On Thanksgiving Day we decided to play around the Argus Range on the western side of Panamint Valley. Much of this range sits within the boundary of the China Lake Naval Weapons Center but the northern end is free for recreation so we packed the day full of some fun 4×4 and two desert peaks. [...]
Bullfrog Peak is a short and easy cross-country desert peak that straddles the boundary of Death Valley National Park. It is just east of Beatty, NV and tucked in the hills behind the popular tourist destination of the ghost town of Rhyolite. The summit offers a great view of the Grapevine Mountains to the west [...]
Many times we have driven south out of Death Valley and passed the signs for China Ranch Date Farm, but it took us until 2009 to stop. We had spent the previous night at a wonderful old miner’s cabin in Death Valley and were working our way towards Las Vegas to get some fresh food [...]
Later on Sunday morning, after our Minietta Mine exploration, we headed out of Panamint Valley and into Death Valley. Our goal was to visit some of the lesser known canyons in the park, and we focused on two of them in the Amargosa range accessed via different points along the Badwater Road.
After Saturday’s visit to Fossil Falls, Cerro Gordo, and the U2 tree we didn’t have a lot of light to find our campsite outside of Death Valley. We like to primitive backcountry car camp in the BLM lands outside the park since there are fewer restrictions (i.e. we can cook over a campfire with the [...]
Our last full day of the annual Thanksgiving Trip to the desert was an adventure! We decided to do the run up Warm Springs canyon into Butte Valley, but instead of continuing through the valley and up towards Mengel Pass, we turned off towards Arrastre Springs to explore that area. The day was primarily spent [...]
We had some turkey and pie to work off on the day after Thanksgiving, so after a morning of hot breakfasting around the cabin’s wood stove, we headed towards Ibex Peak, the highest peak in the small Ibex range in southern Death Valley. It’s not a biggie, but it did have some great views of [...]
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