Every year the guys over on Panamintvalley.com put on a great little event where people from all over the state and country come out to join in some 4 wheeling and exploring. Last year was our first year and we had such a good time, we had to come back. This is one of those events to where if you don't have your reservations months in advance for your campsite your not going to get a spot when the time comes. We decided this year to take off Friday and Monday and enjoy a extra long weekend. Panamint and Death Valley are both vast places and to be able to spend enough time in either is nearly impossible. Many of the runs we go on to explore take all day. We bring plenty of water, food and spare parts in case the worst happens. Remember: Always plan for longer than your actually going to be. In our case we plan for 1-2 days in the desert while out on a run. Even if we are only gone for a few hours. A few hours can turn into a over nighter real fast.
Day 1. We casually left town around 10am and grab a bite to eat. Then proceeded north from our area for the 3-4 hour drive. It's about 200 miles from our home to Panamint Springs Resort. PSR is where we'll call home for the next 4 days and 3 nights. On the way up the 395 we see some really cool army vehicles. One caught my eye immediately. A old half track. I had to stop and snap a pic. I mean.. how many times do you get to see a half track???
After calming down we headed northbound up the 395. Passing slowly through Red Mountain ghost town we turned off to a short cut through Trona, CA. This is the way we normally go. It's a little faster and the views are incredible. We filled up at the local Chevron in Trona before hitting up the last leg through Panamint Valley to the campground.
Great shot of us dropping into Panamint Valley from Trona.
Once at camp we setup our tent and enjoyed a early evening at camp. We met up with others in our group that arrived earlier in the day.
The dogs became friends really fast too. Scooby (Boxer) had a great time meeting Dixie (our Boston Terrier). They got along great.
The next morning we woke up to a beautfiul sunrise. Even though smoke was still on the horizon from the SoCal fires.
We made breafkast, packed up and headed out. Our initial plan was to run Pleasant Canyon and South Park loop. Unfortunately our rig was heavier than what the bridge is rated for. The landcruiser is sitting at around 7,400 lbs and the bridge up on the ridge is 6,000 lbs. I didn't feel like testing our luck. Plus we had a F150 with us that would have made for a tight squeeze. We ended up taking dirt roads out to Ballarat to Goler Wash and up to Barker ranch. It's always a fun run. If we had time we'd run over the pass down into Death Valley.
First stop was the old stage coach station in Panamint Valley. On our way out we ran into this guy. One of the many wild burrows in the park.
Dixie thought the burrow was a big dog.
The stage coach station. Or what's left of it. Im still trying to research more history about it.
We are standing inside the station in front of the fire place.
Next stop was Ballarat Ghost Town. They have a few old buildings, a small museum (if you can call it that) and a old power wagon out front. You can also camp in Ballarat if you choose too.
Courtesy of yourhometown.org:
In its heyday—from 1897 to 1905—Ballarat was home and headquarters for 400 to 500 people. It hosted seven saloons, three hotels, a Wells Fargo station, post office, school, a jail and morgue, but not one church. Ballarat was an oasis of fun, frolic, and relaxation—a town to go to and blow off the dust of long trails and hard work. The town began its decline when the Ratcliff Mine, in Pleasant Canyon east of town, suspended operations. Other mines nearby also began to play out, and in 1917 the post office closed and all that remained were a few diehard prospectors and desert rats Today, Ballarat has one or two full-time residents. As of June 2007, Rock Novak and his dog, Potlicker live in the town.
Starting up Goler Wash to Barker Ranch.
Group shot at Newmans Cabin
We stopped for lunch just past Newmans Cabin up at the next mine. There was equipment laying around from the old mining days everywhere. James took a big hike up to the top and captured this pic. Our vehicles looked like ants as you see the cruiser furthest away leading the group.
We proceeded on to Barker Ranch, AKA Charles Mansons Hideout. This is where they accidently found Manson hiding under the kitchen sink.
Courtesy of Total Escape.com:
This notorious place, is known as the last hideout of Charlie Manson and his "family" during and after the gruesome LA murder spree. The local county sheriff department & National Park law enforcement captured Manson and his group in 1969. At the time of his arrest, they were unaware of what they had on their hands. They wanted to prosecute the persons responsible for vandalizing a portion of the National Park further north, not even knowing that they had a mass murder suspect, plus a cult following of druggie kids. Barker Ranch is located in a rock & boulder filled valley near the top of the desert mountain range, lead to by sandy primitive backroads. Streams feed this little valley and provide much vegetation. There is a small one-room guest house located to the side of the main house. There is also a primtive style swimming pool made from cement and rock boulders towards the back of the property. There is a gate that should be kept closed.
Shot of the cruiser with the hideout behind it.
A shot of Erika, Penelope and Pelle standing on the front steps.
After taking a break and looking at the ranch we headed back down the canyon. The canyons are filled with old mining operations, cables and pulleys. It's very majestic coming back down the pass seeing the valley below.
Day 2 we decided to go to Darwin Falls and then do a all day pavement trip into the National Park. Heading over to Death Valley we wanted to see Scottys Castle, Ubehebe Crater and the Race Track.
Darwin falls is located about a 1/4 mile West of Panamint Valley Resort. Much of the water from the fall is piped over to Panamint Valley for water usage for all different applications. You park at the trail head and its about a 1 mile hike to the falls. The hike is pretty simple for the most part.. however certain sections can get very techinal. Examples would be water crossings on logs and slippery surfaces where you can easily fall into mud. Make sure to bring plenty of water with you and good rugged shoes that grip terrain well. We found out on this trip that they do not allow pets of any kind on the trail.
Shot of Darwin Falls in the 1930's.
Darwin Falls today.
After a short break, fueled up and grabbed a snack.. we proceeded back on the highway. Next stop was Scottys Castle.
A little history on Scottys Castle.
Construction began on Scotty's Castle in 1922, and cost between $1.5 and $2.5 million. A man named Walter Scott, born in Cynthiana, Kentucky and also known as “Death Valley Scotty”, convinced Chicago millionaire Albert Johnson to invest in his (fraudulent) gold mine in the Death Valley area. By 1937, Johnson had acquired more than 1,500 acres (6 km²) in Grapevine Canyon, where the ranch is located. After Johnson and his wife, Bessie Johnson, made several trips to the region and his health improved, construction began. It was Bessie's idea to build something comfortable for their vacations in the area, and the villa eventually became a winter home.
The stock market crash of 1929, dealt a blow to Johnson's source of capital, but did not immediately affect his sizable personal fortune. Another event in 1930, however, did make it difficult for Johnson to finish construction: President Herbert Hoover ordered the withdrawal of 2 million acres (8,000 km²) of land in the Death Valley area from public domain pending the creation of Death Valley National Monument. The surveyors sent to map out the boundaries of the new National Monument discovered that the original surveys done of the region in the late 1800s in service to the original homesteader residents had been completed incorrectly. As a result, it was determined that Johnson had not actually acquired title to the land where the "castle" had been begun, but instead a plot of land approximately one mile north and one mile (1.6 km) west of the castle property. Following this discovery, Johnson was unable to continue construction. He locked up the grounds and returned to Chicago. Johnson's property fiasco was rectified in 1935 after five years of court battles, but Johnson's main business interest, the National Life Insurance Company, had gone into receivership in 1933. This in combination with the hefty court fees and the price of re-purchasing his 1,500 acres (6 km²) in Death Valley left Johnson with little capital with which to continue.
Albert Johnson ceased vacationing at the castle in 1943 following the death of his wife, Bessie, in an automobile accident at Townes Pass in Death Valley. Initially, Johnson attempted to sell the castle to the Federal Government, as per the terms of the contract granted him when he legitimately purchased the grounds the castle sat on in 1935, which stated his obligation to offer the Federal Government the right of first refusal should he choose to sell the property. Due to the concurrent involvement of the United States in World War II, however, the Federal Government did not have sufficient funds to purchase it. In 1946, upon realization of his own imminent death and in acknowledgment of his lack of heirs, Albert Johnson created the Gospel Foundation, a charitable organization given the specific task of caring for the property. Johnson named family friend Mary Liddecoat president of the Gospel Foundation in part because her gratitude for Bessie's assistance in caring for her dying father years before compelled her to carry out Johnson's wishes exactly. Albert Johnson himself died in 1948 of cancer. In 1970, the National Park Service purchased the villa for $850,000 from the foundation. Walter Scott died in 1954 and was buried on the hill overlooking Scotty's Castle.
Yosh standing outside the front door of Scottys.
The property even had its own power plant.
After having a nice lunch and exploring the castle grounds (we didn't have time for the 45minute tour) we headed off for Ubehebe Crater. The crater was only about 15 minutes north west of our current location so this made for a small trip over the valley floor.
Ubehebe Crater is a large volcanic crater located at the north tip of the Cottonwood Mountains that is half a mile (one kilometer) wide, 500 to 777 feet (150 to 237 m) deep, and 4-7 thousand years old (Native American artifacts in the area indicate that 6000 years is the most likely age although estimates of 2000 years are common). "Ubehebe" (pronounced YOU-bee-HEE-bee) is a Native American word meaning "Big basket in the rock." The crater was formed when magma migrated close to the surface and the heat of the magma flashed groundwater into steam, throwing large quantities of pulverized old rock and new magma across the stony alluvial fan draped across the valley floor.
We tried to see if we could trip Bryan into the crater but we did not succeed.
After the long drive out to Scottys and Ubehebe we realized heading over the race track would take way too long. We simply didn't have enough time. So we headed back to barbecue some burgers. All the while in the back of our mind we knew that next time we'd have something else to go see.
The final day we woke up slow and didn't feel like leaving to face reality. We took our time making breakfast and coffee in the mobile chuck wagon. Then headed off for the Trona Pinnacles.
The cruiser kitchen.
Shot of Panamint Valley heading into the Trona area. Normally this would be a better shot, but because of the wild fires in the SoCal area it was still really hazey.
Arriving at Trona Pinnacles. Felt like you were driving on another planet.
The Trona Pinnacles is one of the most unusual geological features in the California Desert Conservation Area. The unusual landscape consists of more than 500 tufa spires (porous rock formed as a deposit from springs of streams), some as high as 140 feet (43 m), rising from the bed of the Searles Lake (dry) basin. The pinnacles vary in size and shape from short and squat to tall and thin, and are composed primarily of calcium carbonate (tufa). They now sit isolated and slowly crumbling away near the south end of the valley, surrounded by many square miles of flat, dried mud and with stark mountain ranges at either side.
The Pinnacles are recognizable in more than a dozen hit movies. Over thirty film projects a year are shot among the tufa pinnacles, including backdrops for car commercials and sci-fi movies such as Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, The Gate II, Lost in Space, and Planet of the Apes.[1]
The Pinnacles are truly much larger than they appear from a distance.
There was actually a tunnel we found on the west side. It had a old steel door and unfortunately it dead ended about 5 feet into the Pinnacle.
After enjoying our last stop on the trip we were now happy to be going home. Few hours back through some heavy winds we arrived back in town and were happy to find our home still standing. We had left the keys with neighbors just in case the wild fires attacked our property. We still had a place to live. We are very fortunate.