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2025-01-25, 05:12 PM
(This post was last modified: 2025-01-25, 05:21 PM by DAW89446.)
Wow, some serious hiking!
As a kid growing up on the northern slope of the San Bernardino Range northwest of Big Bear Lake, I learned as a youth the joys of exploring every truck trail and cow path in the desert and mountains, not on two feet, but two wheels. In the 1970s my hiking was limited to hiking and backpacking the trails up Mount San Gorgonio. Lived in Big Bear Lake back then. A short time later I moved to June Lake and I backpacked the nearby backcountry. In 1980 I got a 4x4 pickup and my interests turned to exploring every ghost town I could in Nevada and eastern California; though I did continue to backpack with visiting friends at least once annually. In 1987 I went to work in Trona and in 1992 I could no longer pass the company's breathing tests. I was diagnosed with emphysema, caused by the dusts (I never took up smoking). In 1991 I did manage to backpack to the Champion Spark Plug Mine high up the slopes of White Mountain Peak for a few days; in 1997 I backpacked to Panamint City for an overnighter. Those were my last hurrahs. Thereafter, my activity was based around 4x4 exploring and truck bed camping. Because I couldn't breathe and I eventually got fat.
Back then, there were no cell phones, no satellite emergency beacons that I was aware of. CB and HAM radios were the ticket back then, I only could afford a CB. Bailing wire and duct tape helped me out of a few minor breakdowns far from pavement. Later, a written itinerary left with my wife provided a security blanket; but never became necessary. Still later, the purchase of my first Toyota - a 2002 Tacoma TRD 4x4 - ensured reliable off roading (still on the road with family). FRS and a police scanner joined my small stable of electronics along with the CB; and cell phones started picking up signals east and west of the monument later park boundaries. I replaced the Tacoma with a 2018 4Runner. However, age and several occupational injuries and illness have conspired and ganged up on me so that my multiple days/weeks off roading days - let alone hiking - are effectively done. But my memories, field notes, photos and videos remain. If I was still in my prime and still active I'd have an InReach and a 2-meter.
DAW
~When You Live in Nevada, "just down the road" is anywhere in the line of sight within the curvature of the earth.
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(2025-01-25, 05:12 PM)DAW89446 Wrote: Wow, some serious hiking!
As a kid growing up on the northern slope of the San Bernardino Range northwest of Big Bear Lake, I learned as a youth the joys of exploring every truck trail and cow path in the desert and mountains, not on two feet, but two wheels. In the 1970s my hiking was limited to hiking and backpacking the trails up Mount San Gorgonio. Lived in Big Bear Lake back then. A short time later I moved to June Lake and I backpacked the nearby backcountry. In 1980 I got a 4x4 pickup and my interests turned to exploring every ghost town I could in Nevada and eastern California; though I did continue to backpack with visiting friends at least once annually. In 1987 I went to work in Trona and in 1992 I could no longer pass the company's breathing tests. I was diagnosed with emphysema, caused by the dusts (I never took up smoking). In 1991 I did manage to backpack to the Champion Spark Plug Mine high up the slopes of White Mountain Peak for a few days; in 1997 I backpacked to Panamint City for an overnighter. Those were my last hurrahs. Thereafter, my activity was based around 4x4 exploring and truck bed camping. Because I couldn't breathe and I eventually got fat.
Back then, there were no cell phones, no satellite emergency beacons that I was aware of. CB and HAM radios were the ticket back then, I only could afford a CB. Bailing wire and duct tape helped me out of a few minor breakdowns far from pavement. Later, a written itinerary left with my wife provided a security blanket; but never became necessary. Still later, the purchase of my first Toyota - a 2002 Tacoma TRD 4x4 - ensured reliable off roading (still on the road with family). FRS and a police scanner joined my small stable of electronics along with the CB; and cell phones started picking up signals east and west of the monument later park boundaries. I replaced the Tacoma with a 2018 4Runner. However, age and several occupational injuries and illness have conspired and ganged up on me so that my multiple days/weeks off roading days - let alone hiking - are effectively done. But my memories, field notes, photos and videos remain. If I was still in my prime and still active I'd have an InReach and a 2-meter.
That's a pretty impressive resume. That's back when all the best sites were discovered by accident or word of mouth. In the 90s when I was hiking with my brother, he would handle all the navigation. I'm still bad at navigation and it's only because of tech that I dare venture out alone. We got off route once and had to pull an emergency bivy in Kings Canyon, worrying my wife sick. She knew about where we were supposed to be, but not exactly. She called the rangers but they had their hands full searching for Randy Morgenson. We came out the next day, but of course couldn't call until we got closer to Fresno. As soon as the Spot became available she insisted I get one. I carried the Spot until I switched to InReach. The Starlink is mainly for our RV trips, and since we travel so often it never made sense to pause service. I was leaving for a trip, had to grab something from the RV and started wondering why I wasn't taking it with me since it was getting paid for whether you turn it on or not. I took my oldest granddaughter to the Champion Spark Plug mine back in 2020. My son and I finally made it to Panamint City a couple years ago. The Keynot Mine has a bulldozer I wanna see, the Beveridge Ridge Cabin is close to that and of course the grail would be Beveridge itself. I don't know if I got those in me or not. Especially solo. We escaped SoCal in early 2020 and left our friends behind. We both retired young (me at 44) so all my adventure buddies have JOBS. It's hard to team up with them these days. If not for all the tech, modern Jeeps, and vast resources of info, I would never be able to see anything.
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Just need to load a few things and head out. Looks like where I plan to camp and start my hike from might be getting a little rain right now, hopefully not much. It sure won't be getting any snow. If there's no Vegas traffic I hope to be checking out a cool old dump truck near Rob Roy before lunch. Then making my way deeper in to camp.
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I hope you have a great trip!
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Smooth sailing into the Ibex area. I was very concerned about road conditions since videos and TRs from 2-3 yeras ago say the road to where I wanted to camp and start my hike was completely gone. My concerns were unfounded because like many other DVNP roads a bulldozer has been here in the last 12-18 months. That is one positive from Hillary, roads that were garbage prior to the storm and were being ignored, got love after the storm. If you've been in Telephone Canyon or Lemogine, you know what I'm taking about. Headed over to Rob Roy to see the dump truck, and though there were zero signs of vehicle tracks, there were old dozer tracks. The spur road I needed to get close was washed out and not repaired. I started to hike it, tripped and destroyed my phone case. It did it's job though and the phone is in perfect condition. I shot some pics from a distance and decided to try and get to camp. On the return trip I found a Rotopax water can that wasn't there before. A quick check in the rear of my Jeep showed my can was missing and my gas can was barely hanging on. I dumped the 3 gallons of fuel into my gas tank and now the empty fuel can and full water can are in the Jeep with me. It was a 2wd super highway most of the way to my campsite. The dozer quit just before I got to the cabin. I had lunch and then explored everything in the area. I grabbed some binoculars and scouted the route to the old mine road. About 1.2 - 1.5 miles across the desert. It's not flat and I think it will suck worse than I thought. The old mine road is clearly visable climbing into the hills and looks like it will be easier than that first section. From there I only have what I can see on Google Earth. My whole route is just under 3 miles each way. There's 11-1200 feet of gain going in, not counting all the up and down in the first mile or so. It was cloudy when I got here, then the sun peaked out while I was exploring, now the night sky is full of stars. Its cold, but I'm prepared for it.
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Sounds amazing Doug. Beautifully described. I love it.
Check out my travel blog: www.pocketsfullofdust.com
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Sounds like fun! I hope you have bandwidth to post pix. I've never been exactly in that area.
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Epic fail. Horrible night, no sleep, stomach issues. Rescheduled for next month with my granddaughter. No overnight, driving in the morning of. The road is fantastic.
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DAW
~When You Live in Nevada, "just down the road" is anywhere in the line of sight within the curvature of the earth.
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Woof. Sorry for the misadventures .... backcountry gastrointestinal distress is the worst.
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