Panoche Hills?

I know the place is popular for shooting but can't find much of a report on the roads/trails. Has anyone been there specifically for the driving? Anything remotely challenging? Thinking of heading out that way on Thursday while driving down the valley.

 

I go out there for work quite often. We have a site in the hills on the panoche access road. There is a shooting spot and bathrooms. The main access road is well maintained. There are roads that branch off but I haven't ventured far to give any kind of details.

 

I go up to shoot every once in a while. Tumey Hills is also over there, noting challenging per se but a good place to go out and enjoy the day.
More fun wheeling out there with a razor or bikes though.

 

Doesn't panoche mean something unmentionable in spanish? Or am I thinking of another word? Regardless it sounds like a great place to visit

 

Has anyone translated panoche from Spanish to English?

 

I only know enough Spanish to be dangerous, but I'm pretty sure I've heard or used that word (or one that sounds similarly) in a funny way in the past

 

Hmmm. It seems that Panoche either refers to a coarse grade of sugar made in Mexico, or mangina. "Darme el panoche, por favor" could really raise some eyebrows in the wrong context.

Either way, I may just have to go see the place for myself. I'll let you know whether I encounter sweets or emasculation.

 

Just watch your dome piece out there. Alot of dummies dont know how to shoot against a proper backdrop

 

i think the word is also slang for vagina.

i think..it's been a while since i lived in el paso.

 

Vagina Hills

 

kinda goes with your first name on your profile

First Name:
Mike Littoris

 

Well, as an update - I tried accessing Panoche hills on Thursday, but it was already closed for the season. Their website says closed from May to October, but the sign on the gate reads April - October.

On the bright side, I found some fun but limited (and open) trails off Panoche Rd., right across from Tumey Hills (which was also closed).

On the not-so-bright side, I got myself stuck in a river. The riverbed was all rocky, stable, and super fun, until it wasn't. I ended up sinking my right front into the mud about 2/3 the way up the wheel; mud up to my frame on the right side of the truck until about my rear door. Fortunately the water wasn't too deep. I dug for 2+ hours, aired down, tried my traction boards, etc., to no avail. So I hitched a ride about 5 miles to a gas station where I found a friendly dude in a jacked up F250. Got me out in no time, but man what a mess I had to clean up!

I know, I know - no pictures, no story. I was just too pissed and preoccupied with getting myself out before total nightfall.

 

Sounds like a good adventure!

You'd never remember this trip with out the getting stuck in the river.
Not that getting stuck in the river is s good thing. It's just not all bad.

 

Live and learn...

 

I like to say there are four kinds of fun.

Level 1 is when you're hanging out with your friends, drinking beer, joking around. It's casual.
Level 2 is when you do something that requires some kinda planning like going camping or a road trip.
Level 3 is when you need a skillset and advanced planning, there is some risk involved. The activity will never be "safe", you can only make is "safer"...like rock climbing, backpacking, scuba diving, road trip to mountain biking, riding motorcycles in Baja.
Level 4 is when shit goes wrong. At the time this is no fun at all. But in hind site is a solid memory. It becomes a story of it's own. This could be getting caught in a white out/Blizzard conditions high up on Mt Shasta, getting lost underwater scuba diving, having a dive student panic, breaking a bicycle rear derailleur 15 miles from the car, losing a motorcycle in the ocean and almost de-gloving a finger trying to get it out and hopelessly watch it get bashed against the rocks in Baja.
Later it's a memory that has it's own story separate from the Level 3 fun that was being had.

 

Level 3 = adventure
Level 4 = Epic adventure

 

Closed Aprill - Mid Oct due to Fire season. No motorized vehicle access through the gate, but you are able to hike and bike(use anything human powered).

 

I'd say I was a solid 3.8. I knew there was an overabundance of massive trucks only 5 miles away with drivers happy to yank out a Tacoma with their American-made hell on wheels. Solid 3.0 territory. However, I figured however that I'd have to walk or run, arriving after dark, being that shady guy saying "Hey you...I need help way over there a mile down this dark road where nobody ever goes. You know, the kind of place people go missing and stuff."

Still can't believe I found people just poking around in a Camry just over the first hill. Oh yeah, I almost forgot the best part of the story:

I asked what the F they were doing out there. It was one guy's birthday so he and his wife were on a drive with his parents. Said they were looking for a ghost they saw in the same place over a decade ago. They were not on drugs. Weird, weird place the Panoche Hills area. By a mile, the strangest corner of California I've encountered, and I'm a NorCal native. So unassuming right there between 5 and 101...

 

I clicked on this thread but found no "panoche" in here...I'm out dudes!

 

You're on the wrong site Dave. Use your pron links not truck links on your phone. And don't tell me you don't have any of those links on your phone because I know you're lying.