For the last four months, my sole destination has been Death Valley. This would be my sixth trip to the National Park, and with temperatures warming up elsewhere, likely the last visit of the season.
I couldn't wait. Ever since December, when I'd ventured up Pleasant Canyon and South Park on the Back for More trip with my buddies Mike @Digiratus, Zane @Speedytech7, and Monte @Blackdawg, I'd been trying to get back. I'd planned an entire trip around that loop in early January, but snow levels turned out to be low at the time, and we were forced to change our plans at the last moment - not that exploring a series of talc mines at the southern end of the park was any sort of travesty! 
Still, the draw of spending a couple days wandering through the Panamints, following side roads, and exploring the mines more fully continued to simmer in the back of my mind. And so, for the third time, we set out to finish what we'd started. A trip up South Park Canyon - driving the narrows, navigating Chicken Rock, exploring the old Honolulu Tunnel and the Big Horn Workings of the Thorndike Mine, and checking out Briggs Camp along the way. Then, down through Pleasant Canyon and its maze of side roads leading to the remains and workings of the World Beater, Ratcliff Mine, Porter, and Cooper mines.
Alas, the third time isn't always the charm. Quite the contrary - we were Almost Stranded!
After a Day of Fun; Disaster! | Stranded #1 - For the last four months, my sole destination has been Death Valley. This would be my sixth trip to the National Park, and with temperatures warming up elsewhere, likely the last visit of the season. I couldn't wait. Ever since December, when I'd ventured up Pleasant Canyon and South Park on the Back for More trip with my buddies Mike @Digiratus, Zane @Speedytech7, and Monte @Blackdawg, I'd been trying to get back. I'd planned an entire trip around that loop in early January, but snow levels turned out to be low at the time, and @mrs.turbodb and I were forced…
A Stressful Day in Pleasant Canyon | Stranded #2 - Previously in Almost Stranded... It was - as we were contemplating camp, and headed through the grove of pinyon pine at the top of Pleasant Canyon - that I initially heard a clunking sound. To me, it sounded like it was coming from the front of the truck, as though something was dropping down and hitting the skid plate as the suspension flexed over the undulations of the road. Such a change of landscape from earlier in the day - I counted on these trees providing us a bit of shelter from the gusty winds. Getting out to inspect the…
Rig Review - What worked and what didn't Winter 2022? - March 15, 2022. Time flies when you're having fun, and the last several trips have been exactly that. A regular reader may recall that my last rig review was just as the transfer case blew up on my Back for More trip to Death Valley. Since then, the truck has been out four more times (which obviously indicates that at least something has gone right! . Lipstick on the Pig (Jan 2022) Hiking Saline Valley (Jan 2022) Almost Stranded (Mar 2022) Seemingly solved from previous Rig Reviews I Need New Seats The Drawer in the In-Cab Battery Cabinet Rattles Transfer…