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Quick Nighttime Fluorescent Mineral Hunt

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Little cooler today so I hiked out to the Nancy Ann Mine with my heavy shortwave field lamp to do a nighttime fluorescent mineral hunt. Saw this rattler just in time to step back. Still close enough to get rattled at. #hiking#mining#inyocounty#flourescent #rocks#geology#mojavedesert

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Further up the trail. #geology #roadtrip #rockhound #inyocounty #hiking#minerals#mining #prospecting#

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Glow sticks mark off important points. They’re not meant to illuminate but these from Home Depot are very bright. I came back with a headlamp, of course. #desert#mojave#mojavedesert#rocks #geology #minerals #inyocounty #hiking#explore

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Unedited bat footage. Fairly recent maps call this the Shaw Mine when in actuality there are a number of entrances and the name has changed from owner to owner. Open ground now that is in Wilderness status and only walking permitted. No bicycles, no handcarts, no machines of any kind. #nopahwilderness #roadtrip #geology#inyocounty #pahrump #mojavedesert #hiking

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A few nice red pieces but nearly everything else is yellow calcite that fluoresces under SW and LW. The red material only fluoresces SW. You can see in the first few seconds that even my Dragonfly won’t light up this side of the rock but then SW gives a nice red. The other side glows the usual calcite yellow. #flourescent #hiking #mojavedesert#geology #geologyrocks #mining #minerals #inyocounty#nopahrange

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I’m always hesitant about leaving my vehicle at night near a major road. I turned off my headlamp a quarter mile before the trailhead and walked with only moonlight in case something was waiting. No one at the vehicle but very loud music from another vehicle a hundred yards away out in the creosote, the first human activity I’ve encountered at this trailhead. I had my keys in hand and motored away in seconds. I’m sure those people were friendly but I wasn’t going to chance it at night and beyond cell phone range. My sat phone would need a few minutes to connect. I might not have had that time. #mohave #desert#hiking#explore#geology#geologyrocks#mining#history #inyocounty#

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Making my way back. #geology #roadtrip #rockhound #hiking ##mining#nopahrange#inyocounty#explore#geology#desert#mojavedesert

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Unedited handheld iPhone video. SW. Properly photographing fluorescent minerals takes a tripod and hours of fiddling to get the colors correctly displaying what they actually show under a lamp. The blue rock shows the infamous blue bleed that every photographer fights against, it is a problem between camera settings and the lamps themselves. Getting every rock in a group to show correctly on your screen is a major project, a great deal done in post. Too much time in post! #ecplore#geology#flourescent #minerals#madness#desert#mojavedesert#inyocounty

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A Few Miles Up Wheeler Pass Road

My writing website is here: https://thomasfarleyblog.com/

A Few Miles Up Wheeler Pass Road

Wheeler Pass Road near Pahrump, Nevada. Not to be confused with Walker Pass Road in California.
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Pahrump has a really nice racetrack. #racing#motorsports#pahrump#wheelerpassroad#nyecounty#explore#roadtrip

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Heading up the hill. Not enough time to find the end today. ATV land. Road big enough for commerce but no pier lines of any coming in. #geologyrocks #geology #rockhound #hiking #pahrump#nyecounty#exploring

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Countryside. #springmountains#pahrump#explore#geology#wheelerpass #geologyrocks#nyecounty#

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The things I get into. Put on full gloves at this point, some sliding, some hand over hand, big knee lifting in the draw itself. Where am I going? Everything moving on this hill. #hiking#geology#outdoors #desert#mojave#pahrump#junipers#mojavedesert#

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My faded plant background always slows me down. #geology #geologistonboard #geologyrocks#rockhound#rovks#explore

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Now to get down. Most of the time I had to hold on to scrub as all rocks were moving. That’s one reason for gloves, you can’t get a tight grip on most desert plants without gloves. I had a hiking pole but it couldn’t grip the moving rock, some of this was crawling backwards downslope, hand over hand, one rock at a time. Met a sleeping rattlesnake. Left him be. #hiking#springmountainsnationalrecreationarea #pahrump#explore#rocks #geology

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On a personal note.

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Requiem for a dead lizard. Before pest control came out to spray the house I am now renting, I told the landlord that “there was a group of happy lizards around the house so the pest control people should be cognizant of this.” The landlord said he talked to them and nothing they used was poisonous to animals.” Two hours after the guy left I found this dead lizard a few feet from my back door. Maybe a coincidence but I haven’t seen the other two or three several hours later and they were always running around and present. When I worked in the green trade in California I had to get a qualified applicator’s certificate from the State so I am kind of sensitive about this. I know I shouldn’t be upset about the loss of a few lizards but I told everybody in advance. And I am upset. #lizard#wildlife#littlethings#pahrump

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In The North Nopah. Again.

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I walked the edges of the gully going up, walked in the gully going down. No sign of anything man made on the way up until I got to the top. Disturbed ground actually just bare, exposed limestone. What they did on top would have only taken a trail. Audio boosted on all of today’s videos, the good mike is packed away somewhere with the other stuff I am moving. #geology #roadtrip#geologyrocks#explore#pahrump #inyocounty#nopahrangewilderness

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Working up the canyon. Setting my go back point. Or, I was. #geology #quartz #rockhound #hiking #geologyrocks #nopahwilderness#inyicounty#explore#nature#adventure#outside

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This was my stopping point until I saw higher ground. I bag all peaks. But it turned out to be a fairly wide, broad area of ground with interesting things all around. Next video. #geology #roadtrip #rockhound #hiking #rocks#geologistonboard #outdoors#nature#pahrump#inyocounty

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Unknowingly at this point, I am probably a hundred feet or more above an old working of the Nancy Ann Mine. It has to be below my feet which I’ll get to in another video. Check out the lichen following cracks or fracture lines in these nearby rocks. #geology #geologyrocks #geologistonboard#nopah#pahrump#explore#hiking#mojave#desert#mojavedesert#rocks

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These limestone hills may naturally contain many voids. These were big enough to sleep in. Absolutely no litter anywhere. What I found next was undoubtedly the opening to an air shaft for a mine below, probably well below. I’m unaware of any caves in these hills but entrances these days are not publicized except to a few in the spelunking community or whatever they call themselves. #geology #quartz #rockhound #hiking #explore#outdoors#nopahwilderness #pahrump

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Sorry this isn’t in portrait view. Above the shelters I heard a continuous noise on this fairly windless day. Did not have my external mike. Huge amount of bees around this opening. Constant wind noise which I usually hear from a mine with an unblocked opening somewhere. You tell me, air shaft for the mine or from a cave? People were definitely up here and though it doesn’t look like a man made opening, I’m thinking it could be little else. Could not feel any wind because of the bees preventing me from getting close but that has to be wind noise, coming or going. I wonder if there is moisture below and hence the bees. You tell me! #mines#geology#rocks#caves#limestone#exploring#tunnels#nopah#bees#desert#mojave#inyocounty#geologistonboard#geologyrocks#adventure

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Moving Out and Up!

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Your complimentary summer desert rain footage. #rain#mojave#desert#clarkcounty#roadtrip

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Old Spanish Trail Marker on Sandy Valley Road off of HWY 160. These are close or near to highways. The one at the top of Emigrant Pass in the south Nopah is fully one mile off of Tecopa Road by foot trail. #nopah#clarkcounty#roadtrip#oldspanishtrail #history#

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Upcoming move. #moving#nyecounty#kingdomofnye#artbell#coastocoast#nevada#geology#movingishell#rocks#mojave#mojavedesert

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A Quick Two Hours in The North Nopah

Last week I discovered some outbuildings to an old mine on the east side of this particular hill in the North Nopah WA. Today, I was trying to find some clues to the west side claims that make up the old Nopah Group. No luck today, the heat too great to stay out too long.
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A little video and some stills of a quick hike into the North Nopah WA this morning. #geology #roadtrip #quartz #hiking #rocks#rockhounding#inyocounty#pahrump#mines#minerals#explore#getoutdoors#mojavedesertcalifornia

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I always want to climb into canyons, even if they dead end, take hours to explore, or prove nearly impossible to come back down. #mojavedesert #quartz #rockhound #hiking #roadtrip#inyocounty#mining#prospecting #nopahwilderness

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Pretty country when it’s not trying to kill you. #mojavedesert #prospecting #geology #hiking #rocks#inyocounty#roadtrip#pahrump#geologyrocks#limestone #nopahwilderness

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Last notes for today from the field. Quartzite shown dry in the video, dry and wet in the still photos. #geology #quartz #rockhound #hiking #explore#lapidary#mojave#mojavedesert#pahrump#explore#inyocounty#nopahwilderness #

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