Panamint City
My trip to Panamint City is my favorite adventure. No contest. I spent 4 years in college living in one of the greatest cities in the world and traveling to places such as Australia, Hawaii and New York City only to I find that the city I'd most like to return to is in my own backyard. Define irony.
Panamint City is located in the Panamint Mountains. Take the road to Ballarat and then head left toward Indian Ranch. Then take the first dirt road on the right up a massive alluvial fan to Surprise Canyon. You can probably make it to the trailhead if the road conditions are in your favor. A small family operated mine is at the bottom, so tread lightly out of respect for their water supply.
Be prepared to work once you get out of the car. The sign at the base of the trailhead says 10 miles to Panamint City. I'm still not convinced this is true, I think it may actually be 5 miles (10 round trip). Still, it is a 5000 ft gain complete with rock scrambling, bushwhacking and some backtracking due to losing the trail. It felt like 10 to me, since I was out of shape. You can do the hike roundtrip in a day. We met many people on the trail who did, but I would recommend it as an overnight trip. It's worth an extra day just to explore the town.
Panamint City is a ghost town. In its day, it was a booming little metropolis in a most unlikely location. Most of the city washed away in flash floods down Surprise Canyon. Witnessing firsthand the destruction water is capable of in a short time is fascinating enough, but what really captivated my spirit was what survived.
You may understand what has enchanted my heart and the hearts of other hikers when you reach the city. You join a grassroots community of people who take care of its remnants so to keep it habitable for other hikers. Expect to find running water, beds with mattresses, sleeping bags, kitchenware and food. Camp for a night in backpacker luxury and explore the town and mines. Read other people's adventures in the journals. Explore the mine. Bring a flashlight, a marker for your initials and borrow a hardhat from the cabin.
Panamint City allows you to actually live the life of a miner, in contrast to the sterile, restrictive tours of places like Scotty's Castle. It's real life as opposed to the closed off virtual reality known to our video game generation. I practiced the lost art of conversation and companionship with my hiking partner, and learned a great deal of what I was made of. We were human beings simply being human. The pretension, schedules and distractions common to my trips to places like New York, Hawaii and Sydney had disappeared without a trace.
Visit my website for photos. Click the top photo for a slideshow.
Panamint City is located in the Panamint Mountains. Take the road to Ballarat and then head left toward Indian Ranch. Then take the first dirt road on the right up a massive alluvial fan to Surprise Canyon. You can probably make it to the trailhead if the road conditions are in your favor. A small family operated mine is at the bottom, so tread lightly out of respect for their water supply.
Be prepared to work once you get out of the car. The sign at the base of the trailhead says 10 miles to Panamint City. I'm still not convinced this is true, I think it may actually be 5 miles (10 round trip). Still, it is a 5000 ft gain complete with rock scrambling, bushwhacking and some backtracking due to losing the trail. It felt like 10 to me, since I was out of shape. You can do the hike roundtrip in a day. We met many people on the trail who did, but I would recommend it as an overnight trip. It's worth an extra day just to explore the town.
Panamint City is a ghost town. In its day, it was a booming little metropolis in a most unlikely location. Most of the city washed away in flash floods down Surprise Canyon. Witnessing firsthand the destruction water is capable of in a short time is fascinating enough, but what really captivated my spirit was what survived.
You may understand what has enchanted my heart and the hearts of other hikers when you reach the city. You join a grassroots community of people who take care of its remnants so to keep it habitable for other hikers. Expect to find running water, beds with mattresses, sleeping bags, kitchenware and food. Camp for a night in backpacker luxury and explore the town and mines. Read other people's adventures in the journals. Explore the mine. Bring a flashlight, a marker for your initials and borrow a hardhat from the cabin.
Panamint City allows you to actually live the life of a miner, in contrast to the sterile, restrictive tours of places like Scotty's Castle. It's real life as opposed to the closed off virtual reality known to our video game generation. I practiced the lost art of conversation and companionship with my hiking partner, and learned a great deal of what I was made of. We were human beings simply being human. The pretension, schedules and distractions common to my trips to places like New York, Hawaii and Sydney had disappeared without a trace.
Visit my website for photos. Click the top photo for a slideshow.
posted by Tiffany at 6:09 PM
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