Not quite THE definition of middle of nowhere but pretty darn close!  We reach the top of a drive up a steep mountain ridge on Amboy Road and began the slow long descent into a huge valley.  The floor is stark creosote studded Mojave Desert with vast swatches of dry lakebed, barren salt flats.  Still some 15 miles out, we see the black, symmetric silhouette of the Amboy cinder cone rising up from the desert flats.  Closer, we begin to see the lava fields that stretch out from the cone.  A few wildflowers dot the desert areas but the cone and lava field look absolutely lifeless from here.  On our right we pass one of the dry lakebeds is actively being mined.  Equipment dots the horizon and soil is piled seemingly randomly for as far as one can see.  Between the piles are trenches or patches of parched bare dirt all cracked and curled up.  Signs claim the mine produces sodium chloride and calcium chloride… it is not a pretty sight.  It is a good thing someone thought to protect this cool cinder cone and crater from the advancing mine.  I doubt that progress would have halted itself. It is a little too hot, bright sun and 83, to head out right now but we plan to hike the cone and crater a bit later this afternoon