TRIP REPORT PHOTOS
Steve preparing to begin his first ever backpack to Panamint City in April of 2006:
Josh making final preparations outside of Joe's truck before beginning our hike:
This is from my 2nd Panamint City backpacking trip, taken with Ryan, Loren, and Brandon in October of 2007. We are at the parking area preparing our packs for the long journey ahead:
In June of 2009, I took my sister Tiffany to Panamint City for her first ever visit:
The first Panamint City backpacking trip of my life was taken with Rob, Joe Silva, and Josh. In this photo, Rob and Silva are crossing a stream in early Surprise Canyon:
Rob and Josh catching their breath and resting under the shade of some trees:
Here our 2009 group is progressing through the very early part of Surprise Canyon:
Gary, Andrew, and Tiffany taking a quick breather on the trail:
Gary is pumping water out of the creek through his filter. Andrew is also pictured here holding some valuable Gatorade mix which aids hiking in hot weather:
This break was taken right at the bottom of the Surprise Canyon falls, which is 1/2 mile from the start of the hike:
Josh and Steve have already made it through the difficult parts:
The hike through the falls area is absolutely beautiful from start to finish. The narrow canyon scenery always impresses each group that I take. Here, our 2009 group is standing at the exact same spot as our 2006 group in the picture above:
The waterfalls and greenery are spectacular through here. Check out more of this scenery on our Surprise Canyon trip report page:
This is Ryan (carrying his acoustic guitar on his backpack), Loren, and Brandon passing through the upper falls of Surprise:
Loren had to navigate his way around this slippery part. There are a couple of areas where you need to be really careful when climbing the Surprise Canyon Falls, but nothing too dangerous:
This is a great picture of Ryan pushing his way through the brush and tree branches. Surprise Canyon is so overgrown in some places that you have to put a lot of effort into continuing:
Steve taking a break just beyond the upper falls area:
This picture was taken on the hike back down, but it is presented in the order which would be seen hiking up canyon. Look closely at our feet in this picture, and you will understand one of the secrets of progressing up canyon:
Steve standing directly in front of the source of Limekiln Spring. Limekiln Eden is hidden somewhere back in the brush:
If I remember right, this picture was near the beginning of Brewery Spring. The hike is very enjoyable up to this point, because you're hiking next to water most of the time:
Tiffany and Andrew at the place where Brewery Spring gets thick and merges with the trail for the first time:
Gary filled up his water bottles at the entrance to The Tunnel of Love, and then took a short nap:
Steve and his sister Tiffany hiking through the middle of the Tunnel of Love:
This picture was taken in between Brewery Spring and Marvel Canyon. It is very representative of what this portion of the hike is like -- high canyon walls, no shade, and a very steep climb:
We did the 3rd backpacking trip at the very end of May and early June, which can be brutally hot. Fortunately for us, these clouds rolled in at just the right time and cooled down the air temperature:
Our group all stopped just ahead to watch a couple of wild burros along the trail. I have found wild burros on all of our backpacking trips to Panamint City:
With the entrance to Marvel Canyon on the right, trees start to appear on both sides of the trail for the rest of the journey:
It's kind of hard to see in this photo, but inside the red circle is the Panamint City smelter stack. From over one mile away, you get your first view of the city when you see this, far in the distance. It looks close, but this stretch of the hike is called The Long Mile for a reason:
Near the beginning of The Long Mile of our 3rd trip, the smelter stack of Panamint City can clearly be seen far in the distance:
Finishing up The Long Mile into Panamint City on our 1st trip:
Steve and Gary nearly to the city center. Flowers were in full bloom during The Long Mile and in Panamint City at the end of May:
Steve finally arriving at Panamint City on his first backpacking trip to the area:
For Tiffany, Gary, and Andrew, this was their first-ever visit to Panamint City:
Rob walking through the front door of the Panamint Hilton after the long journey:
Silva preparing to cook dinner in the Hilton. The water in the sink was running on our first trip there. For our second trip, we had to get the water outside from a pump in the machine shop. As of 2015, you may have to hike over to Water Canyon to get water:
A group member was cooking breakfast in the kitchen during our 3rd trip:
During our first night at the Panamint Hilton in 2009, we made use of the wood burning stove. As of 2015, fires in backcountry cabins are no longer permitted by park regulations. Fires must be outside in NPS provided metal fire grates:
Andrew and Tiffany decided not to do the Hemlock Mine hike, and instead spent the day reading and relaxing:
View of downtown Panamint City from the hammock on the front porch:
Checking out the amazing ruins which surround the smelter. There are many more pictures of this on my Panamint City trip report page:
Josh and Rob went up to explore some of the newer mining relics. It provided them with a great view of the city:
Josh checking out one of the abandoned trucks in Sourdough Canyon:
Josh pretending to use one of the tractors to resume mining in 2006:
Steve taking a break in The Castle before hiking up Sourdough Canyon Road to the top:
Following the pipeline out back to find out why the water wasn't running in The Castle:
View of the city from the first summit of Sourdough Canyon Road:
Steve standing at Panamint Pass in 2006:
After that, I hiked up towards Sentinel Peak and looked back down at Panamint Pass. I would return and finish the hike to Sentinel Peak in 2009:
Over in Sourdough Canyon, Rob and Josh were heating the water in the outdoor bathtub:
On our 1st trip, when it was time to leave we walked outside and got quite a shock. We were in the middle of an April snowstorm. The next four pictures are from our 1st trip:
It's time to backpack out. We came up in the extreme heat, and now we're going down in the extreme cold:
Looking at the smelter stack in the snow storm. This is definitely a rare picture and I'm glad to have experienced this:
Josh, Rob, and Silva backpacking out through the falling snow on our 1st trip:
Next time it was much warmer for the hike down. These next two pictures are from our 2nd backpacking trip:
Loren, Ryan, and Brandon hiked ahead as they are entering Limekiln Springs:
And the final picture is from our 3rd trip. Here we are backpacking out of Panamint City after a very successful trip:
