Back To The Inyos, May 2009

[teotwaki]

After our brief hike we decided to continue across the top of the Inyos and have our lunch at the Salt Tram Cabin.

Here it is as it looked in the early 1900's, S-E corner of the house.


And how it looked before volunteers stitched it back together


and how it looks today.


We had great views ...

A rain storm pounding Owens Dry Lake


And if you squint at the first picture you'll see this wooden "monster" crawling over the hill


And then we really had to squint because we had no idea how this 18 wheeler made it into the Inyos and up the old mining roads..... :Wow1:


At least we thought it was an 18 wheeler blazing through a wilderness area... :bike_rider:

 

[teotwaki]

We decided that the altitude was starving our brain cells and that we should head down the canyon to see what other areas we could poke into.

In one of the canyons that the tramway crosses we had hiked the eastern part of the tramline but not the west side.



We climbed up the hill to this tower that had been partially looted for materials that probably are in other nearby mining establishments. It is the first tower at the bottom of the preceding photo.


There was a large pile of old tin cans.


Where Alan hoisted a "cold one"


Note the can opener holes.


The pile of tin cans is where the liquor bottle was languishing. Note the piece of old purple glass I am also holding. It was the only one there.

 

[teotwaki]

We took time to admire the trees


and the rocks


as well as posing in an Expeditionary Manner with marshmallow clouds and blue skies as a backdrop


This is looking east towards the Tram Cabin. We figured that the middle structure was our "18 Wheeler" :ylsmoke:

 

[teotwaki]

We had finally run out of time. We had to get back to the trusty 4Runner


As we wound our way through the canyons we picked out places to explore for an old horse corral and a woodcutters camp. Plenty of adventure left for another trip!

Here are my other threads on the Salt Tram and the area:

http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=9258&highlight=salt

http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=4846

http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=26003

http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=8647

 

[teotwaki]

No buckets of grease were harmed in this expedition to the Inyos.... no mining artifacts were removed...... and no tree climbing was allowed.