Surprise Canyon/Panamint City Snow Walk Dec 21st

[Panamint Charlie]

I thought I'd share a little hike I took to Panamint City a few weeks ago. I wanted to check on conditions at the Hilton and I was not too impressed at the condition of the cabin. It needs a lot of cleaning and maintenance. It seems the trash truck no longer has access to the canyon. I have more photos if anyone is interested.

This trip would have been a lot more rewarding if my old 85 Toyota was also parked outside the Hilton like back in the day.

*cross-post from PanamintValley.com*

While L8 Apeks, B-Spec, and Rubi were playing in South Park, I was out freezing my feet in Surprise Canyon. I hit the trail at 10am and made it back to the FJ by 8 pm. I've not seen that much snow in Surprise since 1998.

I wrote a report (click here) with a gaggle-spank of photos.

Don't usually see snow this low in the canyon.


That is the trail! In many areas I had to make repeated trys in order to break through the entangled and froze together brush.




Snow covered rocky trail.


The Tunnel-of-love area at Brewery Springs was collapsing under the weight of the snow and ice. The water coming out of the spring was warmer than the air and gave off steam.


At this point I was on hands and knees.


Captain! Das Boot! Das Boot!...Das Boot has sunk


Salvation is back at the end of the boot trail.

[Panamint Charlie]

Last two pics from my original trip report.



I wasn't too excited about hiking in the dark. I had to track my prints out in order to not get stuck in dead end overgrowth.


Happy Trails-

Charles Wade

[lttlbddy]

Cool! Thanks Charlie!

[chasinternet]

Hi Charlie,

Great report and pics. I had planned to do the solitude hike by now (isn't 20 degrees wonderful?) but circumstances delayed it and will likely another few weeks. I am going to take it much slower - 9+ hours up (age, pictures/video take time), stay a couple nights, then come back down day 3.

While it would be nice to have a running engine (with a premier power welder and air compressor of course), my 100 lbs pack days are over (seems to have slid to my stomach), however, I don't mind taking some supplies up to help and also packing out some of the trash. Perhaps a larger sign reminding idiots there is no room service?

What supplies would be helpful to take up there?
....a machete for the tunnel-of-love perhaps?

Charlie

[Panamint Charlie]

Originally Posted by chasinternet

Hi Charlie,

Great report and pics. I had planned to do the solitude hike by now (isn't 20 degrees wonderful?) but circumstances delayed it and will likely another few weeks. I am going to take it much slower - 9+ hours up (age, pictures/video take time), stay a couple nights, then come back down day 3.

While it would be nice to have a running engine (with a premier power welder and air compressor of course), my 100 lbs pack days are over (seems to have slid to my stomach), however, I don't mind taking some supplies up to help and also packing out some of the trash. Perhaps a larger sign reminding idiots there is no room service?

What supplies would be helpful to take up there?
....a machete for the tunnel-of-love perhaps?

Charlie

20 degrees is great, as long as you keep moving. I actually dumped my jacket half way up the canyon in order to keep myself from standing around and waisting day-lite.

I've seen many people take 9+ hours to hike the canyon. Especially if it's a first trip and you don't want to miss anything. My best time to the city was three hours, but that was when the trail was still clear and I had a fire under my ass to beat another group to the Hilton (yes, I shared it with them that night and I moved to the Castle the next day). I was also high on caffeine gel with 5hour energy chasers. *insert heart attack*

Three day trips like you mentioned seem to work the best. I've stretched them to 5 or six days in the past, but that can get kinda boring after a while.

Cleaning supplies are always needed. I usually bring up cans of scrubbing bubbles, dish soap, and sponges. Small bottles of bleach might be helpful if you can pack it in without it leaking in your pack.

Other items, like propane canisters and lantern mantles are useful "comfort items"

I hear that trimming the bushes is a no-no. I don't know if that's true or not, however, I've seen some trail maintenance done. Not enough to make any impact on the overgrowth though. I'd tell you what the canyon really needs but I've got my own group of antagonists that would use it against me. (The reason why many of my Panamint City trips are kept between just me and the burros)

[Kelly O'Connor]

Thanks for the pics. You got me all fired up now. I have done that hike 6 times, however, the last one was 9 years ago. Time to get my fat ass in some sort of shape and hit it again. Great pics.

[drhawk7982]

Charlie,

Was wondering if you happen to have noted any fixes that need to be taken care of while you were at the Hilton. I'm heading up in about a month for the weekend with a small group. When we were there a year ago, the kitchen sink was only draining into a bucket. Was considering fixing that to drain outside through the wall. The other issue at the time was the leakage where PVC meets Galvanized pipe in the bathroom.

Dave

[Panamint Charlie]

Originally Posted by drhawk7982

Charlie,

Was wondering if you happen to have noted any fixes that need to be taken care of while you were at the Hilton. I'm heading up in about a month for the weekend with a small group. When we were there a year ago, the kitchen sink was only draining into a bucket. Was considering fixing that to drain outside through the wall. The other issue at the time was the leakage where PVC meets Galvanized pipe in the bathroom.

Dave

I wanna say that the sink is now draining out a pipe ran out the wall again. It wouldn't be a bad bad idea to bring more pipe in-case that setup has already been compromised. As for the bathroom...a few lengths of 1/2 PVC and a T back to the toilet pet-cock (ran under the sub floor) should get the throne back in action. I'll have to revisit my notes in regards to what's going on with the shower plumbing. I recall it being a mess.

It's 1:40 Am as I sit here at Panamint Springs. My mind is more fried than normal right now due to six days of playing out here. I'll try to get better info to you after I get back home.