On May 9th, a few members of Panamint Charlie and I took a little day trip in western Death Valley National Park. Here is the same post I made at their board:
Here's how the day happened as seen through my eyes and camera lens.
Participants of May 9th included:
David Bricker, who originally posted this thread looking for someone to go with him and his work mate, Rodney, over Hunter Mountain and down Lippincott.
This is Rodney, a workmate of David's. I often wondered during the day how this sudden baptism by Death Valley was affecting this easterner, but he seemed to truly enjoy himself.
Jim "Rubiblue". Here he ponders the cryptic writings on all the teakettles, which seems to be a new slant to the age old tradition of festooning the sign with old teakettles. The junction sign was adorned with many brand new and brightly colored versions, with all manner of personal writing akin to what you might find in adopt-a-cabin journals. What the heck the boots have to do with teakettles, we haven't figured. Jim sarcastically mused "I wouldn't want to drink tea brewed in any boot except for Tony Llamas."
The other participants are (l-r): Chris "B-spec (seated on his ice chest/port-a-potti); next is Roy, of PSR; and Chuck, of Ridgecrest.
Graham, who is seen quite frequently on my website, and fellow Big Pine-ian. We're still trying to figure out who was strung up by his boots inside an adit of the Lippincott Mine.
Toby, the wonder dog. Toby belongs to Graham. Toby amused the group with his antics of attacking rocks and piñon pine tree weight lifting.
And last but not least, yours truly.
Vehicles on this trip were as diverse as the group itself.
B-spec and Roy rode in Chris' Nissan Xterra. Chris lead the group for the first half of the day.
David managed to rent this Hummer H3, which quickly became the butt of all of Rubiblue's jokes. David and Rodney rode together in this red tank. David only got stuck once ... then he found reverse.
Rubiblue's blue Rubi. Jim and Chuck rode together.
The '00 Tacoma TRD belonging to Graham, with Toby as his co-pilot.
And taking up the rear was my '02 Tacoma TRD. No one rode with me. Was it my cologne? Or all the dust I ate because I was behind everyone all day long?
Now, on to my story. And I'm sticking to it. I left my home in Big Pine a few minutes after 6:00 AM. I met Graham at the Union 76 station in town. We then drove down to Panamint Springs, stopping along the way in Lone Pine at the gas station at Carl's Jr. (now a Shell station) to top off our tanks and a spin through the drive through at McDonalds for a cup of hot coffee for the road.
Graham and I got to Panamint Springs Resort a few minutes until 8:00 after a leisurely drive down. I found David and his red H3 back at David's room and I greeted groggy David. I then spied Graham talking to Cathy, who now works at PSR, but used to work at the plants in Trona for many years. She and I caught up on the years since I left Trona and some of our memories of working there, while Graham caught up on filling his empty belly while awaiting David to wake up and the other trip participants to arrive.
After everyone got woke up and others arrived, we chatted on the patio of PSR for a while. Then we all got the radio situation sorted out - everyone had CB radios, except for David, but he had GMRS/FRS and the rest of us also had FRS capability. So we all got on the appropriate CB and FRS channels and lined up in front of PSR for the countdown to launch.
We all took off westbound on CA190 with Chris in the lead. The first stop would be the junction of that highway and the Saline Valley road. Here, we all dropped our tire pressures to help smooth out the ride over that road's legendary washboards (didn't let us down) and soften the ride over any truck eating rocks we might encounter. Then we took off northbound.
Chris' first stop on the itinerary was the Boxcar Cabin. Myself, I've driven by it numerous times, but never knew it lay hidden in plain sight not far north of the highway. I've heard of it, but never really knew where it was located. After a tour, a lot of talk and amateur inspections as to whether it really was a boxcar or not. A general consensus was that it was about the size of a narrow gauge boxcar, and the historians of our group was well aware of the sale to the public of much of the rolling stock of the Southern Pacific narrow gauge in Owens Valley after the line was abandoned in 1960.
The group in Lee Flat. The desert was quite green due to the winter's rains and snows and we found quite a number of blooming plants and shrubs.
Topping South Pass, we turned eastward onto the shoulders of Hunter Mountain. Part way up the trail was this overlook of Panamint Valley. However, the views were spoiled by some measure by two forest fires burning in the Sierra Nevada to the west. Lupine can be seen blooming in the foreground.
One of the sites I wanted to see was the Hunter Cabin. It was found via a dim trail and hidden in the dense piñon forests. I can only imagine what Rodney (seen at the right side of the cabin) must have thought about the quality of life in such austere and remote conditions in the late 1800s.
After we all regrouped back at our vehicles and chatted a while, thoughts turned to a spot to have lunch. I mentioned the road I've seen on the topo maps which runs along a ridgeline that juts out north from the mass of Hunter Mountain for some distance. Chris said that this road did come out at a promontory that allowed a nice view north and even included The Racetrack. So we all head out that way.
The group strung out along the trail to our lunch spot.
Our lunch spot with a view at 6,585 feet. I quipped to Rodney and David over the radio what that elevation would be like in New England, due to the fact that the highest point in that part of the country is about the same elevation. David came back and informed the group that ski areas boast of vertical drop of 700 feet. Instead of dense forests of pines and conifers, our lunch spot was full of flowers and Joshua trees. The grand vista of 360º took in deep valleys and high mountains.
My lunch of a simple baloney sandwich eaten with a group of explorers, Death Valley and 4WD enthusiasts is quite satisfying.
The view north from our lunch spot. The road in the valley below would be the same that we would be traversing in time. The view takes in Ulida Flat and Hidden Valley. The land dropped below our viewpoint at angles likely in the range of 60º or more and it looked almost like you could toss a rock and hit the road far below.
This lizard watched us eat while he did his pushups. I'm sure he'd rather eat flies instead of our eclectic lunch menu. Throughout the day we found many of his kind.
After we ate lunch, Chris left our group. He had to work the swing shift at Panamint Springs. The rest of us dropped down the northern and eastern slopes of Hunter Mountain and down into Ulida Flat.
Rounding a switchback at Goldbelt Spring, a hillside of blooming lupine turned the slope purple.
As the road dropped into Ulida Flat, Graham alerted the group to this group of three mule deer does along the road. Unfortunately, none of alerted David and Rodney to the sight via FRS until after we passed by. But, being from rural New York, I'm sure they've seen plenty of deer. And though I've seen deer down in northern Eureka Valley and often in the Owens Valley during winter months, it is still seems strange to me to find them among Joshua trees instead of piñon or conifers. I'm not sure why they were down this low when there was no snow on the slopes of Hunter Mountain.
Leaving a heavy dust trail through the bottom of Hidden Valley. The road turned to axle deep flour dust, which necessitated raising the windows, turning on the AC to recirc mode to keep from choking in a rolling flour mill. Rubiblue, however, kept chiding the rest of us via radio that real men in Jeeps don't need to resort to such measures ...
From the elevation of the Lost Burro Mine and lower, cactus was blooming.
Our group detoured for a while to the Lost Burro Mine. It was Rodney's, Rubi's and Chuck's first visit.
While David and Rodney explored the ruins and mines above the camp, Rubiblue, Graham, Chuck and I shot the breeze.
After exploring the Lost Burro, the next stop on the itinerary was the obligatory group shot at Teakettle Junction. Many of the teakettles had personal writings, dates and other curiosities. One bright red kettle was deposited as recently as the day before our arrival. What the boots mean, was anyone's guess.
Next stop was The Racetrack. Here David, Graham and Toby explore the first moving rocks found about a third of the way across the lake's surface. The view is northward with The Grandstand in the distance.
Of course, no trip to the moving rocks of The Racetrack can be made without taking photos! David gets down and dirty for his shot. By the way, Chuck, that walking stick sure looks to be posed to attack in a painful place!
One of the participants of the race at The Racetrack. David tried his best to give a scientific explanation, but some of us believed it was aliens ...
After viewing the mysterious racing rocks, we then set our sights on the old mines of the Lippincott Mine complex above the Homestake campground.
Returning back down into Racetrack Valley from the Lippincott Mine. David and his bright red Hummer is just out of sight in front of Rubi and about to get stuck and impede forward progress ...
The next leg of the journey was to descend the infamous Lippincott Grade. Here, David leads the way from the top of the grade. The sign is newly refurbished and enhanced over the old one. It was exactly 7:00 PM when I pointed my nose over the edge to roll down the Lippincott.
Descending the upper leg of the 4.5 mile long Lippincott. I noticed appreciable deterioration of the grade's roadway over my last descent last year, much to our delight.
Due to fire smoke and the setting sun, it was a smoky view of Saline Valley as we descended the grade.
David, Rubiblue and Graham far below me on the switchbacks in the center portion of the grade.
Stopping at the old boundary sign for the former Death Valley National Monument. The park's boundary is now a considerable distance to the west.
Down near the western end of the Lippincott road, down in upper (southernmost) Saline Valley.
By the time we got back to the Saline Valley road, it was nearly dark. The long (25.7) mile long slog back to CA190 was a tiresome trek over the rocky and corrugated road up Grapevine Canyon to South Pass and down across Lee Flat to the highway.
At the end of the Lippicott I decided to get rid of my heavy boots, long pants and change into flip-flops and shorts. The others had taken off swiftly, leaving me driving as if alone in the expanse of Saline Valley; which was rather pleasant. It was now solidly dusk, the air temperature very pleasant with the windows down and sunroof open, and not a light to be seen anywhere in the valley. Due to the road's surface, I kept my speed down to around 25-28 miles per hour. A couple of times things fell off my seats and dash. On fumbling around on the floor of my Tacoma to pick them up, I found two screws that used to be fastened to something on my dash ...
For a long period of time, I never saw any signs of the rest of the group. Part way up Grapevine Canyon, I began to see the lights of Graham's Tacoma hitting the canyon walls. At one point I was startled to round a bend and find an other-worldly scene of bright lights angling across my vision way up near the top of my windshield - David and Rubiblue were running up a leg of the road high up on the canyon's wall.
At South Pass, David attempted to make a phone call to PSR to order dinner before the kitchen closed, but couldn't get out. While Rubiblue was talking to the group on the CB, B-spec Chris overheard us on his CB from Panamint Springs and called out to find out what was needed for dinner. However, shortly after contact, we dropped below the overlook and the order wasn't completed. Rubi tried to contact Chris via CB numerous times after without success.
Arriving back at CA190, it was time to air our tires back up. It was now just before 10:00 PM. Rubiblue has this neat underhood compressor set up. I have another shot of Jim's setup, but he's pointing another portion of his anatomy toward the camera, which someone quipped was "plumber's butt" ...
Graham and I aired up our tires with Graham's SCUBA tank. But it was getting low and I only got two tires aired up to street pressure, one about two thirds of the way there when it ran out. I ran home with one front tire at 18psi, but the night coolness kept the tire only warm to the touch and a bit of front end squirreliness to remind me that I need to air up at home.
After such a long day, a cold beer sure sounded good while sitting on the front porch at PSR, sharing cold malt beverages with the group and rehashing the day and maybe solving some world problems (last night's peace talks accounted for David's late wakeup this morning). But being so late, the drive to PSR and then backtracking would mean Graham and I really wouldn't enjoy it to the fullest as it would then leave us driving bleary eyed along the long jaunt home to Big Pine. Rubi and Chuck also decided to head home to Ridgecrest via CA190 to Olancha, then south on US395 for home. So we all shook hands in the dark at the junction of the Saline Valley road and CA190 and parted.
Graham and I had our sights set on some hot food at Lone Pine. The former P.J.'s coffee shop, now High Sierra Café, is open 24-hours and its sign loudly declares that fact in bold letters. The restaurant has been in business for decades and was always a reliable source of food or beverage at any time of the night or day. However, strange for a Friday night, it was closed. The outside lights were on and the blinds raised, but the lights behind the lunch counter were dark and the place just didn't look right. Graham found the doors unlocked, but only the cleaning woman in the restaurant, who told him the place was closed. They better change their sign ...
Every other restaurant was closed in Lone Pine, except for Carl's Jr. I was surprised, as the place used to close at 9:00; but now stays open until 11:00 on Friday and Saturday. It was about 10:40 when we pulled in.
Graham is not an aficionado of fast food. In fact, he refuses to eat at a "choke and puke," as he calls them. He prefers the ambience of a regular restaurant, where he can relax over a cup of coffee. I guess he must have been hungry also. It was the first time he's ever set foot in a Carl's Jr. I ordered a "Six Dollar Burger" combo. Not knowing what to have, he ordered the same, but was rather annoyed to find they had no coffee. Being that it was only minutes until closing time, I figured they weren't about to make a new pot. Graham was rather surprised to find a tasty and good looking burger as the Six Dollar Burger.
Into the night north on US395, Graham and I pulled into Big Pine about 11:40 PM. I was now quite exhausted and bleary eyed. Graham suddenly quipped over the radio that he was now "wired," so was planning on spending time watch TV before hitting the sack. He bid me goodnight over the CB as I turned up my street and he drove to his abode at the north end of town.
Both Graham and I thoroughly enjoyed everyone's company. Everyone seemed to get a kick out of Toby's crazy behavior and his doing weird things with big rocks, all the while yipping crazily like a hyena on laughing gas. Wish we could have capped it off with a bottle or two of malted beverages on the porch at PSR, if it were two hours earlier I think we would have.
Hope you all enjoy my photos. I'm sure the other participants will add some of theirs here.
Hope Rodney didn't think all Westerners are this crazy ...
--------------------------------------------------------------
David A. Wright
Reconnoitering in the Eastern Sierra & The Great Basin by 4x4
