Skidoo Pipeline Headworks

[GowerGulch42]

Hey, have any of you been to the headworks of the Skidoo pipeline at Birch Spring? Looks like a pretty gnarly hike no matter how you want to attempt it. I'm quite curious if there are even any remains left, though I have trouble believing the CCC crew could be bothered to go that deep into the backcountry to haul out cast iron pipe! There appears to be a bunch of in-situ pipeline beyond Tuber Canyon visible on GE.

[GowerGulch42]

Oops, I posted about this back in January. Well, I guess I'll take any information or historic photographs about what it might be like up there!

[DAW89446]

Back in the mid 1990s, a fellow by the name of Tom Budlong hiked the entire line, starting at Birch Spring. Tom did a lot of work with Steve Smith on the Lonesome Miner Trail system. I still have a lot of my correspondence files exchanged between us for about a decade, emails and letters. I’m out of town but can check for more details later.

[DAW89446]

…though I have trouble believing the CCC crew could be bothered to go that deep into the backcountry to haul out cast iron pipe!

For a manuscript I did on Skidoo about 20 years ago I obtained a couple of images of salvagers removing pipe, with pipe stacked on their flatbed trucks. I have those photos in storage currently, but I obtained them from the Park Service.

I speculate that the salvage crews got what was easily obtainable and where they could get their trucks into, leaving the rest behind.

[MojaveGeek]

Well if anyone ever gets over there I'm curious what you find. I've found three disjoint segments of pipe. One, as some here know, a single segment right next to a now closed road. Another in upper A canyon, about 3 segments, seemingly repurposed but not clear for what. And a very steep segment of joined pipe coming over down into Wildrose. I've walked the pipeline from Harrisburg to near Skidoo but all I found were some parts, as in joint hardware and stuff like that.

[GowerGulch42]

Back in the mid 1990s, a fellow by the name of Tom Budlong hiked the entire line, starting at Birch Spring. Tom did a lot of work with Steve Smith on the Lonesome Miner Trail system. I still have a lot of my correspondence files exchanged between us for about a decade, emails and letters. I’m out of town but can check for more details later.

I'm actually equally interested in the Lonesome Miner stuff as well! I've mapped a lot of trails but a few still elude me. I hope to get into the Inyos for the first time this autumn.

[MojaveGeek]

Yes, Tom Budlong ran Friends of the Inyos and spent a ton of time there. Also Steve Smith, who worked out of the BLM Ridgecrest office. Steve was also an early canyoneer in the DV area and descended lots of places, I recall his descriptions of the upper reaches of Dolomite Canyon, for example. I sort of recall some things they wrote in the Desert Sage, the publication of the Desert Peaks Section of the Sierra Club. Their archives are online, but maybe were not last time I looked (check at archive.org if not). Steve's son, who may also be named Steve, to add some confusion, is also an avid hiker in the area.

For years I wanted to do the Lonesome Miner route, but it's probably out of my league now.

[DeathValleyDazed]

Yes, Tom Budlong ran Friends of the Inyos and spent a ton of time there.  Also Steve Smith, who worked out of the BLM Ridgecrest office.  Steve was also an early canyoneer in the DV area and descended lots of places, I recall his descriptions of the upper reaches of Dolomite Canyon, for example.  I sort of recall some things they wrote in the Desert Sage, the publication of the Desert Peaks Section of the Sierra Club.  Their archives are online, but maybe were not last time I looked (check at archive.org if not).  Steve's son, who may also be named Steve, to add some confusion, is also an avid hiker in the area.

For years I wanted to do the Lonesome Miner route, but it's probably out of my league now.

If I make a summer trip to DEVA in 2022 I'll stick to higher elevations and this area of the Skidoo Pipeline could be a "cool" place to spend a few days. I'm still keen on locating a maple grove (northeast face) that Brian DeFord encountered about 9-10K elevation on his way from Badwater to Telescope Peak a few years ago.