Looking back up the ridgeline, we could see segments of the trail we had missed off to the west. Without a more time consuming inventory, it would be hard for anyone to follow the lower third down to the canyon bottom. When the area is designated as a wilderness, the BLM will develop a management plan which will determine how the historic trails should be managed. If it is determined to be justified, we could
go back in to map out the entire Trepier-Craig trail segment to make
it possible for backpackers to use.The Craig canyon stream had a real good flow of water - it appeared similar to the rate we had seen a year earlier. Having such good year round sources of water, riparian habitat and waterfalls in the eastside canyons are some of the features which make this area in the Mojave desert so special. We spotted one set of our rappel anchors from our earlier trip where the narrows begins right below the millsite and you encounter the first waterfall which must be rappelled. Seeing the weathered webbing brought back the memories of the fascinating 2-mile lower Craig narrows with its numerous waterfalls and sculptured canyon falls - and the mountain lion we had jumped at 3,700'. Everyone was ready and already making plans for another trip to come back and do the lower canyon narrows again.
Our third day was a challenging climb up through scree to the Craig/Hunter ridgeline and there was no evidence of any trail. It is now pretty conclusive that our north-south Inyo Eastside Historic Trail starting at the Pat Keyes Trailhead in Owens Valley only extends south to Hunter Canyon (Ron's current estimate is 39 miles total length - Ron and I hope to soon lead this entire trail for the DPS). We now believe the miners access to the Trepier mine area and Craig millsite was on a trail coming up the Craig/Daisy ridgeline out of Saline Valley. It would be another impressive eastside Inyo trail climbing out of Saline, and one which beckons us for a future trail inventory trip.
Reaching the Craig/Hunter ridge, we followed it westward over a series of four points and late in the day reached the old dozer road which descends from the Burgess mine into Hunter Canyon. We intersected the dozer road at 7,200' and had time to follow it up to 8,000' to reach a great campsite overlooking Craig Canyon. With our supplies dwindling, Morgan offered up four cans of anchovies, which we somehow finished off with some tabasco sauce I inadvertently had carried in my pack. Day four was quick as we reached the Inyo Crest and then walked around to where the cars were parked on the Craig/Daisy ridgeline - spotting two small herds of deer along the way.
This ended the 19th Friends of the Inyo WSA/BLM cooperative wilderness field project work. During these Inyo and Panamint Mountains projects which began in 1989, volunteers from DPS and the Desert Survivors have contributed 2,768 hours of time to monitor proposed wilderness areas, document natural and cultural resource values, clean up Keynot mine debris, map historic hiking trails and maintain trails and historic features.
For anyone interested in more information about these volunteer projects, I keep an on going summary describing this work and route descriptions which is available by sending me a request at the BLM, 300 South Richmond Road, Ridgecrest 93555. This information will be important during our preparation of the Inyo Wilderness management plan.