rugged and wild. At Canyon de Chelly we’re greeted by a peaceful bucolic scene. Sheer cliffs plunge hundreds of feet to lush bottomlands lined with corn crops, pastures and cottonwoods. It’s a staggering blend of high drama and pastoral beauty. Canyon de Chelly shelters thousands of archeological sites and dozens of Navajo families that still live and farm there during summer months. Two rimrock drives offer stunning vistas and access to the park’s lone hiking trail. The North Rim Drive (17 miles) traces the edge of Canyon del Muerto with three overlooks
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story & photos by Tom GarrisonDown in Canyon de Chelly National Monument, above. Photo by Steve Brown. Views of Coal Mine Canyon, left and below. Photos by Roger Naylor.
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State Highway 264 is the only major road that crosses both the Navajo and Hopi reservations, sampling the cultures and providing a time capsule experience. And it’s set amid a bewitching landscape of stark badlands, high desert plains and rock-crowned mesas.
If you go From Flagstaff, travel north on U.S. 89 for 63 miles. Turn right on U.S. 160 and continue 10 miles to Tuba City/Moenkopi. Coal Mine Canyon, located about 15 miles east of Tuba City, crosses both the Hopi and Navajo reservations. As beautiful as it is from Hopi overlooks, nothing prepares you for the eye-popping jolt delivered by the Navajo portion. With its multicolored hoodoos, the gorge is reminiscent of Bryce Canyon, but more savage. The formations are sharper, the colors more vivid. Faint trails skirt the rim of this wildly unkempt canyon. It’s well worth a visit but requires advance planning. Access to Coal Mine Canyon requires a permit from the Navajo Nation Parks & Recreation Department. The fee is $12. The closest permit location is the tribal visitor center in Cameron at U.S. 89 and Arizona 64, so stop on the way. 928-679-2303, www. navajonationparks.org.
at prominent cliff dwellings. The South Rim Drive (19 miles) explores seven overlooks, each more spectacular than the last. At White House Overlook, visitors can hike into the canyon along a beautiful trail that switchbacks down the sandstone wall for a close-up look at a multi-tiered pueblo dating back a thousand years. The moderate 2.5-mile round trip hike is the only way to access the canyon bottom without a guide. South Rim Drive ends at Spider Rock, a breathtaking spire soaring 800 feet from the canyon floor. Further exploration requires visitors to book a group tour or hire a Navajo guide for jeep, horseback or hiking outings. Tours leave daily from historic Thunderbird Lodge within the park. The three-hour tours visit both canyons and cost $70. (928-674-5842, www.thunderbirdlodge.com.) You’ll also find a group of registered tour operators below the visitor center on the South Rim Drive. Canyon de Chelly National Monument is open daily and admission is free. 928-674-5500, www.nps.gov/cach.
Roger Naylor is a writer specializing in Southwest travel. His work has appeared in USA Today, Arizona Highways, Arizona Republic, Western Art & Architecture, Go Escape and many more. He is the author of three books, Boots and Burgers: An Arizona Handbook for Hungry Hikers, Arizona Kicks on Route 66 and Death Valley: Hottest Place on Earth. All are available on his website, www.rogernaylor.com, in stores and from Amazon.
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Bindlestiffs/ & Scrims
Donna McCrohan Rosenthal shares the best of Ridgecrest this fall A scrim in theatrical terms is a curtain that’s opaque when front-lighted but semitransparent when the scene behind is illuminated to reveal a whole new world. A bindlestiff is a vagabond who carries his wherewithal with him. The best aspects of the Great Southwest Desert come alive the same way – when you look through the curtain to the wonders beyond, give in to wanderlust and indulge the unfettered recesses of your soul.
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his month’s column emphasizes the stranger side of the desert around Ridgecrest, the ancient ones, a thriving artistic community, and a concentration of talent represented by the Maturango Museum’s Open Studio Tour and by the Desert Empire Fair’s many competitions in photographic excellence, and the finest in quilting, jams, and jellies.
Cottage (760-264-4141), with a short performance, prizes, and costumes encouraged (cwc-ridgewriters.com). Open Studio Tour 2016 launched with a reception and exhibit for participating artists on September 9. Then on Saturday and Sunday, October 15 and 16, 29 artists in ceramics, sculpture, pottery, glass, paintings, woodworking, jewelry, and metalwork, invite ticket holders to see them in their native habitat—their studios—to observe their particular magic in action and to purchase unique pieces. Additionally, each artist will have artwork displayed at the Maturango Museum. Tickets are available in the museum gift shop (maturango.org).
Ridge Writers, the East Sierra Branch of the 107-year-old California Writers Club, celebrates UFOs, haunted goldmines, bigfoot sightings and more in their Weird Weekend each year in September. Highlights of this year’s edition, Sept. 23-24: actress Stevie Taken as Mary Shelley on “When One weekend later, October 21-23, Frankenstein Was Science,” the 3rd Annual Weird Storytelling Competition, and Daniel Ridgecrest’s Desert Empire Fair features Stallings/C.W. Rowenson’s interactive murder livestock, quilts, preserved foods, clothing and textiles, arts and crafts, fine arts, creative mystery Pauper’s Grave. writing, collections, baked goods, and more, Planning ahead, save December 6 for plus special contests including photography, Ridge Writers’ Dickens Tea at My Enchanted LEGOs, and macaroni and cheese (desertem-
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Open studio photos. Debbie Newton’s Zebra watercolor, left. Danny Elkins’ spray paint space painting, opposite page. Mary Simpson’s seascape oil painting, right. The Open Studio Tour Artists’ Exhibit at the Maturango Museum, above.
pirefair.com/thefair). October goes out with a flourish on Saturday, October 29, at the Historic USO Building operated and owned by Historical Society of the Upper Mojave Desert. The Ladies Tea & Luncheon will combine a variety of hot and cold soups, salads and tiny sandwich treats, tasty desserts and a dessert soup or two with a souvenir bowl or mug, prizes and take-home treasures. Decorate a hat and wear it for a chance to win. Admission is $10 (hsumd.org). In November, Ridgecrest’s Third Annual Petroglyph Festival moves to a new location for expanded offerings in Kern County Petroglyph Park on November 5-6. Expect major events, live performances, vendors, educational programs, a family fun zone, and all things petroglyph. Steve Brown, of The Sun Runner, will be hosting a Native film showcase at the Historic USO Building, and will be performing with two-tie NAMMY (Native American Music Awards) award-winner, Steve Rushingwind. Find the petroglyphs themselves in the canyons and plateaus of the Coso Mountains. These images, left by the hunter-gatherers of times past, constitute the largest known concentration of petroglyphs in the western hemisphere. Owing to their location on the Naval Air Weapons Station, China Lake, public access is permitted only through Maturango Museum. Buy tickets in advance (maturango.org; 760-375-6900). To learn more about the festival, check out rpfestival.com. To get properly prepared for your visit to the Ridgecrest area, watch the Little Petroglyph Canyon episode of Southwest Stories at www.southweststories. us. For Ridgecrest area activities and great discounts: www.visitdeserts.com. Donna McCrohan Rosenthal has written for newspapers and magazines across California and beyond, has appeared on A&E Biography and, yes, even Oprah. Her speaking engagements have included the Smithsonian Institution. www.sunrunnersw.com Fall 2016
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By Lorraine blair
Ramblings From Randsburg/ On the trail of... Tents, Cabins and Cottages ... in a Mansion-less Mining Camp
M
ost of us have film-fueled images stuck in our minds of what it was like to live in a mining camp, even one as late in time (from 1895) as gold-laden Randsburg. Go into your mind’s pictureplace marked Mining Camp. What do you see? How does it compare with this account? In addition to the burly and bearded mining guys you probably see, Randsburg had lots of families, women and children. The 1900 census showed about half the men were married and over 100 children were enrolled in Randsburg’s school. The world these families came to was challenging as these excerpts from a manuscript written by the daughter of what the chronicler called “a pioneer woman” show: My mother…was quiet and home-loving and cared nothing for adventure. Yet in her love for my father…she left Tustin, California in June 1897… for their new home at Randsburg, a gold mining town on the Mojave Desert. If there was despair in Mother’s heart when she saw the small one-room building that was to be her new home, we children never saw it. Just imagine! Their home still stands in Randsburg, 119 years later. A second story was added to the home early on to accommodate the family’s six chil-
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dren. Before that all of them lived in one room of about 16x30 feet. Water, costing a dollar a barrel was hauled from seven miles away; a screened cupboard held food supplies and dishes. Looking back to the beginning of Randsburg, however, one room wooden dwelling-places with a door and windows were a luxurious dream. The locators of the Yellow Aster Mine, Messrs. C. Burcham, J.Singleton and F. Moores, stood in front of their tents in an early photograph. Dr. Rose Burcham, wife of Charles and the first woman in fledgling Rand Camp, years later recalled the problem resulting from dropping bread dough onto the dirt floor of the tent. Mine-town Memories!
The Burcham’s second mansion, right, still stands in Highland Park (Los Angeles), occupied today by the Pillar of Fire Church. The Yellow Aster’s safe remains in good condition, below.
Housing on the Rand evolved with tents becoming cabins as they were sided with wood. Cabins grew into cottages as rooms and porches were added. The Los Angeles Herald of October 31, 1897 reported: The first building erected in Randsburg was the old post office building by Clyde Kuffel, then postmaster, in October 1895 so Randsburg is exactly two years old. One year there was not one two-story building in the district. Now there are dozens of them. Randsburg homes remained modest. A photo from November 1926 shows a bungalow type Randsburg cottage with the inscription “This is the kind of house everybody lives in at that town. It’s a mining town.” Mining towns ALWAYS have mansions, right? Not Randsburg. Mine owners located such relatively grand homes in Los Angeles. Investors were courted at the owners’ homes and at their clubs such as (amongst others)The Jonathan Club and The California Club for the men and The Ebell Club and Shakespeare Club for Dr. Rose. The Yellow Aster Mining and Milling Company presented itself very well when serious investors were brought to Randsburg. The Mill Room was bedecked with a palm tree; the Yellow Aster safe was a work of art. For many of us, there is romanticism in the desert. Excerpts from a poem by Gene Barilotti published in the Rand News and Miner, June 26, 1975 attest to that:
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The talking wind, the warmth of book and fire… …The long roll of thunder. …God’s home is in the desert. Once in a while, I do something right. The magic…and many of the buildings and artifacts…are still here. Come and see. Re-load your mental, minetown picture-place.
The Sun Runner is planning our fifth weekend tour of The Rand Mining District, Ridgecrest, and Little Petroglyph Canyon for Spring, 2017. If you’re interested in the tour (dates still to be announced), p l e a s e c o n ta c t u s at: publisher@sunrunnersw.com.
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[DESERT AND MOUNTAINS]
Find the Sun Runner at our advertisers and select visitor locations across the desert and beyond. for locations see www.sunrunnersw.com [JOSHUA TREE GATEWAY COMMUNITIES]
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[JOSHUA TREE NATIONAL PARK GATEWAY COMMUNITIES] EL RANCHO DOLORES MOTEL
A respite for desert travelers since 1940, downtown 29 Palms. Swimming pool, courtyard, A/C, direct phones, satellite TV/HBO. Refrigerators/microwaves, kitchenettes available. Ken Patel, Manager. 73352 29 Palms Hwy., 29 Palms, CA 92277 (760)367-3528 virtual29.com/a-z/dolores
SUNNYVALE GARDEN Suites
Condo-like suites with a touch of the “old west.” Junior, 1 & 2 bedroom suites, full kitchens, living rooms, dining rooms, private patios w/barbecues, Cable TV, DVD, patio area, playground, spa and fitness center. Tony & Cora Naraval, owners. 73843 Sunnyvale Dr., 29 Palms, CA 92277 (760)361-3939 www.sunnyvalesuites.com
29 Palms Inn
Fine food & lodging since 1928. Lunch, dinner, continental breakfast, Sunday brunch. Art-filled dining room, bar. Heated pool, poolside patio, adobe bungalows. “Oasis of Mara” and trails, near JT National Park headquarters and visitor center. Paul & Jane Smith, Innkeepers. 73950 Inn Ave., 29 Palms, CA 92277 (760)367-3505 www.29palmsinn.com
Restaurants, cafes, retail shops, hotels, b&Bs, vacation rentals - We Have over 2 Million Great Reasons To Advertise in The Sun Runner & the Joshua Tree Tortoise Telegraph
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