Death Valley 2010 Holidays

Death Valley 2010 Holidays

Day 1,      I was late getting to Santa Cruz for the start of the trip on Friday morning. Linus and Phil were already at the corner gas station waiting for me. We left soon after 0430 for Trona Pinnacles.      It was an uneventful drive down to Ridgcrest where we refueled and did last minute shopping for groceries. Then we were off to the Pinnacles a half hour away.      Upon arrival at the turn off the road had signs saying it was closed. As we could see other vehicles on it we went around the signs and crossed large puddles on the road. Arriving at the Pinnacles we soon spotted Brett and joined him at his red 88. A dry(relatively) campsite was picked and I headed off to look around.      I drove around an checked things out while others set up camp. It had rained and was very wet and muddy in places. We had a fire in a stone ring inside a tufa circle around 20,000years old! Linus and I slept in the open under the full Milky Way. The Moon rose late to give an eery feel to the night. There was a strange thumping coming from the factory in Argus. Phil and Carol slept in his Volvo and Brett in his 88. Day 2, Sat.,      I got out of my bag at 0800 no-one else was up the sun shone dimly behind the clouds above the Eastern tufa.      After Breakfast we left at 0930 and headed N on Hwy 178, Leaving Phil and Carol behind. A quick fuel stop in Trona to top off and we truly started our adventure. Climbing over the mtn pass we turned to the left up a dirt track and found a mine site which Brett, Linus and I thouroughly explored. On the way out we ran into Phil and Carol again.      Back on the pavement we headed to look for the Minneta mine. Taking the Nadeau Trail Rd, so named for the wagonmaster(Renee Nadeau) who carted ore from the mine down it, It still services an active facility of some type. But it does continue on as a real ungraded desert dirt track up to the Minneta mine. The Nadeau Trail is a rocky trail going straight up the West side of the Panamint Valley. It was here that I would find out the difference of the parabolic springs I'd gotten off Brian Horner. They were awesome! What a difference, it seems the rideover rocks is more like a sine wave and not like a triangle. Hard to explain but definetly more comfortable.      We came to a Y in the trail and Linus and Brett went to the left while Phil and I continued on. Brett and Linus wound along to the mine while Phil and I intersected the main road that led to the mine. We drove up to the supervisors cabin and checked it out and it was so nice we decided to stay here instead of Jail Canyon.      Next we went up the canyon trail to the end of the road, here Linus got hung up on a rock during his turn around. Along the way we found a silver mine with 2 shafts one of which had collapsed. We explored the other entrance which took about 15-20 min to find all the ends of the various stopes. This turned out to be the Minneta Mine. Onward up the trail near the end is the remains of a stone cabin. About midway between the two were the remains of an old cabin which we explored. Then we all meandered down the canyon to check out different places we had seen going up. Linus and Brett climbed up to the top of the mine while I checked out a stone corral and the remains of the screening plant. Phil and Carol climbed a goat trail to the middle shaft above the screening plant.      Nearing dark we came back to the cabin, cooked and ate, set a fire in the woodburner and settled in for a possible rainy night. Well it did rain but only briefly. Day 3, Sun.      Linus, Brett and I got up and headed out about 0830 to Ballarat, once again without Phil. The days plan was to do the Pleasant Canyon Loop trail, which involves going down "Chicken Rock" in South Park Canyon. It is an offcamber turn with a steep drop off on a narrow shelf road. Phil's top heavy Volvo might be too much for it.      At Ballarat we stopped and aired down and asked about the road conditions in the canyon. We were told that it had rained alot last night. This we could tell as there was standing water on the road and desert. No-one had been up or down since the rain.      Pressing on we headed up the westside of the Panamints into Pleasant Canyon. It turns into a tight weed choked path which today had water running down from rain and snowmelt. Eventually the weeds ended and we came to the World Beater Mine. We stopped here to check out the ruins.      Then it was onwards and upwards, past the Adopt-a-cabin. At around 6000 ft we hit the first of the trees. At 6500ft we hit snow. It was fun at first and then as we salomed along amongst the trees the snow got deeper. I was in the rear, Linus and I had CB while Brett and I had FRS radios, and following in thier tracks. Then it happened............I got snagged by the snow and pulled into a low tree branch. It slid over the bumper and pushed in the front of the corner of the wing and popped out the outside above the wheel arch. Not to be done it knocked my wing mirror loose and slid down to the door mirror which it promptly broke off.      I got out to pick up the mirror and found I was parked on top of it. I tried to move forward and could only move a few inches. Getting out again I retrieved my mirror, glass unbroken. It took a little bit of rocking but eventually I was moving forward again. After a beautifull drive thru the snowy trees we reached Rita's cabin and a Y in the road. After a quick lunch we tried for the pass.     Heading to the pass I had difficulty following in the tracks of Linus, looking back I should have aired down more in the snow. Alas, I was having too many problems with traction and Linus was having the same further up the road. We decided to turn around.      Back down the canyon to Ballarat where we let them know the road conditions. Now we turned South down the Wingate Rd. looking for South Park Canyon. In our rush we missed it and had to turn around before we got to the Briggs mine. A quick turn around and a few miles later we were churning up South Park Canyon(SPC). We sucessfully negotiated the first few steps with Linus in the lead. Then I got behind and had trouble getting up the last one, denting my front diff housing twice. Linus and Brett came back, lined me up and over I went. Over the step that is.      Soon we were in sight of the cabins and saw the flag was out at the Briggs cabin. Upon further investigation we found it empty so we 3 moved in. It was around 1600 so we quicly cooked dinner and moved in. Brett as usual slept in his rover after cutting firewood, some tequila and storytelling.