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Death Valley-Southern

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

61 posts

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

Death Valley Sleeping Circles

Death Valley Sleeping Circles

I met up with Dan, and we went for a short drive to see if we could find a native trail and a large sleeping circle site. Once out in the area, we hiked across a featureless alluvial to a native trail. It was fairly well-worn in places from years

Panamint Valley Geoglyph #2

Panamint Valley Geoglyph #2

I was out in Panamint Valley and wanted to hunt for a geoglyph site and Native American Indian trail. I found the trail first. I walked portions of it and came across the geoglyph site. It isn’t on the trail but offset close by. The geoglyphs are complex and

Panamint Valley Geoglyph #1

Panamint Valley Geoglyph #1

Out in Panamint Valley, near an old camp, My buddy Dan took me to a geoglyph site on the desert pavement. The geoglyphs here are primarily linear, with a few spurs. It is a small site, but I have a feeling there are more in the area. I am planning

Striped Butte Fallout Shelter

Striped Butte Fallout Shelter

Was this old mining adit made into a fallout shelter? Maybe it is one of Charles Manson’s secret hideouts? Or the Ballarat Bandit? Perhaps a local resident and miner set it up as an apocalypse bug-out shelter? Maybe it is one of many in the area? Perhaps I know

Panamint Treasure Mine

Panamint Treasure Mine

Finding this great little gem of a mine is a bit of a hike. The mine was worked as early as the 1890s and again in the 1930s. The miners walked away from the mine in 1941 when World War II broke out, and a presidential order closed many “non-essential”

Ryan Mining Camp

Ryan Mining Camp

In 2013, I joined a Searles Valley Historical Society field trip to see the well-preserved borax mining camp of Ryan in Death Valley. Having never been in the mining camp before, I jumped at the chance to visit. Francis Marion Smith founded the Pacific Coast Borax Company in 1890. He