2024-03-30, 10:26 AM
Will add some pics soon.
This trip was planned largely around getting different perspectives of Lake Manly. When I bought the plane ticket, West Side Road was still closed, except the very southern end. Emigrant Canyon Road, and Wildrose Road were also closed, though much of lower Wildrose could still be driven.
So, I was prepared to have to do a lot of very long road hiking. But in the days leading up to my trip, West Side Road was opened south of Trail Canyon Road, along with all the side canyon roads except Hanaupah. This saved me 22 miles right there. Trail Canyon was freshly graded even, so when I found out almost last minute that Hanaupah was also opened, I was hopeful it, too, was graded. The only key road remaining closed was Wildrose, after the campground.
I reached the park after 11PM, via Jubilee Pass, and took West Side Road to Hanaupah Canyon Road, and drove 1-2 miles up it to camp. The road so far was very promising. Next morning I headed up to the top of the fan and peered over into the wash. The road looked unbelievably smooth. I was very hopeful my rental GMC Yukon would have no problem making it well up the South Fork, and it did. It got mildly rough approaching the big right turn to the west, but I had no problem reaching the road's end. I packed up my gear, and before long, I was at the end of the creek. It doesn't have the same impact as reaching it after a long hike, but still a pleasing sound to hear.
Walking was also smoother than past years, due to the big rains in recent months. I reached Shorty Borden's camp area and found much of the vegetation had been wiped out. The area where I typically drew water amongst the water cress was now wide open.
Everything so far was easier than ever. But next up was climbing the central ridge, which I had done 3 times before on Telescope Peak attempts (1 aborted, then 2 successes). This was tough as always, but I knew it was just a matter of putting one foot in front of the other, a small stretch of scrambling, and I was up on the ridge in about an hour and a half. There were small glimpses of the lake along the way. I had two goals on the ridge, in opposite directions, to get unobstructed views of the valley floor.
First, I went up the ridge until I reached snow that was getting increasingly difficult to avoid. At about 6800 ft, I could see over the lower portion of the ridge and get a view of the whole lake. I would have continued further up, but for the snow as I was well ahead of my turn-around time of 2PM. After a bit of time up there, I returned and passed where I had made the ridge, and then continued upward. There are quite a few rocks to go over and around, but none of it is difficult. I reached what I thought was the top, but then found there was a little more to go, but that was an easy stretch. It was about 3PM when I reached the peak of this stretch. The best views were a little beyond there and to the left, which was where I set up my camp site. Views were spectacular, both out into the valley and back up toward Telescope. It was nice getting this perspective of the route up to the crest.
It didn't get as cold up there as I expected, around 5300 ft, so that meant for easy and comfortable camping. I call this spot Dante's Mirror, because it's kind-of-sort-of a reverse angle on Dante's though you don't get the northern valley. Next morning, I headed back down to the south fork floor. I went over to Shorty's Lower Mine opening, which was much easier to reach now.
Then, I headed up the creek to see if I could make it all the way to the narrows, but, alas, vegetation eventually blocked me. A better bushwhacker might make it all the way through, but I didn't want to spend a lot of time and effort doing that. For a while, the creek was wide open, in 2 and sometimes more branches. Then, it was back down to take the road to Shorty's Upper Mine. Some of the lower end was further damaged, but it wasn't hard to get going up, up, and up. There were a couple of new washouts, but otherwise, it was still mostly recognizable as a former road. Somewhere a little over 4300 ft, the lake starts to become visible. There are great views of Telescope and the upper canyon as always. I went most of the way up to the mine until I got to where it didn't look like the valley views would get any better.
On the way down, I cut over to where I could drop to near the narrows entrance. It's a steep drop, but rocks and vegetation are well-positioned to make the descent there easy. The lower narrows had also had it's thick vegetation wiped out, and I got to the first little water slide. In years past, I climbed up there, but the water flow was much less. So, I didn't proceed, but it was worth it to see this one spot. While I was there, I started back down the wash to see if there was a way through that I missed coming up, but I got stopped this way as well. Along the way though, I got to see where the creek begins. It isn't a spectacular sight, but I've always wanted to see it nonetheless. There was no water flow where I started down, but eventually I could hear a little, then see a little. As I proceeded, the flow got stronger and stronger, which is the opposite of what happens further down.
Next, it was back up the steep hill and over to rejoin the road, and get back down to the lower camp area. Back down canyon, with the complete success of seeing the lake from 3 different places, and all the other things along the way. Being ahead of schedule, I went up to Trail Canyon and drove the road to the Morning Glory camp. First time I've driven up there at all. Both previous visits were from above. There were also some nice views of the lake from the road.
I was curious if water flow would be better at the little spring, but it's actually worse, both in amount and condition. It was late, so I camped just before where the road goes up to the cabin. One thing occurred to me about these ghost sites. The first visit is usually the best, because it's a little depressing to come back later and see it's in worse that it was before.
I headed back down early and stopped on the fan for sunrise over the lake. Then it was back down to West Side Road, where I went out into the valley from Tule Spring. The little road is blocked and badly washed out. I didn't get too far before the mud became annoying. Then a quick visit to Shorty's Well, and another foray out into the valley where there is a tree gap, roughly 1/4 mile south. The target here was the water channel I have used to complete the valley crossing without crossing Devil's Golf Course terrain. The channel wasn't as muddy to walk through as I expected; it looks significantly different. Once I was out into the valley, it was quickly muddy, so I turned around again.
I also made stops at Shorty Harris/Jim Dayton grave, and Eagle Borax, where there were quite a few tents and a propane grill (probably) illegally setup.
On to Johnson Canyon Road, which is also freshly graded. I took it up to just before where it drops into the wash. The views of the lake aren't as good, but they do exist. And Johnson has some nice little canyons beside the road, and areas that were quite green. Coming down, and not going too fast, I got a flat tire. Fortunately, it was easily plugged, and pumped up. Big lesson here was to check the tread on rental vehicles. Apparently sometimes they like to try to get every mile out tires till they have to change them. This, of course, meant no more dirt roads, aside from the normally maintained ones. I hit Badwater Road, and turned north. I stopped to hike a small fan a few miles south of Mormon Point. Just inside the mouth, there was no way through, except up a dry fall, so it was back down, and up to the little road to Sidewinder Canyon, though I hiked to lower Willow Creek. It's a beautiful little creek there with a few easy climbs to reach the 40 ft waterfall.
Next was Badwater to see the lakeshore as sunset was approaching. I walked out a little into it, both bare footed and wearing some ratty old shoes. Wind was really picking up and it was kicking up waves big enough to have little breaks, which was quite a contrast from my visits there in the fall, where winds were calm.
Just south of the parking area, the fan that loops around has a little protrusion out into the lake, which would become a favorite spot over the next few days. I headed over there and stood out on the point of the little peninsula, enjoying the water "crashing" into the shore and moving northward. I stayed there through sunset, and, knowing there was a wind warning coming starting 11PM, I wanted to see the lake from Dante's the next morning. I headed up there and planned to camp down Furnace Creek Wash, but saw a sign that they now require permits to camp there. So, I parked up there for a few hours and slept a little in the vehicle before heading to Dante's about 3AM. In just that little time, the lake had completely blown away from the little peninsula and the Badwater parking area. I stayed up there through sunrise, alternating between resting in the vehicle and braving the wind to look down at the moving lake. https://youtu.be/UN6ZT1FqGJo
The windy day meant this was as good a day as any to make my trip to China Ranch. I went via Pahrump to fill the gas tank. I got my traditional date shake and a 15 lb box of honey dates, and then back to the park via Jubilee Pass again, and on to Badwater to visit what once was a peninsula. Standing there, I called it Lake Alderaan, because it had been totally blown away. Next, it was up Natural Bridge road for lake views, then up toward the closed road to the Devil's Golf Course. There were quite a few cars parked there and many people were walking the road. I don't know why, but it hadn't occurred to me to walk out there.
This was one of the highlights of the trip, and there were many. The wind blown lake was "raging" in and around the Devil's Golf Course. It was much whiter than usual, and the salt wasn't nearly as sharp. Waves were breaking as the night before. My descriptions will be poor. I took a pass through Artist Drive, and there was a nice view back to the lake heading up.
Next, it was on to Furnace Creek to get clarification about the boating ban. The reason given was damage to the landscape from people dragging boats out there. But what I have is basically an air mattress shaped like a boat. It can be carried. The ranger at the desk said, "I don't know. Good question." He went and asked his supervisor who came out and said "floats" were allowed. I double checked to be sure I was hearing correctly. I had brought my Intex Challenger K1 in the hopes I would get an answer like this. Obviously, this was not the day for it.
I wanted to camp down low, and I didn't want a touristy place like Stovepipe Wells, and I knew Emigrant would be full, so I headed to the Panamint Valley, and up Lake Hill Rd. I slept in the truck until I woke up about 1AM and found the wind had stop. I camped outside and hit the Panamint Dunes the next morning. The intention was to make a sort of counter-clockwise circuit around the set of peaks, though I ended up cutting through in front of the rearward one. I ascended the highest of the forward ones, then back down and hit the rearward one, before heading back around and down to my vehicle. I got a lot of new perspectives on the dunes, along with the valley, the Panamints, and Panamint Springs. The Panamint Valley was very yellow.
Coming out Lake Hill Rd, after visiting the 55 Buick, I came across a Toyota Corolla trying to get through there. Eventually, they thought better of it and turned around, which is good, because they hadn't reached the deepest dip yet. They pulled over so I could pass, and I made sure they were all right, and they gave thumbs up.
On the way back up 190, there was a little rain and wet snow approaching Towne Pass, even though my vehicle said it was 55 degrees. This means yet another trip to DVNP for me had precipitation. Most of my trips longer than 1 day have had some. On to Aguereberry Point....a maintained dirt road, so I figured it would be OK. Got some nice views of the lake, including confirmation that it had fallen back to it's "usual" location. But on the way down....another flat tire two miles from Emigrant Canyon Rd. Plugs wouldn't work this time, though it got enough air in there to get me to the paved road. Changed the tire there, with some help from a guy who stopped. Together, we figured out the strange system GM has of mounting their spare tires. Once we had it figured out and we got the old tire off, he left, I put it back together and was rolling again. So, now, only paved roads the rest of the way, except for little things like Wildrose Campground, where I headed next.
I walked up to the road closure gate, hoping to find it was a soft closure, but it was locked (with locks marked Farabee...) So, I would finally have to do one of those extra long road hikes I had so far avoided. I packed up my backpack with everything I planned to use the next day and camped. I had toyed with the idea of leaving in the middle of the night to get to the crest for sunrise, but decided I didn't want to deal with snow before sunrise, so I left the locked gate just before 6AM. It took just under 3 hours to reach the kilns, with several stops to remove layers of clothing. The sun rose somewhere around the road to Pinon Mesa.
There was a dusting of new snow in places, though none on the kilns themselves. There was snow in most of the road starting right about the locked gate leading to Thorndike and Mahogany Flat. I put on my Microspikes and headed up the road. The snow was firm mostly and I only broke through a few times, about to the lower calf. Drifts got deeper and deeper until they were 3-4 and one seemed even 5 feet. I reached Mahogany Flat in about 1:10. I did a short section of the Telescope Peak Trail, till it opened up to treeless views of the valley, including the lake. I wanted to go farther, but I reached a steep side-slope with a long way to fall, and turned back there. I also went roughly 1 mile up the service road. Snow was deep, so I switched to snowshoes which made for much easier walking, and also got out my ice axe. After about 1 mile, though, I started to feel unsafe, when I reached bend in the road and I saw no edge to prevent a fall. (Real winter people would probably laugh, but....) I turned around there. I probably looked silly crouched down, moving one of my four "legs" at a time, and crunching hard down into the snow to be sure I didn't slip.
Heading down, the snow was noticeably mushier around Thorndike. When I reached the kilns, I rested a bit and put my snow equipment away. I heard a vehicle approaching. It was a Farabee Hummer. I asked him if they opened the road today, as I saw no physical reason for the road to be closed. He said no, but they have a permit. So, apparently, you can still ride to the kilns if you pay Farabee to take you. With the Farabee lock on the gate, that's a good deal for them.
It was a long walk back to Wildrose Campground. I've found that the walks down seem to take longer, probably because that's when I am just wanting it to be done.
When I reached the trucked, the tired I plugged had leaked down enough to trigger the light, so I headed to Furnace Creek to try to get the tire patched properly. The guy there was very helpful and checked it out, but he said the tire was too bad to repair. I asked him about how much life the tread had left to begin with and he said maybe 1 or 2000 miles. So they rented me a truck with almost completely worn out tires. I looked at the other two (front) and found both had worn inner edges, so they were already goners. He pumped it up to 40PSI. I still had my air pump and, as last line of defense, 4 cans of fix-a-flat.
I still wanted to get out on the lake, so I headed down to Badwater, including the peninsula, to see the restored lake for sunset. I rested in the truck until most of the people were gone and got my K1 out on the lake around 2AM. I stayed out a couple of hours under the full moon, but it wasn't as fun as it was the 1st time (November 1). It was also a bit chilly, so I rowed back in and waited for sunrise. Quite a few people arrived for sunrise also. Turns out, the park service posted a ban even on floats on their web site. My guess is the rangers I talked to asked their superiors for clarification and they added that. So, I may have been the last person to get to "boat" the lake with permission.
I also wanted to see the "normal" state of the Devil's Golf Course, so I made another trip in there. There was still quite a bit of water in there, though the area north of the road that had so much water the other day was now white.
Next to last thing for the trip was to walk through the Ranch. Externally at least, they've made it look really nice. I strolled by the golf course, the saloon, the Town Hall, etc. The final thing was one more trip to Dante's. Tires aside, the truck was great for the trip. But on the way to Dante's, it switched from saying I had 102 miles to empty to 36. I figured it was the angle causing that, but I didn't want to take any chances, so I parked at the bathroom parking area and walked up the steep remainder. To be safe I decided to buy a few overpriced gallons of gas at Furnace Creek. On the 23 mile down hill trip, the truck kept giving me more and more miles until it said 526 miles to go with 3/16 of a tank....I bought 4 gallons and drove away. The tire quickly leaked back down to about 24PSI, but remained there, so I never had to add any air until I got the airport.
I figured the tiree cost me about 1 day of things I didn't get to do, so I asked for a 1 day refund, which they gave me. They didn't try to charge me for the flat tire, and agreed to get the truck over to maintenance so the next people will get 4 new tires.
This trip was planned largely around getting different perspectives of Lake Manly. When I bought the plane ticket, West Side Road was still closed, except the very southern end. Emigrant Canyon Road, and Wildrose Road were also closed, though much of lower Wildrose could still be driven.
So, I was prepared to have to do a lot of very long road hiking. But in the days leading up to my trip, West Side Road was opened south of Trail Canyon Road, along with all the side canyon roads except Hanaupah. This saved me 22 miles right there. Trail Canyon was freshly graded even, so when I found out almost last minute that Hanaupah was also opened, I was hopeful it, too, was graded. The only key road remaining closed was Wildrose, after the campground.
I reached the park after 11PM, via Jubilee Pass, and took West Side Road to Hanaupah Canyon Road, and drove 1-2 miles up it to camp. The road so far was very promising. Next morning I headed up to the top of the fan and peered over into the wash. The road looked unbelievably smooth. I was very hopeful my rental GMC Yukon would have no problem making it well up the South Fork, and it did. It got mildly rough approaching the big right turn to the west, but I had no problem reaching the road's end. I packed up my gear, and before long, I was at the end of the creek. It doesn't have the same impact as reaching it after a long hike, but still a pleasing sound to hear.
Walking was also smoother than past years, due to the big rains in recent months. I reached Shorty Borden's camp area and found much of the vegetation had been wiped out. The area where I typically drew water amongst the water cress was now wide open.
Everything so far was easier than ever. But next up was climbing the central ridge, which I had done 3 times before on Telescope Peak attempts (1 aborted, then 2 successes). This was tough as always, but I knew it was just a matter of putting one foot in front of the other, a small stretch of scrambling, and I was up on the ridge in about an hour and a half. There were small glimpses of the lake along the way. I had two goals on the ridge, in opposite directions, to get unobstructed views of the valley floor.
First, I went up the ridge until I reached snow that was getting increasingly difficult to avoid. At about 6800 ft, I could see over the lower portion of the ridge and get a view of the whole lake. I would have continued further up, but for the snow as I was well ahead of my turn-around time of 2PM. After a bit of time up there, I returned and passed where I had made the ridge, and then continued upward. There are quite a few rocks to go over and around, but none of it is difficult. I reached what I thought was the top, but then found there was a little more to go, but that was an easy stretch. It was about 3PM when I reached the peak of this stretch. The best views were a little beyond there and to the left, which was where I set up my camp site. Views were spectacular, both out into the valley and back up toward Telescope. It was nice getting this perspective of the route up to the crest.
It didn't get as cold up there as I expected, around 5300 ft, so that meant for easy and comfortable camping. I call this spot Dante's Mirror, because it's kind-of-sort-of a reverse angle on Dante's though you don't get the northern valley. Next morning, I headed back down to the south fork floor. I went over to Shorty's Lower Mine opening, which was much easier to reach now.
Then, I headed up the creek to see if I could make it all the way to the narrows, but, alas, vegetation eventually blocked me. A better bushwhacker might make it all the way through, but I didn't want to spend a lot of time and effort doing that. For a while, the creek was wide open, in 2 and sometimes more branches. Then, it was back down to take the road to Shorty's Upper Mine. Some of the lower end was further damaged, but it wasn't hard to get going up, up, and up. There were a couple of new washouts, but otherwise, it was still mostly recognizable as a former road. Somewhere a little over 4300 ft, the lake starts to become visible. There are great views of Telescope and the upper canyon as always. I went most of the way up to the mine until I got to where it didn't look like the valley views would get any better.
On the way down, I cut over to where I could drop to near the narrows entrance. It's a steep drop, but rocks and vegetation are well-positioned to make the descent there easy. The lower narrows had also had it's thick vegetation wiped out, and I got to the first little water slide. In years past, I climbed up there, but the water flow was much less. So, I didn't proceed, but it was worth it to see this one spot. While I was there, I started back down the wash to see if there was a way through that I missed coming up, but I got stopped this way as well. Along the way though, I got to see where the creek begins. It isn't a spectacular sight, but I've always wanted to see it nonetheless. There was no water flow where I started down, but eventually I could hear a little, then see a little. As I proceeded, the flow got stronger and stronger, which is the opposite of what happens further down.
Next, it was back up the steep hill and over to rejoin the road, and get back down to the lower camp area. Back down canyon, with the complete success of seeing the lake from 3 different places, and all the other things along the way. Being ahead of schedule, I went up to Trail Canyon and drove the road to the Morning Glory camp. First time I've driven up there at all. Both previous visits were from above. There were also some nice views of the lake from the road.
I was curious if water flow would be better at the little spring, but it's actually worse, both in amount and condition. It was late, so I camped just before where the road goes up to the cabin. One thing occurred to me about these ghost sites. The first visit is usually the best, because it's a little depressing to come back later and see it's in worse that it was before.
I headed back down early and stopped on the fan for sunrise over the lake. Then it was back down to West Side Road, where I went out into the valley from Tule Spring. The little road is blocked and badly washed out. I didn't get too far before the mud became annoying. Then a quick visit to Shorty's Well, and another foray out into the valley where there is a tree gap, roughly 1/4 mile south. The target here was the water channel I have used to complete the valley crossing without crossing Devil's Golf Course terrain. The channel wasn't as muddy to walk through as I expected; it looks significantly different. Once I was out into the valley, it was quickly muddy, so I turned around again.
I also made stops at Shorty Harris/Jim Dayton grave, and Eagle Borax, where there were quite a few tents and a propane grill (probably) illegally setup.
On to Johnson Canyon Road, which is also freshly graded. I took it up to just before where it drops into the wash. The views of the lake aren't as good, but they do exist. And Johnson has some nice little canyons beside the road, and areas that were quite green. Coming down, and not going too fast, I got a flat tire. Fortunately, it was easily plugged, and pumped up. Big lesson here was to check the tread on rental vehicles. Apparently sometimes they like to try to get every mile out tires till they have to change them. This, of course, meant no more dirt roads, aside from the normally maintained ones. I hit Badwater Road, and turned north. I stopped to hike a small fan a few miles south of Mormon Point. Just inside the mouth, there was no way through, except up a dry fall, so it was back down, and up to the little road to Sidewinder Canyon, though I hiked to lower Willow Creek. It's a beautiful little creek there with a few easy climbs to reach the 40 ft waterfall.
Next was Badwater to see the lakeshore as sunset was approaching. I walked out a little into it, both bare footed and wearing some ratty old shoes. Wind was really picking up and it was kicking up waves big enough to have little breaks, which was quite a contrast from my visits there in the fall, where winds were calm.
Just south of the parking area, the fan that loops around has a little protrusion out into the lake, which would become a favorite spot over the next few days. I headed over there and stood out on the point of the little peninsula, enjoying the water "crashing" into the shore and moving northward. I stayed there through sunset, and, knowing there was a wind warning coming starting 11PM, I wanted to see the lake from Dante's the next morning. I headed up there and planned to camp down Furnace Creek Wash, but saw a sign that they now require permits to camp there. So, I parked up there for a few hours and slept a little in the vehicle before heading to Dante's about 3AM. In just that little time, the lake had completely blown away from the little peninsula and the Badwater parking area. I stayed up there through sunrise, alternating between resting in the vehicle and braving the wind to look down at the moving lake. https://youtu.be/UN6ZT1FqGJo
The windy day meant this was as good a day as any to make my trip to China Ranch. I went via Pahrump to fill the gas tank. I got my traditional date shake and a 15 lb box of honey dates, and then back to the park via Jubilee Pass again, and on to Badwater to visit what once was a peninsula. Standing there, I called it Lake Alderaan, because it had been totally blown away. Next, it was up Natural Bridge road for lake views, then up toward the closed road to the Devil's Golf Course. There were quite a few cars parked there and many people were walking the road. I don't know why, but it hadn't occurred to me to walk out there.
This was one of the highlights of the trip, and there were many. The wind blown lake was "raging" in and around the Devil's Golf Course. It was much whiter than usual, and the salt wasn't nearly as sharp. Waves were breaking as the night before. My descriptions will be poor. I took a pass through Artist Drive, and there was a nice view back to the lake heading up.
Next, it was on to Furnace Creek to get clarification about the boating ban. The reason given was damage to the landscape from people dragging boats out there. But what I have is basically an air mattress shaped like a boat. It can be carried. The ranger at the desk said, "I don't know. Good question." He went and asked his supervisor who came out and said "floats" were allowed. I double checked to be sure I was hearing correctly. I had brought my Intex Challenger K1 in the hopes I would get an answer like this. Obviously, this was not the day for it.
I wanted to camp down low, and I didn't want a touristy place like Stovepipe Wells, and I knew Emigrant would be full, so I headed to the Panamint Valley, and up Lake Hill Rd. I slept in the truck until I woke up about 1AM and found the wind had stop. I camped outside and hit the Panamint Dunes the next morning. The intention was to make a sort of counter-clockwise circuit around the set of peaks, though I ended up cutting through in front of the rearward one. I ascended the highest of the forward ones, then back down and hit the rearward one, before heading back around and down to my vehicle. I got a lot of new perspectives on the dunes, along with the valley, the Panamints, and Panamint Springs. The Panamint Valley was very yellow.
Coming out Lake Hill Rd, after visiting the 55 Buick, I came across a Toyota Corolla trying to get through there. Eventually, they thought better of it and turned around, which is good, because they hadn't reached the deepest dip yet. They pulled over so I could pass, and I made sure they were all right, and they gave thumbs up.
On the way back up 190, there was a little rain and wet snow approaching Towne Pass, even though my vehicle said it was 55 degrees. This means yet another trip to DVNP for me had precipitation. Most of my trips longer than 1 day have had some. On to Aguereberry Point....a maintained dirt road, so I figured it would be OK. Got some nice views of the lake, including confirmation that it had fallen back to it's "usual" location. But on the way down....another flat tire two miles from Emigrant Canyon Rd. Plugs wouldn't work this time, though it got enough air in there to get me to the paved road. Changed the tire there, with some help from a guy who stopped. Together, we figured out the strange system GM has of mounting their spare tires. Once we had it figured out and we got the old tire off, he left, I put it back together and was rolling again. So, now, only paved roads the rest of the way, except for little things like Wildrose Campground, where I headed next.
I walked up to the road closure gate, hoping to find it was a soft closure, but it was locked (with locks marked Farabee...) So, I would finally have to do one of those extra long road hikes I had so far avoided. I packed up my backpack with everything I planned to use the next day and camped. I had toyed with the idea of leaving in the middle of the night to get to the crest for sunrise, but decided I didn't want to deal with snow before sunrise, so I left the locked gate just before 6AM. It took just under 3 hours to reach the kilns, with several stops to remove layers of clothing. The sun rose somewhere around the road to Pinon Mesa.
There was a dusting of new snow in places, though none on the kilns themselves. There was snow in most of the road starting right about the locked gate leading to Thorndike and Mahogany Flat. I put on my Microspikes and headed up the road. The snow was firm mostly and I only broke through a few times, about to the lower calf. Drifts got deeper and deeper until they were 3-4 and one seemed even 5 feet. I reached Mahogany Flat in about 1:10. I did a short section of the Telescope Peak Trail, till it opened up to treeless views of the valley, including the lake. I wanted to go farther, but I reached a steep side-slope with a long way to fall, and turned back there. I also went roughly 1 mile up the service road. Snow was deep, so I switched to snowshoes which made for much easier walking, and also got out my ice axe. After about 1 mile, though, I started to feel unsafe, when I reached bend in the road and I saw no edge to prevent a fall. (Real winter people would probably laugh, but....) I turned around there. I probably looked silly crouched down, moving one of my four "legs" at a time, and crunching hard down into the snow to be sure I didn't slip.
Heading down, the snow was noticeably mushier around Thorndike. When I reached the kilns, I rested a bit and put my snow equipment away. I heard a vehicle approaching. It was a Farabee Hummer. I asked him if they opened the road today, as I saw no physical reason for the road to be closed. He said no, but they have a permit. So, apparently, you can still ride to the kilns if you pay Farabee to take you. With the Farabee lock on the gate, that's a good deal for them.
It was a long walk back to Wildrose Campground. I've found that the walks down seem to take longer, probably because that's when I am just wanting it to be done.
When I reached the trucked, the tired I plugged had leaked down enough to trigger the light, so I headed to Furnace Creek to try to get the tire patched properly. The guy there was very helpful and checked it out, but he said the tire was too bad to repair. I asked him about how much life the tread had left to begin with and he said maybe 1 or 2000 miles. So they rented me a truck with almost completely worn out tires. I looked at the other two (front) and found both had worn inner edges, so they were already goners. He pumped it up to 40PSI. I still had my air pump and, as last line of defense, 4 cans of fix-a-flat.
I still wanted to get out on the lake, so I headed down to Badwater, including the peninsula, to see the restored lake for sunset. I rested in the truck until most of the people were gone and got my K1 out on the lake around 2AM. I stayed out a couple of hours under the full moon, but it wasn't as fun as it was the 1st time (November 1). It was also a bit chilly, so I rowed back in and waited for sunrise. Quite a few people arrived for sunrise also. Turns out, the park service posted a ban even on floats on their web site. My guess is the rangers I talked to asked their superiors for clarification and they added that. So, I may have been the last person to get to "boat" the lake with permission.
I also wanted to see the "normal" state of the Devil's Golf Course, so I made another trip in there. There was still quite a bit of water in there, though the area north of the road that had so much water the other day was now white.
Next to last thing for the trip was to walk through the Ranch. Externally at least, they've made it look really nice. I strolled by the golf course, the saloon, the Town Hall, etc. The final thing was one more trip to Dante's. Tires aside, the truck was great for the trip. But on the way to Dante's, it switched from saying I had 102 miles to empty to 36. I figured it was the angle causing that, but I didn't want to take any chances, so I parked at the bathroom parking area and walked up the steep remainder. To be safe I decided to buy a few overpriced gallons of gas at Furnace Creek. On the 23 mile down hill trip, the truck kept giving me more and more miles until it said 526 miles to go with 3/16 of a tank....I bought 4 gallons and drove away. The tire quickly leaked back down to about 24PSI, but remained there, so I never had to add any air until I got the airport.
I figured the tiree cost me about 1 day of things I didn't get to do, so I asked for a 1 day refund, which they gave me. They didn't try to charge me for the flat tire, and agreed to get the truck over to maintenance so the next people will get 4 new tires.
