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| Do Not Open, Devil Inside |
Date: December 19 2023
Place: Surprise Canyon Wilderness, Inyo County
Coordinates: 36.115455, -117.142173
Length: 7.8 miles round trip
Level: very strenuous
Our first night up Surprise Canyon was uneventful. I was thankful that my legs didn't give me any hard time during the night. Other than my usual amount of tossing and turning and the one obligatory answer to Nature's call in the middle of the night, I slept relatively well. It wasn't very cold either, which made me regret carrying all the heavy duty cold weather gear that weighs a ton. Then again. we camped much lower than we had expected, and likely the night in Panamint City would have been much colder.
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| Dawn view down Surprise Canyon |
I got out of my tent and went down to the creek to wash my face and to fetch water. When I came back up I saw that A.S. was also outside, going through his morning activities.
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| Our campsite up Surprise Canyon |
It was a cool morning but not cold enough to merit lighting a morning campfire. The evening breeze had died down too. We sat on flat rocks near our stove and had our morning hot beverages and breakfast. packing for the day's hike to Panamint City was simple enough - most of our heavy gear we were leaving at the campsite. We packed a reasonable amount of water for a day's hike, strengthen our tents in anticipation of stronger wind later that day, then set out up Surprise Canyon on our way to Panamint City.
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| Our hike as captured by my GPS |
Starting our day's hike we simply went back on the same trail we had stepped off of yesterday, and resumed walking up the canyon.
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| Surprise Canyon |
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| Death Valley Penstemon, Penstemont fruticiformis |
The Death Valley Penstemon I've seen yesterday already, and it was new to me. The desert paintbrush I've seen before, but seeing it bloom in winter, up the Panamint Range was truly surprising.
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| Desert Paintbrush, Castilleja chromosa |
The trail followed the creek, which was flowing still, quite higher than the Limekiln Spring. Now after checking my map again, I noted another spring up the canyon, a short distance into the park's boundary. I checked my navigator: we had crossed into the area of Death Valley national park. Soon we will reach Brewery Spring.
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| Surprise Creek |
A.S. spotted a small bird perching on a large rock by the trail side, far away ahead of us. With some sneaking and maximal zoom I managed to take recognizable photos of that bird - it was a canyon wren. It didn't let us come any closer - it flew away into the vegetation when we continued forward.
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| Canyon Wren |
The trail descended from the canyon side down to the creek bed. For a while we were walking alongside a thicket of willows and other riparian bushes. The path was clear enough but too many branches grew across the trail and we ad to move them aside to pass through. The branch moving movement became more and more frequent, until we found ourselves, similar to yesterday, doing some active bushwhacking to make progress up the trail.
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| Willows in Surprise Canyon |
The willows are much taller here. The boughs form a canopy over our heads and we walk through a vegetation tunnel. I suppose asking for the tunnel to be sufficiently tall was too much because we do need to stoop as we walk to avoid getting smacked on our heads. Even so, many branches are in our way and we have to move them or move around or over or under them to get through. I feel my arms accumulate scratches and A.S. gets hit by a branch under his eye.
Ignoring my pains and inconveniences, I mush admit that this vegetation tunnel is very beautiful and impressive. One more of the many surprises that Surprise Canyon presents us, in the middle of the vast desert, shown only to those who venture up the canyon's trail-non-trail.
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| Creek Clematis, Clematis ligusticifolia |
The trail leaves the tunnel but doesn't become any easier because the willows still wall us on the left while the canyon wall flanks us on the right. We still need to push away willow branches but at least we can walk upright for a while. Then the trail curved sharply into the vegetation again. I was in the lead and I stopped. I was tired of bushwhacking so I looked for an alternative route on the canyon side. There was none. What we did find was a makeshift bench and a small, single tent sized campsite right by the trail. I thought that this was a poor location to camp but was happy to make use of the bench. We sat down for a breather and a snack before going on again, into the vegetation once more.
What we saw after we turned the curve was that the trail turned into a brook. The main creek flowed nearby, but some of the water spilled over into the trail. It wasn't high but it was very wet and muddy. Not anticipating any wading today, neither of us had our muck boots, so we had to walk carefully, hopping along the sides, stepping on protruding branches and on clamps of vegetation, sometimes bridging the trail with our legs to avoid wetting our shoes. A.S. was wearing new, waterproof shoes but my shoes, which were waterproof when I purchased them years ago, were too worn down to keep the water out.
The vegetation canopied over us again, narrowing our path so much that we had to struggle and push through. Then, all of a sudden, we reached the source of the water - Brewery Spring. Right there the willows closed in on the trail from all sides like a sphincter. The only way through was on our hands and knees and the way ahead looked dense with vegetation. I was exasperated. I didn't feel like crawling through, not knowing if the path even continued beyond the thicket I could see ahead of us. Here, even a machete wouldn't have helped, only a chainsaw, and we had neither.
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| Brewery Spring |
A.S. saved the moment, volunteering to go first through the bushes and scout ahead. I was very thankful and waited patiently as he crouched down and duck-walked under the thick overhang vegetation. In a short distance he vanished from my view and I heard his voice, not far away, saying that he found a cave. Soon after he called me to follow him, saying that there was an exit on the other side of the vegetation tunnel.
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| Cave |
At this time of my life I'm not very bendable, especially not in my knees. I couldn't duck-walk my way through so I went down o9n my hands and knees and crawled through the narrow path in the vegetation. When I was finally through I struggled back on my feet and looked at the low tree arch I had just crawled under, realizing I'd have to do it again on the way back down the canyon.
There was no more water past Brewery Spring, and thankfully, no more bushwhacking or crawling through vegetation. A few steps away I realized that I can no longer see the hole where we just crawled through so I took a photo of the place, hoping that it would be easy to find on our return from Panamint City.
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| Willow Plug |
The canyon stretched ahead of us, curving between the mountain slopes of the Panamint Range. For a while the walk was easy enough, on a reasonably clear path on the dry creek bed of large pebbles. Cheered up, we picked up our pace and marched up the creek.
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| Surprise Canyon |
We were near 5,000 ft high now. It was cloudy and cold, but there were wildflowers blooming here and there. Hardy beings, these desert plants are.
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| Brittlebush, Encelia farinosa |
My hope for an easy hike for the rest of the way to the ghost town dispelled when we soon reached a part of the creek that was greatly affected by the latest floods. The trail became obscure, then disappeared altogether. Once again we needed to search for the path of least resistance to progress up the canyon. That meant climbing mounds of scree, bypassing piles of flotsam and digging footholds in barriers of layered soil and lightly packed gravel. It was all passable and doable, but it slowed us down considerably, and it was tiring.
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| Surprise Canyon |
We pass another cave and go near to take a look. It's short and flat-floored and looked like it's been used as someone's shelter sometime in the past. Was it natural or carved by people? I didn't know.
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| Cave |
At some point A.S. and I had different ideas on where the path of least resistance was. A.S. climbed a ridge of piled up rocks and large pebbles and walked along it while I continued below. Eventually I noticed that where I was walking looked like a deeply rutted vehicle route. It was what remained of the road that used to run up the canyon from Panamint Valley to Panamint City. How did they build the road over the lower, waterfalls part of the canyon, I've no idea.
A.S. joined me and after some struggle up the deteriorated road remains we were once again on an easier part of the creek bed. Ahead of us the clouds gathered, and it looked like a storm was brewing. It was cold and breezy, but the exertion of the hike had warmed me enough to keep my jacket off.
We stopped for a water break and A.S. questioned me on the distance to Panamint City. It wasn't too far now, I thought. According to what I remembered from my reading, perhaps half a mile away. I had forgot to pack my enlarged map printouts so I couldn't measure more accurately. It looked like we've been walking forever now, so it must be near, right?
I didn't sound very convincing. I didn't want to commit to any actual number. Before we continued on, A.S. asked politely for permission to voice a complaint. He them proceeded with, "what on Earth were you thinking?" To which all I could do was to shrug and answer the truth - that I did my best to prepare and gather the relevant information before the trip. That I had no reason to believe it would be this challenging.
A.S. said something about the ghost town not being real and that he'll believe it when he sees it. We hoisted our backpacks again and moved on up the canyon.
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| Lupine, Lupinus sp. |
It was farther than half a mile but not by much. Soon we started seeing more serious remains of human past settlement and activities.
Unrelated to the human relics, there were many more trees growing on the mountain slopes and inside the canyon up at this height, nearly all pinyon pines and junipers.
It was A.S. who saw first the old Panamint City smelter's chimney, far ahead, below the eastern wall of the Panamint Mountain, and we booth whooped with delight.
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| Panamint City smelter's chimney |
Half an hour of trudging through the large pebbles A.S. said that the chimney didn't look any closer. I took the lead. Fired up by the sight of the chimney I marched on, probably faster than I hiked all day. I did pause briefly however, when I saw a bush that still had some flowers on.
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| Mexican Cliffrose, Purshia mexicana |
Eventually even A.S. had to admit that we were close to town. We started joking around about checkin in the local hotel and checking out the local pub. Once upon a time, both were functional establishments in Panamint City.
Panamint City had been in ghost town status for a while, and accordingly it was losing bits of itself with every storm draining down Surprise Canyon. We came upon more and more relics from this once living, inhabited town.
Many of the junipers we saw were already bearing berries. In contrast, the pinyon pines were just growing out their cones.
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| Single-leaf Pinyon, Pinus monophylla, female cones |
At last we were passing by the old mining town's smelter. The chimney loomed on our right, built of red bricks, some of which were missing. Behind the chimney on the hillside was an old green structure, which was where I assume the ore was processed.
Getting to the chimney meant scrambling up the hillside. Both A.S. and me were tired and hungry. Without discussion, we directed ourself to an old cabin that we read about, that was named 'Panamint City Hotel' by other hikers who have taken shelter there in the past.
On the way there I spotted numerous other houses in various states of disrepair. We were walking on the creek bed still, where once might have been this town's main street, surrounded by ruins and junk. The wind was now whipping at our faces and the clouds descended again, darkening everything. Honestly, Panamint City is the first ghost town I've visited that actually felt ghostly to me. I shivered, and not only from the cold. Suddenly I was glad to not have stayed there last night.
A.S. lingered a bit behind me to take photos of the ruins while I scrambled up the creekside toward the 'Panamint City Hotel' cabin. On the way I noticed electricity cables connected to nothing on one side and to an old car battery on the other, broken water pipes (where did Panamint City get its water from? A seasonal spring uphill, or shuttling water from the springs down the canyon?) There was also a patch of irises, their blade-like leaves looking lush and healthy, none yet blooming. I thought that in its prime, Panasmint City had families living there. These irises were likely the descendants of once a tended to garden. I took many photos of all that I saw, but there's no reason to load all of them here.
In front of the cabin were three improvised benches arranged in a three-sided square with a large fire pit in the middle. the ranger I spoke with before the trip said that fires and wood gathering were forbidden at Panamint City but it was clear that people did build fires in that place. I sat on the bench facing the cabin, took off my backpack and donned my jacket, wool hat, and mittens, and waited for A.S. who was making his way up the slope toward the cabin.
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| 'Panamint City Hotel' |
When A.S. joined me we went up to the cabin's front porch where we hoped was a bit more protected from the wind chill. It was, but only slightly. We sat down on the bench fe found there and ate our lunch. Prior visitors had left their mark on the place, adding strange, sometimes ghastly decorations, weird sculptures, bone structures, old relics and graffiti. When we were done with our lunch we left our backpacks on the porch and ventured inside the cabin.
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| Inside 'Panamint City Hotel' |
On my call to the park prior to the trip the ranger warned me against staying the night inside the cabin. She said it was infested with rodents and that the area was positive for the deadly rodent-carrying hantavirus. Careful, we both covered our mouth and nose with cloth when we entered the cabin. There were mattresses there, evidence that at some point people did sleep in there. There were other evidence of hikers use: a display of used camp fuel canisters, a first aid kit, a guest book (no pen though), empty plastic bottles, and a pile of firewood adjacent to an iron fireplace. There was also a thick layer of dust everywhere, and abundant rat feces on everything.
I looked inside every room in the cabin, including the bathroom where I found the toilet taped shut with a sinister comment written on it: Do Not Open Devil Inside. I sure would believe that statement. I chose the toilet photo to head this blogpost - I think it's a true representation of what I felt being in Panamint City ghost town.
Outside the clouds thickened and the wind strengthen. We didn't want to stay any longer in Panamint City. It was time to return to our campsite. We left the cabin and started immediately down the canyon.
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| Single-leaf Pinyon, Pinus monophylla, male cones |
A.S. noticed anther cave on the southern slope of the canyon, just outside Panamint City. We didn't go there to check it out but we did notice that a primitive wall was built at the cave's mouth, partially blocking the entrance. It must be that someone used this cave too as a shelter.
I looked down the canyon and I could see a bit of Panamint Valley all the way down, visible at the bottim where the south and north canyon walls meet in the image.
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| Valley View down Surprise Canyon |
I zoomed my lens to maximum. Yes, it definitely was the Panamint Valley floor that I saw. And also the outline of the Inyo Mountains west of it. The valley seemed very far down. Tomorrow we would descend the canyon to get there.
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| Panamint Valley View |
We walked down on the creek bed. Among the pebbles I saw a squer, red brick. Could be from the smelter, or from another building that was buit with these bricks.
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| Red Brick |
Further down the crick I saw another brick. This one had its corners rounded. It was on its way to become yet another pebble, one of the many that lined Surprise Creek bed. The bricks were of clearly softer material than the rock pebbles. They didn't take long to weather.
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| Rounded Red Brick |
There were other bricks, in various stages of rounding. Generally, the farther the bricks were found from Panamint City, the smaller and rounder they were. It was interesting to see the weathering process as a function of distance down the creek. The further down they were, the longer the creek floods had to weather them, shape them into pebbles.
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| Red Brick Pebble |
A.S. pointed out to me another interesting thing - a dead barrel cactus with its insides exposed. It loked like something else was hiding inside but it was just the shrivelled core of the cactus.
Goung down the creek was certainly faster than going up, not only because gravity was working with us rather than against us, but also because we remembered mostly where the path of least resistance was, and didn't need to do much pathfinding.
After we past the large section of the flood-impacted section of the creek we stopped for a brief water break. We chatted a but, estimating when we would be back at the camp and wether we'll get there before it started raining. We felt some few rain drops already but so far it didn't develop into anyactual rain. When we got up to resume our hike I lifted my backpack and immediately dropped it with a sharp cry of surprise - a huge tarantula had climbed my backpack while we were sitting. After my initial surprise I took a closer look at the beautiful creature: it was a very large specimen, very likely a male, either in search of a mate or after the act of mating. He looked old and tired. I felt sorry for him as I prodded him off my backpack with my hiking pole. Offended and defensive, it curled between the pebbles. I assumed it climbed on my backpack attracted to the warmth left by my back and I felt bad about leaving him exposed to the cold again. What could I have done, though?
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| Tarantula |
A but further down the canyon A.S. showed me where he had seen feces of bighorn sheep. I knew they lived in the area and I kept looking for them, but we weren't so lucky as to see any.
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| Surprise Canyon |
We kept on going, down and down and down. It seemed like we were walking a long time now but the creek stretched forever. The droplets intensified into a light drizzle for a minute, but ceased before either of us got noticeably wet.
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| An old, used fire ring we found on the way |
Eventually we reached the detectable trail and followed it down. Walking became easier for at least a little while. We still hat to go through the willow tunnel of Brewery Spring, though. I wasn't looking forward to that.
There was no avoiding the willows though. eventually we came to the place where the willow thicket plugged the canyon and we had to go into the vegetation tunnel. This time I did it differently though. A.S. went in there first as he did on the way up. I followed suit but instead of going on my fours I took off my backpack and sat down. I pushed my backpack before me and butt-scooted after it. A.S. saw what I was doing and pulled my backpack away, moving it with him and allowing me to butt-scoot through the vegetation more efficiently.
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| The Willow Plug |
We also walked faster and more sure-footed on the flooded trail section. It was better when we knew this was the actual path and didn't have to second-guess if we were even on the right track.
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| Flooded Trail |
We sat briefly on the bench at the small campsite below Brewery Spring The day wasn't getting any younger though, and we wanted to get to the campsite before any serious rain started, and definitely before dark. There was one place where we did get momentarily confused as to where we should walk but we were quick to resolve the confusion and get back on the right path.
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| Surprise Canyon |
We reached our campsite with very little daylight to spare. A.S. had to lift his tent again since one of his tent poles fell down. I went quickly to the creek to fetch water. In a short time we were seated by a lovely campfire, cooking and eating dinner and chatting about today's hike and of other things.
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| Sunset Colors |
I fell asleep almost immediately, but I was woken shortly after by the sound of pounding rain. The storm that was brewing all day finally broke.
This was one hell (or a devil) of a hike...
ReplyDeleteIt was indeed. And yet, I am glad I did it. It would have haunted me had I not ...
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