Death Valley / Saline Valley

Participants:
Robb Miller
Jerome Blunck
Damian Smith
Tom Muzik
Stacy (perspective)
Mike (perspective)
Andreas Frobese (Tom’s friend)

Prepared and Submitted by Tom Muzik

Robb, Damian, Andreas and I met in Big Pine
Friday night. We had a great dinner at Rossi’s
(recommended by all) in Big Pine.

Saturday morning we met Jerome at the Big Pine Chevron
early and hit the road. After a nice drive over the
White Mountains, we hit our first stop, Eureka Dunes
in Death Valley. These are the tallest dunes in the U.S. For
some exercise, we hiked up part of the dunes.

We then headed up Steel Pass. There were a couple of
fairly easy obstacles to keep the faint of heart, but
over all, it was a easy road. The scenery over Steel
Pass was very nice.

We camped at Warm Springs. In general, all I have to
say about Warm Springs is that the 60’s are still
alive in CA. Peace, love and bad naked.

We were expecting to meet Stacy and Mike at Warm
Spring around 5PM on Saturday. Near 7PM, Damian and I
decided to go looking for them. We were happy to hear
Stacy’s voice looking for us on the CB, and I think
she was more happy to find us. They had spent some
“bonus” time looking for us.

We had a nice fire under the stars (no moon) and hit
the rack for a good nights sleep. Most of us slept in
tents, Damian in his, Mike on top of his and Stacy
(somehow) slept in her back seat. My back hurts even
thinking to attempt that feat.

We hit the road early for the Race Track. As
expected, the Race Track did not disappoint. Its easy
to hear about it, and hard to understand it when you
are there. We then took the right at Tea Kettle
Junction up to Hunter Valley. We then stopped at Lost
Burro Mine for some quick exploring. As we headed out
of Hunter Valley we had some trouble. My GPS that was
all programmed to lead us through the trip could not
find the exit. I must have turned the group around
three times looking for the trail that wasn’t there.
You will all hear about the breakage that happened
during one of these episodes. It turned out that they
had made a new trail, not on the map or my GPS.

We finally made it out of Hunter Valley and the Park.
We had a nice lunch on the patio at Panamint Springs
Café and headed home.

The weather, although a little hot on Saturday, was
perfect on Sunday.

I would like to thank everyone for going. Although I
love climbing stuff, I also enjoy desert exploration.
Overall, it was a GREAT trip.

Thanks,
Tom