Thanksgiving Death Valley Adventure Day 1 (Nov 2021)

This story picks up somewhere off of Highway 395 where Brent and I spent the night. We’ve traveled just about 3 hours from Orange County, CA on a Friday night after work and planned on sleeping somewhere near the highway whenever we got tired. We ended up finding an out-of-the way spot about 5 mins off road from the highway near South Haiwee Reservoir. After a night under the stars, we make a quick breakfast and hit the road again – we’re on our way to Cerro Gordo!

The drive up to the ghost town of Cerro Gordo is relatively uneventful, albeit deceivingly long. There is a large amount of elevation gained and a high clearance vehicle is definitely recommended, if not required at times (subject to road conditions).

We get our fill of the town after about an hour of exploring. We’re quite hungry at this point, so we drive north out of town along the ridgeline to find a spot with a nice view. We end up on a slightly precarious trail along the ridge – the pucker factor is definitely measurable on this trail.

We ate lunch with our exquisite views and reminisced about the perilous road we just traveled. I am unable to find a name or number for this trail, but one could continue travelling north until running into the Salt Tram line. This tram line connected the Salt Lake in Saline Valley to Owen’s Lake on the other side of the Inyo Mountains. There are sure to be artifacts all along this line in the wilderness – an adventure for another day.

After lunch, we drive back towards Cerro Gordo and exit the mountain on the back side going east towards Death Valley. We pop out on Saline Valley Road and drive towards Highway 190 and cruise a short while to Panamint Springs. Just past Panamint Springs, we diverge onto Panamint Valley Road and drive until we line up with the Minnietta Mine Cabin. From here we take a long, relatively flat road towards Nadeau Trail where the trail becomes noticeably rough on the way to the cabin. I recall racing – beating my truck up – just to see if we were the ones who made it to the cabin for the night. Luckily, to my great satisfaction, it was ours for the night.

It is great fun being back at the cabin. We take our time exploring the property after being away for about 10 months and try to notice all the things that are different, for better or for worse. As the hunger pangs rise, we start the fire pit and get our burgers cooking over the open flame. We spend the cool night enjoying the fire before we inevitably turn in. Keep reading about Thanksgiving Death Valley Adventure Day 2 (Nov 2021) or see all the posts in the Thanksgiving Death Valley Adventure (Nov 2021) series.