Ghost Mountain Thanksgiving

My son and I spent the Thanksgiving day exploring Little Blair valley and Ghost Mountain. We revisited the jet airplane wreckage and some Native American features he had not seen before. We also took a trip up to the Marshal South home site and hiked over to the top of Ghost Mountain. I was surprised how few people were camping in Little Blair for the holidays.

The Marshal South home site. The old cement pond and what is left of the house.




This is the "dump". I found many of the large mouth glass jars common to that era here and also many of the same down in Carrizo at the railroad camps.


This is the kiln the South's used to make their pottery. It looks much smaller than the drawings Marshall South submitted to the Desert Magazine articles.


My son reading the Ghost Mountain register. I had come up here back in June and the next register entry we saw was from November, no visitors for 4 months. You can see Granite mountain in the far off distance. It was a gorgeous day.


I saw this nice "Y" shaped cactus at the base of the mountain

The House Forgotten - ABDSP

In the 1945 July Desert Refuge article written by Marshal South he describes an old Indian rock shelter they discovered on one of their many exploration trips out into the desert area. In the Marshal South Book, the oldest son Rider South also recalls his father referring to it as "The Fortress" since it appeared to have many smaller shelters built up all around the main shelter providing what appeared to be a protected fortress.

On a recent hiking/exploration trip out into the open desert over the centuries old sun baked volcanic rocks I stumbled across this very shelter. I was not aware at the time what I had found but later a person with more knowledge about the area and the Marshal South history pointed it out to me. I later went back and read the article by Marshal South published almost 66 years ago and was amazed to see the resemblance of the rock shelter and how a few of the plants sketched by Marshal South were still growing in the same spot I had photographed.

Here is the sketch Marshal South drew in the 1945 article

Here is the photograph I took in July 2011

Earthquake / Vallecito Valley - Part 2 - ABDSP

Here is Part 2 of my trip, for Part 1 look here

After a long day of kicking cactus and pulling rocks out of my boots I had a few ice cold beers and ate some late lunch. 5pm was still early in the day for summer so I hoofed it up to the Marshal South Home location. I was sorta half out of it and was taking pictures with the lens hood on and twisted sideways so forgive the black corners.

For more information about the Marshal South Home check out this documentary website:

Marshal South Documentary Website

Buy the book, it is a very interesting story, I guarantee it!

Brief History of the Marshal South Home (click to enlarge)


Looking at the rear of the home ruins from inside the house. The front of the house actually faces east, not west


View of the house ruins. The bed frame is against the rear of the home


This is the front door


View of the cement pond and house ruins


Old sun dial, I have seen older photos that show an actual rectangular piece and not just a bolt so this may just be leftovers


Some cool rock shelters



Part 3 coming soon...