full size thru suprise canyon?(newbie)

[natev83]

has anyone take a full size truck or suv up surprise cayon? I want to take my 74 jimmy on the trails near gohler wash and I'm not sure how much body damage I'll come back with or if I'll even fit. I went out the to check it out and the only rigs I saw were jeeps and a few yotas. I have a 4inch super lift with 35's, I'm installing a ord shackle flip soon, no lockers or limited slip. what do you think?

[GRMhick]

Hate to break this to you, but suprise canyon has been closed to OHV's for a few years now.

[Wilson]

I'm thinking there's a place in Washington state called "Suprise Canyon?"

[Jeepskickass]

With a Goler Wash?

Check out www.fopv.org

[Krusty]

I'm sure you MUST be refering to Last Chance Canyon---- (south of Ridgecrest)
that can be done with a full sized and depending what off-shoots you want to try, will determine the possibility of body/ and other breakage.
Last Chance CAN be done in bout 1 hour----as a drive thru------- or all day if you look around (Burro Schmidts Tunnel-- the 'V' notch-- etc) .

Surprize has been closed for 5 + years and the legal battle is on-going to get it reopened.
WHEN it gets reopened======== NO_NO_ full sized will not be able to make it !!!!
the canyon has washed out several times over the yaers, and as of now, no one knows just what to expect !

IF anyone tried Surprize in a 'full sized' they would completely destroy it !!!!!!

maybe you are thinking of Isham (outside of Trona) ovef the top/cross Panamint Valley/ up Golher and into Death Valley----------- (not recommended this time of year == 115/117* temps !!)(in the shade)

[natev83]

I'm not sure What the name of the trail is. I took a right from ballarat at the "T" intersection that is in ballarat. There was a canyon opening where this road ended.

[rockr]

i took a fullsize 65 ford 2WD up surprise all the way to panamint city.........






back in 1969





goler is doable with fullsize and no lockers right now unless it was hit by a flood. you can even go into barker ranch. going over mengle pass into butte valley will be a little challenge but you should be ok. i was up there two years ago and it was cake. you should have seen it in the 60's......it was the tough one and surprise was the cake walk......go figure

now back to surprise.......yeah guess it's closed for good
i never ran it when it was open and all fawked up(being a GOOD thing). i have sen pics of the falls.....WOW......what a change from the 60's when i lived in DV.

[Krusty]

Rockr-- your right !!-- i talked to a guy that drove a semi up to Panamint City hauling freight and mineing equipment !!!
But in 'modern' history, the only things that MADE the Panamint City run were built up 4X's with lockers AND WINCH. AND there was body damage as well as breakage !

Goler is doable and a good trip over into Death Valley. You can take the short offtrail/road south at the top, and see where Charlie Manson was arrested-- the family still lived there til a few years ago----- if you find Charles 'shorty' Shay, say hello---- his body has never been found !


They might also be talking about the 'loop'-------- up Plesant Canyon, down the ridge, and down South Park---- that might be doable !


the entrance to Surprize in north of Ballarat--(left turn)

[rockr]

well i guess we are hijackin the thread but WTF......it's history time

i shot all, well a LOT of the tires and windows out of manson's bus the following weekend after they busted him for burning up some park service equiptment over by the racetrack in 69. they didn't know at the time he was the mastermind behind the tate-labianca murders.

i knew jim and kirk barker very well(owners of the barker ranch)> jim owned a plating company in so cal and leased the land from shoshone indians at the indian ranch in panamint valley north of ballarat. he built a house and his wife kirk spent most of the time there.

i would ride my little yamaha 80 down to indian ranch to hagn-out, drink a beer and talk with kirk. she showed me a beach boy gold album on the wall in the living room one day. she said brian wilson gave it to her. he asked if he could stay at the barker ranch in goler and right music. she said sure why not............well brian knew manson and ther ya go............

jim purcell, highway patrol, told me all about the bust at goler.....how the chicks were just squatting down in front of them and pissing etc. it is true what you read about manson was caught hiding in a small cabinet.......they had almost given up on finding him.

my dad and i went up there and checked the place out a couple days after the bust. we had been up there many times in the past 5 years. the bus was full of clothes all over the floor. we checked out the dug-put they had in the side of the hill with the camo tarp draped over the entrance.

yep........them were the days. we had a lot of hells angles come through there and that wasn't a pretty site.........

[rotozuk]

Last I heard the wash out on South Park was getting pretty bad. (I think that is on South Park?) Seems some Jeeps decided to skip it or have friends drive the wash out.

Panamint Valley is great. I'm also ready looking forward to PVD in November. Be nice to have a few more buggy drivers out there. I was the only buggy there last year. Not really any hardcore trails that are still open, but beauty and history that is beyond compare in So. Cal.

-Wayne

[rotozuk]

Barker Ranch has taken a real beating in the last few years. Goler in general has taken a real beating at the hands of looters.

2 years ago we pulled off the trail to let a couple of trucks pass in the other direction. At the time we thought they were part of the adaopt a cabin program as this was a work weekend for them. But later we discovered that the trucks were filled with items they were stealing from one of the more recent mine sites. 2 full sized trucks and a trailer filled!

That shit stinks!

-Wayne

[natev83]

awsome stories. I'm a young buck(23), but I like hearing storeies about how it was in the good old days, when there were not very many restrictions on where to wheel. Well it sounds like gohler in the trial I was looking at becasuse that is the one that will go th bakers ranch. any I dea how many miles it is to bakers ranch form the entrance to the cayon?

[Aggro]

humvees have been up surprise...

[TheBandit]

Thanks for the stories rockr

[Krusty]

YEP !!! they drug two Hummers up Surprize for a warn winch commercial-- in the process they destroyed the hummers and were glad to get out !!!! they never used the footage of the trip in media !




1/2 way up goler where the road passes under the overhead cables--- the mine on the north rim - my kids (Bender Rob) climed up to the mine and looked it over---- he brought down a mine car wheel----iron --

every time over, when Stripped Butte shows up, it looks so out of place !!!!!!!!!!!!
then continue into Death Valley, and head north on the west side 'highway'----

[lttlbddy]

West Coast 4 Wheel Drive Club took a members Hummer to Panamint City. He had a bit or rocker damage . . . didn't see much of him after that. Hmmm.

[Ghetto Fab.]

I did the pleasant valley/ south park loop in march. Trail was fine. The rock fill spot near the bridge was a little sketchy, but ok. When the TJ in front of me was crossing you could hear rocks falling out of the pile further down.

Kevo

[rockr]

yeah, panamint valley is a cool place to visit. lots of wheeling potential. cept inside the national park could be a problem. course back in the 60's there wasn't much problem going any-fawkin place you wanted, and we did

i've been up and down all the canyons between ballarat and indian ranch including jail cyn, surprise, happy, south park, middle park......you name it. these are all on the panamint mtn range. then on the other side of the valley (argus range), same thing....uip and down all of those cyns. darwin falls, china garden, snow, wood and water cyns.

even knew old seldom-seen-slim in his last days in ballarat. (charles ferge was his real name). smokes an old corncob pipe held in with the few teeth he had left. that was a trip!

wish tucson wasn't so damn far from there cause i'd be there all the time

[Krusty]

BLM burned down the cabin at the top of Jail Canyon !---
but you could take the hand made road south over into Hall Canyon (above the falls) where there was another 'survival' cabin-- the local club cleaned up the cabin and put in a air-tite stove, JUST BEFORE THEY CLOSED Jail and Hall Canyon !!!!!- a lot of the Argus Range has been closed also.

Friends of the Panamint and the Tin Benders have been tryin to get Surprize Canyon re-opened---
after all, there are several people that have bought the houses/cabins in Panamint City, and mineral rights to the mine----(me included)--

i hope to get back up there before i am planted in the ground !!!!

[rotozuk]

Originally Posted by rockr

wish tucson wasn't so damn far from there cause i'd be there all the time

Let me know when you do come for a vsit! Sounds like the stories would be well worth the drive!

-Wayne

[rockr]

Originally Posted by Krusty

BLM burned down the cabin at the top of Jail Canyon !---
but you could take the hand made road south over into Hall Canyon (above the falls) where there was another 'survival' cabin-- the local club cleaned up the cabin and put in a air-tite stove, JUST BEFORE THEY CLOSED Jail and Hall Canyon !!!!!- a lot of the Argus Range has been closed also.

Friends of the Panamint and the Tin Benders have been tryin to get Surprize Canyon re-opened---
after all, there are several people that have bought the houses/cabins in Panamint City, and mineral rights to the mine----(me included)--

i hope to get back up there before i am planted in the ground !!!!

hmmmmmm....interesting. yeah, i was up jail 2 years ago......cabin was gone alright. gus and inez troster actually lived there in the 60's. inez worked for my parents occationally at wildrose station. they were an old couple back then so i would imagine they have passed. it was sad to see the house gone but i was not surprised. the park service burt down historic stage stop wildrose station too.........fawkers

so you guys bought the structures in panamint. and it is in death valley right? so you don't own the land but a mineral/mining claim? i am a licensed land surveyor, hence the curiosity. guess you didn't own it back in the 60's so............i can tell you that i trucked out enough of the old red fireclay brick(that was already fallen) to build two cone fireplace stands at mine and my dad's house's in ridgecrest after we left wildrose....that would have been in 1971. wish i had some of that brick here in tucson


this is fun......keep the info comin krusty

[rockr]

Originally Posted by rotozuk

Let me know when you do come for a vsit! Sounds like the stories would be well worth the drive!

-Wayne

hey......i often thought of doing one of those PVD runs.........maybe this year

[Mustard Dog]

Awesome history rockr, keep it coming.

I think you'd be really interested in what the Friends of Panamint Valley are up to

[OTR]

Originally Posted by rockr

...so you guys bought the structures in panamint. and it is in death valley right? so you don't own the land but a mineral/mining claim? i am a licensed land surveyor, hence the curiosity. guess you didn't own it back in the 60's so............
this is fun......keep the info comin krusty

ok, a clarification here...

Although many of the structures in Panamint City are on privately owned land, the two groups that most recently purchased property to regain access to the city did not purchase land with structures or mines on them.

The two parcels purchased were the Independence Millsite, and the LittleChief Millsite. Both are patented claims in Sourdough Canyon, and within Death Valley National Park. The parcels were purchased with all water and mineral rights...

Originally Posted by Mustard Dog

I think you'd be really interested in what the Friends of Panamint Valley are up to

Wadda ya wanna to know ?

kris.

[Krusty]

the origional buy was the land, houses, mineral and water rights, plus a share of the mine.

it is the BLM that put up the gate and closed access to Panamint City.
and that goes now to ONE individual that is being a _____ about access, in the Ridgecrest office !!!

the actual ROAD to the city is NOT on BLM land as the cherry stem laws do apply-- but-----
BLM land both sides of the road and NPS land at the top of the ridge above the city. But the 'city' townsite and mines are/have been private owned land !!

In the early days there was access to Panamint City from the top/north from Pleasant Canyon and i have heard there was a foot trail down into Death Valley-



the road into Hall Canyon that climbs out of Jail--- if you remember the switchbacks with all the hand laid rock road bed-- laid by the early Chinease.

If you have ever looked down the mines at Skidoo-- up on top of the north end of the Panamint range-- WHERE IN THE HE__ DID THEY GET ALL THE TREE LIMBS TO DO THE SHOREING ????


I guess it used to be the great Mojave Forrest--- now the Mojave Desert !!!