Panamint City Ghost Town - 1997

[Sagebrush Reconnoiterer]

Trip report and video of a 1997 overnight backpacking trip to Panamint City ghost town, located in Surprise Canyon on the western slopes of the Panamint Range, Death Valley National Park.

Panamint-City_1997.wmv

drive.google.com

 

[Sagebrush Reconnoiterer]

 

[craig333]

I've heard some stories about the entrance to panamint. I always wanted to take the Jeep up there but having to winch up the waterfalls made me hesitate. Waited too long.

 

[camelracer]

I took my Dodge van up there in 78 or 79 before the road was washed out.

 

[teledork]

I took my Dodge van up there in 78 or 79 before the road was washed out.

I used to kind of brag about driving to Leavitt Lake in a Dodge Dart. I won't anymore. I've walked to Panamint city. I cannot imagine driving there.

 

[Sagebrush Reconnoiterer]

I used to kind of brag about driving to Leavitt Lake in a Dodge Dart. I won't anymore. I've walked to Panamint city. I cannot imagine driving there.

I used to have a copy of a VHS tape done by Rick Russell, who years ago produced a series of off road videos. One of the series was of his running several of the Panamint Range canyons, including Surprise. It was pretty incredible.

Check out this page from a Bakersfield group of off roaders who ran the route in the last years it was still legal to do so to give you an idea of the difficulty.

Panamint 2000 Trail Report: Off-Road.com

Panamint 2000 Trail Report: Trucks & 4x4 : The Bakersfield Trailblazers have been taking care of their favorite trail, Surprise Canyon Panamint

www.off-road.com

Back when I did my trip and until the road was closed, this "road" was still an official Inyo County road. My 1997 trip was the only time I hiked all the way to Panamint City, but I've hiked the lower canyon numerous times. Occasionally I would see trucks filled with mining supplies parked in the canyon as high as its owner could take it, as back then there were still around a dozen patented mines around Panamint City and their owners would have to go do some annual recordable work on them to keep their patents.

 

[teledork]

I stopped driving to Leavitt Lake in 2011 after a face off with a downhill driver who refused to back up into an excellent pull out and was insistent that I could put my truck and camper sideways on a rock so he could continue his passage. I ripped off a mud flap backing down and later decided that was my last off roading trip. Now I walk the road - or actually in the vicinity of the road. I can move faster than the vehicles and I think about the words carved into the first waterfall (I think?) in Surprise canyon. I can't remember them accurately and some might be offended so just as well. In all honesty - I don't get it.

 

[Sagebrush Reconnoiterer]

My major off roading oops was described on this forum at:

Done something really stupid?

Oops, I did it again. Last trip out was with some friends who were first time out with their FWC. I shared with them advice especially about maintaining a routine in closing up the camper. I wowed them a few minutes later when the front end of the roof popped up in the wind on the road. I just...

www.wanderthewest.com

Post #203.

I've never been interested in hard core off roading as described on that page. Too much work and costs for so little gain. Now that I'm getting well along in my senior years, arthritic white knuckles have no appeal to me.

 

[ski3pin]

My first trip to Panamint City was in 1971. My buddy, Lyle, drove his Toyota Hilux most of the way up at night. We slept in the bed of the truck before hiking the rest of the way to Panamint City in the morning. I still remember that cold, hard, steel truck bed, and the sight of the tall red brick chimney when we rounded the last bend of Surprise Canyon. Lyle sure was proud of that little truck. Me, I was partial to Datsuns.

In the late 1960's I roamed the area with my buddy, Bob, in his International Travelall. Boy did shivers run down our spines when we heard about the Manson Family arrest at Barker Ranch. Bob's dad loved government surplus auctions. A lot of friends could fit in that old Travelall.

Earlier trips were with my Dad in his work "truck," a 1959 Ford station wagon. Dad could get that station wagon anywhere. My job was to watch out for "pan getters," rocks that could take out the engine oil pan.

 

[teledork]

My job was to watch out for "pan getters," rocks that could take out the engine oil pan.

Sounds like what I learned to call pyramids.

 

[rubberlegs]

We hiked in a few years ago. I can’t imagine there could be a road through the canyon. They must have moved a lot of rocks and gravel!

 

[Sagebrush Reconnoiterer]

We hiked in a few years ago. I can’t imagine there could be a road through the canyon. They must have moved a lot of rocks and gravel!

Inyo County maintained that road for decades. The bottom portion was filled in and had water drainage to allow for the water to flow down the canyon. All that fill was all washed out in 1983. At the time active mining and milling was going on up there. In the early 2000s I was commissioned by a group of mine owners to research the road's history and status, as the Center for BioDiversity was working to close off vehicle access to the canyon. At the time the road was still on Inyo County's books, taxes were still collected; but the CBD won and access denied.

Back in the 1990s, Goler Canyon, to the south, was a wild road, though not as wild as Surprise Canyon. Around 2000 I drove through from the Death Valley side and was quite dismayed to find it filled in and smooth as a freeway. I assume Inyo County must have taken it on; as several miles of deep fill dirt to cover the bedrock isn't something some philanthropist would have provided. By then active mining had been idle for some years; Meyers Ranch was probably the only tax payer back then, and soon both Meyers and adjacent Barker Ranch would be burned down.