Death Valley Adventures - Panamint City

in #travel7 years ago (edited)

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On this adventure we headed out to Death Valley National Park to go explore an old mining town turned ghost town out in the heart of the Panamint mountains... the legendary Panamint City!

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I drove out to Death Valley and up Suprise canyon to the trailhead at the ruins from the old Chris Wicht camp. The other guys in the group met me there and we spent the evening camping there. The next morning we got our backpacks loaded and started hiking up the trail that headed up Surprise canyon. The surprise is how awesome it is! Huge cliff walls on both sides with a small creek and lots of greenery in the bottom and even a couple nice little waterfalls along the way. After awhile the canyon opened up into a wide valley and shortly thereafter we arrived at Panamint city. We explored some of the cabins, the smoke stack, and the closest and most recently worked mine. Then we headed back and setup our camp in the "Hilton" cabin where we decided to stay for the trip.

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Evening at the Chris Wicht camp

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Lower Surprise Canyon

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Upper Surprise Canyon

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Approaching Panamint City

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Arriving at the city

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Checking out the 'Overflow Cabin'

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Entering the mine

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Exploring around the old smokestack

We had a fun first night in the cabin, and we thoroughly enjoyed using the large wood burning stove in there. The next morning we set out from the city for a 3,000 foot climb to the top of Sentinel peak 9,638'. We climbed up an old mining road past 2 mines and then followed the ridge line above the upper mine all the way to the summit. It was steep and there was still a bit of snow, but nothing to difficult. The 360 degree views from the summit were absolutely amazing!! Panamint Valley way below on one side, Badwater basin (the lowest point in North America) WAY below on the other side, and Telescope peak the tallest peak in Death Valley dead center in front of us. On the way back down I decided to explore inside the 2 mines we had passed on the way up. Both were quite deep with lots of cool stuff inside including an old ore cart! After that we headed back down for another night in the Hilton cabin.

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The old dynamite storage room

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Old mining equipment

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Arriving at Sentinel peak

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On Sentinel peak with Telescope peak in the background

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Inside the upper mine

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An old ore cart still rolling on the tracks in the mine

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Climbing out of the upper mine

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Overlooking the lower mines on my way back down to the city

The next morning morning after breakfast the other guys in the group packed up their backpacks and hiked out. I had decided to stay a few more days and explore some more! So I decided to head over and check out the "Castle" cabin and then headed up Sourdough canyon. The trail followed up the canyon for awhile then cut out onto the mountainside opening up huge views. It crossed the top of Woodpecker canyon and ended near some old burned up mining ruins. From there we left the trail and headed cross country out to Peak 8,750'. The peak isn't huge, but it had an incredible panorama with Panamint valley directly below and Telescope peak directly above. After the peak we headed back down to the cabins where some other people had showed up to camp. They setup their tent by the "Overflow" cabin and I stayed in the Hilton again. It really is an awesome place to get to stay!

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Morning time in front of the Hilton

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Hiking up Sourdough Canyon

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Looking across to Peak 8,750'

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Views of Telescope peak from Peak 8,750'

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Relaxing on the peak, enjoying the awesome view

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Checking out the 'Castle' cabin

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Night time inside the Hilton

For my last day of exploring I decided to head up Marvel canyon and it was a great decision! It was a really beautiful canyon and I found 5 more mines, and got to explore inside 3 of them. The 4th was vertical and the 5th was almost completely caved in at the entrance. I found lots of cool quartz crystals too. When I got back to Panamint city I decided to go check out the natural springs that feeds the water spigot, and I found it plus even more old cabins and even a cool old car. Then the next morning I got packed up early and headed back down Surprise canyon to the trailhead wrapping up another great adventure!!

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Hiking up Marvel Canyon

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Spotting the first mine of the day

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The entrance of the first mine

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Views in Marvel Canyon

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The entrance to the second mine

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Approaching the third mine

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The "I'd rather be in Panamint City" car

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Upper Panamint City

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My final evening at the 'Hilton'

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Driving back across Panamint Valley on my way home

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youtube-logo.jpgYoutube video -

Thanks for watching!!

*All photographs taken by @derekrichardson

SWM.pngMap - !steemitworldmap 36.117795 lat -117.098562 long 'Panamint City' D3SCR
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What???? I wanna go! I wanna go! I wanna go! I wanna go! I wanna go! I wanna go! I wanna go! I wanna go! I wanna go! I wanna go! I wanna go! I wanna go! I wanna go! I wanna go! I wanna go! I wanna go! I wanna go!

Hey Mike?... Do you wanna go?? lol.

I've got some people from my SoCal Steemit group that have shown some real interest in going up here too, so I'll probably be trying to plan a trip. I'll keep you informed on that.

I love this post, it's beautiful

I am so jealous man. I have been wanting to go up to Panamint City for over 5 years now. I've sat down at Ballarat twice looking up, wishing I could go up. Some day you gotta take me up.

Awesome post, beautiful pictures.

I would really like to check it out sometime too!
@derekrichardson, how difficult/long is the hike in?

@mattlovell, you should read up a little about the history of the town. I won't spoil it, but it's pretty fascinating which is why I've always wanted to go up. Maybe we can plan a weekend hike up when I return from Japan in late April? Or a Meetup in Panamint City!!

@rt395 that would be way cool. But a weekend really isn't enough. You'd just get to hike up to the city stay the night and hike out. No time to explore. And trust me, you're gonna want to explore up there. lol.

@mattlovell It's a moderate hike. Not really difficult, but definitely not easy. It's like 7 miles one way. There's a few waterfalls to climb around in lower Surprise canyon, but that's the only technical stuff. Then it's just a long gradual uphill slog. It's one of those trails that hardly seems like you're climbing up until you stop and look behind you and then you see how much you've actually climbed.

I'm not in great shape... so 7 miles is about my day hike limit right now. If we plan for April when @rt395 is back from Japan that will give me some time to train ;)

Thanks dude. I'd love to take you up there. We just gotta find an available date and plan it!

We will feature this post in our Saturday RAP curation post!

Sweet! Thank you so much.

Holy woah. This is by far the best adventure post/blog I’ve found on steemit. This trip looks amazing, I had no idea about the village and now it’s on the list. Thanks for the tip and the great glimpse into what it’s like to be there in person. :)

Thanks! That's very nice of you to say. You should definitely put it on your list. It's even way cooler in person! If you have any questions about it feel free to ask me anytime.

Wow, thanks for sharing this gorgeous Death Valley trip. I have not seen these spots, and now I have a yearning to explore. Steem on!

Oh my gosh! That looks amazing, I would love to do that!

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Awesome!!! Thank you so much for all of your support.

Your pictures are so ... vivid! Keep em coming!

Thanks! Will do. Stay tuned for more vivid pics! BTW is your picture of a gold mining Doge? I freakin' love it!! lol.

Haha yes! Cheers mate

Woouwww..
a very interesting adventure .. and the scenery is so beautiful ... feels fresh if it is at that height

Yep, beautiful scenery and fresh air! I really love being up in the mountains.

I also really like the highlands ... there can get me out a lot of thoughts