March 27-28. 1993 - Steve Smith and Ron Jones
This trip was prompted by a recent proposal to initiate a major mining operation at Manly Falls which is located on BLM administered land at the base of Redlands Canyon in the southern Panamint Mountains. Ron and I were interested in seeing the area where the proposed Briggs gold mine would dig out ore around Manly Falls and extending into the lower canyon. Canyon Resources is currently paying to have an environmental review prepared which will include the opportunity for public comments and review of their mining proposal.
We met Saturday morning at Ballarat with the group size limited by our two 4-WD' s to nine participants - seven hikers and two shuttle drivers. Everyone could climb Manly Peak and Stripped Butte on Saturday while two participants agreed to drive the shuttle vehicles back to Manly Falls on Sunday while the remaining seven descended Redlands Canyon from Butte Valley in Death valley NM to Manly Falls. Ron and I were joined by Dean and Pat Acheson, Jim Conley, Bruce Trotter and Mike Gruntman for the climb and descent while my son Shane Smith and Jeff Gillarde did only the climbing and drove the two shuttle vehicles around.
Although the weather was questionable, we proceeded and the weekend went almost as planned - we ended up dayhiking Redlands instead of backpacking due to the weather. We left three vehicles at the base of Redlands Canyon at Manly Falls and then drove through Goler Wash to Butte Valley. The Goler Road was easy 4-WD except for one short steep slope where my narrow tires started spinning but the group was able to push me over it. We were climbing the Striped Butte by late morning and it was a pleasant 2 mile rt. with 1,000' of gain. The register showed a lot of people climb this very striking peak. We climbed Manly Peak from the east side - a little longer then the northern approach but better views. There was a little snow on the ground and a few snow flurries as we climbed near the top. The step across was wider and steeper than Ron and I remembered and with the rock wet, most participants elected to sign the register after it was handed down.
By the time we were back to the vehicles, the weather was really looking bad which made the clean, weather tight Anvil Spring cabin most attractive. So...we ended up staying in the pleasant cabin. complete with firewood and enjoyed the evening of interesting conversation, hors-d'oeuvres and cooking inside out of the wind. In talking with Mike, we learned that he left Moscow three years ago and it was interesting to hear about his climbing in the Caucasus Mountains. That night, there was plenty of rain so the cabin was a nice alternative to camping out in Redlands Canyon.
