High Sierra Topix

Sticking to the spirit of anyone is welcome to come along board member Traumahead and I are heading to Panamint City on Thursday the 22nd. We will camp at the trail head and then hike in to the city on Friday. Saturday we will summit Sentinel Peak and then Sunday will be hike out and head home.

For those of you that don't know about it Panamint City is an old mining town that once had 2000 people living in it. It's located up Surprise Canyon on the Western side of the Panamint Mountains. Long after it was abandoned it was private property and visitors could drive up the old road to the city. Many years ago the road was completely washed out by flash floods and nothing could make it up the canyon now. When Death Valley National Park was expanded in the 90's Panamint City became part of the park and is also protected wilderness.

These days it's a 6 mile hike up the canyon beginning first in narrow canyons running steady with spring flow. It's a challenge to stay dry as you climb up cascades and hug canyon walls. You then zigzag through brush as you pick up and lose the old road. The total gain is about 3000 feet to the city at 6200 feet. The city itself still has 3 cabins that can be used all complete with wood burning stoves. The area is a mess of mining ruins and open mines.

Sentinel Peak is a 3400 foot climb from Panamint City and is about 9600 feet. I'm sure there will be snow on allot of the climb. Even if you did not want to summit the peak there is plenty of other things to do.

Here are couple collections of images from our first and second visits last year:

Panamint City trip 1
Panamint City trip 2

Those are the first pictures I have seen of the place, it looks pretty interesting. Thanks for posting

Another good trip to Panamint City. I was too lazy to climb Sentinel Peak but at least it gives me something to do next time.

Panamint City Trip 3

Heading back to Panamint City this weekend. To the trail head Friday hike in Saturday and out Sunday. You all better be there!

Rogue,

This looks like a great hike and we would really love to join you. Unfortunately, the world is going to end tomorrow. Also, "Sport" has to work this weekend.

Please keep us updated on what you find. Seriously, we really would like to make this trip! Maybe later this season.

Thanks for sharing this location.

-Russ

Well Panamint City is a place you can hike to year round. We can always plan another trip. Plenty of stuff to do around there.

I'm looking forward to the bad weather this weekend. The colder the better. Makes sitting by the fire in the Hilton that much better.

For a discussion of what this person did to the Panamint City Hilton look at the forum at Death-Valley.net.

Rusty,
Not very flattering if you are referring to Rogue; especially in a how-do-you-do first post... Is this an accusation? Facts first before accusations! I've never met him but would post his bail 100% if accused of this. Rogue is a very upstanding member here!

I did indeed do work on the Hilton at Panamint City. The group on the Death Valley forum were very angry because I made changes that I felt were needed in order for the place to last. Because rats were using the cupboard space as nesting grounds I removed the doors to make them straight shelves and not to have such a dark space for the rats to feel comfortable in. I also removed all the crap that was piled up in them. I removed a few other things from the place such as a torn up mattress from the back room and just made an effort to not have so many places for them to hide.

I admit that it was a mistake to throw most of the crap behind the side of the building where at the time of doing it I thought was fairly low profile when it was not. But I still stand by that what I did was in the best interest of the long term survival of the building. Most however did not and felt that nothing other than putting some foam in the cracks should be done.

RustyDusty wrote:For a discussion of what this person did to the Panamint City Hilton look at the forum at Death-Valley.net.

I did go and check it out, and I think that it is important to note that Rouge asked if anyone had a problem with it FIRST. I'm not here to judge if what Rouge did is right or proper, but I do know that commenting on a post that is a year old, then seeking out the person on other sites, is a cowardly and underhanded thing to do. You should be ashamed!