Camp Ibis was established in 1942 as a temporary desert training site for soldiers on their way to North Africa during WWII. Close to one million troops trained in this area between 1942 and 1944. The camp was disbanded in 1944. Over the next ten years cleanup projects recovered debris from high explosive projectiles, land mines, grenades and small arms. Some may remain so stay away from any suspicious objects. We didn’t see anything and I suspect that very little would have been in the camp area.
Since this was a temporary camp the roads were all dirt and most are now overgrown or washed out but there are at least three that can be driven on. They lead to large open areas that make good campsites. Our spot was a little noisy due to its proximity to the road.
Camp Ibis 34.97187, -114.83086
I looked at the map to see where you are & noticed you're right next to Dead Mountains Wilderness Area. "Dead Mountains Wilderness", now that's a descriptive name!
ReplyDeleteI might expect to see that name on a map out of a JRR Tolkien book!
I read 'they' closed Telephone Cove and a number of other areas, have you had any problems finding a place to stay?
No problems so far. We've moved to Pahrump where we'll probably stay until it gets too warm. I found about 15 spots in Nevada, mostly dispersed BLM, that look like they'll be good when we have to move on.
DeleteI'm a little upset with the BLM office around Quartzsite because they declared the LTVA areas and the dispersed camping near them, full to capacity when that is not remotely true. We were just at Roadrunner four days ago and it was almost empty.
I hope it's nice and warm at Camp Ibis, or at least warmer than NorCal. Plenty of wide open spaces out there!
ReplyDeleteExcept for some very windy days the weather has been nice down here. I think it may be a bit cooler than normal which is good because even though Quartzsite BLM is not full there are more people in some spots than normal for this time of year. I think they're refuges from all of the states that closed state parks and national parks.
DeleteI've driven that stretch of highway several times and never knew about Camp Ibis. I might need to stop there someday.
ReplyDeleteWatch for the historic marker on the east side of 95. Some of the Camp Ibis roads must continue for a good way because we saw an RV way back by the mountains but I have no idea how they got there.
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