Friday, October 27, 2006

Panamint City


This weren’t no walk in the park!

Wasn’t even like a walk around Fort Bragg!

My goal was the ghost town of Panamint City in the mountains west of Death Valley.

It is only a five and a half mile hike from the trailhead but it took me eight and a half hours to get up there!!

The starting elevation is 2,249 ft. and the finish, 6,346 ft. I had to scramble up a couple waterfalls and then struggle through two miles of brush.

My feet held up just fine because of all the walking I have been doing but my back and hips were not used to the weight of the backpack I carried.

Fortunately, there is a nice cabin complete with running water. I stayed three nights. The weather was perfect; 60 degrees during the day, 40 at night.

I saw burros, Ravens, chipmunks, Juncos, Goldfinches, one hawk and recent scat from Coyote. At night I heard, but never saw, the resident packrat.

Nor did I see a single person or speak a single word.

I explored the mining ruins and the various canyons during the day. Evenings I read the log book entries by previous visitors and a 1978 National Geographic.

No cell phone, no Wi-Fi, no lights, electricity, traffic or noise except the occasional wind in the Juniper and pine. Wonderful!
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It took five and a half hours to hike down.

In a few more days I will drive six hundred miles home and be walking the Easy Streets of Fort Bragg once again.

3 comments:

  1. I envy you. Except for the scrambling and struggling.

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  2. Some of the best trips are where you don't see a single person and don't speak a single word.

    ReplyDelete