For this trip I had several goals in mind.

1. To begin exploring some of the areas used by the Bennett and Arcan families to leave Death Valley after their attempt to reach the California gold fields left them trapped on the western side of Death Valley proper.  (By "Death Valley proper" I mean the large graben named Death Valley.  For much of what I say on this site, Death Valley refers to the area encompassed by Death Valley National Park and that includes a large area that resides outside of Death Valley proper.  The rescue of the Bennett and Arcan families is a story of significant heroism on the part of William Manly and John Rogers who walked through essentially unknown territory to reach a point near the present day Santa Clarita.  After walking approximately 250 miles they obtained animals and provisions and set out to return to Death Valley to rescue the stranded families.  A detailed account of this story is contained in Escape From Death Valley, by LeRoy and Jean Johnson.
2. To visit some sites of archeological interest, primarily in Saline Valley.
3. To do some hiking in the vicinity of Steele Pass.
4. To generally enjoy the less visited areas of the Park that can be accessed by foot and 4 wheel drive vehicle.

    I entered the Park via the Harry Wade Road at the south end of the Park.  From there I proceeded up the West Side Road to the Warm Springs Road  on my way to Butte Valley.  In Butte Valley I visited Arrastre Spring (probably the place where Manly and Rogers spent their first night on their way out of Death Valley).  I also drove and hiked down Redlands Canyon to Redlands Spring and hiked from Redlands Canyon over a ridge to the headwaters of Big Horn Canyon.

Pool at Warm Springs Camp -it might be nice with some cleanup, the water temperature is great.	View from Arrastre Spring	This boulder was on the trail to  Arrastre Spring
Arrastre Spring	Upper Redlands Canyon	Road in Redlands Cyn ends before this.
Redlands Spring	Redlands Canyon	Looking into the Big Horn  Canyon headwaters basin
Upper Redlands Canyon as seen from the north ridge above the canyon.	Looking out through Butte Valley from the ridge.	View to the west from Mengel Pass

    Then it was out of Butte Valley via Mengel Pass and down Goler Wash with a stop at the Barker Ranch to see the former hang-out of Charlie Manson and his gang.  From there, my route took me north to Ballarat and highway 190 to the Saline Valley road.  I stopped briefly to view Indian petroglyphs, pictographs, rock circles and bedrock mortars near Hunter Canyon, and then continued on through the springs area and up to Steele Pass.  From Steele pass I did some hiking to explore some of the canyons in the area, but got started on the hike too late in the day and only made it to the canyon entrances, so the exploration of the canyons themselves will have to wait for another trip.  I had hoped to go out through Dedeckera Canyon to Eureka Valley, but the dry waterfalls at the bottom of Dedeckera were more than I wanted to tackle alone, so it was back to Steele pass and out through Saline Valley with  a short hike to explore Pat Keyes Canyon to the first fall.  That night I camped about a mile from Saline Valley Road on the Lippincott Road and witnessed a Jeep Cherokee, another SUV and a motorcycle descend the Lippincott Road in darkness.  (Lippincott is generally acknowledged to be the most dangerous road in the Park because of its narrowness, roughness, and abrupt drops -cliffs- on the side.)

Barker Ranch	Near the bottom of Goler Wash	Mortars in Squaw Rock, Saline Valley, near Hunter Canyon
Rock Circle near the mouth of Hunter Canyon	View from the road to Steele Pass	Along the road north of Steele Pass
One of the canyons NE of Steele Pass	Another canyon mouth	Upper Warm Spring in Saline Valley
Burros near Lower Warm Springs, Saline Valley	Lowest fall in Pat Keyes Canyon	Camp next to Lippincott Road
Panamint Dunes as seen from Saline Valley Rd. near junction with Hunter Mtn. Rd.

    Fighter jets can be seen on  training missions in these areas; its like getting a free air show.  This looks like an F-18 to me.

   

    After my hikes to relatively unknown places,  I decided to do a hike that is mentioned on the Park website, Fall Canyon.  A short trail leads from the parking lot on Titus Canyon Rd. to the mouth of Fall Canyon.  From here one can hike about 2.5 miles to the first falls.  Decent climbers can get around the falls for further exploration, but I did not want to try the climb around the fall.  This is a spectacularly narrow canyon, but the hike is harder that the short length and minimal elevation gain would indicate.  That is because most of the way is over loose gravel that moves under your feet as you walk like sand does.

Entrance to Fall Canyon

Lowest fall in Fall Canyon

Narrow spot in Fall Canyon

    I exited the Park via Greenwater Valley and Deadman Pass after a visit to Dante's View.  Greenwater Valley is a broad, gently sloping valley with a smooth gravel road running the length of it.  There are plenty of places to camp along the road, and it seems like only a handful of people use it each day, and it is easy to camp out of sight of  any other campers who may be camping along the road.

Camp in Greenwater Valley	Flowers in Greenwater Valley	Near Deadman Pass
Dante's View	Kelso Dunes as seen on the way home