Death Valley, Panamint City via Surprise Canyon

[michael grosse]

Hello,
I was thinking of doing the Surprise Canyon Trip to Panamint City this week, the best that I could get out of the person who I spoke to is that there is some snow, and it may be cold and to filter water. Beyond that, my questions were unanswered or left kind of open ended, is there anyone who has done a early winter trip to this area who could fill in the details with a bit more clarity, as in the snow that is in this area, is it a dusting, is it a snow pack, can it be dealt with standard camp9ing gear, or does it require more winter styled backpacking and lastly, if anyone else is interested in a trip this week, I am open to locations, but was thinking more non-winter styled backpacking, ala Henry Coe, Sespe, Death Valley and the like.

thank you,
michael

[Dave T]

Unless Panamint Valley Road has been re-opened, this is a no-go right now. Late summer thunderstorms wrecked a number of roads in the park, and from what I heard, Panamint Valley Road was closed as of a week ago, and in bad shape. I modified a recent bikepacking trip out there to avoid Panamint Valley Road.

I've been up there in May and got snowed on, so the weather can be unpredictable. Winter in the desert is always highly variable… nice and warmish and sunny, or frozen wind-blown rain and snow, or whatever in between.

[michael grosse]

that is the kind of thing, i would hope the ranger would have hipped me to, that roads are closed or unpassable. This is neither the place nor forum for that, but I find it odd that a place that can have such bad results from incomplete information, the rangers aren't made hip to certain specifics. So what would your suggestion be for a good early winter backpacking trip in the Death Valley or other Desert areas. I would like to experience desert hiking and am more capable to cope with the cold weather than the summer heat, thus a december trip.

[Dave T]

There is a helpful Facebook page called "Death Valley Road Conditions" – not always perfectly up to date, but a good resource. Most of the previously closed roads are open now, but not all of them (e.g. Westside Road).

I don't have great ideas about longer backpacking trips in Death Valley. Water makes it really complicated unless you can get to reliable springs or want to carry a lot. I've carried 2.5 days of water out there before, and it's not much fun.

Perhaps linking up a few overnight backpack trips out there, along with some car-based sight-seeing, if you haven't seen much of the park?

[Bob Gross]

One of the problems with winter in Death Valley is that there are so few people out on the trails, so if you get into serious trouble, the coyotes will get to you first.

A number of the slot canyons on the east side of Death Valley proper face east-west, and that means that the afternoon sun shines into them partially, so there is very seldom any accumulation of snow.

The main trick of travel there is to know which water springs are flowing reliably, and which are not. You think that it would be as easy as looking for green vegetation, but it is not as simple as that.

Many of the roads there belong to the National Park Service, but some of the roads are Inyo County, so you have to know whom to ask.

–B.G.–

[Hiking Malto]

Look at the Cottonwood/marble Canyon Loop. If you take it pay attention when crossing over into Marble, its a bit trick to navigate.

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