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| Remnants of the Chris Wicht/Novak camp that burned down in 2006 |
Death Valley National Park website describes Panamint City as the “toughest, meanest, most hard-boiled little hellhole that ever passed for a civilized town.” - drivingline.com
Planning the Hike
For my first ever weekend-long backpacking trip, I wanted to choose somewhere not too far from home with interesting scenery. Death Valley is only a 2 hours drive from Las Vegas, and with the America is Beautiful pass, it granted us free entry to the park. The trailhead for an abandoned mining city (Panamint City) was just west of the valley.
A week before leaving, I got to test out my backpacking equipment at Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area. I decided to go with a Gregory Maven 55L Pack, as it was the most comfortable weighted pack I had tested out in REI.
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| View of the valley from Zabriskie point |
Death Valley
We arrived at Death Valley in the late morning on Saturday. We had some time to kill before reaching the Panamint City trailhead, we decided to explore some of Death Valley’s scenic points. Some notable locations included Zabriskie point, Badwater Basin, and Artist’s Drive/Palette.
People who visit Death Valley usually make their way towards Badwater Basin. It’s noted for being 282 feet below sea level, making it the lowest point in North America. The salt flats, through a repeated freeze-thaw process via rainfall, push the salt layers into larger, hexagonal shapes.
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| Enlarged salt crystals formed by rain and evaporation |
Artist’s Drive is a fun and scenic 9 mile drive on the way to the basin. This one-way windy road displays a collection of oxidized metals in the mountain, causing it to display various colors.
Later in the afternoon, we began to make our way towards Ballarat. This is the last town before heading out to the Panamint City trailhead marked at Chris Wicht/Novak's Camp.
Because I did not bring a High Ground Clearance vehicle as suggested, we parked a little ways from Ballarat. From there, we began our backpacking journey with a 2.5 mile trek to the campsite. We were able to make it to the camp with just enough sunlight to set up for the night.
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| Equipment at Chris Wicht Camp that once belonged to the saloon/pool that used to be here |
Surprise Canyon
We started the next day off with a strong cup of coffee followed by a dried fruit and oatmeal breakfast, giving us plenty of energy to begin our hike. Shade from tall trees and the sound of running water made the start of the hike very relaxing.
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| One of the larger waterfalls we encountered during the hike |
As we continued inwards, the path gradually narrowed down until we had no choice but to walk into the mountain’s spring. There were a few waterfalls I had to climb which were a little slippery but not too challenging.
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| Some vehicles did not make it all the way up the canyon. The trail is currently closed off to motorized vehicles. |
The creek slowly began to disappear the deeper we hiked into the canyon, turning the lush foliage into thick shrubbery. Often times the path got very thick that we would have to backtrack and take another route.
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| Walking through the Tunnel of Love |
It got dry and rocky for a while, then we encountered more thicket, which lead into the Tunnel of Love. This section of the path was a refreshing enclosure with running water and tree branches to the sides and above our heads, providing coolness and shade.
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| The trail as we got closer to the city |
Panamint City
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| Cabin we spent the night at in Panamint City |
After another mile of vertical rocky stretch, we finally reached Panamint City, elevation of about 6,300ft. Including our breaks, it took us about 6 hours to reach this destination. We wandered through some abandoned concrete structures before setting up camp.
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| Center of the workshop/storeroom area |
The main cabin (Panamint Hilton) was already occupied so we set up our tent in the secondary cabin (Hippie Overflow cabin). The cabins had beds for people to use, but we had a tent with us which was, preferably, much cleaner. Therefore, we just set up in front of the beds. I watched the sky get dark through the cabin’s window, as the wind whistling through the canyon died down into silence.
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| Watching the sun set from inside the cabin |
We woke up early so we could explore what the rest of the abandoned mining city had to offer.
The city was scattered with smaller wood cabins, old mining facilities/equipment, abandoned vehicles, and cement structures, including the 19th century smoke stack.
Although the structures were well aged, they were maintained by volunteering hikers, which made things a little safer and cleaner. There were even a few caverns that looked like it went pretty deep into the mountain.
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| KATO diesel generator found in a workshop area |
Once we poked our heads around the city for a bit, we started our trip going back down. The hike down the mountain was obviously not as strenuous as going up, so that was motivating. It definitely helped to have both hiking boots and water shoes available for various parts of the hike. We ate lunch at Chris Wicht camp and we were even lucky enough to get a ride back down to our car.
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| Iconic smelter smokestack of Panamint City built in the 1880s |
