Death Valley 2011 page 2

It was cold and crisp when we awoke! the potty chair was even colder! After breakfast and packing up it was off down Warm Springs Rd. through Butte Valley and into Death Valley proper. Warm Springs Rd. is lots rougher than it looks from a distance making for slower going than I had thought. One last pic of the Striped Butte as I went by.

As we wandered into uncharted(for me) territory we came down to the warm spring itself, described to me by Linus as a small puddle in the ground. To our astonishment there was a Defender 90 parked at the spring. It belongs to a fellow from Socal(Dave?) and his daughter, Victoria.

A quick chat and photos then it was off to explore the springs.
I was amazed to find there are several buildings(one had a walk-in refer) here and a swimming pool, presumably filled by the spring. There is enough room to park probably 40 rovers and camping room to spare. One building has a screened in porch and a fireplace in the main room.
We hiked to the spring and Chris went back to the car soon followed by Linus. I then got into the spring. It is about 12'x7' and about 8" deep with a gravel bottom at about 99F. Very comfortable!

The Indians used to winter here. I soon was relaxed in my private corner of the world, a fissure in the cliff filled with warm water........
After a while I realize Linus had not come back an thought perhaps they were waiting on me as I had been so long in the spring. Quickly I dressed and looked at my watch, 20 min had gone by, I had thought more like an hour. I returned to the buildings and Linus had been engaged in conversation. He then took a short dip in the spring.
After the spring we headed on down to Westside Rd and turning left we headed North.
Now this road is graded, a real pleasure to drive after all the bouncing along. We then turned left again at the road to the Queen of Sheba mine. This road was one of the worst I have ever been on! Rocky-off camber for about 3 miles. And I only had 2-wheel drive, but we made it.

There was time to look around before dark fell, the mine is the remanants of a lead mine with lots of stuff still to be looked at. We spent the night in a cabin with no interior walls and only 1x10's on the outside with nothing covering the gaps between.

The woodstove proved very capable of keeping all 3 of us warm. We each had a set of springs to sleep on that night as Chris dragged one in from down the hill for herself. The view was something else from all the windows!

Bright and early the next day saw us packed and ready after breakfast and down the rocky road to the Westside Rd. again turning North. Quickly we passed Galena Canyon Rd. and headed for Johnson Canyon.
We then drove to the end of Johnson Canyon some 10.5 miles. Here there is a camping area with a fire pit across the stream.

Then we undertook the hike to Hungry Bill's Ranch further up the canyon. Hungry Bill was an Indian who was always wanting food and eventually had this ranch with fig and apple trees.
The hike is not easy and goes uphill along cliffs.

I got the chance to try out my ankle and some hiking poles. They helped me to maintain my balance on some of the more difficult ups and downs, as well as relieving some of the weight off my ankle as I hiked.
It took awhile to get there and not much is left, just some stone walls and some trees.

The trees were leafless due to winter but some had old fruit on them. After a look around it was back down the trail, easier this way as most of it was downhill. Just imagining the prospectors and wagons going thru on the way to Panamint City in the 1850's was fun. It shows how the canyon has changed over time as the bottom is now choked with bushes but here and there you can see remains of the walls for the road.
Once back at the cars we exited the canyon and headed North on Westside Road again hoping to camp at the cabin at the end of Trail Canyon. Along the way we stopped at the grave of Shorty Harris.

We were almost to the road for Trail when we came upon a stranded motorist. His rental Ford Tarus failed to start. It had some electical problem as a relay kept on turning on/off about 10 times a second. He had phoned for help and the car would not jump start from Da Snork. He had water and food and the tow truck was on its way so we left him.
Soon we passed a Ranger headed in his direction and we could see a dust cloud coming from the South so we figured he was OK. Then it was up Trail Canyon.
Trail Canyon Rd. is the northernmost road off Westside Rd. It goes 10.4 miles to where it bifurcates and on the left is some buildings from an old mine and a cabin to stay in. The right used to go to Aguereberry Point but is closed now by the Park due to a washout.
I drove about 10 miles up in 2 wheel drive then things got rougher so I locked in my front hubs hoping that it would help. As darkness fell in the canyon I turned on my headlights and lost sight of Linus up the road. Bouncing along I hit one good bump and my 30 amp relay failed and my lights went out. I just kept on going in the growing gloom. Linus warned me of a steep uphill to the cabin over the radio so when I saw it I just hit it hard in 2 low and clambered over the rocks and dirt to the top. As Chris and Linus unpacked I went to work on my headlight and bypassed the relay.
Once again it was a comfortable night with a woodstove and spring beds for all.

We only had one mouse for a visitor and after finding how he came in we covered the hole with a brick.
Early to bed and early to rise. Linus and I took time after breakfast to look around at the mining operation. there is a workshop and junkpiles, old cars half buried, a bunkhouse that someone is fixing up but the new roof was partially torn off. Across the wash we could see a hole in the ground and we went to investigate. It turned out to be what we thought was someones home, a hole with a door and rocks stacked up for a wall. Barely room to lie down in, food tins scattered in the entrance downhill.

After exploring we packed up the Rovers and headed out. Our orginal plan was to do Echo Canyon next but my not having 4x4 meant we would see if we could get to the Inyo mine instead of doing the whole crossing into Nevada.
About 3/4 of a mile after leaving the mine the springs on Da Snork came loose again. This time we lost parts and no amount of searching the trail turned them up. We needed some thin spacers and one thick one of about 1/2 in.

I drove up towards the mine where Chris was on foot looking and together we looked around the junk pile and found some items that might do including some bolted together with 2, 3/4" bolts.
Since neither of us had packed a hacksaw(DUH!) we took turns using my file to cut thru the bolts to free the plates. Chris was a real workhorse on this as she filed away!
After finding a plate that worked and bolting it back together we decided to head to Beatty, NV. for repairs, forgoing Echo Canyon.(Next year!) Jouncing down the road and checking tightness every so often we made it to a side canyon we had seen on the way up. Stopping we hiked in about a quarter mile and oohed and awwed at the rock formations.
Back in the Land Rovers and out the Canyon onto Westside Rd. headed North to Beatty we passed thru Furnace Creek where diesel was $5.31/gal. Hwy 178 leads to the Beatty cutoff and Hwy 190, once into Nevads it turns into Hwy 374.
Beatty is a small town and as we drove thru we took note of the local auto shop and stopped at the hardware store where Linus picked up some U-bolts and other bolts to use as locator pins. I bought a hacksaw! One to just keep in the car. From the hardware store with Chris's urging we went to the Bailey's hot springs about 6 miles East of town to camp and get a hot soak. We booked in and found there was no fire pit available :^(. We left Linus's Rover there and piled into my 88 and went into town for dinner at a BBQ place.
We returned to the auto shop and found it was just a guy working on his car and he would help Linus in the morning by drilling some holes in the damper plate.
Meawhile back at the hot springs we set up camp and used a tarp to block the wind between the 2 Rovers. Then we indulged oursleves in the springs. Man it was COLD that night with the wind blowing and buffeting my 88 througout the night, I slept with the catflap down to shelter some from the wind.
It was 26 inside Ignotus in the morning I am sure the windchill brought it down to the teens or single digits though. We got ready to go and Ignotus wouldn't start???? I've been having an issue with the glowplugs so I thought it was them. We need to eat so we piled into Da Snork and went to Denny's curtesy of Chris. Thanks, Chris! Then back to the camp.
We farted around for quite a while trying to get it to go, even melting 2 of the glowplugs with the jumper cables. I did have spares to replace them with!
Then it was time to go meet the guy in town so Linus and Chris left me to work out what I could with Ignotus. I checked for grounds, opened the dash and checked the wiring and switch,I checked for fuel at the injectors, I moved the glowplugs around. Nothing was making it start but the plugs appeared to be working. I had to come back out of the wind about every 10 min it was so cold and as I sat there in my car I thought what could it be, I should have had about 2 gallons of fuel in the tank at the end of last night. So I checked the fuel guage and it showed MT. That couldn't be right it was bout 1/4 tank when we went into town last night it was only 14 miles round trip. But I dumped in 5 gallons of diesel and primed up the system. Sure enough it started up, boy did I feel dumb!(still do).
I couldn't raise Linus on the CB so I headed into town and came across him just at the edge. A quick meeting and I went to fuel up($3.64/gal diesel) as they went shopping. We met again at the military surplus store. After a look around we headed out of town to do Titus Canyon.

Death Valley 2011

Well It was on again. Last Dec 17th Linus and his Mom, Chris, and I headed to Death Valley. Actually Trona Pinnacles,35 37'03.85N 117 22'05.19"W, home of fabulous tufa pillars.
The Trona Pinnacles are about 380 miles from home and takes around 8 hours to drive there including pit stops so it makes a good place to camp prior to entering the National Park.
We left at the butt crack of dawn 0500 and arrived around 1500 after stopping in Ridgecrest, Ca. to stock up on groceries and fuel. Trona Pinnacles are about 22 miles East of Ridgcrest. We did spy a green 109 in town at a Import repair shop. Ridgecrest is a slowly growing town surrounded by Military bases like China Lake. I feel it makes a great jumping off point to Death Valley.
Arriving at Trona we set up camp in a bowl surrounded by tufa.

I have most of my camping stuff compartmentalized so I decided to sleep in my Rover and not tent up if possible.
In the bed I carried 3 NATO cans of fuel and 2 of water. There was 1 large Rubbermaid Action Packer filled with cut lumber and 2 small ones, one with kitchen stuff and the other with bath/first aid. Added to the pile; the sleeping bag, laptop.
Along the sides of the top of my wheelwells I have old laundry soap plastic tubs. In these were spares parts, food, recovery gear, lubricants, air compressor. A pile of firewood made up the rest of the bed load. All kinda tied down with ratchet straps.
At the roof gutter line in my 88 I have installed a 1/2in piece of plywood that is a full shelf from the seat bulkhead to the back, full width. In this I keep the light stuff, tent, clothes, hiking staffs, repair manuals. The plywood works great but probably needs to be thicker or better braced to keep from flexing. The cutout opening needs to be revamped also as it can sometimes pop open. The next one will be in a jigsaw puzzle piece design.
So with the bed empty and the tailgate down I can put in the sleeping pad and bag and still sit up under the shelf. Which came in handy as the first night was windy and threatening rain!
We'd stopped at Subway for lunch and brought the rest of the sandwich for dinner. That makes it easier after the long drive.
A short look around as night fell, 1630 for sunset! Build a fire and try to be warm. Did I mention that it was WINDY?
Too soon we went to bed, I in my Rover and Linus on his cot and Chris in the ground wrapped like a burrito in bag, pad and tarp. I think it was 1930h. It did sprinkle during the night but not enough to make for mad scrambling back into the vehicles. The wind was ever present though.
Dawn came(0730) and so we all got up and fixed breakfast of oatmeal. It was around 34F. That done we packed up and headed out to see if we could find a 109 in the desert that Linus had heard about while in Ridgecrest.
Day 2 saw us heading north on Hwy 178 through Trona (no gas) and North around the top of the Slate Range. Then just past the Nadeau Trail on the right is a dirt turnoff with a road leading over a rise, here was the campsite of the mystery 109. It's owner is Dave Brady from Winnamucca, NV.

Dave's had his 109 since the seventies and has kitted it out nicely with bed, solar, cabinet, Timm Cooper disc conversion, Chevy engine with Scotty adapter.
After a short visit and address exchanges we backtracked down 178 to the road to the Escape trail over the Slate Range.
The escape trail was used in 1850 when Manly and Rogers left the Bennet-Arcane families and walked to Los Angles resupplied and came back to Panamint Valley to show the Bennet-Arcane families the way thru Fish Canyon to safety. Imagine 1850 and walking to LA........Without a single loss of life!
I scrambled around on the trail trying to find the correct route as I had only been over it once before with Vincent and he was driving. After a brief detour to an abandoned mine we found the way.
The trip over was uneventful but fun as we climbed and decended the hills and ran across along the dry desert ridges. We did however run into a Range Rover going in the opposite direction. The first view into Panamint Valley is wonderful as you overlook from Goler Wash up past Ballerat, coming out across from the CR Briggs mine.
At the bottom of the wash there is a plaque to the efforts of Manly and Rogers. From there you head out down the alluvial fan to the dry lake bed. It is a rocky slow trip. At the "T" we turned right and headed South along the base of the eastern side of the Slate Range. The road winds along between the base and the playa. Here we saw antelope,..er..I mean burros who watched us drive by. After a bit the road drops into a shallow wash and on the other side is the road to Goler Wash at the intersection of Wingate Road.
Linus headed up the road to Goler as Butte Valley was our destination for the day. We climbed up and into the canyon and were too soon at the gatekeeper.
Da Snork took a few tries to get up and after each attempt we restacked rocks. Eventually he drove up. Then it was my turn. I put it in 1 low and hit the rebuilt pile of rocks and got my front wheels up on the ledge and stopped, rocks spitting out from my rear wheels. Linus called out that my front wheels were not turning. I had everything locked in and in gear, it should have turned a front wheel!
I backed down and put it in second low and hit the rebuilt plie again with the same result, wheels on ledge not turning. So I sat there got out the winch cable. Once hooked up to Da Snork with Chris on the brakes I pulled my self up and over the gatekeeper.
There was only one more place along the trail to Mengel Pass that caused me a problem as it did Linus. I had to use the bypass though. The whole time my front end was locked in and kept making these popping sounds like something was winding up and letting loose.
We made it to the pass and started down into Butte Valley, after we got through the tough stuff and almost to the flat Linus stopped as something was not right with Da Snork. A quick inspection showed the right rear spring pack was loose and shims were missing.
Chris walked back up the trail and found the missing pieces. Yeah, Chris!! Meanwhile Linus and I found the u-bolts had come loose and the locater bolt had sheared off. I scrounged around in my kit and found a bolt that was at least the right diameter but too short.

With all the pieces Linus bolted it back together and we went in search of a cabin for the night as it was close to dark.
Russell's cabin was occupied and Stella's dirty so we stayed at the geologist cabin.

Dinner was fixed and packages of food and cans of beans shared. We brought plenty of wood for the trip this time and it was not as cold as last year so it was not too bad. I think it was around 830 when we bedded down inside on the floor.