[ree]

Our plan was to spend three nights in Butte Valley, a high valley about 7 miles long, and about 6,000’ elevation in the Panamints. Steve was dubious about spending so much time there, but we filled up the time plenty. The place has lots of early native and mining history, and there’s a ton of hiking opportunity. We drove the pioneer’s trail (not the short route) from Vegas to Furnace Creek, CA – in the heart of Death Valley.

stop at gorgeous Ash Meadows

Side note: Furnace Creek Inn is closed for renovation, and the Ranch Buildings (the wooden gift shop, Wrangler’s Café) have been torn down. Furnace Creek is being massively renovated. I’m sure that dumpy motel ($200 a night currently) will be better at the Ranch, but prepare to hemorrhage even more cash for it. We continued our trek down the West Side Road. It was in good shape for a gravel road. We stopped at all the wonderful historical markers out there and had a nice look around each one.

the only marker in CA, moved to its correct location, thanks to the scholarly work of my new besties, the Johnsons.

valley view

old well tanks

Then we headed up Warm Springs Road, in the south west section of the park, on our way to Butte Valley. We stopped by the old talc mine at Warm Springs, half-way up the canyon. The large shaft was open, but neither of us wanted to venture far into it. We walked around the empty swimming pool and out buildings, and the cool old arrastre in front of the complex. I told Steve about the springs in the back canyon, so we found the boot path to it.

it goes back quite a ways

the empty swimming pool

gas or water tank

old arrastre

Warm Springs

near the springs

The road continues another 9 miles and gets progressively rockier. Glad to have high clearance. Our pony did great on it, but the dang “check engine” light was on again, and the temp gauge said it was way hotter than it felt. Burros are plentiful in the Panamints nowadays. Their poop was everywhere we hiked. They make some nice trails, but I wondered if it wasn’t getting to be too much. They mar the landscape terribly, but it is so cute to see them. I can see a conundrum for the Park Service.

wild burros

There are a heap of miners’ cabins out in the area. The most prominent one is the Geologists’ Cabin, a small stone cabin, high on a hillside overlooking Butte Valley. It has the best view in the valley: perched above a spring, critters flock there; and in the distance, Striped Butte, (the main land feature, which gives Butte Valley its name) sat like a striped peppermint candy in the middle of the valley. The Geologists’ Cabin, and others miners’ cabins like it, are open for you to stay in, but the Park Service really doesn’t do any maintenance on them. They range in cleanliness, however Steve and I aren’t into taking chances with the hanta virus warnings. We prefer to simply car camp, and there’s plenty of that around, still with great views. A little ways past the Geologists’ Cabin to the west is a nice boulder flat spot which was within striking distance of our first hike: Redlands Canyon.

sunset from the Geologists Cabin.

camp 1 in Butte Valley

Butte Valley sunrise

This hike was primarily a photo research reference trip. It looks like a lot of Death Valley’s narrow, washy canyons: narrowing with high walls of water polished rock, dotted with brush. A road goes down the canyon quite a ways, but the Park Service wants it closed. We found a “closed” sign thrown in the brush next to the road. We parked near a sharp road curve and near a canyon tributary, and started hiking down canyon. We kept on the look-out for petroglyphs. It was fun to examine the canyon closely. It was about a 7 mile hike to the west opening of Redlands Canyon. The road progressively deteriorates as we went down the canyon.

Redlands Canyon

Redlands Canyon

Redlands Canyon

About 3 miles in, was Redlands Springs. The springs choked the flat of the canyon. We primarily stuck to the south wall of the canyon to get through it. There was a bootpath we could easily follow.

shrubs at the springs

Redlands Springs

brush at springs chokes canyon

Below the springs was Ox Jump Falls, where a bit of history occurred back in those pioneer days. We brought rope gear, but it was easy scrambling. That bit was a little fun and exciting.

looking down dry fall

Ox Jump Falls

dry falls

As we got to the bottom of the canyon, we saw the water pipe leading to the old Biggs mine at the mouth of Redland Canyon. There were lots of “prospects” high above the canyon wall, but we saw only a few adits. “Manly Falls”, a large drop at the mouth of the Redlands Canyon, is drawn on the map - but it is more like a fall that has been dug by bulldozers. The canyon mouth ends at a cliff, dropping into a huge strip mine. This is the Southern Homestake Gold Mine, which has consolidated a bunch of claims, most notably the old Harry Briggs gold mine. It was an awesome sight, if sad one. A pickup truck in the distance looked like an H.O. scale model. Across the valley, we could see Fish Canyon in the Slate Range, and up and down Panamint Valley. It was a very cool view.

trash or treasure?

Panamint Valley

looking across Panamint Valley to Slate Range

old bones

South Homestake Mine

We ate lunch and headed back. Steve got the sign out of the brush and stuck it across the road, for the drivers to see. When we got back to the rig, a couple guys in jeeps came by, and we had a lively discussion about the area and the pioneer history. It was fun and could have lasted much longer, but we wanted to move camp to Russell Camp before dark.

cool boulder

some nice cactus

[Gimpilator]

And so we cross paths again. I don't know what your dates were, but I was recently climbing peaks in the Panamint Range, looking down into Butte Valley. You explored many things there, which I did not see. Makes me want to go back. That plus Mormon Peak. Ever been to Saline Valley? I just went there intending for a day, but ended up staying a week.

[ree]

Hey Gimpster... I have NOT been to Saline Valley, but I have heard tons about it. Sounds real nice. Especially the springs there... Mormon Peak was fantastic. I wrote another trip report about it. We did another night in Butte Valley (3 total.) We didn't do Manly Peak, but we wanted to. We had a specific agenda this time. I still want to do Tin Mtn in the north, but will have to save for another trip. If you and Heather want to do a key swap hike in the Panamints sometime, we should set that up.