Spring in the desert is a magical time of year. Almost overnight the rocky landscape transforms with a blanket of green grass and delicate wildflowers. You don't even want to step off of the trail in fear of stepping on one of the fragile plants. Every morning we wander out into the desert and fill our lungs with the sweet aroma of brittlebush and sunbaked dust that hangs in the air. The jackrabbits bounce from one creosote to the next hiding in the shade, their long ears always alert. A little farther out the ground burrowing owls have taken up residence once again and stand guard by their burrows bobbing up and down if one wanders too close. The desert is bursting with activity and what's truly amazing is we get to enjoy this every day just outside of a city filled with 2 million people, all going about their daily lives, most oblivious to the beauty that surrounds them. 
The weather this year has been gorgeous. It's been too beautiful to stay indoors on a day off from work so we have been researching day trips around the Las Vegas area. We recently made a trip up to the BLM office and purchased some of their maps to help us locate closed claims in the surrounding area. Locating old claims and determining what's active, what's closed, and making sure you're not in an ACEC or other closed off area requires serious research. After consulting our maps, the LR2000, converting township/range information into GPS coordinates we were ready to load up our prospecting gear and head out. I was more concerned with getting all of our off-roading/emergency gear put together. When you head out into the desert you have to be prepared for any disaster that might happen and we travel with our two puppies so we always have extra food and medicine for them too. In fact, the dogs have almost as much gear as we do! I never leave home without my Kakadu backpack filled with my camera, journal, knife, water, and snacks. We also always have our trusty cooler filled with more drinks, ice, and food than we need but if you happen to break down or there is an unexpected delay that extra sandwich will make all the difference. Matt was in charge of the prospecting gear. For a day trip prospecting we brought 1/2",1/4",1/8th" inch sieves, a pan, 5 gallon buckets, digging tools, portable Vac-pack, big tub to pan in and 12 gallons of fresh panning water.
We settled on working a small exposure of bedrock down in a wash. We did a little crevacing and then vacuumed up the debris. All the material we vacuumed was then sifted and hauled back to the truck for panning. There has definitely been activity out there in the past because we could see the disturbances in the landscape from previous prospectors. We only had time for testing 1 five gallon bucket of material but we didn't turn up anything. We have some more test sampling to do on future day excursions. At the very least it's an excellent place to head out for a drive and maybe do a night or two of camping. I'm always content with just being outside and exploring the desert with my two puppies and husband.
Now, if you're not interested in wandering off into the lonely desert you can head over to the Techatticup Mine. Bobbie and her family run the business over there and are a great bunch. You can even take a tour of the old lode mine. They offer tours,kayak adventures, and there is also horseback riding which I highly recommend! Just down the road from Techatticup you can follow the paved road all the way down to the Colorado River and take a dip in the refreshing water. With all of the BLM land surrounding Las Vegas there is no reason you can't get out and have a day trip exploring. So much to see so little time...
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