2024-04-17, 08:49 PM
(This post was last modified: 2024-04-18, 11:33 AM by MojaveGeek.)
We spent a week and a half in March based out of SPW. After that I was hiking in SW Utah and Gold Butte NV and then watching the eclipse in Maine and then taking care of grandson while granddaughter was born so... I'm a bit behind.
I'd characterize this trip as "obscure places" but that is increasingly where I find myself. Long peak climbs are getting a bit out of reach with age, and I prefer solitude, so... Many thanks to Beardilocks, Brice, and Kauri for posting so much valuable info to help me figure out these places. Actually I seem to continually follow their footsteps.. which fortunately get erased in the desert wind. In fact, most of these places had no signs of people other than the usual mylar balloons.
First day we went over Towne Pass to Panamint Dunes. I seem to get out there about once a decade. Always pretty and usually quiet though we saw one party packing out from the Dunes and of course a lot of people camp along that road. In addition to the Dunes we found one of several rock alignments I had leads to, but I hesitate to post pix of such delicate things, and thanks to another member for this info, but I won't name them so they don't get pestered.
![[Image: dv24_729.jpg]](https://web.media.mit.edu/~geek/webpix/dv24/dv24_729.jpg)
![[Image: dv24_730.jpg]](https://web.media.mit.edu/~geek/webpix/dv24/dv24_730.jpg)
Next day we went to a canyon south of "Alluvial Fan" canyon, original beta from Kauri, but Beardilocks posted pix this winter. Actually we meant to go there last year but Kathy and Eric were so taken by Alluvial Fan that we had done that instead. So, back we went. This is a pretty canyon with a few challenges and scrambling but manageable until... the canyon takes a sharp bend, and that's all folks.
![[Image: dv24_738.jpg]](https://web.media.mit.edu/~geek/webpix/dv24/dv24_738.jpg)
![[Image: dv24_739.jpg]](https://web.media.mit.edu/~geek/webpix/dv24/dv24_739.jpg)
That beautiful polished white chute was as far as we went; in fact we were stymied by some boulders just before so we could not touch the surface
![[Image: dv24_740.jpg]](https://web.media.mit.edu/~geek/webpix/dv24/dv24_740.jpg)
The next day was cloudy and gradually turned into intermittent rain, but never super bad. We went into a couple of places in the Kit Fox Hills. A very nice bridge that Beardilocks recently reported on, then a couple more canyons in the mud hills that were cute but didn't go anywhere, and then a long canyon leading to a long but not super high slot which Kauri describes. Photos were not the greatest. We chased an owl up the long slot, probably Great Horned but never got a great look at it. It would fly out of sight and sit some place, only for us to disturb it for a brief glimpse as we approached again. At the top of the long slot you're coming out on the big flat area that is mostly desert pavement above the Kit Fox Hills, and had it not been rainy we might have returned via the canyon to the north which has the old road and telephone line, but we just retraced our steps instead. Cold and windy which was why we were in canyons. The wind was from the north and the dust from the Niter Beds and sand dunes required headlights for driving back to SPW later in the day, being quite intense.
![[Image: dv24_744.jpg]](https://web.media.mit.edu/~geek/webpix/dv24/dv24_744.jpg)
![[Image: dv24_745.jpg]](https://web.media.mit.edu/~geek/webpix/dv24/dv24_745.jpg)
More to come...
I'd characterize this trip as "obscure places" but that is increasingly where I find myself. Long peak climbs are getting a bit out of reach with age, and I prefer solitude, so... Many thanks to Beardilocks, Brice, and Kauri for posting so much valuable info to help me figure out these places. Actually I seem to continually follow their footsteps.. which fortunately get erased in the desert wind. In fact, most of these places had no signs of people other than the usual mylar balloons.
First day we went over Towne Pass to Panamint Dunes. I seem to get out there about once a decade. Always pretty and usually quiet though we saw one party packing out from the Dunes and of course a lot of people camp along that road. In addition to the Dunes we found one of several rock alignments I had leads to, but I hesitate to post pix of such delicate things, and thanks to another member for this info, but I won't name them so they don't get pestered.
Next day we went to a canyon south of "Alluvial Fan" canyon, original beta from Kauri, but Beardilocks posted pix this winter. Actually we meant to go there last year but Kathy and Eric were so taken by Alluvial Fan that we had done that instead. So, back we went. This is a pretty canyon with a few challenges and scrambling but manageable until... the canyon takes a sharp bend, and that's all folks.
That beautiful polished white chute was as far as we went; in fact we were stymied by some boulders just before so we could not touch the surface
The next day was cloudy and gradually turned into intermittent rain, but never super bad. We went into a couple of places in the Kit Fox Hills. A very nice bridge that Beardilocks recently reported on, then a couple more canyons in the mud hills that were cute but didn't go anywhere, and then a long canyon leading to a long but not super high slot which Kauri describes. Photos were not the greatest. We chased an owl up the long slot, probably Great Horned but never got a great look at it. It would fly out of sight and sit some place, only for us to disturb it for a brief glimpse as we approached again. At the top of the long slot you're coming out on the big flat area that is mostly desert pavement above the Kit Fox Hills, and had it not been rainy we might have returned via the canyon to the north which has the old road and telephone line, but we just retraced our steps instead. Cold and windy which was why we were in canyons. The wind was from the north and the dust from the Niter Beds and sand dunes required headlights for driving back to SPW later in the day, being quite intense.
More to come...