Lost Gold & Haunted Mines: Desert Legends of Ocotillo Wells

The Legend of Pegleg Smith

More treasure hunters have searched for Pegleg Smith's lost gold than any other legendary mine in the American West. The story begins in the late 1820s with Thomas Long Smith—a Kentucky-born mountain man, fur trapper, horse thief, and world-class liar who earned his nickname after losing a leg to a Comanche arrow in 1827.

According to legend, Pegleg was transporting beaver pelts across the Colorado Desert to Los Angeles when he climbed one of three distinctive buttes to get his bearings. At the top, he gathered a handful of heavy black pebbles, thinking they were copper. It wasn't until he reached Los Angeles that someone identified them for what they really were: gold nuggets coated in desert varnish.

The Black Gold Nuggets

The key detail that has kept this legend alive for nearly 200 years is the description of the gold itself: black-coated nuggets, heavy for their size, that revealed brilliant gold when scraped with a knife. This description matches what happens when gold is exposed to the desert environment for millennia—it develops a coating of desert varnish, the same dark patina you see on rocks throughout Ocotillo Wells.

Pegleg reportedly got drunk, started a brawl, and was kicked out of Los Angeles before he could organize a return expedition. He later stole 300 to 400 horses and drove them to New Mexico. It wasn't until after the 1849 Gold Rush that he returned to California to search for his three buttes—unsuccessfully. He organized multiple expeditions in the 1850s, all failures. He died in a San Francisco hospital in 1866, still claiming the gold was real.

The Search Continues

In February 1965, Desert Magazine received a package that reignited the legend: two gold nuggets—one still black, one cleaned to reveal the gold beneath—accompanied by an unsigned manuscript. The anonymous sender claimed to have found Pegleg's gold after years of searching near Ocotillo Wells, northeast of Borrego Springs. The manuscript detailed a decade-long effort yielding over $300,000 in nuggets (equivalent to roughly $25 million today).

The nuggets were confirmed as real gold and displayed at the Desert Magazine office for years. At least four other black nuggets have been found in the Colorado Desert area since—all within 30 miles of each other. Coincidence? Or evidence that Pegleg's story was true?

Devil's Slide & The Haunted Mines

Rising 200 feet above the desert floor, Devil's Slide is one of Ocotillo Wells' most iconic landmarks—and allegedly one of its most haunted. This granite and sand formation is actually an ancient decomposing mountaintop, its rocks coated in the dark desert varnish that gives them an almost otherworldly appearance.

But it's what's hidden in the mountainside that fuels the ghost stories. Several old mine shafts from the gold prospecting era are scattered along Devil's Slide, remnants of miners who came seeking the same fortune Pegleg Smith claimed to have found. These abandoned mines have given rise to persistent tales of supernatural activity.

Legendary Destination

Devil's Slide

Named for the challenge it presents to OHV riders, Devil's Slide offers everything from gentle sloping sand dunes on the south side to thrilling mixed-terrain vertical climbs that get progressively harder the higher you go. But stick around after dark following a rainfall, and you might see something else entirely.

The mines are said to be haunted. People have reported seeing flickering lights near the mines at night after a rainfall.

GPS Coordinates 33.1728°N, 116.1019°W

Elevation 200 feet above desert floor

Skill Level Beginner to Expert

Camping Not Permitted at Devil's Slide

No one has definitively explained the flickering lights. Some attribute them to phosphorescent minerals activated by moisture. Others suggest the phenomenon is caused by gases escaping from the old mine shafts after rain changes underground pressure. Skeptics dismiss the reports as headlights from distant vehicles or campfires. Believers maintain the lights are something else entirely—the spirits of miners who never found what they were looking for.

Ghost Lights of the Desert

The flickering lights at Devil's Slide aren't the only unexplained phenomena in this region. The broader Anza-Borrego Desert has been notorious for ghost lights, mysterious apparitions, and unexplained sightings for well over a century. These stories add another layer of intrigue to your Ocotillo Wells adventure.

The first documented account of the "Phantom Lights" of Borrego was reported in 1858 by a Butterfield Stage driver. Since then, soldiers, prospectors, and explorers have reported seeing similar lights near Oriflamme Mountain, over Borrego Valley, and in other nearby areas. The lights appear and disappear without explanation, sometimes hovering, sometimes moving across the landscape.

Are these stories true? That depends on who you ask. But riding through Ocotillo Wells at night—under a canopy of stars with no light pollution, the desert silent except for the wind—it's easy to understand why people have seen things they couldn't explain. The landscape itself feels ancient and alive, holding secrets it's not quite ready to reveal.

Hollywood in the Desert

In 1970, a film crew arrived at Ocotillo Wells and built something strange: an entire agricultural station surrounded by planted fields, rising from the desert floor. It wasn't a real farm. It was the disguised entrance to a fictional underground laboratory in one of the most scientifically accurate science fiction films ever made.

The Andromeda Strain, directed by Robert Wise and based on Michael Crichton's bestselling novel, tells the story of a deadly extraterrestrial microorganism that wipes out a small town after arriving on a crashed satellite. The film follows a team of scientists racing against time in a secret underground facility to contain the threat before it spreads.

The sets are long gone, removed after filming wrapped. But knowing that this desert landscape doubled for a top-secret government facility adds another dimension to exploring Ocotillo Wells. The production chose this location specifically because of its stark, otherworldly appearance—the same quality that makes it such a unique riding destination today.

The Pegleg Smith Liars Contest

Every year since 1916, storytellers have gathered in the desert to honor Pegleg Smith's greatest talent: lying. The Pegleg Smith Liars Contest, held annually in Borrego Springs, is the longest-running storytelling competition in the American West—over a century of tall tales spun under the stars.

The contest was started by Harry Oliver, an Academy Award-winning art director who became obsessed with preserving the lore of the Anza-Borrego Desert. Oliver also created the Pegleg Smith Monument—a growing pile of rocks where visitors are invited to "add ten rocks" if they seek Pegleg's gold. The pile has been growing since 1947.

• When: First Saturday of March, starting at dusk
• Where: American Legion Post 853, 4515 Borrego Springs Road
• Format: Five-minute tales judged on presentation, originality, costumes, and inclusion of Pegleg Smith
• Warning: Don't say "Pegleg Pete"—that's a different character, and you'll lose points
• Cost: Free admission; food and drinks available for purchase

The contest welcomes all kinds of stories—funny, bizarre, nonsensical—as long as they're not too profane. Western-themed attire or tuxedos are encouraged. Contestants are judged by the Committee to Accumulate Curious Tales of Incredibility (CACTI). Yes, that's a real organization.

Explore the Legends Yourself

Ready to ride through 200 years of desert mystery? Here's how to incorporate these legendary locations into your Ocotillo Wells adventure:

• Devil's Slide: Ride the south-side sand dunes for an easier approach, or challenge yourself on the increasingly difficult terrain as you climb. Stay until dusk after a rain and watch for unexplained lights—bring a camera.
• Three Buttes Hunt: Keep your eyes open for distinctive three-butte formations as you explore. Every rider has their own theory about which buttes Pegleg climbed. The black rocks you see everywhere? They're covered in the same desert varnish that supposedly coated Pegleg's gold.
• Pegleg Smith Monument: Take a day trip to Borrego Springs (just west of Ocotillo Wells, in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park) to visit the monument and add your rocks to the pile.
• Night Riding: Ocotillo Wells is open 24/7. Experience the desert after dark—when the ghost stories feel a little more plausible and the stars are spectacular.

And who knows? Maybe you'll find something everyone else has missed. Stranger things have happened in this desert. Just ask anyone who's attended the Liars Contest.