The remote place I lived in before when I was small (see:
https://thetolkien.forum/threads/animals-me-cosplays.31244/post-596341) was a desert area with red soil (due to the high iron content). From the late 1800s to the present day, there has always been mining going on there, for various metals. In the past, mines used to be networks of holes and tunnels in the ground (these days they are just giant pits).
Some of
the old mines in the general area have been kept as museums of a sort, that you can visit, and others have just been abandoned and may be completely unmarked (which you really don't want to 'visit'). I've seen both. At one 'museum' location, my dad and I went down into the mineshaft with a bunch of other people. It was a vertical hole with an elevator, and then the tunnels became horizontal underground. Two people could walk side by side in there, it was very dark, and the ceiling was not far from the adults' heads. I thought it was really awesome though (makes a nice change from the extreme brightness of the sun). In one area they demonstrated an old drill, which was a large piece of machinery with a sharp, somewhat spear-like end, and it made a clattering, clanking, thudding sound as it ran, which was very loud in the confined space (I hid behind my dad).
At a different time, my family and I were out walking in the wilderness (as we did, for exploring purposes), and we went through an area that was full of abandoned mining holes (smaller ones, that people probably used ladders to get in and out of back in the day). My mum was warning me to watch where I walked and not go running, as the holes were all flat in the ground, and you might not see them until you fell in. I did crouch down and look into one of the holes. The depth was somewhat more than the height of a person. The tunnel then went horizontally and you couldn't see into the darkness. Presumably it linked up with some of the other holes. I did wonder if there was anything down there, like lost dead bodies or something.
These make me think of the mines of
Moria after their ruin, or the
goblin tunnels in the
mountains. Or maybe even worse tunnels and mines, like in the lands/strongholds of
Morgoth or
Sauron.
Anyway here are three pictures showing the area, though I don't have any of the mines.
Above is a dust storm due to strong winds. Very dry climate, but if the red soil is watered, it is so rich that anything will grow there (see how green the grass is). A bit like the barren Anfauglith plain, with the green grass over the hill of the slain. Though Anfauglith was probably greyish rather than red.
In summer, the sky is cloudless and extremely bright, with temperatures often reaching 45 degrees C (113 F). As it is completely dry heat, it feels like the blast of an oven when walking outside. Though I liked it, and I still feel cheerful and energetic when we have a hot, bone-dry summer (I live near the coast now, so that is not often the case).
There was also a
horse race every year. I thought the
horses were awesome! Seeing them galloping at high speed is always exciting. Here you can see an area of darker red soil, and the sky is very bright.
^ horses galloping
There were some completely barren
places, though. Like this one below (that is a mirage in the distance, not water). It's an expanse of salt, and there's me scratching marks in the dry ground. Maybe this is more the colour of Anfauglith! 😁
The wasps love it that hot, though.
