Trail Report: Death Valley Mine Exploring

[mkjeepers]

[COLOR="Blue"]I was able to get up into the Death VAlley area and do some exploring of the mines from 1800's and early 1900's mining era. There are some of the most awesome mines and mining equipment to be found anywhere.

I did 3 loop trails;

- South Park Canyon, Middle Park and Pleasent Cyn, which I give a 10+ scenic rating.

- Jail Canyon, Charcoal Kilns - a 10 rating

- Talc City/Cerro Gordo Loop - a 10++ rating. The trail goes across the White Mt range @ about 10,000 ft.

Trails are all rated Moderate.[/COLOR]

SOUTH PARK

[mkjeepers]

Middle Park















DEATH VALLEY BELOW





ROGERS PASS

[Mitch]

Awesome pictures Mike.

Were the Cabins available? All were occupied when I went a couple of weeks back. Such a neat area.

Mitch

[mkjeepers]

PLEASENT CANYON







CLAIR CAMP

[mkjeepers]

JAIL CANYON/CHARCOAL KILNS


BALARAT














WE SPENT THE NIGHT AT JAIL CABIN





CHARCOAL KILNS

[Mitch]

Mike,

Dave and I were hoping that the World Beater Cabin was open, but no. Did you stay at the cabin at the Gem Mine (Corona mine)? An Adopt A Cabin group had just recently replaced the roof and it seemed to be in decent condition. I will take some goodies next time I go there to continue the repairs and updates.

Mitch

[mkjeepers]

TALC CITY MINES

[mkjeepers]

CERRO GORDO





CERRO GORDO. AN ACTIVE MINING CAMP













THE TRAM CABIN



THE SALINE VALLEY SALT TRAM













SALINE DRY LAKE DVNP.





SIERRA NEVADA RANGE





MT. WHITNEY



OWENS VALLEY BELOW

[mkjeepers]

[COLOR="Blue"]You know Mitch we didn't pass a single vehicle on any of the trails, and ALL of the cabins were available. I guess mondays are the day to go.

mk[/COLOR]

[Notstuckyet]

this looks really fun. i would love to get out there one of these days, i love mines!

[curtis]

Great pictures Mike and looks like a fun trip.

[headhunter]

Hey Mike,

Those pics are great!

Thanks for putting them up.

Christian

[mkjeepers]

[COLOR="Blue"]I took so many pictures (767) to be exact. One of the cool sites was the Salt Tram that went from Saline Valley in DV over the mountain down to Swansea. It was the shortest route to get the salt to a place where it could be transported. When salt prices went down, it wasn't profitable to keep up the operation.

The tram towers are still in great shape. At first sight I thought we were looking at Noah's Ark under construction. On the road down to Swansea you can still see many of the towers from the trail.

The tram station is at 8700 ft and is currently being restored by volunteers.

A little side note: Since Mitch was a couple mines up on me, I had to do some catch up. LOL

A few more pix of the Salt Tram[/COLOR]

Click the link

http://s304.photobucket.com/albums/n...view=slideshow

[headhunter]

[COLOR="Blue"]I took so many pictures (767) to be exact. One of the cool sites was the Salt Tram that went from Saline Valley in DV over the mountain down to Swansea. It was the shortest route to get the salt to a place where it could be transported. When salt prices went down, it wasn't profitable to keep up the operation.

The tram towers are still in great shape. At first sight I thought we were looking at Noah's Ark under construction. On the road down to Swansea you can still see many of the towers from the trail.

The tram station is at 8700 ft and is currently being restored by volunteers.

A little side note: Since Mitch was a couple mines up on me, I had to do some catch up. LOL

A few more pix of the Salt Tram[/COLOR]

Click the link

http://s304.photobucket.com/albums/n...view=slideshow

When we were in the Ballarat area 4 weeks ago, we met someone who had a few stories about that Salt Tram.

I like the additional pics of the towers and the buildings.

I look foward to going there sometime.

Christian

[FishPOET]

A lot of great pictures. Thanks!