Red Rock Canyon State Park features scenic desert cliffs, buttes and spectacular rock formations. The park is located where the southernmost tip of the Sierra Nevada converge with the El Paso Range. Each tributary canyon is unique, with dramatic shapes and vivid colors.
The park also has a camping area where you can set up camp among the cliffs and buttes.
The park also has a camping area where you can set up camp among the cliffs and buttes.
Historically, the area was once home to the Kawaiisu Indians, who left petroglyphs in the El Paso mountains and other evidence of their inhabitation. The spectacular gash situated at the western edge of the El Paso mountain range was on the Native American trade route for thousands of years. During the early 1870s, the colorful rock formations in the park served as landmarks for 20-mule team freight wagons that stopped for water. About 1850, it was used by the footsore survivors of the famous Death Valley trek including members of the Arcane and Bennett families along with some of the Illinois Jayhawkers. The park now protects significant paleontology sites and the remains of 1890s-era mining operations, and has been the site for a number of movies.
(from California Parks and Recreation website)
The park is a large area with lots of off-road areas - we had fun exploring.
The colors of the canyons were dramatic.
We stumbled across this old mine - a big white hole in the side of a mountain.
Pure white - kinda chalky.
The Old Dutch Cleanser Mine began operation under Cudahy Packing Company in 1923. The primary mineral that was mined was pumicite, which is a variety of pumice (highly pressurized rock that is violently ejected from a volcano, it is formed when lava and water are mixed). Cudahy Packing utilized this material for the manufacturing of Old Dutch Cleanser, a domestic kitchen and bathroom scouring powder that was highly popular and well know in the USA. Old Dutch Cleanser is still manufactured today, however the mining location for pumicite was relocated in 1947.
(http://deathvalleyjim.com/2012/04/10/old-dutch-cleanser-mine-cudahy-camp-32812/)
It was neat to stand there and try to picture the mine "back in the day" when it was active.
It was neat to stand there and try to picture the mine "back in the day" when it was active.
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