We did the same and I hope that the money makes it to the Friends of Briggs. I have a feeling it will.
Taggart was ready to head out.
We enjoyed exploring some more canyons before heading to Panamint to refuel and continue on to Saline Valley.
The Monkey danced a lot on this trail.
We passed this modern miners/prospectors on the way down. Additionally we also passed some guys towing up a generator and another trailer. I assume with the extremely high price of precious metals it's now worth mining at even a small level again.
You really never know what you're going to see around a corner in Death Valley. So many random things.
Right when you think you'll be on a dusty dry road that dumps you back into Panamint Valley you find more water.
From this:
To this:
To full pinstriping:
Ballarat is great and it's worth it to stop and talk to the only town resident. I mean two residents. Rocky and his dog Potlicker. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballarat,_California
We did some high speed dirt and about an 8 mile paved section to Panamint Springs.
The beer selection at the bar is fantastic. You can go over to a cooler wall and pick out all sorts of obscure beers from all over by the 6 pack or individual bottles.
We grabbed a couple six packs of the new Sierra Nevada cans and headed out. This was the weekend of the big Adventurerider.com NOOBS ride so although they're mostly great guys we wanted to get away form the crowd.
Time for some high speed dirt to Saline Valley!
Once we got into the valley the wind started kicking up more and more. What had started out as a still morning in the canyons of the Panamint's had turned into a 60-70MPH Haboob that was sand blasting us and our trucks. I felt bad for R on her dirtbike! OUCH!
Finding the road of the truck in front of you was difficult. We quickly realized that we needed to find some shelter from the storm. We decided to head up Beverage Canyon to another adop-a-cabin to get away. Finding it proved difficult when you can't see the turn.
From that last shot to this in just about a mile of climbing up a canyon. Thank goodness the air was relatively still up here.
We made it to our camp in the canyon.
This cabin is no where near as nice as the others we had recently been at, but none the less it was still interesting. A little creepy, but interesting none the less!!
Shag carpet brightens up any home. Just ask the Brady's!
Lots of VW parts laying around this old mining camp.
There was also a mine shaft leading straight down from the inside of one of these containers. I guess a safe way to protect your mine when it's too hot to work in the summer is to literally lock it up.
Who wants to go for a swing??
Time for a good old drum fire.
The wind storm still raged in the valley as the sun set.
Another good night around the fire with friends.
The morning is light is great for photos. So is sleep. I tend to side with the latter.
Today a few people in the group were headed home. 4 of us decided to keep on exploring! This would be day 6 for me.
Neat old truck. It looks as though it was a city dump truck for many years before being bought and used for mining in Saline Valley.
The wind was far better today and the sky was particularly clear.
These shots are of the upper Hot Springs pool. The lower couple tend to have lots of people so out of courtesy, no pics of those.
R was glad to have a nicer day today!!
Leaving Saline Valley behind.
Just after this corner I walked out to a lookout point. Just to see what I could see. I had no idea that I'd stumble upon the marble bathtub. I knew it was somewhere along this road, but you'd never find it if you didn't know where it was or like me, get lucky!
Sure, you can download a point for every "categorized" neat item in Death Valley, but the real fun is stumbling upon them!
Anyone up for a swim?
I knew that the rest of the crew would love to have been here for today's exploring. This was amazing.
There are some tight spots along this trail. It's too tough to take an Earthroamer through most likely, but plenty easy to get a 4x4 stock Tacoma through.
As we broke for lunch I looked over the hill and glimpsed the Eureka sand dunes. The tallest dunes in North America. Wow! (**Correction. According to a friend on EXPO the tallest dunes in North America are the Great Sand Dunes. Link here: http://www.nps.gov/grsa/index.htm) It's funny because the NPS also seems to think the Eureka dunes "may" be the tallest as well. Why doesn't the NPS get on figuring out who the winner is!! :-)
Taggart was excited!
They really are pretty. There just isn't any protection from the wind so I wonder how camping here would be.
Every time you think you are used to the surroundings just turn around. This view surprised me!
We made it over to Crankshaft Junction.
Making it into Nevada!
The town of Stateline is quite a few miles past the actual state boarder, but you can tell it was a pretty big town.
Another Adopt-a-cabin in the town of Stateline.
Rolling into Gold Point.
This town is a neat place. Well worth the visit.
This old drilling rig looks like it's out of an old Disney drawing.
The bar is chock full of history.
That being said it's not really a bar.
It's just a place to hang out and drink beers with friends. You DONATE money to keep the town alive.
We listened to a lot of stories about the town and future plans before heading out. We could tell it was going to be a VERY cold night.
Someone's vacation home. Actually a pretty neat old place.
The wind was starting to kick up.
We found a great campsite that was pretty well protected. If you sat just under the rock "wave" the stone radiated the heat back at you. It was the only relief from a night that would get down into the low 20's.
Even on the 6th night I still had plenty of great food left. Over packing for a trip is always a great way to go!!
It was an amazingly cold night!! Still, there is no place I'd rather be.
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