Trip Report - May 2005
Where: Panamint Valley
When: May 19-21, 2005
Who: 2 people in 2 vehicles

	Here's the view from a small hill at the mouth of Pleasant Canyon, looking southwest over Panamint Valley. The mountains of the Argus Range rise on the far side of the valley. On the valley floor is the ghost town (not quite deserted) of Ballarat.
	Farther up the canyon, the road narrows, and the creek pours down the center of the road. Tamarisk and other vegetation encroaches on both sides. This was the easy part! Driving up feels like you are on the Jungle Cruise ride at Disneyland. A little higher up, the road turns to crushed rubble, with rocks in the soccerball to basketball sized range. With the creek completely covering the road, it resembles a small whitewater rapid. Yeah, thats where we turned back.
	Jim's truck pulled over on the side of the road. Its always a nice surprise to see so much water in the middle of the desert.
	The 'big buddy' with sunshade extended at the campground near the mouth of the canyon. The camping area was a wide, flat spot. We saw numerous ravens and hawks, some rabbits, no snakes or burros. There were abundant wild burro tracks, and we heard them howling in the night.
	The campground as seen from up the canyon wall. It was fairly warm here, perhaps between 95-105°, but with the sunshades and spray-misting systems, it was quite comfortable during the day, and very nice at night.