Part 9: Hunter Mountain and Saline Valley

20120324-25

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The Trip

The group camped at Hunter Mountain and the night was cold.  Next morning, we broke camp and headed toward Saline Valley.  When we reached South Pass, Roberto and Mark split off and headed back to San Diego.  Matt and Nancy joined us on a spine-grinding crawl down the South Pass grade to the hot springs in Saline Valley.  To say the road was "bad" would be correct, but somewhat of an understatement.  While not the absolute worst washboard road we have traveled (that honor goes to the Puertecitos-Gonzaga Bay road in Baja), it surely was a close second.  Our top speed was somewhere around 15 mph and that was uncomfortable.

The Photos

The photos below are what we saw.

From the crest of Hunter Mountain, we could see the snow-covered peaks of the Inyo Range to the west.

Our first view of Saline Valley from the high ground near South Pass.  See that haze in the air?  That is wind-whipped dust from the dry lake.

At South Pass, Mark and Roberto split off from the group and returned to San Diego.  Matt and Nancy continued on with us to the hot springs at Saline Valley.  Above, we could see the Panamint dry lake from South Pass.

Oh, yuck.  The wind was 40+ mph and it was driving huge clouds of akalai dust in the valley below.

When we got to the valley floor we could see that the dust plume stretched for miles to the east of us.

Many of the canyons on the east slope of the Inyo range were essentially slots carved by the intense runoff.  Note the alluvial fan at the base of the slot canyon.

A bit further to the north, we passed the "wet" part of the lake bed.  The dust was visible on the salt flats beyond.

We did not pass many oncoming vehicles, so I was rather surprised to see this vintage Land Rover.

The access road to the hot springs had this odd signage.  The hot springs are visible in the left center of the photo above: it is the clump of trees.

We first stopped at the lower hot springs and then decided to check out the upper springs as well.  The upper springs were much more exposed with minimal vegetation.

Looking to the west, the dust plume was blocking the view of the mountains.  The bikes in the foreground passed us at South Pass.

We decided to setup camp at the lower springs.  There was a nice set of palms as well as a concrete hot tub, showers and several (clean) restrooms.

The fellow that is the camp host, AKA "Lizard Lee" lives at the springs full time.  He does a great job of keeping things clean and drains the main hot tub daily for a thorough scrubbing.

The neo-hippie types that frequent this place have left their mark on the cinder cone to the south of the springs.

From our camp, the dust plume was blocking our view of the Inyo range to the west.  The winds blew strong all night as well as the entire next day.

Kathleen made pot roast with mashed potatoes for dinner.  We then retired to the hot tubs and some shut-eye.  Matt and Nancy left early in the morning to return to L.A.  We hit the tubs again and then headed out of Saline Valley via the North Pass road.  North Pass was in much better shape, but still a very long trip.  North Pass took us 3.25 hours of travel from the springs to the pavement at Death Valley Road.  About midway on the road, we passed the local version of Homeland Security.  Yes, they were asses too.  These guys held there ground until the bumper on Thor pushed them out of the way.  I was pretty sure they were going to "donkey kick" the truck, but instead they just strolled away at their own pace.

Further up the road, we passed this outpost.  The land was private property.  Note the storm clouds brewing in the west.  We would get snow on North Pass.

As we gained elevation, we got a view of the dust plumes over Saline Valley.  It was like this all night.

A panorama of the terrain to the north of Saline Valley.  Click here to view the full-size panorama.

Note the upturned bedding in this ridge.

We only had 3 oncoming vehicles in 3.25 hours, and this fellow was one of them.

Near the crest of North Pass, we passed through a set of abandoned mines.  Above is a headframe from one of the mines.

North Pass was quite steep.  Note the switchbacks.

The vegetation at this elevation was quite sparse.

The entrance sign at North Pass.

Saline Valley is interesting and it attracts "colorful" types of folks.  The cross section of people was actually quite diverse ranging from European visitors to retired couples.  Sprinkled in were a few hemp-heads and a set of cross-country motorcycle types.  But the place was quiet and folks were friendly.  To be sure, the path to get there is long, slow and rough - from either of the 3 entrances.  You REALLY have to want to go there to be willing to suffer the many miles of rough roads.

From North Pass, we followed Death Valley Road west to Big Pine, CA.  From there, we headed north to Mammoth Mountain for some skiing.

We had a great time in Death Valley, but the weather could have been a bit better.  We will surely return in the near future.


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Photos and Text Copyright Bill Caid 2012, all rights reserved.
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