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Panamint Valley December 26-
A light dusting of snow on the north side of eleven thousand foot Telescope Peak
Where I have been in Yosemite in February for going on thirty five years I have only been going to Panamint Valley for New Years for about fifteen or more years. Scot my son in law probably has been out there for about ten of them. They left New Years Eve and I spent the evening with Dave, Tony and his wife until about 10pm. I was the only one still up at midnight as far as I know. We hid out in Tony's toy hauler because of the 20-25 mph winds. No fire that night. I towed the 96 Cherokee back to Ridgecrest on New Years Day. I came back the next day and the winds never reached abouve 1 or 2 mph for the next few days I was there.
Scot & Shawna's new trailer	The three brothers
The wife has a riffle that shoots 38/357 same as my pistol.	Space Mail Drop
What's the difference between a burro trail and a jackass trail? A burro trail is made by a burro, A jackass trail is made by a dirt biker.  Far as I know the kids stay on existing roads while out there. Tyler got a flat front tire, A couple burros wandered by one day but didn't come into camp. They are not afraid of people or dogs and can be a pain at times. They also eat dog food.
Big Four Mine
Big Four Mine workings
Photogenic Julia and her trusty sidekick Dave	North of 190 heading towards the Big Four Mine
The last time I was at the Big Four Mine I hadn't gotten into the tunnel with the ore cart tracks because I was worried about my dog being able to climb down to it. This time ewe took a route which made it easier on the dogs. It is a bit of a climb up to the tunnel. The one with the tracks went in about a hundred feet if that before catacombs that you would have to to crawl in to reach back farther. There was a lot of  workings we didn't explore because of how low the ceiling was.
Rogers Pass
Death Valley from Roger's Pass (Distant snow capped Mt Charleston over near Las Vegas)
Tony and his Razor	From the Panamint Range across the Argus Range to the snow capped Sierra Range
Surprise Canyon
The trailhead in Surprise Canyon. Novak Camp, formally Chris Wicht Camp burnt down years ago. The old man wasn't there when it burnt and some say the BLM didn't want it there.
Limekiln Springs in Surprise Canyon
I had been told that you couldn't get into the springs anymore because it was so overgrown with grapevines. I brought tools to clear the trail but access was fine. I did do a little trail work because the main trail is in terrible shape. I remember it being even worse from Limekiln to Brewery Springs from the last time I was up to Panamint City. I also brought some international orange tape which I didn't use because there are so many paths wandering around you don't know which one should be marked as the main trail. Took me close to 3 hours to make the 2.1 miles to Limkiln. Only had to back track a couple times.
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