The Getaway...Crom's build and adventures

You got a good one Ken. Noco is good company. I used their 12v chargers on a fleet of Telecom batteries. Never had any issues. If mine turns out to be junk, and it might, I'll get the Noco.

And yeah I'm just about done with Amazon. I cancelled my paid membership a year ago, wife added me to her membership to extend shipping benefits. When it comes time we won't renew and wait to see.

 

I wouldn't have thought you could carry a large lithium ion battery on a plane.

 

Same setup I run - however I do leave mine in my truck so it see's all the temp changes and haven't had any issues. Dropped down to about 80% but I top it off every 2 months.

 

You can carry nearly as much as you like as long as it is in carry-on. Checked luggage lithium is a no-no. It’s sort of the one thing opposite of nearly every other restricted item! Thought is a battery fire in the luggage compartment is impossible to fight and would spread quickly. Battery fire in the passenger cabin is detected and extinguished quickly by the crew.

Here are the regs:

https://www.faa.gov/about/initiatives/hazmat_safety/more_info/?hazmat=7

Note up to 100Whr allowed per battery which is huge. The GB40 is 24Whr for reference. Also bring as many as you like. With airline approval up to 600Whr batteries allowed as well.

 

I tried to break-in his new skids this last weekend. He got one good hit on the front skid, but the rest just got dirty.

 

Okay. Now you've done it. Trip report like the days of old, pending...

 

Death Valley 2018 - Part 1 - Getting Ready

The genesis for this trip started in April 2018 when Andy @CVYota said, "Let's plan on a saline tram trip this fall..." October was selected as the month and the date firmed up a month or so in advance. Leave was submitted, etc. Originally more TW members were going on this trip, but life happens, and they ultimately could not go. Next time!

It was difficult for me to make it happen, but my resolve was firm. I had to pull out many favors. Grandma had to volunteer to take my children, and my wife was traveling Internationally for work which made things dicey for me. But in the end, all my plans held and I was able to break free.

Freedom for me at this point in my life is extremely rare.

I prepped the truck for "go time" a week in advance. I only had to load my clothes and do food shopping and I'd be ready for departure. I was finally free on Friday Oct. 19th, when a work conference let out early. I was so happy!!! I returned home and began loading food. With nothing holding me back, I departed that evening and headed North on I-15 / I-215 until I reached the high desert after sundown. I have a spot that I like to camp up there. I had a quiet evening and a windless-starry night in the desert.

 

Death Valley 2018 - Part 2 - Hitting Dirt

Daybreak in the Mojave Desert​

At daybreak, I started the truck and finished the drive to our meet-up spot in Olancha, CA. The last place we would be able to fuel our trucks for the next four days.
After fueling up, I moved the truck out of the way and went inside to buy some coffee and cookies. I started on my breakfast outside and waited for Andy to arrive. He arrived within 15 minutes and it was great to see him! It had been 2.5 years! since our last trip together in the Mojave.

Traveling CA-136 to Swansea, CA​

After fueling we did our radio checks and we were on our way to Swansea, CA. Immediately upon arrival we aired down and began the rocky trail up the alluvial fan and into the high Inyo Mountains. In a very short time we would soon begin to see parts of the ruins of the amazing Saline Valley Salt Tram.

A 1911 era collapsed Salt Tram tower which supported aerial cabling in its heyday


Historical Original Hardware​

After exploring the collapsed tower, and returning back down to the trucks, we were passed by an absurdly large Polaris group. Andy just stood there between the trail and his truck, fairly close to the trail, and sort of stared at them as they passed, and had this look like, Are you kidding me?!? At least that's how I read his expression. Shortly after they passed a built 4Runner appeared that was part of a group of heeps, and friendly jokes ensued about traveling in the "right" or "wrong" group. You know, Toyota vs. Jeep.

Excessively large Polaris group winds up the trail​

We let the Polaris group get some distance on us and we pressed on and wound our way up the mountain. Eventually the elevation transformed the landscape and we were surrounded by pines.

Beautiful pines on the slopes of the Inyo Mountains​

To be continued...

 

Glad you found time to get out. Thanks for sharing the story and pics.

 

Looking forward to part two.

 

We se them at work. It's amazing just what those little things will start. Nice for an emergency cell phone charger also

 

I think the blank look is normal for Andy. @CVYota

 

Death Valley 2018 - Part 3 - The Inyo Mountains & Salt Tram Station

@CVYota
We climbed up to the Burgess Mine (9,600') which harvested Gold and Lead in its time. From this vantage point we could clearly see the east side down into Saline Valley and beyond. We did not linger long because the Polaris group arrived, all 17 of them. . We bounced to another location with a superb vantage point. It was here where Saline Valley could be well appreciated and it was lunch time.


WEST: Inyo Mountains in the foreground, Saline Valley, Saline Range, Last Chance Range
It is also the location of the warm springs (left of center),
the 4WD exit route to Eureka Valley via Steele Pass.
Also the location of the $4,500 tow home, for the unprepared.

Saline Valley Road trail winds it's way into Whippoorwill Canyon exiting via North Pass,
& Destroyer of tires.

Looking to the South towards Saline Valley Salt Tram Station, about 8,600'


Two of my favorite things.
A legendary Bean & Cheese Burrito from my favorite Taco shop in San Diego,
& Death Valley National Park

​

After a very relaxing lunch we meandered over to Salt Tram Station where we would be camping for the night. When we arrived we parked at a large pull out on the ridge line and got out to explore. It's surreal. This thing must have been amazing to see operating.

Saline Valley, now part of Death Valley National Park, contained a wealth of salt fields at the turn of the 20th century, but there was an obvious barrier to bringing the salt to market—the massive Inyo Mountains. In 1911 an engineering and construction marvel was begun, a 13.5 mile aerial tramway designed to rise 7,000 feet out the valley, cross the Inyo Mountains at 8,720 feet, and descend 5,000 feet to Owens Lake. Between 1913 and 1930 the tram carried salt over the mountains to Tramway, near Swansea, where it was processed, packaged and railed out to market. In recognition of its uniqueness and its contribution to America’s historical heritage, the tram was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974. Several Bureau of Land Management Bishop Field Office projects are underway to preserve the remnants of this remarkable engineering feat.

The sun low in the sky over the Great Eastern Sierra Nevada mountains,
casts some final rays on Salt Tram Station​

After we had our fill of exploring, we turned our attention to camping. It was clear that we wouldn't do well on the exposed ridge line with the constant cold easterly wind. However, just off the ridge line we would be safe and protected. The only spots not taken were near the tram station caretaker house. So that became camp.

​

Now we did the best given our situation, but were still parked on the side of a mountain, so we had to level our trucks.​

Andy's, "level the truck out."
​

Someone stacked these nice leveling rocks and this was my first and only attempt at using them.
​

The rock stack just wasn't enough, so Hi-Lift to the rescue.
An old technique @Timber taught me years ago.
It made it near perfect.
​

There were several people on the mountain doing various tasks, most active was an eccentric group of BLM volunteers who had come to clear brush from one of the lower supporting salt tram towers down the East side of the mountain. They had to all use hand tools. Many of them came to our camp to talk and ask us what we were up to. Mostly they were wanting to know if we were doing anything with the care taker cabin which we were not. Just looking for flat camp. Anyways, they were all nice enough folks. They grouped together on the porch of the cabin watched, played string guitar, watched the sunset and drank. One of the older guys probably talked too much, but that was after he hit the bottle a little bit! Was fun to be there!

We had our respective dinners cooked on tailgates. I watched the sun set over the Great Eastern Sierra Nevada mountains--something that never gets old! I had set up the propane fire pit and it was very nice to have warm fire and lift our spirits on a chilly night at 8,600' Lots of great discussion ensued, and then Eight O'clock arrived and it was lights out for the both of us.

To be continued...

 

The old guy really wanted some rock moved out of the middle of the road. The more he drank the bigger the rock became.

 

Old dude from Nevada, Dave. I couldn't understand why it was so important to him. And with the millions of rocks out there, who actually knows which one it was. Oh well!

 

Death Valley 2018 - Part 4 - Cerro Gordo, Lee Flat

Eastern Sierra's rise 6,000' from Owens River Valley

When I got out of my truck Sunday morning, there was inclement weather around us, but not directly affecting us. It was weird because to the East was Saline Valley, and I could see the rain. To the west the Eastern Sierras, but where we were it was fine, for the moment. I felt slightly anxious because as I found out, Andy and I both would rather bail than to choose to go wheel in the desert in a rain storm. Andy said it best, "rain in the desert, is like smoke in a forest". It's just dangerous, and you just need to bail out the fastest, safest way possible. Hopefully for us it would not come to that. But we wouldn't know for hours.

We broke camp quickly and easily
The trail from Salt Tram Station to Cerro Gordo is a winding shelf road that seven miles long There are lot of trees too. My V/UHF antenna took quite the beating. Lots of bending, but no breaking, thankfully.

There was plenty of wildlife.



We arrived at Cerro Gordo under cloudy skies.
This is private property, and the owners just changed hands recently. As I understand it the care taker is still on grounds. No idea what's to come of the place. Multiple parties were here on this day, getting a slow start on a Sunday Morning.

Andy and I met a group that was sampling ground water for the new owners. Apparently, lead and silver were mined here, and there are miles and miles of shafts and adits underground-mostly collapsed now.

After we had our fill of walking around exploring and photographing, we decided it was okay to proceed deeper into the wilds. Our path was a 4x4 trail that departs to the NE, and is about 5 miles long. Our plan was if weather got bad, we could still escape south to CA-190, if we had to.


Cerro Gordo Mine complex and town.

We began our descent off the mountain. It descends the North-East side of the Inyo Mountains and would deposit us in San Lucas Canyon. Essentailly surrounded. THe Nelson range the east, and Inyo's to the west. There were some fun rock gardens along the way. Always fun!


Andy entering the rock garden

When we finally hit bottom in San Lucas Canyon, we took a sharp right on White Mountain Talc Road. This put us on a S-SE course towards Lee Flat as we climbed out of the canyon. This was an exciting place to be. On one side of the road, Death Valley National Park, the other side, BLM lands. I was excited because it had been 23 months since visiting the park!


Lee Flat

Lee Flat has some amazing J-tree forests. It's been suggested that the Mojave is getting too hot and dry for these trees and they may die out there. They seem to be flourishing in this section of DV.

​

To be continued...

 

Liked the photo of Cerro Gordo that shows what earthquakes can do.
But, where are your girls? They always add to your photos.

 

Thanks. They went to Grandma, thankfully. wife was out of town traveling during this same time, it's a minor miracle that i got away. I have lots of other trip reports I have not been able to write up. ...just lack the time.. I'll keep trying though.

 

good part four! kool on that minor miracle at the 23 month mark.
..that lack of time thing just gets worse,

 

I am stealing this line - it is concise and perfect.