This part of the route took us across another basin in Death Valley and then up and out of the National Park. We got several views of the Sierra Nevada mountains, and they’re looking pretty darn snow covered. But it hasn’t snowed there since we started the trip, so we’re still hopeful that we’ll be able to make it up Mt. Whitney at the end of the trip. As we leave Death Valley and enter the next phase of the trip, it’s worth commenting on how amazing that national park has been. Our previous visits to Death Valley kept us on the road and took us by only the famous parts of the park. The Death Valley backcountry is enormous, beautiful, and full of life! There is so much to explore there!
Day 4 – Another Basin – Miles 42.6 – 59.5
We woke up today and sent our families a Happy Thanksgiving message and picture with our Garmin InReach Messenger Plus — this device can actually send pictures by satellite, with no cell service! Then we headed towards Panamint Springs Resort, our first resupply stop of the trip. The views were spectacular—a large basin with mountains all around. It’s crazy how far you can see in these basins. Landmarks appear so close, but they are actually quite far. The morning started with easy downhill on an abandoned dirt road. Then we headed cross-country across the bottom of the basin—it was easy walking on hard packed sand/dirt. We hit another dirt road for a bit and then more cross country travel through rocky terrain with few plants. We eventually got to the highway for a bit of road walking before getting to Panamint Springs Resort.
Panamint Springs was amazing. We grabbed our resupply box at the General Store, and they said head on up to the restaurant for Thanksgiving Dinner. So we headed to the restaurant and filled up on a tasty donation-based Thanksgiving buffet while charging our devices. Everyone was super friendly! It was such a fun vibe!
We realized that we misunderstood one of our water stops and that we’d have to carry water for 48 miles. That’s a lot of water and water is heavy! We ran into some people who had thruhiked the PCT in 2023. They said they were headed up Saline Valley Road tomorrow, and offered to cache some water for us. Wow! We bought two gallon jugs at the general store for them to cache for us. We left town with 3 days of food and 4.7 liters of water each (much nicer than 8.7 liters each). Trail magic! Thank you!
We left town later than intended and made it to an off-trail ascent straight up the side of a mountain at dusk. It looked rocky and steep, so we decided you call it an early night, camp at the bottom, and tackle it in the morning. -R
Day 5 – Donkeys and Beer – Miles 59.5 – 79.8
We had 9 miles of off-trail travel to start the day. It was challenging but extremely rewarding! We crossed a totally empty part of Death Valley that was wide open yet completely our own. We continuously found animal trails to follow, and they were surprisingly well-worn. We also saw a bunch of poop along the trails that looked like horse poop, so we began to wonder if this was as-remote as we had thought, or if horse riders come through often… Our questions were answered when we spotted a group of wild donkeys (aka invasive burros) munching on grass. They are the ones who had been building trails for us!
The afternoon was much less exciting. We walked a gravel road with occasional car traffic. Along the road we picked up the water that our friends from yesterday cached for us, and they even supplemented the cache with two beers. THANK YOU! For dinner we had Peanut Butter Pasta. Yum! -T
Day 6 – Up – Miles 79.8 – 101.3
This morning we were slow leaving our tent. Our campsite was beautiful and we were in no rush to leave it. We enjoyed two coffees and granola with milk as the sun rose. The landscape was dotted with Joshua Trees with mountains in the distance.
We hiked on mostly gravel roads today with one small section of trail. We saw signs of old mines, a ghost town, and an old salt tram. One of the roads was very steep for about 5 miles and tired us out. At the top we chatted with a nice couple out for drive. The guy gave us a fun sticker of him on a mountain top with the hashtag #somefatoldguy . He hiked Mount Whitney for the first time when he was 300lbs. Very inspiring!
We made it back up above 9,000 ft. We had a nice view of the snow capped Sierras all evening. We are camped at 8,500 ft under a piñon pine, so we are enjoying munching on pine nuts as we head to bed. -R
