Death Valley

Has anyone ever hiked or stumbled across a trip report of a hike through any part of Wingate Wash?  I've been thinking about checking some of it it out for years.  It wouldn't be a sexy canyon hike or much in the way of mines or artifacts.  But it is thick with history and would be quite a challenge.  Not to mention one of the most remote parts of the park.

Picking up the old trail where it hits what is now Warm Springs Rd just off of West Side Rd would be the starting point I think.  It's about 8mi one way with a modest 1500ft gain to the first "narrows" and a view of a small valley up there, just to check it out.  Lol.

If one was feeling froggy and wanted to make it a through hike, it's more like 22mi/4000ft gain to road at the base of the radar tower in the Owlsheads, skirting the base border, which would probably be a tough cross-wash hike.  Or it's about the same distance if you could get up and over to and cross Lost Lake.   Looks like a bit of a ridgeline there, but looks like a couple of the canyons are navigable on satellite.  

Just curious if there's any record of anyone venturing out there.  

 

I recall Steve Hall did Wingate Wash as a 2-3 day backpacking trip and visited some of the nearby canyons; but unfortunately his report is no longer online. If you hike it, please post a trip report!

I’ve been as far as (35°51'35"N 116°49'02"W) to visit the area with slots. I backpacked in from the hwy as west side rd was closed at the time. There’s another canyon nearby that’s well worth visiting, it starts at 35°50'58"N 116°47'44"W.

Thanks for the info/leads guys! Too bad we lost Steve's report. I'd love to see his maps for how far he got. Obviously the dream is to hike it all the way through. But that would take an act of Congress right now. Lol. So much cool stuff is lost on the base. I've found several old stage stops and complexes near springs recently (on satellite) that are just over the border on the base.

Officially planning a winter 22/23 trip and it will definitely include at least one long through hike if I can get in good enough shape. Lol.

(2022-02-26, 10:14 AM)Beardilocks Wrote: [ -> ]Obviously the dream is to hike it all the way through.  But that would take an act of Congress right now.  Lol.  So much cool stuff is lost on the base.

In the late 1990s I met a man at the Mengel camp in Butte Valley. He had just completed a through hike from the south through military lands and was waiting for somebody that was coming to pick him up. I don’t recall the details, but I believe it had taken him at least two weeks to make it to Butte Valley. Not only did he do this trip once, but he went previously to cache water along the hike route. I think I remember him saying that Barstow was his starting point. He also summited Pilot Knob.

Wow! That's a crazy hike. Not to mention just strolling across the base. Cool.

I parked near the cinder cone and walked out to the benchmark near the mining stuff a couple weeks ago. This was my first desert trip so I stuck to dayhikes but a backpacking trip further up the wash is definitely in the cards my next time there. Felt really isolated for being so close to my car.

(2022-02-26, 10:14 AM)Beardilocks Wrote: [ -> ]Thanks for the info/leads guys!  Too bad we lost Steve's report.  I'd love to see his maps for how far he got.  Obviously the dream is to hike it all the way through.  But that would take an act of Congress right now.  Lol.  So much cool stuff is lost on the base.  I've found several old stage stops and complexes near springs recently (on satellite) that are just over the border on the base. 

Officially planning a winter 22/23 trip and it will definitely include at least one long through hike if I can get in good enough shape.  Lol.

Steve Hall backpacked from near the old radio tower, as if going to the Epsom Salts Works, however the group continued north towards "Wingate Dry Lake" and
then followed Wingate Wash all the way to the Split Cinder Cone area. So he technically backpacked all the length of Wingate Wash that is on public land.
(I remember that trip report well because it was the only one that I read in which Steve had encountered and reported a rattlesnake [sidewinder])

Some snaps from the eastern end of the wash. Looking from the West Side Road:


A lot of remnants of the old road:


Dropping down into the actual wash. There's a road leading to a site at the top of the hill on the left I was planning to check out on the way back but developed a nasty blister:


Looking back at the Black Mountains:


Up the wash:


480, nice round number:


As far up the wash I got before turning back:


Owlsheads:


Nice layers


Back to the car:

Great photos. So about how far did you hike up stream from West Side Road? Any photos of that "mining stuff" that you mentioned in this thread?