Death Valley Trotty - Michele Digonnet - A Smash N' Grad

[DeathValleyDazed]

Like many of you, my admiration and gratitude for Michele J. Digonnet runs deeper than Salt Creek under the valley floor playa. Digonnet is now seventy one years of age and appears to be going strong with new publications about the greater Mojave Desert and Preserve.

I was going to produce a write up of Digonnet but located a respectable one over at DesertUSA.com 

https://www.desertusa.com/desert-people/...onnet.html

Digonnet's applied physics technical skills are equally outstanding as his hiking and exploring skills. In fact, my knick name for him is Death Valley Trotty. Digonnet's world travels remind me of our very own netllama and MojaveGeek.

Digonnet's publications in applied physics are note worthy. Imagine if he had chosen geology? (GowerGulch44 - are you paying attention here?) 

https://academictree.org/physics/publica...pid=628088

Side note: April 2024 I parked my rental Jeep Gladiator on Highway 190 between the Mesquite Sand Dune and The Devil's Cornfield for the day while I hiked Trellis Canyon on the northeast slope of Tucki Mountain. Upon returning late in the day the Jeep had been "smashed and grabbed" with shattered glass covering the interior.

Besides most of my camping, photo, and computer equipment being stolen was my copy of Digonnet's "Hiking Death Valley." Losing that rabbit eared bible of DEVA pissed me off more than losing the other stuff! I just re-ordered a replacement from Amazon.

Second Side Note: The NPS park ranger was most helpful logging his detailed police report. (I actually spoke with him on the phone twice. He said the smash and grab did not seem to fit into a pattern of serial crime inside DEVA) I checked a few dumpsters and trash cans in the park for my discarded stuff but nothing found. The losses were covered by my American Express rental agreement in which I declined the extras offered by Enterprise. Glad I chose that option.

However, the claim process was painful because DEVA NPS is not allowed to directly provide their police reports to the victims, rather one must go through the arduous process of FOIA Freedom of Information Act with The Department of the Interior. My first online request was lost. The second snail mail request was eventually honored and passed along the the insurance company who would not pay the claim without a police report. The mess was finally cleared up November 2024 seven months later.

Post title should read Grab instead of Grad

[MojaveGeek]

Wow what an ordeal on several fronts, DVD. I'm sure we've all parked along the paved roads and gone out hiking for the full day many times. This is the first I've heard of theft like that, but we always have a rule of thumb to never leave any thing valuable visible in the car. Of course it is easier to do that if you have a lowly sedan with a trunk. I'm guessing from your description that you had all your gear in the Jeep because you were camping out of it. I assume this happened during daylight hours, from your description?

Did you call park dispatch or 911? I wonder if we'd be better off, in this situation, getting CA highway patrol as a responder - 190 is a state road after all. I have used 911 within the park, but it does not go directly to park dispatch.

As for Digonnet, I have felt that we might be kindered spirits - my day job was at MIT, his at Stanford - and we've both done a lot of time in DEVA, though he of course way way more than I. And now you tell me we are even similar ages

I was pretty well immersed in DEVA and the Mojave in general when his book came out. I was simultaneously in shock - here was someone publishing info which would bring "crowds" to places I had discovered on my own, and appreciated the minimal signs of visitation - but also in awe of how much new places he opened my eyes to.

Of course I have also learned a ton more from folks here on this forum, in its various incarnations. I suspect you have too. We do have to remember though that anything posted here becomes viewable, and probably searchable, by the whole world. A good aspect of this sort of "location centered social media" is that with a relatively small community, we have a certain ability to sense the abilities and sensibilities of others and thereby calibrate our own abilities and willingness to, e.g. take an exposed route, with each other. Much of the best advice comes behind the scenes, but the public forum is how we make contacts. And, for those of use who live some distance away, a chance to keep in touch with what's happening in the area.

I think I'm getting off topic

[DeathValleyDazed]

Yes Mojave Geek, fun being within a few years of age as Digonnet. I called 911 about the smash and grab. Dispatch asked if anyone was injured or if I felt in danger. The answer was no after which she said there was no CHP officer within 90 minutes of my location. She took the details and said she'd pass it on to NPS ranger who would give me a call. Later that evening since I chose not to hang around for an undetermined amount of time. The rest was handled over the phone. The nine hour drive home without a drivers side window was cold and deafening LOL. Glad it happened the evening I was planning on leaving DEVA anyway.

[Beardilocks]

The topic of what we share and the impact it has is more important than ever. Not just due to The Drama. But I was discussing this with my hiking partner the other day: how the DV landscape (figuratively) has changed since Digonnet released his first book. Would he still do it now? Impossible to compare I think. Visitation is up 1000% since then, it’s literally a different world. But that leaves me with a lot of anxiety about what I post and what I don’t. Do I start a DV specific hiking site? Or write a book? At the end of the day I couldn’t include most of my favorite places because I’m fully aware of what will happen to them. I’ve watched it happen in so many other canyons. And I’m not naive or egotistical enough to think I can show off places and think people won’t find them one way or another. Nothing is secret once it’s shared, even obscurely or vaguely.

[DAW89446]

Good things to consider. With each new generation brings new and unprecedented issues that negatively impact those who come before. However the knowledge is there but not necessarily the wisdom of how or why to care for the park and that within it.

I struggled with what to reveal on these early forums and my website a quarter century ago, fortunately everything and everywhere I have experienced is old news so I don’t worry much about it anymore.

[TacoLand]

That's a really lousy story, Dazed. Sorry that happened to you. I've been mostly fortunate with leaving my truck in the backcountry, but I will admit it's always in the back of my mind hiking out from a multi-day backpacking trip in BFE "Geez, I hope my truck is still there and not messed with." I've considered a few ways to immobilize my truck, or to setup some game cameras around where I park in case someone does mess with it, but in the end I just roll the dice and let the Universe do its thing ...

Digonnet is who completely changed the Park for me. I'd explored DVNP before finding his book, relying on info from friends & the visitor center at first, and then eventually started looking things up on the web. But it was Digonnet who I felt had this infectious drive to explore and share the Park in a thoughtful and engaging manner. I've read many of his entries for places outside of DVNP that I'll never go to, just because I find it almost inspiring and educational to follow along with him vicariously.

I don't know how much of an impact his book had on visitation to the Park, especially the more remote gems as it takes a certain kind of person to want to hike miles up a gravel wash before you ever start the actual adventure. I'm primarily interested in the natural beauty of the Park, so if people want to pull up to old mining sites and steal stuff ... so it goes. That's been going on for decades, if not longer ... and on the flip side maybe it's a more conscientious world in some ways now. When I was a kid my grandfather used to take me arrowhead "hunting" in the Gerlach / Soldier Meadows zone of Northern Nevada, and that seemed totally normal 40+ years ago. And with my uncle who blazed trail for the US Forest Service we did all sorts of dipshit 4x4 and camping stuff that I'd be ashamed to do now, but was totally normal "back then."

Point being ... what was the question? Oh, yeah, I think the main takeaway is that absolutely sucks that you lost your dog-eared copy of Digonnet's book. I'd be absolutely pissed if I lost my copy that has years worth of personal notes in it. Hope your future trips to DVNP have a lot less human drama to them.

[DeathValleyDazed]

Digonnet is who completely changed the Park for me. I'd explored DVNP before finding his book, relying on info  I'd be absolutely pissed if I lost my copy that has years worth of personal notes in it. Hope your future trips to DVNP have a lot less human drama to them.

Appreciate the condolence and I share your Digonnet POV. Another angle on use of Digonnet I've enjoyed immensely is to randomly park my vehicle and trek off into some SRG (some random geology) spending all day and occasionally into the evening stumbling upon slots, chutes, hoodoos, spires, flats, flowers, big horn sheep, burros, mining debris, etc. (have yet to see a tortoise or chuckwalla). 

Upon returning from the trek, I'll pull out Digonnet and figure out where the hell I've been all day. Thus I can fool myself into feeling like I'm the first one to explore the area since the park's inception. The best example of this is March 2023 exploring Contact Canyon in the Owlshead Range. Not wanting to backtrack I headed north over a ridge and descended in what I later learned was Owlshead Canyon. Bypassing major dryfalls downward in an unfamiliar canyon has its challenges but I calculated in the event of a complete stop I could back track with enough. water to return to the vehicle. Referencing Digonnet after the fact helped me edit this video which ended up being a personal top five DEVA adventure. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=addZhJ_7a8I

Another remote style surprise was my first venture way out to Trellis Canyon February 2015 on the northeast slope of Tucki Mountain shortly after discovering DEVA.  I entered the canyon amazed to find fresh boot prints guiding my upstream hike. Due to the remoteness I was surprised but simultaneously relieved that I may not be alone out in middle of nowhere. Of course those prints were probably much older and remained undisturbed until the next rainstorm washed them away. 

BTW, I hope to head out there one more time and find a safe exit out of The Trellis Room (as Steve Hall labels it) because this was a "hard stop" for me because I don't use ropes and canyoneering methods. The Trellis Room is viewed at time stamp 1:42 in this rather poorly edited video. I purchased my first Digonnet book sometime after this hiking season. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=taNeTGegiJo&t=131s