Exploring Chloride, AZ & Christmas Tree Pass, NV

I thought it would be fun to check out Chloride, Arizona.   Autio (footnote 1) said it has the longest continuing post office in Arizona. The area had a big silver mine and had over 5000 people living here. It declined when people went off to fight the war. There are people still living here and they pride themselves on “junk art.” I asked Kevin, what makes someone’s junk be deemed as art? HAHA

It was fun driving around the town and seeing the places. They have a little restaurant and some tiny shops but we didn’t stop. The “Rock Hound & Dog Library” (pictured above) gave us a good laugh.

“I’m With Him” Chloride Cemetery, Chloride, AZ 01/26

We went to Chloride Cemetery for Find A Grave (footnote 2). This cemetery had a post at the end of the rows and a letter to mark the lots which made finding the headstones easier. Very nice. Kevin was wearing colors that blended in to the landscape so much that I had a hard time finding him as he was on the other side looking for headstones for the photo requests. HA

One day our truck battery died. Kevin got it jumped and took it to O’Reilly. He found the paperwork of the new batteries we got in 2023 in Oregon. Sure enough, one battery was bad. Both batteries were replaced, no charge to us. Whew!!!

Child Quilt Donation 01/26

Did a little sewing today. I was going to quilt the lighthouse panel and did a little but then I stopped. I didn’t want to do that anymore. So, make something else, right?! I found a pattern that uses 5-inch squares and since I have several charm packs, I started with one. 

We decided to drive Christmas Tree Pass. Didn’t know much about it but we see the sign as we pass. Did a brief look up and it is a 15-17 mile (depending on which website you look up) of gravel/dirt and need a high clearance vehicle. Good thing we took the truck. One website said there were beautiful views of the Colorado River but we never saw it. Maybe you have to hike a little. We saw a turn off to Grapevine Canyon. This is where you can hike a little way and see hundreds of petroglyphs. On we went and what a drive. The big thing was the different colors and textures of huge rocks and mountains. Also different trees.

We wondered why it is called Christmas Tree Pass. It used to be a Native American trail to some of their sacred places like Spirit Mountain. We read that later people would decorate the Christmas trees along the way. We didn’t see any of those kinds of trees until we started down on the west side. Yes, beautiful juniper and pinyon trees – the kind of Christmas trees I grew up with. The BLM discourages the decorating of the trees, a website said. The mountain pass climb to 5000 ft elevation- we knew we were getting to the top when we saw a mountain top covered with antennas. HAHA

Down on the other side ended up at Hwy 95; Searchlight, Nevada, is just about 10 or so miles. Then turned down the road that ends up at Lake Mohave, the Colorado River. This area is run by the National Park Service, is it is part of Lake Mead Recreation Area. There was no one at the fee area. There are several campgrounds down here but the sites are so tiny and no one in them. Only one campground host RV. There is a community of single wide trailers that are well kept and most have boats and water toys. No one was on the water today; we don’t know if it is the season – which is weird – or too windy. Very strong winds and warnings today. It was a great drive.

*The blog posts are taken from my daily travel journal. Would you believe – it takes me a 1/2 day every week to whittle down a week’s worth of journal so it won’t be too long for the post each week. HAHA Thank you for reading!

1. Autio is an iPhone app that tells all sorts of history and stories about places all over the country. It is narrated and with my iPhone on accessibility, it shows captions of the words being said. So thankful!
2. Find A Grave – https://www.findagrave.com/about