Death Valley Brothers Trip

[VintageDUG]

Just wrapped up our 2024 Death Valley Brothers Trip. This was the trip I planned extensively last year and Hillary decided we should switch to the Mojave Preserve instead. That worked out well in 2023, I met some great people via the MDCHA out at Goffs and learned a lot about that area. This year was again four nights in the desert, a different old miner's/use cabin each night and one night in Vegas. PERFECT weather and zero mechanical issues with the Jeep. We left the Vegas airport, gassed in Paharump and went to a cabin not too far from there. It needed a lot of cleaning, but the Army/Navy team we are got it handled. A good fire, some great drinks and lots of catching up. We battled a mouse in our food storage container (no damage) and pack rats the size of small dogs. We saw the sights from there, through Warm Springs and into one of my favorite places - Striped Butte Valley. The Geologist Cabin once again greeted me, giving me about a 29-1 success rate. We saw about all there is to see in the area. Every cabin, mine and secret spot that I know of. We paid our respects to Emmett Harder at his cabin and noticed some other well known travelers had been there recently doing the same. Helped some confused and very inexperienced dirt bikers out by offering them fuel and convincing them to return via Warm Springs instead of trying the pass. After watching one of them fall over on flat ground, I'm glad they heeded our suggestion. Mengel Pass was no issue for us in my lightly modified Jeep, I have been over it several times this year in both of my Jeeps. We then hit Goler top to bottom before heading into Ballarat. I had been in the area the week prior scouting part of the route and I made arrangements to cache ten gallons of 91 octane gas and two nights worth of firewood with the town owners. This, coupled with the three emergency gallons we carried made it so we didn't have to head to Panamint Springs or Trona for fuel. While visiting in town we heard that the claim owner was up at World Beater. Sure enough, when we passed by, the flag was flying. We ran into him a little farther up canyon and he told us what time to return so we could use the cabin that night. No outside camping required, another stroke of luck. We went all the way to Rodgers Pass and ran the ridge to the overlook above Butte Valley. Then we dropped down to explore some cabins and mines, returning to Pleasant Canyon via the lower route. Then spent a windy night at World Beater. In the morning we explored other Panamint canyons before stopping by to visit at Ballarat again. Then we headed up South Park Canyon to explore what it had to offer. Had lunch up there and ran into some really cool off roaders, chatting with them for a long while and scoring some cola to use with my rum later since I was out. Another stroke of luck. Down South Park and then a short distance of pavement took us into the Argus Range. We arrived at probably the nicest and cleanest cabin but it was still early in the day so we pushed on. The next cabin was occupied by a large group of off roaders who were out on a run to Lookout City. We respectfully looked around and left our trip card. We saw them coming down as we were headed to the last cabin. Our spot for the night was up a wash with no road and the structure itself was pretty rough. It was insanely dirty inside and we got right to work. The off roaders from the other cabin could be heard coming up to our area so I went out to greet them. They were surprised anyone was there, but I called to them and invited them up. Some of them had never been there so we let them look around while we cleaned. I'm super glad them came our way since it made it way easier finding the good line out in the morning. We left there, aired up and hit pavement. After some more off road driving and a hike we got to Jean Lemogine's buckboard wagon. We hit up some tourist spots in the park on the way to Vegas. With Sema in town we had to stay well off strip at South Point, a first for me. Then it was just the usual, a little (very little) gambling where I somehow won 17 dollars, some drinks, and some killer steaks. Instead of a show, this year we just watched the election coverage before calling it a trip. It's really great to spend time with my brother and share what I've found and learned about the desert with him. We saw or stayed at 15-16 cabins, checked out many mines and lots of cool stuff hidden in the back country.