There is a Potty Garden by the Gold Eye Mine!

Monday, December 1, 2025 

The start to a new week and month. Goodbye November and Hello December. One thing just so you know, November, you flew by way to fast. 

Thanks to a few friends I now have a some new thoughts humming in my brain I will not be letting go of for a bit...lol

Looking out the window it is another day of blue skies and sunshine. It is a little chilly, 45 degrees, as I  start writing this on Tuesday morning the 2nd. Then I checked the temperatures our family and friends are enjoying back in the "frozen north". So, I think we will enjoy all the predicted high's in the 60's these next few days and even the lows in the 40's thoroughly.

So the decision on Monday was to take a ride after lunch. Tom had come across something called the Potty Garden. I ask you, how could anyone pass up going in search of toilets lined up in the desert filled with silk flowers? Obviously not us, so off we went with the vague directions, north of the Gold Eye Mine. What follows below are several pictures, okay to be honest it is a picture overload, the ride to our successful find, and the ride beyond.

Looking towards Sugar Loaf Peak in the Dome Rock BLM.
We are on Cholla Road heading back towards the mountains.

We are looking for a specific road.

We found it, it just was not the right road.
Bottom right, we have turned around and headed back to Cholla Road.
 It was not a bad detour.

In the top left of the above collage you can see what the power of water accomplished. A good chunk of the road is gone. On this ride and our last one we saw several places on the roads that had been washed away. Especially where the washes cross the road, we have been over some good size grooves.

Then we found the right road.

A little ways down the road we came upon this sign success we found the Gold Eye Mine . Now to find the Potty Garden. In the upper right photo we could see where people are mining. A little farther and we could see a flag and what looked like the remnants of a cabin in the distance. I zoomed in on it. We kept going and there was a sign with the word cabin on it and an arrow pointing right. So we made the turn and a little farther another sign with the same instructions then we saw them a row of potty chairs all filled with flowers.

What we came looking for.

One of the first things I saw was the flag up the hill behind the above picture.

The Erdman Cabin

 

There was a plunger in one of them and even a bathroom sink.

The Potty Garden was created by Lehre Erdman the original miner of the Historical Gold Eye mine.  He also built the stone cabin that is there. He spent 63 years at this mine. Interestingly the Quartzsite area has been a beacon for gold miners since the 1860's.

I could not find any information about who maintains this all now but it is obvious someone does. It is well kept up. There is no admission fee but there is a box for donations and it did mention donating silk flowers. 

Inside the Erdman Cabin

You will notice there are items in the above pictures some are said
to have been left by Lehre Erdman.

There is the remnants of another cabin across the way.

Bottom picture: this must have been a sitting room. On the shelf
there is what is left of an old television. 

This is someone's claim.

Tom thought this looked like an old mine shaft; it is fenced in,

Looking down from the Historical Gold Eye Mine.
Mr. Erdman enjoyed this wonderful view for 63 years.

We have now continued past the mine.
We could see several holes where people had dug
into the side of this hill looking for their fortune.

Some of the road we continued down. 
There was a sign that said La Paz Valley and an arrow pointing which
road and we did start down that one, which we have been on in the past.
But then we made a right turn to the one above. 

I just liked the look of the mountains in the distance.

We saw several Teddy Bear Chollas, some Buckhorn Chollas
and one Prickly Pear.

One lonely Saguaro overlooking the road we are on.

I wonder how old these guys are?

Dome Rock Mountains where in our view as 
we drove along.

The Ocotillos are mostly still dressed in their lovely little green leaves.

This is were we turned around. 

Looking at the map I could see we were coming to the end of the road. Yet we kept saying one more turn lets go over one more rise then we saw the end off in the distance. I zoomed in with the camera and that is the picture in the top left. We could see a transmission tower in the center of the large grey area. There was also a white vehicle down there. No doubt the "Jeep with No Name" was capable of taking us there but we sat a minute and decided not today we had gone far enough. 

We had passed a road that looked like it would take us in the general
direction we needed to go mainly easterly and it looked pretty good.

So instead of backtracking we decided to take it even though we could not see a road marker which meant the map was useless. But, like many times in the past, we headed down it anyway hoping for the best. By that I mean we were hoping we would not come to something we could not go down or up because more then once we have had to turn around and enjoy even more backtracking for that reason. But what is life without a little adventure into the unknown...lol

Along the way we could see the moon rising. It is faintly in the
upper left corner. The Sleeping Indian is in the bottom right.

Then there it was a steep descent into a wash with the ledge right
next to the road. It really doesn't look that bad in the picture.
On the right is from the bottom. 

Not to far and the road got interesting and for the first time in 
awhile Tom got out to check ahead. 

Ahead was the steep climb out. I am not sure why I did not have him stop at the top for that picture. It actually was less of a challenge then the coming down. Besides there was no other way to go to get out. Once we reached the top the road ahead was lovely, flat, and we recognized where we were. We knew there was one more wash ahead to cross but not one to worry about. In fact, our Jeep Trailhawk had taken us from Kuehn Street down that wash to the crossing ahead of us.  

The one on the left I had taken a while back the one on the left 
just before we reached the end of the ride.

Top picture: La Paz Valley in the distance.
Bottom picture: Old Yuma Road and we are headed home.

It really was a fun ride, the type we had not done in awhile. Especially after we stopped at the mine and Potty Garden. Though if we decide to go and finish that road down to the transmission tower, two things, we will leave earlier in the day and there will be  backtracking to where we decided to go right instead of left. The thing is we had been left before, right looked inviting, and it was.

So ended a nice little afternoon adventure for us near Quartzsite, Arizona.

If you have enjoyed the pictures I have put out there 

or the words I have added that makes me smile. 

If you have time to leave a comment they are always special to read. 

No matter what I am glad you stopped by!