had a great time even if it was a little hot in the valley itself, but clouds and some rain rolled in sat night i think it was and that cooled things down nicely.
spent most of the time up in canyons along west side road. tried to go up hauhaupna (spelling im sure) canyon which supposedly has an oasis at the end of the trail. unfortunately the trail is really wrecked up starting when you come off the wash and go down the steep incline into the canyon bottom. made it from there about another 5 miles but that was over boulders and washouts quite a bit. then after a bunch of obstacles the trail disappeared into a rock field and i had to turn around (being solo and not wanting to have to walk out).
has anyone ever been up to the oasis that is supposedly up there? might have been nice but i didnt even see water aside from a small stream in the trail for a small bit before the terminally washed out trail.
anyway turned around and my fj60 had a disagreement with a boulder on the way out over who should occupy some space. of course the boulder won and i ended up with a smashed up rear right lower quarter panel. my own fault really: i got my rear diff hung up on a rock and instead of getting out the hi lift and building a ramp of rocks under the wheel just tried to brute force it (not too wise i figured afterward...what with being there by myself, but my pea brain dont work too well in stress situations sometimes). anyway managed to get undone from the killer rocks with only my pride bruised, my truck dented and one mud flap lying in the back and back down to the west side road where i proceeded to known territory of johnson canyon.
now this was sweet, didnt see ANYONE the three days i was up there. hiked up to hungry bills ranch and otherwise kicked back with my chair in the stream and relaxed, drank beer, and planned next nights dinner. its usually windy in this canyon ive found and this was no exception, pretty strong wind on and off for a couple of the days but nothing real bad and not much blowing dust or anything. cactus were blooming and there were still a lot of beautiful wild flowers around. didnt see any rattlers this year like in years past but did see a bobcat up on the hillside one evening walking back from hungry bills.
saturday night it started to sprinkle and the clouds obscured the stars so i went to bed around 10 which is pretty early for me even solo in the mountains. got up next morning and it was cool and cloudy which was fine by me as i was going to leave anyway. went down to the valley and it was temperate there, enough so i explored the borax works and the artists canyon on the way back to furnace creek for gas and ice.
from there went to one of my all time favorite hidden places, china garden spring outside darwin. as usual there was no one around but there were lots of tire tracks so someone goes there besides me. if youve never been there i would recommend it...beautiful canyon to hike up and from the top of it you can see the sand dunes etc, very cool. there are more mine artifacts at and near the spring than in all of skidoo put together (forgot to mention i took a detour to skidoo on the way to china garden...but its way too controlled for my liking, kind of like bodie). plus in the evening the bats come out of the mine and put on a nice show at the spring and later on the burros come out of the hills to drink at the spring and if youre quiet they will walk right by you!
one strange deal: this year at panamint springs there was some kind of comedy workshop and while i was at china garden this suv pulled in with two gals and two (unrelated as it turns out) guys. one of the guys is a local from darwin and the other guy was completely naked! darn always my luck its the GUY who is naked but that aside these folks cracked me up...one of the gals was there for the comedy thing, evidently she is a comedian but the naked guy was funny as hell (i think he was trippin)...he wanted to go swimming in the spring (with the koi that are there) and asked me if it was ok like i owned the place or something. i said hey if youre crazy enough to walk around the desert naked, well its not much of a reach to be crazy enough to take a dip in the spring! but i reminded him of why wc fields never drank water: hey fish **** in that stuff! so in the end he deferred and didnt get in. anyway the gals told me to come down to the club for the show that night and gave me a ticket but i told them that truthfully i was there to get AWAY from that stuff so they got in the suv and split...
anyway that night the wind came up and i was sitting in my chair enjoying the fire and i hear this <snap> up above and i get up quick and run off to the side! a BIG branch comes out of the tree and literally lands 6 inches from the chair. now THAT would have been fun!
so i decide its time to go to bed (not under the tree thank you very much) and call it a night.
next day i pack up and leave and drive through darwin stopping on the way to explore some ruins that have always intrigued me but i never took the time to check out. i got out in darwin and wandered around a bit. very cool place esp for vehicles...man there are some strange cars around there, for some reasons its a vaxhall magnet not to mention vw. on the way out of town there is a guy in a vw talking to a lady in the middle of the road so i stop to listen in a bit. turns out the guy is the caretaker of the big mine the town was founded around and so i start talking to him about cars and volkswagens (i also have a vw thing with a built motor etc) and he invites me up to check out the mine grounds which ive always wanted to do. spend the rest of the morning and some of the afternoon there wandering around all the old buildings looking at artifacts. very cool. i told the guy i wanted to move there so he took my phone number and said the next time he hears about a place for sale he will give me a ring. its amazing what a little sensimilla will do for you.
anyway i left there and made my way back to sacto, sadly. another death valley trip successfully completed and another verificiation that a fj60 is one hell of a rugged vehicle even if the driver can be a lamebrain sometimes.
one love
jah bill
spent most of the time up in canyons along west side road. tried to go up hauhaupna (spelling im sure) canyon which supposedly has an oasis at the end of the trail. unfortunately the trail is really wrecked up starting when you come off the wash and go down the steep incline into the canyon bottom. made it from there about another 5 miles but that was over boulders and washouts quite a bit. then after a bunch of obstacles the trail disappeared into a rock field and i had to turn around (being solo and not wanting to have to walk out).
has anyone ever been up to the oasis that is supposedly up there? might have been nice but i didnt even see water aside from a small stream in the trail for a small bit before the terminally washed out trail.
anyway turned around and my fj60 had a disagreement with a boulder on the way out over who should occupy some space. of course the boulder won and i ended up with a smashed up rear right lower quarter panel. my own fault really: i got my rear diff hung up on a rock and instead of getting out the hi lift and building a ramp of rocks under the wheel just tried to brute force it (not too wise i figured afterward...what with being there by myself, but my pea brain dont work too well in stress situations sometimes). anyway managed to get undone from the killer rocks with only my pride bruised, my truck dented and one mud flap lying in the back and back down to the west side road where i proceeded to known territory of johnson canyon.
now this was sweet, didnt see ANYONE the three days i was up there. hiked up to hungry bills ranch and otherwise kicked back with my chair in the stream and relaxed, drank beer, and planned next nights dinner. its usually windy in this canyon ive found and this was no exception, pretty strong wind on and off for a couple of the days but nothing real bad and not much blowing dust or anything. cactus were blooming and there were still a lot of beautiful wild flowers around. didnt see any rattlers this year like in years past but did see a bobcat up on the hillside one evening walking back from hungry bills.
saturday night it started to sprinkle and the clouds obscured the stars so i went to bed around 10 which is pretty early for me even solo in the mountains. got up next morning and it was cool and cloudy which was fine by me as i was going to leave anyway. went down to the valley and it was temperate there, enough so i explored the borax works and the artists canyon on the way back to furnace creek for gas and ice.
from there went to one of my all time favorite hidden places, china garden spring outside darwin. as usual there was no one around but there were lots of tire tracks so someone goes there besides me. if youve never been there i would recommend it...beautiful canyon to hike up and from the top of it you can see the sand dunes etc, very cool. there are more mine artifacts at and near the spring than in all of skidoo put together (forgot to mention i took a detour to skidoo on the way to china garden...but its way too controlled for my liking, kind of like bodie). plus in the evening the bats come out of the mine and put on a nice show at the spring and later on the burros come out of the hills to drink at the spring and if youre quiet they will walk right by you!
one strange deal: this year at panamint springs there was some kind of comedy workshop and while i was at china garden this suv pulled in with two gals and two (unrelated as it turns out) guys. one of the guys is a local from darwin and the other guy was completely naked! darn always my luck its the GUY who is naked but that aside these folks cracked me up...one of the gals was there for the comedy thing, evidently she is a comedian but the naked guy was funny as hell (i think he was trippin)...he wanted to go swimming in the spring (with the koi that are there) and asked me if it was ok like i owned the place or something. i said hey if youre crazy enough to walk around the desert naked, well its not much of a reach to be crazy enough to take a dip in the spring! but i reminded him of why wc fields never drank water: hey fish **** in that stuff! so in the end he deferred and didnt get in. anyway the gals told me to come down to the club for the show that night and gave me a ticket but i told them that truthfully i was there to get AWAY from that stuff so they got in the suv and split...
anyway that night the wind came up and i was sitting in my chair enjoying the fire and i hear this <snap> up above and i get up quick and run off to the side! a BIG branch comes out of the tree and literally lands 6 inches from the chair. now THAT would have been fun!
so i decide its time to go to bed (not under the tree thank you very much) and call it a night.
next day i pack up and leave and drive through darwin stopping on the way to explore some ruins that have always intrigued me but i never took the time to check out. i got out in darwin and wandered around a bit. very cool place esp for vehicles...man there are some strange cars around there, for some reasons its a vaxhall magnet not to mention vw. on the way out of town there is a guy in a vw talking to a lady in the middle of the road so i stop to listen in a bit. turns out the guy is the caretaker of the big mine the town was founded around and so i start talking to him about cars and volkswagens (i also have a vw thing with a built motor etc) and he invites me up to check out the mine grounds which ive always wanted to do. spend the rest of the morning and some of the afternoon there wandering around all the old buildings looking at artifacts. very cool. i told the guy i wanted to move there so he took my phone number and said the next time he hears about a place for sale he will give me a ring. its amazing what a little sensimilla will do for you.
anyway i left there and made my way back to sacto, sadly. another death valley trip successfully completed and another verificiation that a fj60 is one hell of a rugged vehicle even if the driver can be a lamebrain sometimes.
one love
jah bill
