Motor Touring In The Lone Pine Area, 11/13/09

[teotwaki]

Decided to go hit a number of places on my list for the Lone Pine, California area. I found this neat poster at the new Visitor Center at the junction of 395 & 136.


First off I wanted to head up to my favorite spot at the Salt Tram cabin and catch the sunset on Friday.


Zoom in


The setting sun always illuminates the old wooden structures in a very flattering light




I am always amazed at the age of this marvelous tramway: Sept 3rd, 1912 inscibed in the machinery area concrete


As the sun dropped, so did the air temperature


time to head on down to Lone Pine!

 

[teotwaki]

Saturday was the day to circumnavigate from the North Pass of Death Valley and eventually exit out past Hunter Mountain to 190

Death Valley Wacoba Road east of Big Pine


This area of Marble Canyon may have been worked right into the 1980s or 90's

free military trailer to be had.... :sombrero:


I decided to try out the local hot tub

at this palatial miner's home


surrounded by lots of excavations and structures with fascinating ways to sort the raw ore using all sorts of methods

 

[teotwaki]

deep and dark

at this structure


sense of humor..

 

[teotwaki]

As lunch time neared the Grey Eagle Talc Mine looked like a great place for lunch. it was "guarded" by this:


I set up the Fiamma awning


and had a great view!

 

[RU55ELL]

Very cool. Did you enter the mine?

 

[teotwaki]

Very cool. Did you enter the mine?

Basically no, but I have more pix to post

 

[teotwaki]

Grey Eagle Talc Mine

This mine showed signs of someone actively trying to re-open it.

This fine old used logging donkey from Washington

had new gauges, plugs and other shiny bits

to haul this platform (note the large modern plastic liquids tank in the background)

waaaay up this slope

to here at the top


I probably spent too much time enjoying the view and lunch so I did not hike to the top. There was a small opening part way up that did not go very far in.

 

[teotwaki]

I wanted to see sunset at the Racetrack so I packed up and zoomed by the dunes near the hotsprings


I wanted to head up the road to the Lippincott Mine and then over to the Racetrack. As I crossed the open desert area I could see a few vehicles coming down the upper sections, a few Jeeps and a Chevy Avalanche. I knew that if the Chevy made it down without drama I could make it up. Anyhow, about where the road starts to ascend there was a foreign (German?) tourist on his way down in a Honda (Pilot?). He was very agitated about the road condition and insisted that I should not go up and tersely said "Good luck" when I said I was still headed up. By then the first two Jeeps came around the corner so I pulled off the road to let the procession amble by. They gave me the trail update and mentioned some tourists in a Jeep with two flats somewhere above the trail. Next came the Chevy (with no scrapes) and then the last Jeep. The last guy kept thinking that I was stuck or needed help and seemed to indicate that I shouldn't be going up. Maybe it was just me but I thanked him for his concerns and went up. There was just one narrow spot and then I saw some motorcycle riders coming down on some nice rides. They were nice guys too!



They were heading back to their base camp at the springs. I really liked their rides.

An old but durable sign along the canyon road


And despite practicing the gift of gab along the way I made it over to the racetrack

and noticed this old mine shaft off on the slopes of the surrounding hills.

I'll have to check it out some day before the NPS destroys it.

Then I drove out past Hunter Mountain, mostly in the dark. Made a brief stop at the old Boxcar cabin and talked to a couple of fine guys there before getting to 190 and back to Lone Pine for a steak dinner at the Seasons.

 

[Canadian Moose]

Sweet Trip!

That one security camera... was it there to stop vandals? You were still allowed to explore the area right?

 

[teotwaki]

All of the photos in posts 6 and 7 are in the area past the camera; no physical barriers or "keep out" signs. I was curious about the antenna on the thing and kept wondering if some angry miner was going to drive up but nothing happened. :sombrero:

 

[SWbySWesty]

neat! I like that area!

 

[ywen]

Decided to go hit a number of places on my list for the Lone Pine, California area. I found this neat poster at the new Visitor Center at the junction of 395 & 136.

Poster? I have a guide book and that's the cover for it.. it has info for a bunch of 4x4 routes. I picked it up at the visitor's center in Bishop.

 

[teotwaki]

Poster? I have a guide book and that's the cover for it.. it has info for a bunch of 4x4 routes. I picked it up at the visitor's center in Bishop.

They had a bunch of literature and giveaways with this theme. This poster came from the visitor center south of Lone Pine (see my post that you quoted). I liked the "nostalgia" theme for an area that still has the remnants of the towns from before and during that era.