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RECONNOITERING
IN THE EASTERN SIERRA NEVADA & GREAT BASIN |
Exploration
Field Trips
May 1-3, 2000
Trip with Alan Patera and
Alan Hensher into Death Valley
Day 1, May 1,
2000
What do you do with three authors,
two 4x4’s, two two-way radios, three cameras, and camping
supplies? Send them to Death Valley, of course. For three days in the
first week of May, 2000, authors Alan Patera, Alan Hensher and myself
explored Death Valley north and south.
Alan Patera, who hails
from northern Oregon, came south to central California and picked up
Alan Hensher; then the two came my way. At the time I was living in
Ridgecrest, California. After overnighting with my wife and I, the
three of us took off for Death Valley.
Below is a thumbnail
sketch of the trip, based upon transcripts of my verbal notes on
microcassette and photos. This trip will be broken between three web
pages. Full transcripts of these three days will be included at the
bottom. Hyperlinked ghost town names will open a new browser window
with additional photos of mine and others at
http://www.ghosttowns.com/ which also has historical information on
each ghost town site.
Day
1 - May 1, 2000
I rose early, the two
Alan’s did not. We had stayed up until well past midnight
talking history, swapping files, photos and notes. I made last minute
checks and additions to my gear and food while they slept in. An hour
after we had planned to leave, we still had not yet done so. Our trip
started at Denny’s in Ridgecrest, six blocks from my home. I
had purchased an additional FRS radio for Alan to use to keep us
linked while traveling.
A bit after 9:00 AM, we left Denny’s
and pointed our grills toward Reilly ghost town site, located in
Panamint Valley. The weather was clear with thin high clouds, a good
day to go exploring. Entering Trona, we passed a number of
bicyclists, loaded with camping gear, obviously going to Death
Valley.
Passing out of Searles Valley and into Panamint, our first stop was to be Reilly. Not knowing where Reilly was but having some idea of where to look and a pair of binoculars, we made a few false starts up some desert roads before finally finding the right one. The two Alan’s and I were impressed with our tour of Reilly (also here). Stone ruins, tin cans, water pipe and other detritus lay everywhere the eye could see.
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We left Reilly as it was beginning to warm up, being close to 90º, yet snow still lay on the shady slopes of the Panamint Range. Running up Wildrose Canyon, the Panamint daisies were still in bloom. On this trip, we would find wildflowers blooming above about 3,000 feet. We stopped in Emigrant Canyon to view the petroglyphs, nearby is an inscription of a name and a date that appears to be made in 1855. |
Reaching
Death Valley, we stopped at Furnace Creek. Alan Patera had an order
of WESTERN PLACES books to drop off. I wanted to meet with Death
Valley National Park ranger, Dave Brenner. The Park Service was
having service awards and knew he’d be around somewhere. I also
wanted to meet Mark H., who was an employee of the park also; Mark
being quite prolific on the Internet Death Valley bulletin boards
under the handle "Tumbleweed." I found both at the same
time and we stood outside the visitor center in the warm afternoon -
the Furnace Creek thermometer reading 100º. I spent over a half
hour talking with Dave about the recent controversy over the "Death
Valley Bunk Trunk," in which an individual claimed to have found
a trunk left behind by the Jayhawker part on their ill fated trek of
1849. While we were talking, Alan Hensher came out of the visitor
center with a bag full of books, among them PROCEEDINGS FOURTH DEATH
VALLEY CONFERENCE ON HISTORY AND PREHISTORY - FEBRUARY 2-5, 1995;
PROCEEDINGS FIFTH DEATH VALLEY CONFERENCE ON HISTORY AND PREHISTORY -
MARCH 4-7, 1999. He made a gift of copies for me and Alan
Patera.
After visiting with Dave and Mark, the two Alan’s
and I found a shady spot on the side of the road near the Furnace
Creek Ranch and fixed ourselves lunch. Then it was off to Echo Canyon
and the Inyo
Mine.
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Echo Canyon winds its way easily up into the Funeral Range. It’s easily passable by any truck based 4x4. On our trip, a two-wheel-drive vehicle could have made it, except for one spot at the mouth of the canyon where the road dropped into a hole with a couple of bedrock boulders in it. Just enough to cause the chassis to flex, lifting up each tire off the ground as our vehicles passed by it. Along the way is the Eye of the Needle, a triangular hole in a large thumb of rock projecting up from the canyon floor. Continuing up the canyon we started driving through swarms of wasps or hornets that flew with their abdomens downward as if they were flying straight up. They came in through my open windows, making driving and swatting at the wasps an interesting exercise in dexterity. Just below the Inyo Mine complex the canyon splits into two forks. Our road took us up to the Inyo Mine, where we set up camp for the night. |
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Since we made it early, we explored the site. Alan Patera hiked up to the top of the canyon above the mine camp to investigate the main mine complex and structures up there. Alan Hensher, dressed only in shorts, T-shirt and sandals, stayed with me down at the camp. We found numerous buildings in various stages of decay and collapse, plus machinery.
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Clouds built up in the west as the sun was setting, but then suddenly parted and the most wonderful glow of the last rays of sunlight created some of the most exciting coloring I’ve laid my eyes on. I was in the middle of eating my dinner when this light show suddenly descended upon us, I was compelled to grab my video and digital cameras to record it. |
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As darkness descended upon our camp, a horrible swarm of gnats descended with the night. Liberal amounts of Cutters repellent helped, but the gnats were still irritating. We found that lighting my Coleman lantern and Alan Hensher’s florescent lantern and placing it away from us attracted the gnats to it and they left us alone to enjoy conversation about everything from our location to lynching in California. |
At 9:30 I took a sponge bath and crawled into the back of my truck to read before turning out the light and going to sleep at the Inyo Mine Camp, Echo Canyon, Funeral Range, Death Valley National Park.
The Trip is Only One-Third Over, So Let's Go To Day 2!
©2002,
2006 D.A. Wright
All Rights Reserved
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