Every October we head for Death Valley because the temperatures start to drop and the weather is usually the best. Specifically we camp at Panamint Springs Resort in Panamint Valley. We usually try and camp primitive or remote, but PSR is nice because you can take a nice hot shower after a long day on the trail and you can walk across the highway for a warm meal followed by a large Rogue bottle of brew. It's simple, it's easy and more than anything it's turning into a tradition. Panamint Springs was originally built in 1937 by William Reid to serve travelers on what used to be the tollroad from Stovepipe Wells to Darwin. Today its changed hands many times and boasts a restaurant, motel and a gas station.
So we headed out friday night like always with the cellphone in hand and forwarded from the office. One day, we won't have to work from the road anymore. That one day is far away i have feeling! Once arrived at PSR i pulled out the corn on the cob and hot pockets i cooked on the 5+ hour road trip to Death Valley under my hood. Yes, i said under my hood. We have a manifold basket under our hood on the header side of the engine bay. The corn was perfect. I don't know if it was being in the middle of the desert but i swear that was the best corn i have ever tasted. Steamed with the corn husk still on, it was good eats for sure. The hotpockets... well they were hotpockets that were cooked.. not much else to say about that.
A shot of some food being cooked in foil in our engine bay oven basket.
That night we setup camp as minimal as possible , disconnected the trailer and settled in for the night with an ice cold beer. I guess this should be the part where i tell you about the keg that showed up. It didn't just arrive by happenstance or suddenly fall from the sky.. it was brought out by a friend of ours Pelle who has a friend at Pyramid Brewery. When he said that he was going to bring a keg to camp several months before we didn't believe him. Now it was starring us in the face, yelling out "drink me!!". It was rough let me tell you.
We paced ourselves with the beer and knew that the next day would be a long one, so we saved our beerfest for the following night and headed for bed.
Morning came and we made quick work of breakfast so we could meet up with the rest of the group. Line up would be set at 9am at the shell station and just like any other day, it came faster than we usually expect. No problem, i was excited and ready to roll first. At this point we met up with some Jeepers from the Panamintvalley board and a FJCruiser driver from the Expedition Portal board. Our plan was to head out to the Racetrack via Hunter mtn and run a loop back after heading down Lippencott grade.
Airing down on Saline Valley Rd. just off highway 190.
We were headed for Hunter Mtn Rd. which according to this sign was 17 miles out.
Just a side note before i go any further. When you travel to remote parts of Death Valley or anywhere for that matter.. make sure to always go prepared. Bring plenty of water, not only for you but your vehicle. Bring food, bring tools, bring anything you may need to survive. At any given point you can become stranded and have to walk out and you need to be prepared for anything.
Heading out on the washboard road.
Crossing Lee Flat through the Joshua Tree forest on the Nelson Range.
Next stop was Buckhorn Boxcar Cabin.
The name isn't just a coincidence, the cabin supposedly served as a box car. I can't find much History on it. It's supposedly an Adopt-A-Cabin too.
Here's some shots of the inside.
James found a dinner bell laying around.
Before leaving we signed the guest book.
Off we headed, it was a long day so we had to keep moving.
Along the ridge there were stunning views of Panamint Valley and the dunes on the desert floor.
Dixie kept a keen eye on our travels at all times.
After reaching the top of Hunter Mtn at 7500 feet.. we headed for William Lyle Hunter Cabin. The current cabin was built by a "packer" named John in 1910 using left over materials from a previous cabins on the ranch dating back to 1875.
Here's a shot of the cabin back in 1959.
If you'd like to read more about the Hunter ranch you can visit the Death Valley history page here
After taking a small group shot, we left Hunter Cabin for the descent down to the desert floor again.
We dropped fast through switch backs and twisty fire roads.
Once at the bottom we drove on the flat land for a bit and crossed a silt bed to arrive at TeaKettle Junction.
I tried to find any history on the sign.. but i couldn't locate anything. Teakettle junction basically speaks for itself. It's where people hang tea kettles on the road sign at the intersection of RaceTrack Rd and Hunter Mtn Rd.
People come from all over the world just to see this sign. One of the people in our group said that the writing on this kettle was Russian. Crazy.
If you find yourself at this location remind yourself your deep into Death Valley. Don't let the rental cars fool you. They shouldn't be in these parts. Here's a fine example.. 2 flats and nobody with the car when we arrived.
Rumor has it there was a flat bed seen out near Ubehebe crater coming in from Nevada to get the car. Talk about an expensive tow truck bill. I hope they didn't walk out on foot for their sake.
After checking out the tea kettles we made way through some of the roughest washboards i've ever been down. I've heard stories, but never knew how bad it was till we drove it. The section from Tea Kettle Junction to the Race Track is flat out horrible.
Arriving at the Racetrack Playa, we chose to eat lunch first before checking out the lakebed. Yosh hanging out on the tailgate of the Landcruiser with the racetrack in the background. No camping is allowed along the dry lake.
The Racetrack is a dry lake bed where rocks seem to move by themselves. Scientist are still trying to figure out how it's happening and there's many rumors behind it. Some say its when the weather gets really cold and the lake bed forms a small ice layer while the winds increase. Some say the lake bed just gets slippery when its muddy. Nobody really knows. I've even heard that a local college setup cameras for a few days and never saw anything. It's a wonder thats for sure. Here are some photos to better explain.
Dixie having a blast running around off leash. She's not big enough to hurt the protected lake bed.
The rock formation that is known as the Grandstand on the outside north edge of the lake bed.
After the Racetrack we headed down Lippincott Grade or known as Ubehebe Rd on some maps. It's a rugged short cut that runs from Saline Valley to the Racetrack over a ridge of mountains. At its highest point it's 3,830 feet and at it's lowest 1,946 at the Saline Valley side. This trail required full attention from the driver at all times. If you don't pay attention you may end off the side of the shelf road.
Notice the "no tow service" sign? The national park doesn't even list this trail on their maps because they don't want tourists to take their Dodge Neons down the road. It's marked at the bottom with a rock cairn and thats it.
If you plan on running this trail, low range is a necessity. Riding your brakes down this entire 6 mile trail would not be a wise choice. Also, if you plan on taking a wide vehicle make sure to double check the trail as wash outs are common because the trail is not maintained.
The trail starts off with a bang and runs next to cliffs the majority of the way.
Lippincott Mine off in the distance across the canyon.
Coming down switch backs with plenty of breath taking views of Saline valley.
The trail didn't waste any time coming down..
You can barely see the Landcruiser in this photo
Pelle's h1 was about the widest rig i would ever want to take down this trail.
It some spots he was close to sliding off the trail. But even then he had a few feet to play with.
Small mine we spotted around one of the turns.
After a ton of switch backs and a good hour or more to drop down we finally made it out to Saline Rd. where we would head back to highway 190.
We were the caboose so i was stoked to grab this amazing shot of the group heading back through the Joshua Tree forest.
After airing back up to street pressure to drive back to camp on the highway, Yosh and I stopped at Padre Crowley Point for a photo or two. Named after Father John Crowley, Padre of the desert 1891 - 1940. He was actually the first priest to ever celebrate mass on top of Mt Whitney. Pretty crazy.
It's a nice overlook into Panamint Valley.
After being out all day we made it back to camp and were ready to hit the keg and relax around the campfire for the night.
James fired up his grill and cooked some chicken, while i burnt the heck out of some scallop potato's.
Group shot, what happened to Chris's hands? Oh that's what happens when you flip off the camera man?
The next morning came way too early and after some heavy winds we all could of used a few more hours of sleep. Dixie and Tommy didn't seem to care though. All Tommy could think about was Dixie.
Drinking my morning cup of coffee thanks to Pelle or James.. can't remember. Thanks guys.
Well, this was the day that we were supposed to head home already. But i had one more stop up my sleeve. Wildrose Canyon. Wildrose canyon is a beautiful area at 7,000+ feet where the air is cool, clean and the trees are abundant. We packed up our gear and Yosh and I grabbed the trailer. We all planned to hit Wildrose Charcoal Kilns on the way home.
After climbing up the mountain, we arrived at the Charcoal Kilns about an hour later.
The Swiss designed them and Chinese laborers built the kilns in 1879. They used them to burn the tree wood in the area to produce charcoal for the local mine (Modock Mine). They were only used for 3 years so they may be the best condition kilns around. Basically what they did was fill the kilns with wood and burn them off to make the charcoal.. but it took a long time. Something like 6 to 8 days and then they had to let the kilns cool before wagons could take the charcoal down to the smelter mine. Wild.
Yosh and Dixie inside one of the kilns.
Many of the kilns still smell like smoke even today.
Small group shot of those of us that went to the kilns that day.
Heading back down into Panamint Valley and eventually home..
After saying our good byes we all split up into smaller groups and headed home via 395. It was another successful Death Valley trip and we were happy to be along for the ride. Thanks to James and Sylvia for inviting us out on this run and letting me lead in some of the runs. Can't wait to do it all again next year!
Photo Credits: AdventureDuo, James Chatary.
Special Thanks to: Pelle Klein and Steve from Pyramid Brewery