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Death Valley-Southern

Southern Death Valley region of California, including the Greenwater, Funeral, Black, Owlhead, and Panamint mountain ranges

60 posts

Corkscrew Borax Mine

Corkscrew Borax Mine

A few years ago, I met up with some of the guys, and we hiked out to visit the ruins of the old Corkscrew Borax Mine. The mine was worked for colemanite (an ore of borax) in the 1950s by the US Borax Company. Surprisingly, for all of its development,

Three Bachelors Prospectors Camp

Three Bachelors Prospectors Camp

In 2018, we found a small prospector’s camp out in the wilderness of the Death Valley region. I named it because three cabin tent pads are scattered around the site. Interestingly, there isn’t a mine nearby; instead, a few prospects are spread out in the hills. The area

Harrisburg Flat Cabin

Harrisburg Flat Cabin

Back on a cool April day in 2013, Dan and I hiked out to a little cabin ruin near Harrisburg Flat in the Death Valley backcountry. (Harrisburg Flat is on the way to the old townsite of Skidoo.) These days, nothing much remains of that town or its former rival,

Weather Station Cabin

Weather Station Cabin

Dan and I started off a three-day trip into the Panamint and Death Valley region in 2013 by visiting an old miner’s cabin up in the hills. After spending the night at one of our favorite places down in Panamint Valley, we drove up into the mountains and parked

Honolulu Mine

Honolulu Mine

The old Honolulu mine lies on a ridge high in the Panamint Mountains of Death Valley National Park. The mine was first discovered in 1907 by John Thorndike (sometimes misspelled Thorndyke), who worked for silver, lead, and zinc. On a warm April day in 2013, Dan and I hiked up

Gladstone Mines

Gladstone Mines

I had the chance to get out on a cold winter day in 2008, so I decided to hunt down some mines I had wanted to check out for some time. I haven’t been able to find any information on the first mine I went to, and the second

Mormon Mine

Mormon Mine

Dan wanted to find a mine he had heard a rumor about in the wilds of the Death Valley backcountry, so off we went. It was a long hike across the scorching desert – typical for the Death Valley area. We didn’t return to our trucks until after dark, but