Death Valley

[SunMan]

**This is a fairly old trip report from April**

Marc and I had been talking about doing a trip for awhile and decided to do one last DV trip before summer. After work I rendezvoused with Marc in the Alabama Hills late on a Thursday night with plans to head out early Friday morning. I was really looking forward to checking out his new XP Camper.

Some shots of camp and the Mighty XP in the Bama Hills before departing:

 

[SunMan]

We really didn't have a destination in mind but after a few adult beverages on Thursday night we decided to check out Cerro Gordo and then head over the back side into Lee Flat and on up to Hunter Mountain, both new destinations for me. Pics of the Saline Valley Salt Trams on the Owens Valley side and Cerro Gordo proper...

 

[SunMan]

The back side of the Inyo's and Lee Flat...

 

[SunMan]

Having just been in the area two weeks prior on my "meltdown" trip, I had pretty reliable intel that Hunter Mountain was clear of snow, gauging by the tracks we saw not many people had been up there, it was still pretty muddy in a few places...approaching Hunter Cabin, our camp for the night...

 

[SunMan]

More Hunter Cabin...

 

[SunMan]

Camp for the night. Halibut steaks and foolishly hoping/wishing dogs...

 

[SunMan]

The next day we explored a spur road and found some incredible views of Hidden Valley and an epic future campsite we marked on our GPS...lack of tracks indicated we were propbably the first ones out there this season.

 

[SunMan]

We unknowingly stumbled upon this amazing and very unique view of the Racetrack and the Grandstand...

 

[SunMan]

We continued on over Hunter Mountain Road into Hidden Valley to check out the Goldbelt mining town but I neglected to take any pictures but here's what it looks like:

http://www.ripleysgh...m/goldbelt.html

We then back tracked back up and over Hunter Mountain to Saline Valley Road, HWY190 and made our way to Lemoigne Canyon. The fact that Roger Mitchell's book shows it taking over an hour to reach the end of the short 5 mile road should have been a big hint, boy what a rocky grinder that was! We got there late in the afternoon so the hike back to Jean Lemoigne's old mining camp was a non-starter, not sure if I'll ever make the drive again to explore it either. I broke camp and headed for home first thing the following day, Marc headed up north to the White Mountains I believe. Pics of our camp on the last night:

 

[SunMan]

Just some more random shots to close out with...

 

[SunMan]

A few more...

 

[Lighthawk]

Camp for the night. Halibut steaks and foolishly hoping/wishing dogs...

Well there are four steaks on the barbie.

 

[ski3pin]

Mr. Sun, thanks for the trip report and your usual great photos. The Lady checked them out too. She had just mentioned a couple of days ago, "On our next Death Valley trip I want to check out Hunter Mountain." We have been curious about Lemoigne Canyon also. This was quite timely, thanks!

 

[RJones]

Well there are four steaks on the barbie.
The dogs were eaten good in that camp. Great report with pictures Mr. Sun.

 

[SunMan]

Well there are four steaks on the barbie.



Now that's funny Andy. Marc and I are not what you would call small guys...I assure you we mowed those steaks down with no problem!!

 

[Marc]

Nice write up and pics Suni. Good times for sure. Topa Topa ??

marc

 

[MarkBC]

Thanks for the report, Sunman.

Before the next cool season (i.e., next DV season...I mean, after this cool season ends and then before the next cool season

) I need to figure out what's up with Death Valley.
I've been there 3 or 4 times but have never been far from the well-known, obvious areas...and haven't felt the urge to explore more... I guess I must be missing something, because after spending a year on this forum I've gotten the definite impression that DV is the backcountry playground for a lot of you guys. Unless/until I move south it'll never be that way for me -- it's too far away -- but sounds like I should get better acquainted with it.

Thanks for the inspiration.

(of course, current DV fans probably wish that more people like me DON'T become fans! That's how I feel about the area covering SE Oregon & NW Nevada

)