Death Valley Deep Dive 2024

[Beardilocks]

With a beautiful 5-day forecast predicted and some warmer temps in the valley I decided to make a trip into Butte Valley to try to track down a few things that have been on my list for a long time.  I have been in Butte Valley 2 or 3 times but not in probably 5 years or so.  The traffic in & out up Warm Springs Rd had been heavy over the 3-day MLK weekend (in part due I'm sure to so many dirt roads still being closed) but I was hoping that it would slow in the following days. 

Warm Springs Rd has been graded or bulldozed wide up to Warm Springs camp/mine.  It looks like that whole road was completely destroyed in the aftermath of Hillary.  It's still bumpy and rough, but not bad.  After the camp, the road is still graded for a ways but narrows a bit.  Grading ceased near the turn-off to the rarely-used Gold Hill Rd.  Past there the road was mostly unscathed by the floods and is as it's always been: bumpy & scenic. 

Side trip to check out the old road to Arrastre Spring.  Obviously no one has been up in ages.  It's terribly rough. Not recommended.


First view of Striped Butte.


I turned off first up to Quail Spring in search of an old cave/shelter that has been dubbed “Robber's Roost”.  How many of those are there in the West?  This one has absolutely zero history or legend attached to it that I can find and is likely just a colorful name applied to a small miners camp.


Biggest mortero EVER.


One of the small mines in the area that would have been worked around the time of the small cave.





I did not find the cave.  Lol.  I had neglected to download the images that I'd found of the shelter and without them I was looking for a needle in a haystack.  Or more accurately, a boulder in a boulder-field.  I wandered around for a bit checking likely boulders but the terrain is incredibly steep and loose and I eventually gave up even though I likely passed within 10yrds of it, just on the wrong side. 

Oh well.  So I stopped in to see how the Geologist's Cabin is doing. 


It's about the same as always.  Although it seemed oddly more sparse and empty than I remember.  Very tidy, but somehow less lived in. 


And not to sound like an old man, but back in my day there was always a big bottle of whiskey on the mantle here.  Now you have this.  Hahahaha.  Ironically even that was false advertising as the jar contained only some rolling tobacco.  Well, and some suspicious dried mushrooms that I was unwilling to try my luck on out here. 


At least Elvira is here to class the place up a bit.  I missed the memo where she was Canonized but I'm all for it!


Overall the cabin seems well looked after. 


Geek was apparently here in 1985!  Very hard to read I know.  Sorry.  A lot of the pencil signatures on this piece of tin were from the late 1950's. 


So I settled in to my favorite camp spot in Butte Valley.  Now that I'm more educated on ancient people in DV, this was obviously a well used habitation site for many thousands of years.  Lithic scatter is everywhere even to this day after it's been raked over for the last 175yrs by miners, archeologists, and tourists alike. 


It was too dark at this point for pics inside but this is one of the more massive rock shelters you'll find, with multiple rooms and tons of covered space.  According to William Wallace (the American archeologist, NOT the Scottish freedom fighter), there are about 25-30 habitation sites or campsites in Butte Valley proper that were surveyed in the early 1950s. 


Sunsets here are something else.  Every time I've ever been here I've been treated to this pink glow in the golden hour. 


Native Americans weren't the only ones taking advantage of the rock shelters and the many springs in the area.  Here's the foundation of small building that used to be nearby the rock shelter. 





The next morning I met up with Brice to hit a summit I've had on my list for years.  Which is maybe the only summit that I had on my must-do list in Death Valley?  I'm not sure what about Manly Peak intrigued me so much.  Coincidentally it was also on Brice's list of 200 DV high points to collect. 

We started out from the old Russell Cabin, making our way up to a low saddle before starting the ridgeline walk.  Manly is about 2700ft of gain in about 2.25mi.  But the terrain is very easy to walk in and the views are mind boggling.  It's also my first peak with at least 2000ft of prominence. 

View SW towards Goler Pass down an unnamed drainage as we made the ridgeline. 



One of many gratuitous shots of Striped Butte.  It's just so damned photogenic.


Apparently the old pre-1994 DV Nat'l Monument boundary runs up the ridgeline of Manly. 


The terrain up the ridgeline is gorgeous. 


Looking back down the ridge from halfway up. 


Only one boulder (that I noticed) had this cool mini-fern growing around it's base.  I don't think I've seen that before in DV.


Looking back to the North over Redlands, South Park, Happy, and Surprise Canyons as the ridgeline turns SW.  And Panamint Valley with the Panamint Dunes way at the end. 


The rock formations up here are awesome. 





After a bit of a tricky climb, at least one of us made the pinnacle of the summit.  Looking East towards DV proper. 





Odd old pan at the base of the summit. 


The colors are really are really popping up here after a wet summer.  Wingate Dry Lake in the background on the right (thin white line) with the Owlshead Range behind it.  Crystal Hills about dead center. 


After bagging the nearby Anvil Benchmark (seen on the right), I spotted this cave on the way back.  It was huge!  Easily tall enough to stand up in most of the way to the back.  Probably 15-20ft deep.  A real beauty.  Someone very very long ago had also left some firewood for the next guy or maybe for the next seasonal migration. 





Evidence of an old stone wall once existing at the opening. 











Just as we reached a sandy saddle I started to notice some occasional lithic scatter on the ground.  I was excited because it was the first real sign of Native Americans up on the ridge.  Brice didn't believe that the chips were of the man-made variety.  He never believes that any chips I find are man-made.  Two steps later he reached down to pick up a piece of rock that he was SURE would prove that he was right.  Instead it turned out to be this sublimely delicate arrowhead.  Haha!  I win!  Gorgeous find though.  It must have been for very tiny game.  I need to up my knowledge on the difference btw thin & fat arrowheads and what kinds of game they're for...


Gratuitous butte shot. 


Looking out onto China Lake NWS.  Curious which dry lake that is out there.  With how reflective it was (which did not really come through in the photo), it's possibly a temporary lake after this summer's rains that the Navy is hiding from us all.


Another stunner of a peak-bagging hike.  Gorgeous in every direction the whole way up.  And one I can finally check off my list.

Does anyone have basic knowledge on the history of the Russell Camp?  Was it originally for mining?  Or just the antisocial type?  I have a vague memory that it was/is still privately owned.  It looks more run-down than I remember from 5-6yrs ago.