Here is the itinerary and the rest of the story:
Day One
For those who are wanting to drive up to Panamint Valley, I suggest staying at the Panamint Springs Resort. Rustic, simple rooms can be had for $64-$119 and campsites can be had for $15 dollars a night. There are restrooms and showers for those who do not opt for a room.
Panamint Springs Resort Driving From Los Angeles (235 miles) From the 5 Freeway North (Golden State Freeway), a few miles past its juncture with 405 Freeway, stay right for 14 Freeway North (Antelope Valley Freeway). After 70 miles, passing Palmdale, Lancaster, and Rosamond, the 14 Freeway North continues on to become Main Street for the town of Mojave. At the end of town, turn right to remain on the Highway 14 North. After 40 miles, Highway 14 North merges and becomes Highway 395 North. Continue another 45 miles to Olancha, turn right onto Highway 190 toward Death Valley. The next 15 miles proceeds northeast along the shore of the once great Owens Lake, then merges with Highway 136, and continues east another 25 miles to Panamint Springs Resort.
Day Two
On Friday the main group met at the town of Ballarat 9 a.m. which is the start of the Pleasant Valley/South Park Loop. For the night the group stayed at the Briggs and Stone Cabins which are within a short walking distance from each other. The Cabins have nice outhouses, woodburning stoves, are solar powered, have well water, plumbed for propane, and have charging stations for electronics that have a cig socket charger. The cabins are first come first serve and can accomodate both indoor campers and outdoor campers, and the canyon there can handle 10+ rigs parked with ease.
Ballarat N35*22.80’ W119*01.06’ Pleasant Canyon/South Park Loop Starting Point: Mengel Pass Trail, Ballarat (N36*02.87’ W117*13.38’). Finishing Point: Mengel Pass Trail, 3.7 miles south of Ballarat (N36*00.01’ W117*13.17’).
Total Mileage: 23.5 miles (Unpaved) Driving Time (est): 6.5 hours Elevation Range: 300 – 7,400 feet. Difficulty Rating: 7; Scenic Rating 10.
Day Three
Saturday we drove down from South Park onto Mengel Pass Trail to Mengel Pass and pass through Mengel Pass, Goler Wash, and Warm Springs Canyon.
Mengel Pass Starting Point: 21.5 miles north of Trona (N36*00.01’ W117*13.17’). Finishing Point: Death Valley West Side Rd., 2.8 miles from southern end (N35*57.25’ W116*44.75).
Total mileage: 50.1 miles plus 0.6 mile spur Driving time: 5.5 hours Elevation Range: 0 – 4,400 feet. Difficulty Rating: 4; Scenic Rating: 10.
Note: Barker Ranch is a short spur less than a mile off of the Goler Wash trail (N35*51.64' W117*05.75').
Day Four
Sunday we drove to Titus Canyon then on to Mesquite Spring Campground. Mesquite Spring is a first come first serve campground so you may want to reserve a spot. Two vehicles per campsite allowed and the camp fee is $12 per site.
Titus Canyon Trail Starting Point: Nevada 374, 6 miles S/W of Beatty, NV (N36*51.56’ W116*50.70). Finishing Point: North Hwy, 15 miles north of the intersection with CA190 (N36*47.27’ W117*11.44’).
Total Mileage: 25.4 miles Driving Time: 2.5 hours. Difficulty Rating: 2; Scenic Rating: 10. Mesquite Creek Campground N36*57.75' W117*22.15'
Day Five
Hang out, head home!
*NOTE: The Park's website states that if you are travelling with a group of more than 6 vehicles or 15 persons in the back country, you are supposed to apply for a special permit. You can always split a group in half & have a seperation of at least 1 mile if you have more than 6 like we did. You can't camp more than 100 feet from the road, no camping near water, and no fires where there isn't a pit (away from campground). Panamint Valley is outside the Death Valley boundary & the BLM has different parameters for groups. Pets are allowed in the Park but not on trails (hiking).
PANAMINT SPRINGS RESORT
The trip began with the long run from SoCal up the 395 North to Olancha, a jaunt across Highway 190 toward Death Valley and along the shore of the once great Owens Lake merging with Highway 136 and East to Panamint Springs Resort. Part of the group met there and enjoyed the down to earth accomodations afforded there - some camped across the road in the campground while others opted for rustic rooms, hot showers and hot food cooked by someone else.
BALLARAT
In the morning after breakfast, the group headed to the ghost town of Ballarat. Not all maps show it so the question spread through the group, "where the hell is Ballarat?". Situated in the Panamint Valley in an ancient lakebed, the town was founded in 1897 as a supply point for the mines in the canyons of the Panamint Range. A quarter-mile to the south is Post Office Springs, a reliable water source used since the 1850s by prospectors and desert wanderers. Boxed in by the Panamint Mountains that form the western border of Death Valley and the eastern face of the Sierra Nevadas, this is extremely isolated country; cell phones don't work out here and the nearest gasoline (or any other services) is over 30 miles away in Trona.
George Riggins, a young immigrant from Australia, gave Ballarat its name when he proposed it should be named for Ballarat, Victoria, in the heart of Australia's gold country. The remaining adobe buildings are weathered and worn, and the area is frequented by wild burros, left behind by the prospectors that once made this ghost town a bustling center of commerce. In the late 1960s, Ballarat became infamous because Charles Manson and his "family" hid out at the Barker Ranch located in the hills above Ballarat. Before the raid that captured Manson, one of his followers, Charles "Tex" Watson, tried to get away from the Barker Ranch in a Dodge Power Wagon that made it all the way to Ballarat before breaking down. The old Power Wagon is still there in Ballarat rusting away...
PLEASANT VALLEY/SOUTH PARK LOOP AND THE BRIGGS AND STONE CABINS
After Ballarat, the column headed upwards on the switchbacks and rocky Pleasant Valley trail to the mystical, little known canyon that houses the Briggs and Stone cabins. Briggs Cabin is, by far, the most elaborate and best cared for of all the Adopt-a-Cabins. Both cabins are maintained by volunteers (Friends of Briggs) and are on private land owned by C.R. Briggs Corporation which allows you to use the cabins for free, if the "flag is up" that means the cabin is already occupied.
Louis and I had left earlier in the day blazing our way up 395 to join up with the group and it was getting late. We climbed the mountain trail up from Ballarat in 4WD taking the South Park Loop way in, his Disco and our Tacoma reveling in their escape from pavement as they attacked the switchbacks in 4HI. We joined the group there at the cabins after dark, the rumbling of our engines and off road lights announcing our approach in the distance long before we arrived. We were greeted enthusiastically with food and drinks and stayed up later than we should have socializing but that's part of the magic of travel. Happy to be there and hungry for for tomorrows dream, we made camp for the night and drifted off to sleep.
In the morning we were up early, eager to explore the cabins and their surrounding environs in the daylight. Breakfast was tended to and I discovered that I had picked up a nail or some left over mining steel in my front passenger side tire... good thing I had a full size spare so we swapped it out for my new-ish spare and plugged the wound before mounting the old tire as a spare. This was to be the first of many small issues for the group.
Rock gardens, pathways, vault toilet "outhouses" and numerous practical improvements to the cabins impressed us all with their ingenuity and well maintained cleanliness. These cabins are truly a destination worth visiting and worthy of your respect if you go there. Pack your trash out and leave it squared away for the next group!
GOLER WASH, MENGEL PASS AND WARM SPRINGS CANYON
After we had fully explored the cabins, vehicles were carefully loaded in anticipation of the rocky trail ahead into Death Valley. Heading out from the Briggs and Stone cabins we were again struck by the raw, vast beauty of this region that so few people ever truly explore. Heading down the South Park Loop trail we descended back into the Panamint Valley and took a left on Wingate Road. Quickly finding the trailhead to Goler Wash and Mengel Pass, we sought entrance to Death Valley.
Conditions vary in Goler Wash, the trail can wash out and be nearly impassable after severe storms. Luckily for our crew, things were looking good so we pressed onwards and upwards passing short spurs leading to points of interest like the Newman Cabin and the Lotus Mine. We entered Death Valley National Park just before a spur on the right that ends at the infamous Barker Ranch, the shadowy hideout of Charles Manson and his "family".
After Goler Wash ends, the climb up Mengel Pass begins. This begins easy enough but morphs into the steepest and rockiest part of this route into Death Valley. A large stone cairn marks the gravesite of Carl Mengel, a famous miner in Death Valley who lost a leg in a mining accident and continued to mine anyway until his death in 1944. This point also marks where the trail becomes more difficult and extremely rocky as it continues towards Butte Valley.
Now as you enter the valley there are several routes that take you to various cabins, mines, caves and other interesting sites throughout this area. We know we're making good progress when we see Stella's cabin to our left.
Soon we come to the first of many crossroads in the Butte Valley. If you turn left again you will end up at Russell's camp. The road merges back into the main road and as you travel north you pass Mengels Cabin and Greater View Spring followed by a beautiful stone cabin on your left facing Striped Butte. This cabin was built to accommodate geologists surveying the area in the early 1900's and is known as the 'Stone Cabin', or Geologists Cabin, or Anvil Springs Cabin and is prime real estate for overnight camping.
We continued north past the cabin to Warm Springs Canyon Road heading down the valley towards the Butte. The right spur of this road takes you down to Willow Springs Canyon. Off to your left are several roads that take you into another hidden canyon and the Outlaw Cave. We followed the easy dirt trail past the butte and began a westerly journey down the canyon towards Highway 178, where a left turn will take you to Mesquite Springs, Furnace Creek and "civilization" in the form of water and fuel.
TITUS CANYON
Blazing up the 190, we made a run for the Nevada border and a quick visit to Ryholite and journey through Titus Canyon and back into Death Valley.
Cut into the Grapevine Mountains, the canyon features limestone rock formations, petroglyphs, and wildlife of various kinds. An amazing, easy trail into Death Valley, visitors may enter on foot from the west, but vehicles may only enter from the east. Our brief visit to Rhyolite complete, we sought to pass through this giant crack in the mountains and back into Death Valley to our final stop at Mesquite Spring.
MESQUITE SPRING
Located about five miles away from Scotty’s Castle and about eight miles away from Ubehebe Crater, Mesquite Spring is a great spot to camp and one of my favorites in Death Valley.
Surrounded by cotton top cactus, blister beetles and cholla cactus, it sits in the alluvial fan above the springs and there are 2-3 thousand year old petroglyphs from the extinct Mesquite Spring culture nearby.
