Karen and I set off for Fourth of July Butte looking for jasper and agate and geodes… zipping down Highway 10 in Roxie, taking the Wintersburg exit, then turning off on paved W Elliot Rd….then wait Wait…whats with the gravel, the volcanic rocky wash and trail….turn back? Oh no, not us! Down the volcanic bomb trail we went….littered with washes, turning to deeper sand and finally, a slight left onto Arlington Clanton Well road … so slight we missed it and went into the worst wash ever so we had the pleasure of doing it twice! Sigh of relief when we turned onto an almost straight sandy trail. A short time later we ran into our first gate with a sign so weathered we could only make out the word Keep in red. So I decided it was either Keep Out or Keep Closed! Since my road was the cow trail on the other side of it, S 467th Ave, I decided it was Keep Closed because there was no way I was going back down the way we had just come. So I opened it, Karen drove through and I shut it again 🙂 . The second gate had a clear sign saying Keep this Gate closed which meant we were on the right track and not trespassing….relief! This trail was much better than the last two and when we finally arrived at Agua Caliente Road we saw we should have used it, a nice wide gravel road. Karen and I looked at each other and said we’re taking this one home! A couple of miles got us to the Fourth of July Butte where we spent the next few hours looking for jasper and agate. Yes, Agua Caliente was a much better road!
On Jan 08 we decided to revisit Fourth of July, bringing Carmen with us, and YES this time we used the Agua Caliente route to get there. We were in Karen’s Honda – Betsy! There was a truck on the road ahead of us and Karen speculated that they were going to the same place and it turned out she was right! They were parked where we had last time and we also pulled in to park. It was a brother and sister rock hounding team – its always nice to be able to talk to someone who knows the area so you can find out information on other sites and of course to admire each others finds!
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