Saturday, November 13, 1993 - The sun had barely come up, when we got up and prepared to hit the trail. But first, it was off to Chef Andy's for another delightful breakfast of ham, potatoes and eggs.  Not to mention, a nice big mug of hot coffee!

Let's see, line-up at 0730, driver's meeting at 0745 and off to the trail at 0800.  Today, we were headed for the Pleasant Canyon/South Park Canyon run.

There were about 30 vehicles in our group.  First stop was the ghost town of Ballarat, where we had a chance to air-down tires, (for those who hadn't already,) lock hubs and shift into four wheel drive.  Not to mention, it's a good place to take a 10-100 if that's required.  So, up the canyon we went.

The first couple of miles are easy, I'd rate them no higher than Class 3, but then you come to a grove of willows, where a stream emerges from.  Pull in those mirrors; this trail is narrow and you'd better have your four wheel drive engaged!  Passing that, it's easy wheelin' all of the way to Clair's Camp.  But, the canyon scenery is fantastic, and we were constantly looking at the hillsides for remnants of old mining operations.

Left:  Looking down at Clair's Camp, and our group, framed by a rather leaning redwood water tank.  Update: The last time I visited Clair's Camp in 1997, the tank was still standing.  Right:  Some of the many buildings remaining at Clair's Camp.

So our group stopped at Clair's Camp to check out the operation.  When it was in operation, most of the folks who worked here lived in Ballarat and commuted the 6 miles or so to Clair's Camp by wagon.  Gee, I gripe about my daily commute, what about these guys?  Anyway, there is a lot to see and do at Clair's Camp, and it will definitely eat up a couple of hours if you want to explore the operation to the fullest.

Left:  An overview of Clair's Camp, with the photo taken next to the leaning water tank. Right:  "Main Street" shows houses where employees if the mine used to live...

After an hour or so of exploring, we continued up the canyon and eventually found our way to Rogers Pass.

Now Rogers Pass has an elevation of 8133 feet, and is named after John Rogers and William Manly, who climbed over the pass and eventually made their way to San Bernardino, CA, to bring aid to the group that they left behind in Death Valley.  However, for us, it was a nice place to eat lunch and savor the spectacular views.  

Left:  Machine shop in the foreground and stamp mill in the background of World Beater Mine.  Right:  Looking west towards World Beater Mind and down Pleasant Canyon.

With lunch eaten, it was time to press on.  We basically turned north, and drove the trail along the top of the ridge. There are many places where the trail is steep, narrow and has off-camber sections.  Just take it easy and it'll be ok.  This is all Class-3, but easy Class-3.  Yeah, that Ramcharger can make it just fine.  Just watch out for the drop offs...

Left:  The view from Rogers Pass, looking east into Death Valley.  Right:  The trail cuts right through the middle of Middle Park Canyon.

As we descended into Middle Park Canyon, we stopped to check out an abandoned mining operation.  By the looks of the "junk" and the buildings, I will take a wild guess that this place operated into the 1970's.  But now, it's just a junk pile.  I did find the long-abandoned D-4 caterpillar tractor interesting.

Our group then proceeded to drive across Middle Park Canyon.  Thank goodness for the recent snow, as dust wasn't a factor.  There were lots of puddles to cross, and patches of snow to deal with.  Hey, you're at the 8000 foot elevation so there is snow in November, even in the hard-core desert Panamint Mountains.  Then, it was time to climb a small ridge, and to descend into South Park Canyon.

South Park Canyon is one of the more spectacular canyons in the Panamint Mountains. You go down, and down and down again, while enjoying some of the most spectacular desert mountain scenery that you can imagine.  The, you come the "chicken curve,"  the sharp curve that needs a 3-point maneuver for a full-size truck.  The passenger gets a good view of the canyon below, as they are on the drop-off side and when the driver hugs the canyon wall,  as there are a couple of rocks that must be driven over; it is that narrow.  So for a moment, the passenger has a 30-degree off-camber view of the canyon, literally hundreds of feet below them. Try this thing in a full-size bronco and the pucker factor rises quite high!  As an aside, the name "chicken curve" got it's name, as many of the rocks that hold the curve, and the trail in place, are held together with chicken wire.

If that wasn't enough, then there is the infamous telephone pole bridge.  This thing was constructed in the 1980's to bridge the gap between Middle Park and South Park Canyons, after a flash flood washed the trail away. For a Jeep, the bridge is great, but for a lifted-full size vehicle, it is pure vehicle hell. Karen spotted me across this thing, but I was on top of the supporting railings and had about 3" of tires on each side of the bridge, seeing daylight.  I'm glad that I had Karen for a spotter, without her, it would have been a somewhat scary situation.

Left:  Mine on the trail between Middle Canyon and South Park Canyon.  Right:  This Dodge descends a switchback on the South Park Canyon trail.  The photo does not show how steep this trail is...

After that, it was many switchbacks down the canyon.  The trail is narrow and very steep, with the grade approaching 30% or more.  Since my Bronco was blessed with an automatic tranny, and 3:83 gears, I made good use of my brakes, even though I was in granny-low range.  As an aside, by the time I got back to Merced, the brake pads were history and I had to have a complete front-to-rear brake job.  That's some expensive 'wheelin'.

Back in camp it was time to clean up, drink a few beers and go the Chef Andy's dinner. When you're at Panamint Valley Days, you don't want to miss Chef Andy's dinner.  We feasted on pit-roasted tri-tip, mashed potatoes and gravy, potato salad, macaroni salad, roll, and his to-die-for salad bar.  We passed on the desert, but helped ourselves to an extra cup of his great coffee.  Don't even think of passing on Chef Andy's dinner!

When it came to the raffle time, the wind decided to pick up.  Karen and I sat through the opening stuff of the raffle, and then just gave up, as the wind was that bad.  We figured that we'd check the board in the morning to see if we had won anything (we didn't win anything, what else is new?)  So, it was to bed in the back of Karen's truck and off to sleep, after a little help from our friend, Johnny Walker, that we had brought along. The wind really made the truck rock and roll, but our friend Johnny helped us get through the night.