2025-03-01, 11:40 PM
(This post was last modified: 2025-03-02, 12:07 AM by VintageDUG.)
Had this one on the list for a long time, but there isn't much info out there. I know Cal4Wheelers usually do a run up there during their Panamint Days event. I've talked to the owners at Ballarat but their info is from 10 years ago. I saw a video that was mostly the drive up and down, heavily edited, where pretty much every rig got flat tires. I saw a video that showed snippets of a stock TJ going up pre Hillary. After I had scheduled the trip, I got some solid info from a member of this group. In the end, it's 8.5 ish miles and 5000 ish feet of gain on a road that is a lot like every other canyon in the Panamints, though probably with better views. I spent a ton of money on this trip because instead of my nearly stock Rubicon, I brought my built JK. It's better suited for Moab and is slow and heavy. To make the meet up time we set, I had to leave Friday and stay in Beatty for the night. And instead of the little turbo 4 banger sipping gas, I had the mini van V6 screaming the entire way guzzling 87 octane. The group had a 4 door Raptor Bronco, a 2 door Badlands Bronco with a manual trans and a lightly modded TJ. Everyone had front and rear lockers, no one used them. Well, the TJ turned his on for a short stretch leaving Ballarat because he wasn't sure if they even worked. There are shelf road sections, but not much. There's some off camber, but nothing worse than any other canyon. There are some loose steep stretches that if you were running a lighter rig with smaller tires I could see where lockers, at least in the rear would be helpful. Overall it was a really great day, I met some new people and everyone was really cool, not an axe murderer in the bunch. After hearing so many bad things about the road up for such a long time, I wanted other rigs with me. I put a call out on one of the FB DVNP groups and got a ton of interest without telling anyone where I wanted to go. Once I announced a date, everyone but 3 people dropped. Once they all seemed rock solid, I briefed them on the route and they were all still in. I had one guy tow out from Vegas with his RV and spend the night in Ballarat. Another was nearly local, living only an hour away. The last one came down from Silver Peak. A great mix. One guy hadn't been to Ballarat since just after Seldom Seen Slim was buried. Chuck and Liz at the store were awesome to chat with. Waiting for the road to open to go check out Tuber next.
