Day 8, Fri.
After a lazy start we headed over to Saline Valley Rd and to McElroy Canyon. Here Andy knew of a cabin. He had actually met the owner in the past. Andy has been coming to Death Valley since 1947 and is 82 years old.
Andy knew the way and soon we reached a Y in the road I drove up the left side and stopped about midway up. Then I hiked over to the edge of the wash and spotted the cabin on the far side of the wash below me. Using the radio I directed the others to the edge of the wash where they continued down and across on foot to visit the cabin.
The story of the cabin is that a man in Lone Pine in the Owens Valley was told of a valley on the other side of the Inyo Mtns. So he packed up a beehive and hiked over the Inyos( a 6000 to 7000 ft climb) and found this canyon where he built a cabin from drift wood and stone. Subsequently he hiked back over to Lone Pine and brought back a dresser. He thought he was alone with Saline Valley to himself. He never went down into Saline Valley and from his cabin you can not see much of it as it sits on the side of a wash. Then one night he saw lights moving along on Saline Valley Rd. But now the cabin is known as "The Beekeepers Cabin". If I remember correctly the cabin was built in the early 1900's and he stopped living there in the 1940's.
After visiting the cabin Andy took us to the wop-a-sha, a warm water spring. This one is a concrete pond with the biggest bullfrogs I've ever seen! Then we headed back to the springs for dinner.
After dinner and storytelling and chasing Rachel(Mo's 6yo daughter) around,
 I headed over to the springs where Andy was holding court. I spent the next 5 hours in the springs socalizing and star watching while listening to a couple play music and sing.
All too soon it was midnight and the bonfire lit and fireworks set off. One man jumped naked from the spring and went out to stand by the bonfire! (not me). I was in bed by 0100.
Day 9, Sat.
We rang in the New Year with a nicely cooked communal breakfast.
It was decided to head out today and get an early start on the long journey home, we could cut 3 hours off by staying in the Boxcar Cabin. So we packed up camp and our first target was Hunter Canyon south on Saline Valley Rd.
It quite evident that no-one had been there for some time as there were no tracks in the soft ground. We climbed up off the valley floor along a very rocky road. At the end was an old falling down structure. Once again those that could hike went off up the draw to the canyon mouth to see what they could see. I stuck around and looked at where I was, here I found the weathered post that has NANBI LINE on it.
When the others returned we headed back towards the road, as we decended I espied a curious rock structure that turned out to be an old arrastre.
 An arrastre is an old way of grinding up stones to make dust so you can pan the ore out of it, it consists of a circle of flat stones upon which other stones are dragged around by a burro tethered to a central post. Andy declared this as the best one he's ever seen.
We then continued over to Grapevine Canyon along the way Mo hit a rock and dented his wheel causing a flat on his 109. Meanwhile Brett and I were ahead having a cattle encounter of the third kind. Drovers were bringing a herd of cattle down the canyon as we were headed up. Later on Rachel was allowed to pet one of the calfs.
It was cold so when we got to the Boxcar Cabin Brett and I refueled our vehicles and aired up for the trip home(Thanks Brett!) then we set fire in the woodburner and boiled hot water for drinks as the others rolled up.
Linus and Andy had decided to go to Panamint Springs Resort and get Andy back to his truck so Andy could visit his friend in Keeler. So they departed quickly for about a 3 hour round trip. The rest of us cooked and talked and played with Rachel. After dinner Rachel crashed hard and the 3 of us Mo, Brett, and I talked and stoked the fire. Linus returned and after more talking and a few beers we hit the sack.
Day 10, Sun.
We got up and quickly packed in the cold and left in the freezing morning. At the gas station in Olancha Linus and I said good-bye to our 9 day camping buddy Brett, and to Mo and Rachel. We were headed to Bakersfield and they to L.A.
I caught up to Linus in Wasco after a snowy crossing of the Tehachapi's and under my transfer case was a large puddle of oil. Lunch was across the street and the puddle grew there. I went over to a closed business and tightend the bolts holding the cover plate on, 6 of them were loose! Linus went on ahead as I stopped and added 2 qts of 90wt. Along the way home my drive line started to vibrate and I worried about that on the rest of the way home. I later found that the U-joint by the parking brake had lost all the needle bearings in one end. I replaced all 4 driveline u-joints once home.
Other than that the rest of the trip home was uneventful until I came to the valley in which I live. A strong storm had come thru and knocked down a couple of trees along Hwy 9 causing me 1 detour.
All in all I had a great time despite the cold and the wind. Thanks to Linus for letting me come along and to Andy Browne for all the history he shared. To Brett for coming and being in the moment with me!
Mark your calendars for this year! 2011
gene
Sun gps stats
Stopped 9h 39 m
moving 18h 23m
max spd 70.7mph
moving avg 35.3mph
overall avg 23.1mph
odo 649.42mi
total ascent 26,0073ft
max el 6,283ft
|
Photos can be seen; <a href=http://www.picasaweb.google.com/poppageno/>here</a> |
I have managed to get some of my videos from Death Valley this
Christmas out of my memory card and up onto YOUTUBE.
Enjoy!
gene
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUxiR0Sxmao
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgYpn8cRPV4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRS-TGaO3FI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3VR-rAskqg
Great read, Gene!
ReplyDelete