Death Valley
Mahogany Flat road graded - Printable Version

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Mahogany Flat road graded - trailhound - 2021-08-22

This report was posted on the Whitney Portal Store board:

Quote:the Park Service has a contractor out there grading the dirt roads...up to Mahogany Flat with a normal car is possible for at least the short term...(graded on 08.19.21)

http://www.mountwhitneyforum.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=104519#Post104519

RE: Mahogany Flat road graded - DAW89446 - 2021-08-22

Now only if they’d grade the road up Surprise Canyon like they used to in the old days ... Dodgy

RE: Mahogany Flat road graded - Candace66 - 2021-08-29

When did the NPS maintain the road up Surprise Canyon?

Hard to believe some people are STILL fretting about that road being closed! I've found it's usually people who rarely get out to the boonies anyway. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

RE: Mahogany Flat road graded - DAW89446 - 2021-08-30

It was an Inyo County maintained road, never an NPS road. The road and Panamint City were outside the old monument boundaries. After the big washouts of 1984 flushed out all the road base fill out of the narrows, the county basically gave up on the road even though it was still on the books. I’ve seen documentation in the county courthouse in my researching in the past decades of the county’s ownership of the road, but now have forgotten details.

Before the Center for BioDiversity won their lawsuit, there were still a number of tax paying landowners at Panamint, including those with patented claims. Several times that I was in the canyon after I moved to Trona in 1987 until the CBD lawsuit I would find trucks parked as far as they could get up the canyon, parked there by owners who ferried equipment and supplies to their claims to keep their patents active. The route after 1984 was also a magnet for extreme off roading. There is a video by Rick Russell that features one of his guided tours up there.

I have a photo of a 1956 Buick Roadmaster parked near the Hilton with the smelter stack in the background and a woman standing by the car. In Trona, my wife and I were friends with a now long deceased woman who also had a 1950s Buick Roadmaster and who used to take a cake to Shotgun Mary at Panamint every Christmas in the 1950s and 1960s.

RE: Mahogany Flat road graded - Desert Fog - 2021-08-30

Here is more on the history of the roads Inyo County was trying to maintain in the park...

Federal Judge Refuses to Let County Cut Highways in Roadless Section of Death Valley National Park 

RE: Mahogany Flat road graded - DeathValleyDazed - 2021-08-30

(2021-08-30, 09:54 AM)DAW89446 Wrote: I have a photo of a 1956 Buick Roadmaster parked near the Hilton with the smelter stack in the background and a woman standing by the car. In Trona, my wife and I were friends with a now long deceased woman who also had a 1950s Buick Roadmaster and who used to take a cake to Shotgun Mary at Panamint every Christmas in the 1950s and 1960s.

Loving these detailed vintage stories. Last week searched in vain for a photo of Shotgun Mary. Do you happen to have one? Anyway to see that photo of the Buick near the Hilton? I've only been up Surprise Canyon twice. I slept in my hammock on the Hilton's front porch and had the whole place to myself. The second time I arrived late on a full moon night and the Hilton was occupied so I slept in the Workshop. I can't believe the smokestack still stands. Sad day when it tips over.

RE: Mahogany Flat road graded - Kauri - 2021-08-30

(2021-08-30, 06:57 PM)DeathValleyDazed Wrote: Loving these detailed vintage stories. Last week searched in vain for a photo of Shotgun Mary. Do you happen to have one? Anyway to see that photo of the Buick near the Hilton? I've only been up Surprise Canyon twice. I slept in my hammock on the Hilton's front porch and had the whole place to myself. The second time I arrived late on a full moon night and the Hilton was occupied so I slept in the Workshop. I can't believe the smokestack still stands. Sad day when it tips over.

Here's an article, with photos, about driving up Surprise Canyon that you might enjoy reading:

http://www.off-road.com/aimages/articlestandard/toyota/422005/186143/article.html

I know I've read more stories and photos from before the Surprise Canyon road to Panamint City washed out, but I haven't yet been able to re-find them (still looking).

RE: Mahogany Flat road graded - DAW89446 - 2021-08-30

DeathValleyDazed Wrote:Last week searched in vain for a photo of Shotgun Mary. Do you happen to have one? Anyway to see that photo of the Buick near the Hilton?
No photo of Shotgun Mary. My photo of the Buick used to be online but I don’t think it is any longer. When I get a chance I’ll get it off my computer and put it back up.

RE: Mahogany Flat road graded - TacoLand - 2021-08-30

(2021-08-30, 08:06 PM)Kauri Wrote: Here's an article, with photos, about driving up Surprise Canyon that you might enjoy reading:

http://www.off-road.com/aimages/articlestandard/toyota/422005/186143/article.html

I know I've read more stories and photos from before the Surprise Canyon road to Panamint City washed out, but I haven't yet been able to re-find them (still looking).

Totally badass, but ... wow. No thank you.

RE: Mahogany Flat road graded - DAW89446 - 2021-08-30

[Image: daw89446-albums-misc--picture60849-09493...729b3.jpeg]

[Image: daw89446-albums-misc--picture60850-e1f85...58f27.jpeg]
If you look at the Panamint City page on ghosttowns.com you will see my photos from an overnighter in 1997. There’s also winter photos taken at some point before the 1984 flashfloods because the contributor’s stock Chevy Blazer is seen parked in town.