There are several places that I've wanted to check out in Death Valley for quite some time, but that haven't fit into the route or schedule for previous trips. Hoping to knock off a bunch of those places that I've "left behind," I set about planning a route that would take us along West Side Road and the eastern escarpment of the Panamint Mountains. From there, we'd repeatedly climb into the canyons, exploring the mines, narrow passages, and vistas that each had to share. It would - I thought - be a lot like our trip along the Nadeau Trail, or our recent foray into the Inyos.
In fact, it was nothing of the sort.
With the best of intentions, things got off to an overscheduled start when, at the last moment, I threw another "left behind" location - the Keane Wonder Mine - into the mix.
In the end, we had a fabulous time, but left behind more than half of the canyons we'd hoped to explore. Oh, and we left behind something even more surprising...
The Tacoma itself. 
Keane Wonder Mine | Left Behind #1 - There are several places that I've wanted to check out in Death Valley for quite some time, but that haven't fit into the route or schedule for previous trips. Hoping to knock off a bunch of those places that I've "left behind," I set about planning a route that would take us along West Side Road and the eastern escarpment of the Panamint Mountains. From there, we'd repeatedly climb into the canyons, exploring the mines, narrow passages, and vistas that each had to share. It would - I thought - be a lot like our trip along the Nadeau Trail,…
The Trail Canyon Canyon Trail | Left Behind #2 - Having gotten horizontal before just after 6:00pm the previous evening, I figured it wouldn't be hard to get up by 5:00am and hoof it a few miles up the North Fork of Trail Canyon - to Aguereberry Point - in order to capture some sunrise photos. Right. Fumbling frantically for the "turn off you stupid thing," button when my alarm went off, we proceeded to sleep another two hours until our internal alarms - err, bladders - just couldn't take it anymore. With 13 hours of sleep we were doing a great job wasting precious daylight and falling even further…
Rainy Day | Left Behind #3 - Good morning, Trail Canyon! We awoke to a morning much like most winter mornings in Death Valley - a smattering of clouds and temperatures in the mid-40s. We assumed - incorrectly, in hindsight - that the day would unfold much like our previous two, though I have to admit that I hoped that we could get through a few more miles of hiking than we'd achieved in Tail Canyon. Even I knew that my hope was more akin to a dream, but with any luck we'd still be able to get to the hike I'd been anticipating the most on this…